nothin Winstanley Pitches Downtown Land Deal | New Haven Independent

Winstanley Pitches Downtown Land Deal

Melissa Bailey Photo

As he unveiled a package of proposed deals with the city to make way for his downtown office tower, Carter Winstanley faced skeptical questions from aldermen: Who’ll get the jobs? And if I trip and fall outside your building at night, will anyone hear me scream?

The questions arose Thursday night, as Massachusetts-based developer Winstanley (pictured) gave the first public briefing on a package of proposed legislation that would pave the way for a seven- to eight-story tower of medical offices and lab space in what is now an automotive wasteland at 100 College St.

Winstanley’s project is part of the city’s larger Downtown Crossing plan, which would stitch together the downtown neighborhood with the Yale medical campus. Winstanley’s building would be the centerpiece of a first phase of development on the 10-acre site in the Route 34 corridor.

Thursday’s briefing took place before five aldermen and a handful of members of the public in a second-floor meeting room at City Hall. It came on the heels of a contentious, four-hour hearing in City Hall Wednesday in which some aldermen and safe streets activists called for the larger project to be redesigned to make it more amenable to cyclists and walkers.

Winstanley addressed those concerns Thursday by highlighting a pedestrian-friendly area of his building that he says is overlooked. He did so as he launched new phase of the process: Getting approvals from the Board of Aldermen to make the building a reality. That includes three pieces of legislation: a development agreement, a land disposition agreement, and a change to the city’s zoning map.

If all goes as planned, city officials said, the city should begin road improvements at the end of 2012 and transfer the property to Winstanley in the spring of 2013. Winstanley would then begin building in the summer of 2013 and finish by the end of 2015.

The city aims to begin the approvals process Monday, when it plans to introduce details of its three requests to the Board of Aldermen, said Economic Development Administrator Kelly Murphy. Another aldermanic briefing is planned for Tuesday and a community meeting is set for Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. at the Wilson library in the Hill. On Thursday, city officials and Winstanley gave aldermen a sneak peak at what’s to come.

Winstanley has now been building in New Haven for 11 years and owns over 1.2 million square feet of real estate in the city, including at 300 George St. and in Science Park, he said.

Winstanley declined to say the projected cost of his latest project, but the city’s presentation pegged his investment at over $100 million. He revealed Thursday that he may have to shrink the building below what has been previously discussed, depending on how many tenants he secures. He said he is in discussions with several tenants but does not have any commitments. The project will be from 225,000 to 400,000 square feet, depending on how many tenants sign up for the space, he said.

His presentation met two main concerns: whether New Haveners and minorities will land construction jobs, and whether the net result will be a human” landscape.

Jobs. For Whom?

Jobs were at the top of some aldermen’s minds as they heard about the proposed development agreement the city has negotiated with Winstanley.

The agreement comes because of the amount of public money involved in the deal, and because the property is owned by the government. The land Winstanley seeks currently belongs to the state. The city plans to acquire it and re-sell it to him.

When the city makes the land deal, it has the opportunity to attach various requirements not made of other private developers.

According to the deal, Winstanley Enterprises would add half a million dollars to a pool of public money going toward redesigning the streets.

Murphy.

Public infrastructure improvements would cost up to $34.65 million, Murphy said, including $16 million in a federal Tiger II grant; $10.35 million from the state; $7 million from the city, $800,000 from the city parking authority, and $500,000 from Winstanley.

The work includes closing Exits 2 and 3 off of Route 34, removing the College Street bridge, relocating the highway on-ramp, and creating a new ramp into the Air Rights Garage. Winstanley would build a new parking facility adjoining the lab office building and maintain access to the nearby Air Rights Garage through drive tunnels under his building.

Murphy pledged the project would create up to 2,000 construction jobs,” and 600 – 960 new permanent jobs of all skill levels.” The number of jobs created is not a requirement of the development agreement, Winstanley said.

On the construction project, Winstanley has committed to adhere to the city’s goals for hiring minority-owned and small contractors, as well as New Haveners, women and minority construction workers.

That means that 25 percent of the construction workers must live in New Haven, 25 percent must be racial minorities, and 6.9 percent must be women, according to the agreement.

And of the contractors on the job, 10 percent must be African-American-owned operations, 6 percent Hispanic, and 11 percent women.

Winstanley said he agreed to stick to those goals on his latest project, the Higher One office complex in an abandoned Winchester gun factory in Science Park.

I volunteered” to adhere to the goals because it’s the right thing to do,” Winstanley said. The project is 20 percent complete. So far, we are hitting those goals.”

Dwight Alderman Greg Smith said he’s extremely concerned” about who will be getting those jobs. He said he’s constantly approached by people in his neighborhood who say they lost work on a job site, often on account of poor training. He added that local, minority-owned contractors often get overlooked for big construction projects.

Smith suggested a set-aside” for minority contractors.

I can’t do set-asides,” Winstanley said.

However, he said his company has been working extremely hard” to make opportunities for minority and local firms. He works from a list provided by the city of 200 certified contractors. His company even fronted money for insurance for a small contractor who couldn’t afford it, he said.

Colon.

Hill Alderwoman Dolores Colon asked what happens when construction season ends.

Winstanley acknowledged construction jobs are not permanent, but he said his company has provided ample opportunity for continuing work.

We’ve been under construction somewhere in the city” each year for the last 10 years, he said.

Colon asked about the other jobs — the hundreds of full-time workers employed by whichever tenant ends up in the building. She said when Science Park was reborn as a biomedical district inside abandoned gun factory buildings, the city was promised jobs for New Haveners.

Jobs are always promised to entice us,” she said. But when the buildings fill up, there aren’t any jobs for average New Haveners.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” she remarked.

Winstanley replied that it’s up to the tenants in his buildings to make hiring decisions. He said it’s a difficult subject for a landlord to broach. He recently polled his tenants, he said, and learned that 21 percent of employees at Higher One live in New Haven. At Cafe George by Paula, which is nested in 300 George St., about half of the 20 employees live in the city, he said.

He said he has discussed with some tenants how to improve those percentages.

Career Ladder Launched

The development agreement calls for investment in some programs that aim to address the jobs problem by better preparing New Haveners for careers in the field.

It calls for Winstanley to participate in a program called ACE, run by the New Haven Board of Education, in which industry professionals mentor city students who want to go into architecture, construction or engineering.

And it calls for both parties to contribute to a new initiative that would create a career ladder” for New Haveners interested in going into the bio-tech and medical research field. The program, similar to one at Gateway Community College for nurses, will be a joint project by the city, Board of Ed, Gateway, and the Workforce Alliance, Murphy said.

Winstanley agreed to pay $150,000 toward the program; the city and the Economic Development Corporation agreed to pay another $100,000.

The pact also contains several requirements for going green. Winstanley’s building must be LEED-certified Silver, a measure of sustainability; it must contain bicycle racks, showers and drop-off spots for shuttles”; and the parking garage must have spots to juice up electrically-powered cars.

Unlike for the 360 State project, the city didn’t give an estimate for how much tax revenue would be generated by 100 College St.

Downtown Crossing will boost the city’s tax revenue by millions per year,” Murphy’s presentation reads.

The deal requires 100 College St. to stay on the tax rolls for 30 years, regardless of whether it changes hands to a not-for-profit entity such as Yale-New Haven Hospital.

A New Map

To pave the way for the development, the city proposes creating a new zoning designation and redrawing its zoning map. The new designation would be called BD‑3, for Business District 3. City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg explained Thursday the reasoning behind the change.

Gilvarg proposed the zone change for one swath of land in the Route 34 corridor, about four blocks between High Street, where 100 College St. will sit, and South Orange Street. She said the city is pursuing this avenue instead of a Planned Development District, a controversial zoning tool that creates stringent requirements for specific projects.

The area in question is currently zoned BD, as is much of downtown, Gilvarg said. BD does not allow research laboratories bigger than 2,000 square feet, she said. And it requires that a building be no bigger than six times the area of its footprint.

The new BD‑3” zone would allow medical and biological research labs as well as out-patient clinics as a permitted use, Gilvarg said. It would also require bicycle accommodations. And it would require buildings facing College, Temple, Orange and Church streets to have principle entrances on those streets” and to have transparent and active uses on those streets.”

A Human” Landscape

Just how active those streets are was of prime concern to Alderwoman Colon, who lives on Salem Street, just a block away from Yale’s School of Nursing on the edge of the medical district.

Colon said she often walks home at night from meetings at City Hall. She described to Winstanley how, one evening, she was passing his building at 300 George St. at College and George when she tripped on a chunk” of sidewalk.

I screamed like never before in my life,” she recalled. No one heard me.”

Colon said that’s evidence of something wrong with the building — that it hasn’t made the street more livable, more human. At night, the area is all dark, she said.

The windows must be hermetically sealed,” she observed.

Winstanley used a warm, personal approach — combined with impassioned statements of his commitment to the city — to try to win Colon over.

First, he said, there’s a reason the windows are sealed tight — the building is LEED Silver. And 300 George is a lab with hazardous chemicals inside. I don’t want to poison you.”

Second, he said 300 George is far from empty at night: People use 300 George St. all night long because they run experiments there, he said.

Colon countered that when scientists are done with their experiments, they get into the garage and hit the highway.

Your building is occupied, but on the streets, there’s no human voice,” she said.

Winstanley said 16 to 50 percent of the workers at 300 George live in New Haven, depending on the tenant. He said he’s already seen the surrounding streets improve. Ten years ago, people thought it was not a safe area,” he recalled. He had to have security guards walk workers to their cars at night. I couldn’t get anyone to walk home.”

He said now, workers feel much more safe and very few request escorts to their cars. He said he’s now facing that same problem in Science Park. We’re walking people to their cars now because there’s a perception that it’s unsafe.”

Slowly but surely we’re going to change that perception,” he said.

He vowed to do the same at 100 College St., if aldermen let him. The medical district has the largest population of people working at night, he observed.

Let’s activate that area” with a bridge between downtown and the medical campus, Winstanley declared.

Colon replied that in order to activate the space, there need to be people living there.

She urged Winstanley and the city to add some apartments in the area — so it doesn’t look like the Grand Canyon after the sun goes down.”

Winstanley countered that his development — including a pedestrian area wrapping around the building at level with College Street — will serve only to make the area more livable.

He ended his pitch by offering to take Colon and Smith on a personal tour of his properties to show them the work his company has done, including providing work for minority contractors.

After the meeting, he handed Colon his business card and reinforced his offer.

All I ask is that you put people on the street,” Colon replied. We’re human.”

She agreed, with a somewhat skeptical tone, to take the tour.

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