New Haven Independent

Work on Gateway’s new downtown campus is scheduled to get under way next month following one more state Bonding Commission meeting, city officials said. Even before crews break ground, work will start underneath the site.

So the city and state will be working on the tunnels that wind themselves from an entrance near the Knights of Columbus, under the former Macy’s and Malley’s sites and under the former Chapel Square Mall and the Omni Hotel at Yale.

The problem is that the Omni and other businesses in that area are supplied through loading docks located in those tunnels.

A plan is in place to break up those loads onto small trucks and have those trucks enter the tunnel through the garage under the Omni, Deputy Development Administrator Tony Bialecki told a meeting of the city’s Development Commission Tuesday morning.

The trucks will use the present entrance and exits on either side of the garage (pictured above), he said. The breaking up will be done either near or in the tunnel entrance on South Orange Street.

The builder, Dimeo Construction, will pay for the cost of breaking down the loads brought in by large trucks into loads that can be carried by trucks small enough to pass under the approximately seven-foot high garage entrance, Bialecki said.

A public meeting to discuss the $198 million Gateway Community College project’s effect on the neighborhood is scheduled for Oct. 21 at 6:30 at the Omni.

All residents and businesses in the area near the school’s footprint bounded by George, Crown, Temple and Church streets have been notified of the meeting. Downtown Alderwoman and development Commissioner Frances “Bitsie” Clark (pictured) doesn’t expect a large turnout.

“People had the Coliseum blown up right over their heads and not many showed up at the meetings we had,” Clark noted.

The Omni is prepared for its part in the delivery scheme, said hotel Director of Sales and Management Teresa Goldsmith.

“This should not have an effect on the hotel guests,” she said, “but it will affect the behind the scenes operations of the hotel dramatically.” Her staff has been working with Dimeo and the city, as well as all the primary vendors, to make the breaking up as easy to do as possible, she said.

Joe Coppola of Pro Park, the parking lot vendor, did not return a call seeking comment.