New Haven Independent

Officials announced the deal Wednesday at a ceremony by the banks of the Quinnipiac River. Hess Corporation owns the land — for now. Hess has agreed to sell the 8.5-acre plot of land on River Street to the city for $2.75 million. Hess also agreed to demolish the 18 tanks there and clean up pollution in the soil. The tanks should start coming down in February.

Officials made a big deal about the sale because the city hopes to turn River Street into a mecca for factories with good jobs for workers in the neighborhood. One company, Suraci Metals, has already moved to the district. (Click here for that story.)

Hess stopped using the tanks about four years ago when it realigned its regional terminals for storing home heating oil. The company started using ships that were too big to navigate New Haven Harbor.

The land has remained empty ever since. Even when Hess used it, only three people worked there.

New Haven hopes to draw a business that will employ 125 people and produce $1 million a year in tax revenue, according to city economic development officer Helen Rosenberg (shown signing the deal at Wednesday’s event). Rosenberg has been the key government staffer putting together the River Street district.

That’s not a pipe dream, she said. She said 30 manufacturers (which she wouldn’t identify) a year express interest in locating in New Haven. But New Haven hasn’t had room for them. Hence, the River Street project, a stretch of mostly abandoned and unused properties that can feel like the set of On the Waterfront.

“Manufacturing has a future in New Haven,” Mayor John DeStefano declared at the ceremony. He said this deal shows “you can do economic development without eminent domain.”

But first New Haven has to get the land ready. And that means breaking through an impasse with the Rell administration in Hartford, which John DeStefano just happens to be trying to throw out of office in the 2006 gubernatorial election.

DeStefano said the state committed $8.1 million to help prepare River Street but hasn’t come through. New Haven has committed $10 million to public improvements. The federal Economic Development Administration has committed another $1.5 million, but it requires matching money, which the city had counted on the state to provide. The Rell administration claimed, in a Register article, that the city hasn’t pushed for the money. Helen Rosenberg countered that the state sent the city a “congratulations” letter two years ago committing the money, but then failed to put the matter on the bond agenda for approval.