nothin Feldman Brothers Look To Turn Harold’s Into… | New Haven Independent

Feldman Brothers Look To Turn Harold’s Into 5‑Story Apartment Building

Proposed new look for Harold’s.

Two brothers who have been investing in New Haven’s apartment boom are looking to turn the recently vacated-Harold’s bridal shop into a five-story apartment building with first-floor retail.

At City Hall Tuesday evening, Jacob and Josef Feldman presented their plans for 19 Elm St. to the Downtown-Wooster Square Management Team.

It was step one in seeking to build public support for zoning approvals needed to make the project fly. It also represented the latest in a stream of proposed projects bringing more than 1,000 market-rate apartments to the eastern edge of downtown.

The Feldman brothers, co-principals of local real-estate company MOD Equities, said that they intend to keep the original one-story 1945 structure, while building on top of it to create 46 apartments.

We hope to take advantage of the space that’s existing,” Jacob Feldman told the room.

Within the new complex would be a collection of duplex units, as well as one and two-bedroom apartments. The duplex units, according to the project architect Dwayne Dancey, would take advantage of the high ceilings in the basement of the property. The intention is to create two-leveled apartments, which would serve both living and working.”

Citing its proximity to the train station and the downtown area, the developers said they hoped the building would attract walking, biking” residents. While the building would include space for 40 bikes and a fitness center, it would have 21 parking spaces — a plan that would require approval from the Board of Zoning Appeals. Other developers have sought, and won, approvals in recent years for including fewer than the required number of parking spaces, as the city promotes a new urbanist” vision of denser development less geared than in the past to car travel. (Read about that issue, with an extensive reader debate, here.)

The building would also house a 1,200 square-foot space for a commercial tenant, returning the Elm Street building to a place of business. Feldman expressed his desire for this vacancy to be filled by a restaurant.

Stephanie Addenbrooke Photo

Josef (left) and Jacob (right) Feldman with attorney Muccilli.

We’d love to see a morning coffee and pastry shop in there,” he said. I like food.”

Despite a change in the commercial owner, the developer’s plans show the iconic Harold’s sign on the side of the building. According to the sketches, the apartment building would be named Harold’s towers.

Greg Muccilli, the brothers’ lawyer, told the community that the brothers are here [in New Haven] to stay.” The brothers have been buying and renovating apartments in New Haven for over five years. They recently bought 129 Church St., an office building across from the Green, for $6.9 million.

Even though the developers are not seeking financial assistance from the city, they will still need to apply for site plan permission from the City Plan Commission as well as the zoning relief. Muccilli said the plan will likely require building variances from the city, particularly in regards to adding height to the existing structure and expanding the property forwards to meet the street line.

Concerns were raised at the meeting about affordable housing, and the use of the basement space for apartments.

When asked about affordable housing, the developers maintained that the apartments would run at market value. Market values have skyrocketed in downtown. Jacob Feldman told the Independent that he could not predict what the exact rents would be; community members expressed their concern about the high price attached to living in downtown New Haven.

Edward Anderson called affordable housing a pressing need.

There is a growing disparity between the haves and have-nots,” he said. We’re going to end up without a middle class in New Haven.”

Even with these concerns, he praised the overall idea of developing Harold’s. Creating apartments downtown invites more tax-paying residents to the area, whose taxes would feed into other city services, he said.

MOD Equities, which has an office on East Street, started buying properties in downtown New Haven and in East Rock and Wooster Square around four years ago, according to Feldman. He said the company owns about a dozen buildings with some 90 apartments altogether. One of its properties, 101 Orange, includes the Central Steakhouse.

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