New Haven Independent

On Wednesday night the City Plan Commission helped launch the effort by approving initial site plans, along with the roster of standard conditions, for the project to begin.

The proposed conversion, at 776-780 Grand Ave., is slated, it appears, to serve single people. The floor plan offered shows nine efficiency apartments on the first floor, and on the upper two floors four one-bedroom apartments and one efficiency each.

Because the building is included and described as “notable” in the city’s Historic Resource Inventory, Grandiose LLC’s owner/developers, Michael and David Steinbach, have committed in their submission to preserve, clean and repoint the existing brick. Moreover, an exiting stucco façade will be removed from the street level, brick will be restored there and an original window on the front uncovered.

Joy Ford, the coordinator of the City Plan Department, said that between the façade preservation and the windows, the historic look of the building will be retained.

An adjacent lot, heavily overgrown now, will provide 20 parking spaces including two handicapped spots, and the developers are proposing to screen the lot at the rear with hemlocks. Honey locusts and flowering cherry trees are also planned for the site.

The artist lofts in the former Frank’s Hardware are half a block away, as are two other secret New Haven little treasures: the public pool on Jefferson Street, north of Grand, in LEAP’s headquarters. On the same street, south of Grand, Lenzi Park, a meditative green space named in honor of a local U.S. Marine who died on Iwo Jima.

Maybe not too grandiose after all. If permits come through as hoped, construction is expected to begin as soon as this summer.