City OK’s 473 housing units across 4 projects

NEW HAVEN — Low demand for office space is behind a full conversion to residential use for one downtown property and the addition of apartments to another, while the city’s neighborhoods are also welcoming new developments.

A total of 473 housing units across four projects were approved at the latest City Plan Commission meeting as this sector continues to grow in spite of a lingering pandemic.

Thousands of apartments have been approved in recent years, which includes a sprint more recently by developers looking to get approvals before the new Inclusionary Zoning rules kicked in Friday.

The rules require a setaside of affordable apartments for new developments and major renovations or a monetary contribution toward low-income units.

City Plan approved the final conversion to residential from offices at the former Chapel Square Mall at 900 Chapel St.

It gave the OK to 87 more apartments there, adding to the 185 already approved for a total of 272 apartments.

The newest approval is for 10 one-bedroom and two two-bedroom units on the second floor; 15 one-bedrooms on the sixth and the 10th-13th floors at the complex at Chapel, Church and Temple streets. The ground floor retail will remain.

Attorney Christopher McKeon, who represented owners CSD Mall LLC, a division of PMC Property Group, said construction will begin immediately on the second, sixth and 11th floors with the rest undertaken as the office leases expire.

McKeon, whose office is in the tower at 900 Chapel St., said there are “significant vacancies in numerous portions of the building. That is not unusual in office buildings throughout the country.”

At 142 Temple St., owned by Olympia LLC, the board approved adding four residential floors to a three-story commercial building that will continue to maintain its current office spaces.

The proposal already has the necessary zoning and parking approvals.

Architect Kenneth Boroson said the two retail spaces on the ground floor will remain. There will also be a new staircase and elevator strictly for the residents.

There will be 60 apartments: 12 studios, 44 onebedrooms and four twobedrooms. The studios are around 565 square feet; onebedroom apartments range from 615-750 square feet and two-bedrooms are 810 square feet.

There is some outdoor space on the fourth floor with a roof deck on the seventh floor. Boroson said the facade will be brick-like material. There will be 4,450 square feet of outdoor space, 5,410 square feet of amenity space and 350 square feet of green roof area.

The new structure will be wood. Boroson said the structure has to be light. The architect said the roof will be removed and the new floors put on it.

At 10 Liberty St., Vesta Liberty Street LLC wants to demolish a dilapidated factory in a BA zone that produced architectural lighting fixtures and build a 150-unit apartment complex at Liberty, Putnam and Spring streets.

It is a mixed neighborhood with automotive facilities and railroad yards close by as well as homes to the north and west.

The shuttered Electrix Illumination factory, which consists of four buildings, went out of business in December 2020.

Susan Fiedler and Tanya Segal are the investors in Vesta Liberty Street LLC.

The project calls for some parking on the first level with other spaces to the rear for a total of 136 parking spaces.

The apartments would be located on levels two through five and feature balconies and a roof terrace with views of downtown and Long Island Sound.

The owners are planning to meet with the community to explain their plans.

The old factory is on the city’s inventory of historic structures, but the owners determined that the cost of remediating it would be prohibitive. They will apply for the demolition permit — which incorporates a 90-day delay — when they are closer to construction.

Segel said a tenant who had signed a 10-year lease for the property left after 18 months. They scrambled to find a new use and in the meantime brought it up to environmental residential standards and cleaned out the debris.

The owners determined the property was better suited to residential use and found there was a need in the neighborhood.

“We have accomplished a lot in the last 14 months although it is not all visible,” Segel said.

This project has been a long time coming for developer Ives George of RJDA. He is a familiar face to the commission, having started the complex deal in October 2016.

He got final approval this month for the L-shaped, 176-unit apartment building at 291 Ashmun and 309 Ashmun St. on city property bound by Canal Street and south of Henry Street.

It will consist of 68 studio apartments; 64 one-bedroom units; 32 two-bedroom units and four three-bedroom apartments. One-third of the apartments — 58 of them — will be affordable housing, a major desire of the city as it looked for a developer for the site.

“It has been a long haul, but we are extremely excited to be at this point,” Joseph said.

There will be 97 parking spaces and accommodations for 38 bicycles. The considerable amount of open space incorporates the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, which borders the property.

Joseph said one of the inspirations behind the project was to “highlight and emphasize the Farmington Canal Trail as an amenity not only for our building, but for the entire community.”