New Haven Independent

College Square Hotel On Hold

by Paul Bass | August 21, 2008 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

The would-be builder of a $100 million 225-room downtown luxury hotel has delayed the project for at least six months after the terms of his financing changed.

Developer Robert Landino (pictured) broke the news about the delay to Mayor John DeStefano in a City Hall meeting Wednesday.

It was the latest market-driven setback to an ambitious plan to remake the block of George and College streets directly across from the new Co-op High School. The project was originally planned as a 19-story condo tower until the housing market bottomed out. It evolved into a seven- or eight-story hotel with ground floor retail. Then the capital markets tanked.

“We’re in an environment where financing is a challenge” in general for builders, DeStefano said. “Right now my sense of it is it is a hotel.”

That’s Landino’s sense too.

Landino said later on Wednesday that the project isn’t completely on hold. His Hartford-based Centerplan Development firm will proceed with designing the hotel; the architect is Yale architecture dean Robert A.M. Stern’s firm. Centerplan will also renew its permits and draw up estimates for demolishing the retail building remaining on the block, Landino said.

What it won’t do is proceed with its plan to break ground this year. Landino said his firm had reached an agreement with Amalgamated Bank to finance the project. Then Amalgamated changed the terms, making it too expensive to proceed.

“My partner and I looked at each other and decided we should wait two or three quarters to see if the capital markets settle down,” Landino said. “It’s a tough climate. We’re going to return to our current lender [after that point] and possibly [approach] other lenders, in February or March. Hopefully the economy will settle down and banks will lend money more readily.”

Landino, a former state legislator, said he doesn’t have “a bad word to say” about Amalgamated for revising the loan terms. “Money tightened up,” he said. The bank’s capital comes from union pension funds.

Plans to include residences in the project are out for now, Landino said. “Do you know anybody who wants to buy a condo these days? But plans for street-level retail remain.

He said the unidentified hotel-builder he lined up to do his project — “a major company, one of the large boutique companies in the country” — is “still in the game.”

Once the city gave Landino’s firm the go-ahead for the project, successful existing small businesses were evicted. TK’s American Cafe was demolished. Cooper’s Dress Shop — which built a regional clientele over five decades — left town altogether; the store had already been forced to move one other time for an ambitious urban renewal project that never materialized as planned, back in the 1962s. After an extended battle with city officials and a competitor, one merchant, Sanjay Patil (pictured), did find a new downtown home for his liquor store.

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Comments

Posted by: pedro | August 21, 2008 8:51 AM

This is pretty frustrating, but not altogether unexpected considering how long this project has taken to get off the ground.

I think what is most disheartening is that 4 "mom and pop" stores were shut down and evicted with some leaving the city altogether.

While there are silver linings to several of the shops finding new homes elsewhere, TKs has left for good. It might have been a dive, but it was a fun dive!

Posted by: cedarhillresident | August 21, 2008 10:11 AM

Pedro I agree with you. And TK's was a thriving place that brought people to New Haven. That was the kind of business we should fight to keep. Well maybe someone can come in and take their place. We need place that bring the reg. guy in. Fancy is nice but a small group of people do fancy.

Posted by: Ben | August 21, 2008 1:24 PM

9 Condos have sold on my block between State and Orange in the last 4 months... That's one block. I guess it's fair to say that I do know some people buying condos.
7 of those 9 are new construction by the way and they are priced over $350,000.00.
We should not let shaky developers with grandiose plans warp the reality of the increasingly stable urban growth that is occurring in our city.

Posted by: pedro | August 21, 2008 2:52 PM

... and to follow up on what Ben wrote, just about every new Wooster Square condo development is 100% sold out including the new Grand Avenue Urbane building, which I believe only had 3 units left. And these specifically START at 229,000 and go up to to 389,000.

People are buying condos and homes here in New Haven. Where I live in Wooster Squar, a single family home went on the market and had an accepted offer in 2 days.

Yes, the million dollar Johnson Simon units are still on the market, so perhaps Mr. Landino can aim his sights at the 300-400,000 condo market, which is hardly "downscale" and I'm sure he'd find plenty of buyers.

Posted by: anon | August 21, 2008 5:16 PM

Condos in East Rock seem to be selling immediately.

Posted by: Ben | August 21, 2008 8:01 PM

I think the Johnson Simons condos have more to do with functionality than price.
There are not many people that want to live in a unit without walls.
If Mr Landino can price units between 225 and 450 they will sell. They need to have bedrooms and function as homes that people feel like they could have a first child in or just feel like they could have some extra room in.

Posted by: Director of Demolition | August 21, 2008 8:06 PM

Another of DeStefanos hyped developments hits the dust. This project and Shartenberg are on life support. Obviously the colliseum redevelopment will never get off the ground this century. The Maceys and Malleys lots have been empty for years. Has Gateway given up on them or was it just an electioneering dream.

Kelly Murphy should have her job title changed to Director of Demolition. Shes turned downtown into one great parking lot.

The only new thing in downtown in five years has been the heated bus shelters. The heating dont work and they are expensive urinals.

Barack. Please nominate Johnny D as your VP

Posted by: JP | August 22, 2008 12:36 AM

The Johnson Simons units are 500k not 1M.

Posted by: pedro | August 22, 2008 10:36 AM

Sorry, to be clearer, yes, originally one of the duplexes was priced at 1.2 million dollars, according to the Independent, but I don't think that price was ever realized.

http://newhavenindependent.org/archives/2006/04/post_163.php
The most expensive unit sold for a little under 800k.

The other ones that have closed have been in the 600k range, with the remaining units now selling between 489-649.

So yes, they are not all million dollar lofts, as I originally posted, but they are pretty expensive, and as Ben noted, they are designed for someone looking for a very specific living opportunity, since the lack of closests and walls can dissuade buyers.

Going back to Mr. Landino's assertion, I do think that there is a significant opportunity for condominiums downtown, just look at Center Court.

I think that his plan, however was pretty sky high. He originally was looking to build 272 units(!)
http://www.conntact.com/article_page.lasso?id=40798

Finally, Director O' Demo, stroll on over to the hopsital district to see some pretty substantial development moving along.

There has also been some pretty serious hotel development. 360 State breaks ground in a few weeks, and there is work happening at Gateway. They break ground next summer.

Developmentwise, the next few years are going to be exciting!

Posted by: Bill Saunders | August 22, 2008 4:28 PM

Director of Demolition,

New Haven is a famous purveyor of, what I term, "The Wrecking Ball Economy". No Surprises here.

College Square Hotel On Hold

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