A Pennsylvania-based developer spent $4.7 million buying up the western half of a Park Street block where he plans to build a mixed-use project that could include retail, restaurants, apartments, or a hotel.
According to the city land records database, on Jan. 22, New Haven Land LLC, a holding company owned by Sean McCloskey of the Penn Real Estate Group, purchased the two-story commercial building at 130 Park St. for $2.15 million from Stewart Hutchins.
The building, which houses the Bubble and Squeak laundromat on the ground floor, last sold for $275,000 in 1997. The city last appraised the building and land as worth $472,900.
That multi-million-dollar land swap came two and a half months after New Haven Land LLC spent $2.55 million buying the four adjacent parcels that make up the rest of the Park Street block between Crown Street and George Street.
On Nov. 4, McCloskey’s company bought as part of that deal the three-story Savin Center for Dermatology office building at 134 Park St. along with three vacant lots at 370 Crown St., 374 Crown St., and 421 George St. The city last assessed those four properties as worth a combined $1,429,200.
“We really feel that as assembled, it would make a very nice development site,” McCloskey told the Independent Thursday.
“It’s a full city block on Park with frontage north on Crown as well as south on George. It’s a nice rectangular site with a lot of street frontage and two corners.”
McCloskey said his company has built a variety of mixed-use developments over the past three decades. Those projects have included restaurants, retail spaces, hotels, and apartments.
The Penn Group has not figured out exactly what it will be building at this site, he said. Whatever it is, he said, it will likely be mixed-use.
“‘We’re trying to really find the right mix of uses for this particular site.”
The lot is around 30,000 square feet, he said. Since zoning regulations for that part of downtown allow for a floor-area ratio (FAR) of 6.0, he said, the building could be as large as 180,000 square feet. “That’s a pretty good-sized project.”
“There definitely seems to be a renaissance going on in New Haven,” he said about the city’s ongoing building boom. This will be the Penn Group’s first New Haven project.
“I have family that went to Yale back in the ‘80s,” he said. “That transformation that the city’s undergone is pretty remarkable.”
Previous property sale coverage:
• Ocean Spends $1.45M On 7 Houses
• 66 Norton Sells For $1.46M
• Mandy’s Buying Spree Tops $16.1M
• “Rt. 34 West” Hotel Site Sold For $2.8M
• Spinnaker Flips Comcast Project For $14.6M
• Sherman Medical Building Sells For $2.7M
• Pike, Mandy Spend $2M+ In Latest Buys
• 200+ Apartments Planned At Empty Eyesore
• Annex Apartments Sold For $3.95M
• Mill River Office Building Sold For $4.65M
• Local Landlords, Albertus Magnus Expand
• Mandy Buys Warehouse For $1.6M
• Pike Collects $890K On Wooster Sq. Sales
• Springside Apartments Sell For $3.2M
• Family Dollar Sells For 1.8M Dollars
• Pike Sells 2 Buildings To Yale For $3.8M
• Mansion Sells For Only $1.45M
• Landlord Tops 340 Units
• High Street Apts Sell For $25M+
• St. Michael’s School Sold, For Apartments
• Ocean Management Acquires Perrotti Westville Properties
• Paris Realty Picks Up 6 Q Meadows Condos
• Landlord Boosts West River Condo Holdings
• $21 Million Changes Hands In 2 Days
• 50 Factory Jobs Coming To Fair Haven
• Brendan Towers Sold For $6M+
• Investors Drop $917K On West Side Condos
• Mandy’s 2018 Buying Spree Nears $13M
• Mandy Empire Buys Up The Block
• Roots Planted In Newhallville
• Latest Sales: Mandy Buying Spree Continues
• Latest Sales: Mandy Expands In City Point
• Latest Sales: East Rock Home Buy Tops $1M
• Latest Deals: Beulah’s 5th Rehab On Block
• Latest Sales: NHR Sheds Small To Focus Big
• Latest Sales: Mandy Buys In Heights
• Home Sale Price Doubles In 13 Years