New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
City drops plans for controversial teen center
NEW HAVEN — The city and Bethel AME Church, after five years, officially are ending the long-stalled, controversial Escape Teen Center project to no one’s surprise.
The Board of Alders’ Finance Committee voted Monday to unsequester $200,000 in capital funds tied to the proposed center as the city pursues negotiations on returning the site to the church in usable condition.
The lease from January 2016 through the end of this month cost New Haven $285,346.
Work on conversion of the 30,000-square-foot building, owned by the church and formerly home to Eastern Press, stopped in February 2017 when the alders sequestered funds after $300,000 had been spent with $250,000 still
needed in repairs.
The original estimate for the plan was $285,000 and was expected to take six months to complete, according to the lease — which was signed in October 2015 with the first payment made in January 2016.
The ambitious project envisioned a center for community events, as well as a separate space for a teen drop-in space. The third component was a proposed 15-bed homeless shelter for young people.
Besides the increasing costs, alders had questioned why the city had undertaken roof repairs and replacement of the HVAC system, items they said should have been the responsibility of the church. They also questioned why this site was chosen, given the condition of the building.
There was talk then of renegotiating the terms of the lease, with the church giving the city credit on its monthly rental cost, but there was no appetite on the board to pursue the plan and Mayor Toni Harp’s administration did not push ahead.
“We all know this actually delights me,” Alder Anna Festa,
D-10, one of the most consistent critics of the project, said at the committee meeting after the vote was taken.
Acting Controller Michael Gormany told the Finance Committee that unsequestering the $200,000 in capital funds was the first necessary step to resolving the issue and meeting its obligations.
“We can’t just walk away,” Gormany said. “We have to return it to some semblance of how we originally took possession of the church.”
Alder Jeanette Morrison, D-22, who long championed the project as a necessary asset to serve homeless teens, asked whether any leftover funding could be used for other another youth project. Gormany told her that, as it involved capital funds, they could be used against debt service or redesignated as another capital project.
It was clear the alders were happy to wrap up a project that had generated so much angst over the years.
“I think it’s important for the city to have a positive and constructive ending of the business relationship with this church in regards to this one-time proposed teen center,” Alder Adam Marchand, D-25, said. “Clearly the project did not work out and had a lot of problems along the way. I’m going to leave it at that.”
The Rev. Steven Cousin, contacted Tuesday, said the church and the city have an amicable relationship and already have been talking about the city’s decision not to renew the lease, which lapses at the end of this month, and resolve outstanding issues.
“We knew this was coming. It was not something that came out of the blue,” he said, given that current Mayor Justin Elicker was highly critical of the project as he
campaigned for mayor.
Cousin said the church had nothing to do with the contracting decisions for the conversion of the space, but he was disappointed that it was never built.
“I’m disappointed for our kids that they don’t have a place to go,” he said. The pastor said it would have been a great site to use as an educational hub for New Haven Public School children who will be learning virtually for the next 10 weeks.
The FBI in early 2019 began an investigation into the center, requesting documents tied to its construction. Former Youth Services Director Jason Bartlett, who had proposed the project, eventually was put on administrative leave by Harp, who was in the middle of a tough reelection campaign.
No charges ever were filed as a result of the investigation. Bartlett was let go by Elicker shortly after the new mayor took office in 2019. Bartlett is challenging the firing before the Commission on Equal Rights and Opportunities.
City Engineer Giovanni Zinn, in 2018, said $250,000 would cover the work to open the two large community spaces for use by the center, but not the third floor and basement because of the need for a working elevator. He said primarily electrical work and fire safety installations, along with carpentry and general building work, still were needed to open the site at that point.