New Haven Independent

If the project proceeds as planned, it will seek to address two problems at once: homelessness, and neighborhood blight.

The plight of 566 Whalley has vexed the neighborhood since the July 4, 2001, blaze. It’s the dominant building on the block of Whalley between Pendleton and Hobart streets, just up the road from Edgewood Park. Its fate affects the quality of life for surrounding blocks of stores and homes in the Edgewood neighborhood.

The building’s previous owner made the two-story brick commercial building a gem. It was fully occupied, clean, and thriving. That previous owner, Lynn Jacobsen, thought at first she’d be able to renovate it after the fire.

A friend called her that morning around 7:45 after seeing flames that soared 20 feet high. Jacobsen rushed to the scene. Fortunately, because it was Independence Day, no one was inside.

“I really cared about that building,” she said. “I really took care of it. It was a black day in my life.

“I was telling people the day of the fire, ‘You’ll be back in three weeks.’ Then reality set in.”

Or, more specifically, the insurance company took a year and a half to come to an agreement on paying to repair the damage. At that point the building was structurally beyond repair, Jacobsen said.

She looked for a buyer. It’s hard to sell that large a building, which takes up more than half the block. And renovating it would be a bad decision for any new owner.

So what was once an anchor of that stretch of Whalley become a burden to neighbors. “It went from being the nicest building on Whalley to being one of the worst,” said Bruce McClenning, who owns a fur shop across the street. “It hurts the image of New Haven. After dark you see hangers-on you wouldn’t have seen before.”

Jacobsen found an interested prospective buyer: Home, Inc., a not-for-profit that builds and manages affordable housing projects. Home Inc. wanted to demolish the building and erect a new four-story center for homeless people and recovering addicts.

Although neighbors disliked the empty building, they rallied against the idea at a hearing before the zoning board, which then shot down Home Inc.’s plan. “This is actually very sad. It ended up being divisive,” observed neighborhood Alderwoman Liz McCormack. “The general feeling was it’s too big and we have our fair share of social services.” One neighbor testified before the zoning board that she’d rather look at a burned-out building than at a facility for the homeless. (Home, Inc., has more recently been criticized by New Haven’s housing authority, which canceled a contract with the agency to manage scattered-site housing.)

Home Inc. and Columbus House, its partner in the Whalley project, sat down with neighbors to try again. They came up with a plan for a three-story building to replace the one they’d demolish. They scaled down the plan to 22 apartments, for the second and third floors. They narrowed the project to just the elderly homeless and near-homeless (including seven to 10 units for disabled elderly people). The project will include support services on site. The planners included the first-floor retail. And they stayed within current zoning laws, which means they don’t need to return to the zoning board for approval.

Last month Home Inc. closed on the sale, buying the property from Jacobsen for $450,000. The project will be called Whalley Terrace.

“This is a good project. We’re very proud of it,” said Chris Peterson, real-estate chief for Home Inc. He said construction should begin next May or June and finish around April 2007. “Homelessness is rising faster now than at any time in the 70 years since the Great Depression. In Connecticut alone, over 33,000 people experience homelessness each year, including 13,000 children. In order to answer the need, 68,000 affordable housing units and 10,000 supportive housing units are necessary.” He’s happy that Home Inc. and the neighborhood found a way to build a few of those desperately needed homes.

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