New Haven Independent

Seven years ago, Lloyd bought an old firehouse from the city that was slated for demolition. He and Craig, his wife, turned the building into Firehouse 12, the now thriving performance space, recording studio, and bar. Friday afternoon afternoon, they were eager to add their names to a petition to save historic three buildings across the street that may not be so lucky, decaying in the midst of an otherwise reviving downtown district.

About 40 people gathered on lower Crown at noon to launch a petition drive to save three buildings that have been neglected for decades — even after a developer bought them with a promise to renovate. Two of the buildings, at 26-28 and 30-36 Crown St. date to 1875, and the third, at 40-44 Crown, was built in 1910. (Read yesterday’s story, with reader debate, here.)

The city sold these historic buildings, along with two parking lots, to developer David Nyberg in 2004 when he took over Phase II of the Ninth Square Redevelopment Project. As a condition of accepting state dollars for that project, the city agreed that historic buildings like the three on lower Crown would be preserved.

City officials said Nyberg has plans to rehabilitate the buildings, which have been deteriorating for decades. But four years after the sale they still stand vacant and exposed to the elements. Preservationists worry that without active preservation in the immediate future, the buildings will face the threat of teardown due to structural instability.

(Nyberg and city officials told the Register’s Mary O’Leary, in this article, that damaging work was done in the building without a permit. Nyberg was quoted saying he does want to save the buildings.)

The crowd Friday gathered around a microphone in front of the fence separating two of the buildings in question, the Howard-Arnold building and the S.Z. Field Building. Leaders of the petition drive each took a turn at the mike.

Anstress Farwell, president of the Urban Development League, said that beyond straight neglect, there’s been direct harm done to the buildings.

She pointed out where steel window frames — so plentiful because they predated electricity — had been cut through at the Howard-Arnold Building to allow for dumping chutes for construction. She is also concerned that ripping out upper floors at the S.Z. Field building may have compromised preservation.

Alan Greenberg, who has run Acme furniture out of its location across the street since 1966, said he has watched New Haven change from a small cosmopolitan center like New York to a city with so many deserted properties. He said the old Yale Furniture Warehouse at 30-36 Crown was the first skyscraper built in America, and its steel on steel model was later used in New York.

Scott Healy (pictured), the executive director the Town Green Special Services District, said that 10 or 15 years ago, when tearing down entire neighborhoods was the norm, the neglect of these buildings would not have raised many complaints. He said the presence of so many business owners and residents at Friday’s event is evidence of a new attitude towards development exemplified by the success of the surrounding Ninth Square redevelopment.

He addressed critics who would tear down old treasures. “I’ve heard people say, ‘Those buildings look terrible, they’re an eyesore,’ as if the building itself were responsible for how it looks today,” he said. “It actually takes quite a bit of neglect for buildings to look like they do. And it’s a little naive and even shortsighted not to realize what the buildings will look like once they’re redeveloped.”

Even in the Ninth Square, there is probably no street with more historical buildings still defining the urban landscape, said Robert W. Grzywacz, board member of the New Haven Preservation Trust.

He later added that in the entire city, only 300 to 400 buildings date back to the 1850-1875 period, and 95 percent of those are residential. This makes the preservation of these commercial and industrial buildings even more vital, he said.

Architect Alan Organschi of Organschi and Gray, which is right across the street at 35 Crown St., said the developer needs to express an understanding of the logistical challenges of restoring these buildings that Organschi called “the lifeblood of this neighborhood,” and to explain to the public his plans for rehabilitation.

He commended the city for its commitment to the rehabilitation of the Ninth Square, and said it was time for the public to do its part as well. “These guys can’t do it alone,” he said.

Organschi and his partner purchased their firm’s building in 2001, and did extensive adaptive reuse work on that space as well as what is now Firehouse 12, his next-door neighbor. “Come see our offices sometime, or look next door to see what a little effort can do to buildings that were described as unsalvagable,” he said.