Allan Appel Photo
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Morrison sees “pillar of hope.”
The revival of Dixwell’s beloved Community “Q” House has a price sticker: $13.4 million and change. Now its backers plan to take a bus trip to Hartford, to lobby state officials to help pay.
“The state finds money for other things; maybe they can find money for this,” Dixwell Alderwoman Jeanette Morrison said at a City Hall meeting of the Board of Aldermen’s Youth Commission, where the price tag was revealed.
The Q House, formerly a vital community and youth center, has been shuttered for a decade, due in part to financial woes. It became a rallying cry for people in the neighborhood and city-wide who are concerned about the lack of productive activities for young people.
The Board of Aldermen commissioned a $40,000 year-long study to that end. Then it recently voted to endorse the study’s plan to tear down the existing structure on Dixwell Avenue and rebuild a new center incorporating the Stetson Branch Library, currently across the street.
Zared Enterprises, a local architectural firm, estimated that it would cost more than $5 million to bring the old building to code, because it suffers from broken windows (pictured), warped doors, vandalism, and extensive damage to its electrical and mechanical systems.
Jeanette Morrison Photos
With approximately $200,000 towards demolition, $11.3 million set aside for construction, and $1.9 million for furniture, fixtures and equipment, the final cost of the new “Q” totals just above $13.4 million, according to Zared’s calculations, presented at the Youth Commission meeting last week. The 50,000-square-foot plan includes areas that could be used for physical education or theater, in addition to spaces shared with the library.
In order to make the new Q House financially stable in the future, Morrison said, the city plans to lease space in the structure to businesses.
“We don’t want to be back here 30 years later, talking about ‘How do we sustain this?’” Morrison said.
The existing Q House, built in 1969, replaced an earlier version of the community center when that building no longer met the needs of the neighborhood.
“Leases in the building will put us in a position to have the Q House for years to come,” said Morrison (pictured). “Fifty thousand square feet is a lot of room. I don’t think they’ll grow out of that in a long while.”
The next steps toward making the project a reality include creating a group to raise money for ongoing operating costs and asking state officials for their support, the aldermen agreed.
“We’re all going to need to take a bus up to Hartford and lobby to get this money,” said Morrison. “It’s going to be really important that we as a city come together.”
The Youth Committee batted around ideas about the services the revamped “Q” might offer, including programs for seniors, career development advice, and psychological counseling.
“One of the things we definitely need to have in that building is mental health services,” Morrison said. “It’s taboo. Everyone thinks, ‘I’m not crazy.’ Nobody’s crazy. We just all need someone to talk to.”
She said that with career help for parents, activities for grandparents, and after-school classes for kids, the building could be a “way to make families whole.”
West River Alderwoman Tyisha Walker called renovating the Q House “the second puzzle piece to our comprehensive youth agenda: making sure young people have a safe space to go.”
Beaver Hills Alderman Brian Wingate agreed. He said he was especially glad that a new Q House would address the needs of teens 15 and older, which he called “that age group that is so troubled right now in New Haven and across America.”
“The whole of Dixwell Avenue needs to be refurbished, but this is a pillar of hope,” Morrison said. “One of the things we know, because we heard it through public testimony, is that the Q house has saved lives.”
Creating yet another stand-alone public facility, no matter how nice or needed it may be, is not a wise move.
A standalone civic center is a mistake from a financial perspective (cost), from a public safety perspective (no eyes on street late at night), and from a land use perspective (the land is too valuable not to also use for other things, like housing).
A more proven approach would be to combine the structure with a community-owned affordable and mixed-income housing development.
Doing this would be a three-for-one (a "threefer"?). The community desperately needs housing, it needs vibrancy, and yes, it needs good community centers too.
See links to examples at http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/q_house_vision_approved/id_63785