New Haven Independent

Developers Fairfield Residential want to bring luxury housing to the property known as the Star Supply site. The luxury housing developer has signed a contract with an option to buy the three-acre lot, according to project point-person Andy Montelli.

The former commercial laundry facility, at 1040-1070 State St. and 49-53 Mechanic St., became a topic of intense neighborhood interest in 2006 when the Christie Wareck company proposed sweeping redevelopment plans. The project gained city approval after a drawn-out zoning battle, but fell apart last summer amid infighting amongst the development team.

One year later, Fairfield Residential has emerged as the latest party to seriously consider revamping the rundown site. The company is the largest privately held multi-family developer in the nation, according to Montelli. It boasts 70,000 housing units across the country, he said.

Alderman Roland Lemar, whose East Rock district includes Star Supply, welcomed their interest in the site.

“That place is a tremendous eyesore for this neighborhood,” Lemar said Monday. He hoped the company would succeed in turning a “graffiti-laden, rat-infested building” into a “highly functional, attractive structure.”

Fairfield Residential is still doing due diligence, weighing the feasibility of building there, given significant environmental cleanup costs.

Montelli wouldn’t go into much detail about the project. It won’t be a hotel, he said. It won’t be a Walgreens, as some neighbors have feared in the past. His brief description of what the company seeks to build sounded similar to Christie Wareck’s plans: A residential complex of luxury housing, with some commercial space along State Street.

The company signed on a few months ago to a contract securing the right to buy the property if the city approves its plans, Montelli said in an interview Monday. The company joined the Upper State Street Merchant’s Association in the spring. Over the past few months, Montelli has been in informal talks with community stakeholders.

The property, which has been vacant for several years except for a hotel furniture store, is “one of the five or six most important properties in New Haven that needs to be developed,” reckoned Lemar. It sits at the edge of a “major commercial thoroughfare,” he noted. A new housing complex would be an “anchor and an “immediate boost of foot traffic” to the strip of bustling restaurants, boutiques and bars.

“Redeveloping that property is an extremely difficult challenge,” however, Lemar pointed out, citing environmental cleanup, the need for city zoning permission and the need to create plans that satisfy the neighborhood.

Presenting their plans before the neighbors in 2006, previous developers encountered an engaged group of architects, former aldermen and property owners ready to dive into, and wrangle over, the details of the plan. While many embraced the concept, some objected to the project’s density and parking plan. Montelli said he recognizes the need to include neighbors in the discussions.

“We want to make sure that whatever we propose is something that the neighborhood and the community feels good about,” he said.

When plans crystallize, developers plan to present them to neighborhood groups. The project would need a zoning variance to allow retail and housing in a light-industrial zone.

What attracted Fairfield Residential to the site?

“It’s a tremendous location,” Montelli said — near a highway, near a park, near State Street’s busy commercial strip.

“It’s such a terrific neighborhood. It’s got everything there. It’s got great shopping, great restaurants. … It’s got neighbors who really care about the place.”