New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Officials: Allingtown revamp alive and well
WEST HAVEN — Proponents of greenlit mixed-use development projects in the city’s Allingtown section say the dream has seen major delays but is alive and well.
“The development is going along and we try to support the developers with what resources we have,” said city Corporation Counsel Lee Tiernan.
The University Commons project, a development project of Acorn Group to create several buildings with street-level commercial space and upper-level market-rate housing, effectively has been stalled during the coronavirus pandemic, with only two of up to four projects completed.
With the city and local businesses beginning to resume many of the functions in place
prior to the pandemic, officials believe the project will lead to greater improvements for the local economy, provide benefits for area students and keep taxes down.
Mayor Nancy Rossi said the first project, The Atwood, a 90,000-square-foot development that was completed in 2017, is now fully-leased, whereas the second project, the 61,000square-foot Park View, has leased out its apartments but still is seeking commercial tenants.
“I think COVID has made things challenging. Who is opening a new restaurant during COVID? I think as things loosen up you’re going to see more activity,” said Tiernan.
Acorn Group also is developing the old Forest Theatre site and has bid on the building used as the Allingtown library branch; on its website, the group has announced plans for a development called The Chester. The project would include renovation of the library building for medical/commercial/office space across 3 levels, according to the company.
Acorn Group representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
A gateway
Ed O’Brien, the city’s mayor at the time the development project began, said he believes the University Commons projects — as the Acorn developments in the neighborhood are collectively called — have been a benefit to the city. The projects includes housing and retail spaces, and are billed as being in proximity to the University of New Haven, Veterans Affairs medical center, Yale Bowl and two miles to Yale New Haven Hospital.
“It’s totally turned around that area and it brings tax revenue to the area,” he said. “It’s bringing jobs and beautified the area.”
According to O’Brien, adding the Atwood increased the block’s tax revenue from $35,000 to $400,000 annually.
“For way too long our residents have had to leave our city to shop. The hope is that they will be able shop and spend their dollars in their own town and not have to go to surrounding towns,” he said. “This is a gateway to our city and it should look appealing when residents or visitors are coming into our city.”
Critical to the economic viability of the mixed-use developments is the nearby University of New Haven, officials and others
said.
“Everyone’s hoping to have a more normal fall with the hope we will then be able to find retail tenants that would really benefit the community of West Haven and this section of Allingtown,” said George Synodi, vice president for finance and administration for University of New Haven.
“We certainly got the benefit of the housing, but the real benefit is going to be post-COVID when students can gather together and everyone can eat inside a retail establishment and the retail businesses can come back,” Synodi said.
Synodi said many students coming to the university are seeking a university experience — which may include renting an
above-standard apartment as well as eating at restaurants and shopping.
“The real benefits beyond student housing have been delayed. I think everyone is looking forward to that,” he said.
Synodi said there was a retail study done years ago on University of New Haven students that “demonstrated clearly there was a desire for retail offerings around the university.”
“Students can get in a car and drive down the Post Road and get what they need retail-wise, but would they rather just walk? From a convenience standpoint, I think so,” he said.
Community space
Although city and university officials herald the economic
benefits of the Allingtown development, some longtime city residents feel ignored and forgotten.
“Seniors and kids don’t have places to go,” said Carroll E. Brown, founder of the West Haven Black Coalition.
Brown said the University Commons development project has beautified the city’s Allingtown section with new sidewalks and storefronts, but it has come at the expense of eroding the potential for community spaces for residents who are not affiliated with the university.
For example, she said, one of the Atwood commercial tenants is a casual-style gourmet burger restaurant chain, but members of the community are used to going to McDonald’s for their hamburger fix.
“It feels like Allingtown is being displaced,” said Brown. “It’s been very bad for the people of Allingtown. We pay taxes, but we can’t see where our money is going. There’s no play areas and no grocery stores. They’ll rename it ‘Collegetown,’ I guarantee you.”
But Rossi said the benefit of development ultimately will fall on those who live in Allingtown.
“If people’s taxes keep going up, you can give them all the programs they want, but if the tax base is going up it’s not going to be helpful,” she said. “Because of all the construction that’s gone on there, their (Allingtown) grand list the past two years has grown the largest of all three fire districts.”
(West Haven has three fire districts — Allingtown, Center and West Shore — each with its own fire district tax rate in addition to the city tax rate.)
In the recently-adopted city budget for the coming fiscal year , the Allingtown Fire District tax rate fell from 14.02 mills to 11.62 mills.
Brown said community stores — drugstores and beauty shops owned by local residents and people of color — have been forced out.
“They didn’t have to close Allingtown down,” she said.
Rossi also said the city is in talks with various stakeholders, including community advocates, to discuss bringing a new library location to Allingtown.
Next steps
O’Brien, who initiated the current University Commons development project and is one of two Democrats who has filed paperwork to run for mayor this year so far, said he believes an Allingtown senior center would be a natural next step.
“I think Allingtown would be a great place for a senior center,” he said.
Rossi said she believes that, as the University Commons project expands, it could lead to further development throughout the Allingtown section.
“The whole thing is a gamechanger,” she said. “Because of this, it could be contagious. Is it going to continue up the Post Road? I know there are people looking at it.”
Even outside Allingtown, Rossi said she believes the city’s financial picture has created conditions where developers are more encouraged to come to West Haven.
“We do have developers interested in coming forward and doing something here because we don’t have a deficit,” she said.