Melissa Bailey Photo
Rita Miller would say goodbye to her chihuahua’s walking path through a grassy field — and say hello to 550 new neighbors outside her window — if Carabetta Enterprises goes through with a plan to add two towers to New Haven’s sprawling east-side senior housing complex.
Miller, who’s 68, is preparing for that change and welcoming other ones as the Carabetta Organization moves forward with a proposal to erect two more 17-story high-rises of apartments at Bella Vista.
The complex at 339 Eastern St., which serves adults over 55 and people with disabilities, is the largest of its kind in town — a virtual city of its own. It already has five high-rise buildings with 1,412 apartments housing about 2,000 people, according to William Johnson, the on-site property manager. Johnson’s grandfather built the complex, which opened in 1972 on a hill overlooking the Quinnipiac River.
Johnson, who’s 28, is the next generation of the family running the development. He said that now, nearly 40 years after Bella Vista was created, the affordable apartments are in ever-increasing demand. About 40 percent of the apartments are subsidized housing.
The waiting list for those apartments can be over one year, according to Johnson.
“The elderly are living longer. There’s a great need for affordable housing,” he said in an interview Wednesday at the site.
To accommodate the growing need, Carabetta aims to build the new towers on a grassy field right along Eastern Street, said Johnson (who’s pictured in front of the site). The towers would have a total of 399 apartments serving 550 people. Each would have 17 stories of housing atop three levels of parking. Each building would have its own community center.
The new buildings would keep the same look on the outside but would be more modern inside. They would host Bella Vista’s first computer lab and first aqua-therapy pool, two feature seniors have been asking for. Plans also call for a rooftop terrace, daycare facilities for children and adults, and a new community room that would serve both buildings.
Craig Laliberte Architect
West elevation of proposed new towers.
Johnson said even with the new amenities, “the goal is to keep it affordable”: The most expensive one-bedroom apartment at Bella Vista goes for $749 a month including utilities. The waiting list for market-rate apartments is 60 to 90 days. He said he doesn’t know how many of the new apartments will be federally subsidized, but said all will be affordable.
Carabetta aims to break ground in a year and build the towers in another 18 to 24 months.
Before that happens, Carabetta need approval from the City Plan Commission and the Board of Aldermen to amend a Planned Development District (PDD) that governs that site. The original PDD that was created to make way for Bella Vista in the 1970s had a cap on the number of apartments; Carabetta is asking for an increase to that cap.
In the approval process, lawyers will argue that there’s an urgent need for affordable elderly housing, that traffic won’t be a problem, and that the plans fit the neighborhood.
Laura Sklaver, an attorney helping the developers through the city approval process, said when while the plans will remove open space, they will also free up open space by turning a surface parking lot into a field.
The proposal will be examined in a January meeting of the aldermanic Legislation Committee. Click here to read it.
Alderwoman Maureen Sullivan-Best, who represents the neighborhood, said she supports adding more facilities for Bella Vista residents and for seniors who’d like to live there.
Given the waiting list, “I believe there is a need for more subsidized housing,” she said. “I’m certainly supportive of the concept, but there are a number of issues that need to be worked out” through the public hearing process. Those issues include the number of subsidized apartments and the way surrounding streets will be affected during construction.
Carabetta recently held a meeting with its residents to let them know about the major changes afoot. Over 200 people packed into the Victoria Room, where Bingo nights and pre-election parties are held, to learn of the plans, Johnson said.
Phyllis Reid (pictured), who has lived at Bella Vista for nine years, welcomed the prospect of the new indoor pool and exercise equipment. She said she loves the convenience of living at Bella Vista. She doesn’t have to leave her building to mail a letter or visit the bank. Buses run all day right up to her front door. There are medical offices, a grocery store and even a beauty salon. She said she moved there from Dwight Street seeking more security, and has been happy with the results.
She voiced one reservation about the expansion: it might “distract from the beauty of the place.”
“If they could keep the design so that it wouldn’t take away from the beauty of the place, I don’t think the extra people would matter,” she said.
Beauty was on Rita Miller’s mind, too, as she gazed out of her 12th-story apartment Wednesday afternoon. Her bedroom window looks down on a curved path cutting through a grassy field (pictured).
“Each of my views has a different way of saying, ‘Have a great day,’” she said. If the new towers rise, that will mean saying goodbye to that view and changing a daily routine: She takes her chihuahua, Chiquita, through the field every day for a walk.
“This is Chiquita’s walking path that we’re going to have to say goodbye to,” she said.
It was on that path that she formed a friendship with Judy Seamour, who walks her shitzu, Kelly. The women, who are both 68, periodically clutched each other’s arms for emphasis Wednesday as they recounted how they grew to be close. They said it’s that kind of camaraderie that “makes Bella Vista Bella Vista.”
Johnson said that new walking trails are included in the proposal.
Seamour called the prospect of missing their daily walking ground — and adjusting to 550 new neighbors — daunting.
“It’s scary,” she said. “We fear the unknown.”
They both agreed they would learn to adapt to the change.
“In the end, it’s for the best,” concluded Seamour. “More people will have homes.”
The City of New Haven must stop approving ugly large scale buildings that are a visible marker of our city's aesthetic character. Developers can spend a little more on design and materials to make far better than what we're seeing. Its won't break their bank.