New Haven Independent

The meeting opened with a statement from Timothy Lee, the attorney representing One Grand LLC, the current owners of the historic 1885 Roland T. Warner Hardware Company building, which sits over the water at the Grand Avenue Bridge. Lee explained that after community meetings and submission of the plan to the Board of Zoning Appeals, adjustments had been made to address citizen concerns. Chiefly, the plan now consists of six ownership condominiums rather than rental apartment in response to complaints that the space might be used for purposes other than permanent, stable residences. Company owner David Vieau is president of the Turning Point Foundation, a non-profit that runs transitional housing facilities for recovering addicts.

But Lee said there are limits to the concessions One Grand will make to the original plan in order to keep it economically viable. The owners would have to add new windows to the building and extend its height by four or five feet to accommodate six condo units. Architect Robert Mangino explained the specifics of the plan, using posterboards and photographs as visual aid.

“Basically we are extending the existing character of the building and just raising it up another level,” Mangino said. “We thought this was the best approach for our tenants and for the ease of construction.”

The building is located in the Quinnipiac River Historic District, though it is not specifically labeled a historic landmark. Thus, the laws protecting the area demand that no changes can be made to destroy the historic structure. Lee said the project will be more rehabilitative than destructive.

“Although we are changing the building in some respects, we are restoring it in other respects to its original character,” he said. “It’s obviously not in the same condition as it was in the 1800s.”

Vieau, who owns the building with his father, called the project a balancing act in terms of maintaining the historic nature of the building but also being cost-effective. “I love this building, I drive by it all the time, it’s awesome,” Vieau said. “But it’s going to cost a lot of money to bring this building back to life.”

Throughout the presentation, select members of the audience shook their heads in vehement disagreement. Two in particular — local lawyer Marjorie Shansky and landscape contractor Chris Ozyck — were a major reason this meeting drew a crowd. Referred to as “the interveners,” both filed separate petitions to challenge One Grand LLC’s plans on the basis of unreasonable disruption of the district. So even though the meeting wasn’t a public hearing, the interveners could present testimony and call witnesses.

Shansky, a Fair Haven resident, was adamant that such a prominent historic feature of the neighborhood not be altered. “It does not take demolition to ruin a building, and we’re here complaining about the destruction of a landmark structure,” Shanksy said. “Adding more windows and an extra floor without further study is a desecration of a historic building.”

Shansky then called upon Anstress Farwell, architectural historian and head of the New Haven Urban Design League, to opine. Farwell used an oil painting of the Fair Haven waterfront that she put on display to illuminate the importance of the view of the area and the prominence of the contested building. When asked by commissioners what would happen if the building is not developed and instead continues to deteriorate, Farwell assured them, “There could and would be people who understand the historic nature of the building and will work within that frame.” She held up the painting in front of her audience with pride before she took her seat.

The second intervener, Ozyck, had a host of neighborhood experts he wanted to call up. But observing the yawns and impatient faces in the crowd, Chairwoman Pat King encouraged Ozyck to keep his presentation concise and guest speakers to a minimum, reminding him that this was not a public hearing. Ozyck explained that as a previous tenant of the building from 1996 to 1999, he had developed an “intimate relationship” with the space and was thus extremely invested in its fate. He expressed concerns about the stability of the foundations of the building, which were echoed by other local developers and contractors who spoke briefly. Vieau said that after some investigation, the developers found that the building had sunk in some capacity in the past century but was not in structural failure.

During a much-needed coffee and sandwich break as the meeting neared the three-hour mark, Ozyck expressed his frustration with the response of the developers to the concerns of the public. He pointed to the fact that he, Shansky, and some of the other developers and aldermen who had showed up at the meeting to protest the plan do not always take the same stance on issues, but the importance of the Fair Haven project had served to unite them.
“I believe it should be up to the commission to verify information and gather as much information as possible before making a decision,” Ozyck said. “All we can do now is hope for the best.”

And it looks like Ozyck and others will just have to keep on hoping…and waiting. The Commission ultimately decided to table the discussion and refer the proposal to the Historic District Commission for review. This will provide them with an outside opinion and extra time to research the details of the plan before their next meeting in December.

In other orders of business, construction plans for a 19-story building spanning the entire block of College between George and Crown were unanimously approved by the board earlier in the evening. Across from where the city’s erecting a new home for Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School, the “Residences and Shops at College Square” will include 276 residential condos selling for between $400,000 and $1 million apiece, two floors of parking; and two floors of unspecified retail.

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