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Meagan Jordan Photo
Gamble: “We don’t need high end. We need help.”
Following a last-ditch city attempt to land a high-end retailer, a retail space at the heart of efforts to upscale downtown will soon open as a 9,000-square-foot dollar store.
The national Dollar Tree chain is in the process of spending “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to renovate the space on the ground floor of the Centerpointe apartments at the corner of Church and Chapel in anticipation of a July 17 opening, according to landlord Michael Schaffer.
The store will probably hire 20 to 30 people, Schaffer said. Some 200 people have come by for applications over the past weeks, he said.
Paul Bass Photo
Schaffer has tried for a decade to fill that vacant storefront, since his company, 235 Development Associates, renovated the upper floors of the corner property (pictured) into 83 market-rate apartments.
City and state officials backed that renovation in hopes of spurring a revival of the historic but somewhat worn block of Chapel between Church and Orange Streets. The intersection there is known as the “100 Percent Corner” — the most central commercial crossroads in town, a crossroads of New Haven’s stratified worlds. It’s also seen as a barometer of civic New Haven’s efforts to boost property values (or, depending on your perspective, to gentrify the poor away from downtown’s most valuable real estate).
Schaffer’s housing plan worked. After his apartments started renting, another developer constructed the 32-story 360 State apartment tower and ground-floor Elm City Market a block away.
One Vision
The Church-to-Orange block has seen some new investment, too, but largely has yet to follow the envisioned trajectory. Two key corner buildings (pictured above and at right) at the corner of Orange and Chapel remain empty, one pretty much uninhabitable. Two other lots remain vacant, though a property owner has asked the city to sell him one of them to construct a new building.
The pending arrival of the dollar store has sparked debate among downtown retailers, customers and officials about the best uses for a downtown block, and how much public effort should or can go into determining its course. In the end, the market spoke.
Before that, the Harp administration prevailed on Schaffer to delay sealing the deal with Dollar Tree for several months to allow for some last-ditch pitches to higher-end retailers, according to city economic development chief Matthew Nemerson.
“I was very underwhelmed when Michael told me he was putting a dollar store in. I asked him to hold off, which he did, for five months,” Nemerson said. “We want to change the whole character of the street and bringing in a national fashion retailer there. There are a number of new urban concepts for some of the big power-center stores — the stores that do 40,000 and 50,000 [square-foot] stores are now doing 10,000-square-foot stores. It was not inconceivable that we would find somebody.
“We came close. To Michael’s credit, he talked to a lot of good retailers. It just didn’t quite work. “
“It’s downtown. It’s a higher end,” said Carol Orr, owner of the upscale English Market across the street from the Dollar Tree. Orr said she and her husband Robert bought their building (which includes the Bourse co-working space) guessing that it would take five years for that stretch of downtown to pick up. That was 11 years ago. (Click here to read an article the Orrs wrote about the struggles of downtown businesses.)
“We wish they could have diversified the retail mix a bit more. There’s an exact same kind of store a block down,” Town Green Special Services Chief chief Win Davis said, citing the Family Dollar on Chapel between Orange and State.
But overall, Davis said, he’s pleased that the storefront, vacant for a decade, will now have a tenant. Nemerson agreed. He said the city will work enthusiastically with Dollar Tree as it would with any employer.
“Dose Of Reality”
C.A. White Photo
For his part, developer Schaffer (pictured) called the arrival of Dollar Tree “a dose of reality to the commentary that’s out there. Clearly the market was telling us what would and would not work in that location.”
Schaffer argued that people have the wrong idea about Dollar Tree. He called the company “a very savvy, sophisticated retailer” that will cater to the downtown market, including groceries in its inventory.
He noted that the company is putting in its own electrical HVAC, and refrigeration storage systems as part of its six-figure build-out, a sign of the company’s investment in the property.
“People should wait and see what’s going to be offered and realize they do serve a need. In this niche they’re probably the best operators out there,” he said. “They’re a major national firm with 5,000 locations. We have them as a tenant in East Haven. They’re on Universal Drive in North Haven. They’re in Orange.”
Plus, he noted, New Haven needs the jobs.
Another Vision
Meagan Jordan Photo
People interviewed on the block Chapel Street largely agreed with Schaffer. They look forward to the store opening up.
“It’ll be a wonderful thing, a lot of people are out here starving on the street. They need a dollar store. They need one bad,” said Howard Powell (pictured), who sells hot dogs from a cart on the Chapel Street block. “I myself feed 50 hungry people a day for free. If I wasn’t feeding them they will be snatching purses and wallets,” said Powell.
“We don’t need high end. We need help,” agreed Al Gamble. “You have more minorities down here.”
“I can understand wanting to make it high end,” remarked vendor Leamond Suggs, “but everyone doesn’t have high-end pockets. He predicted the Dollar Tree will “attract more people to this area. People that disagree with it are probably the same people who don’t want us down here, and don’t live in New Haven.”
At the Beauty Plus outlet, employee Lisa Harrell welcomed the Dollar Tree, as well. She called it more of a “true dollar store” than the Family Dollar a block east. Co-worker Elizabeth Syovia predicted Family Dollar will lose business to Dollar Tree.
The Dollar Tree’s pending opening also prompted discussion on Facebook. On one active thread, one longtime New Havener, Michael Clinton, noted that discount stores like Kresge and Grant used to occupy the block decades ago. Clinton put the issue in the context of “this ongoing balkanization dance in that section of downtown. It’s always been a strange containment zone for businesses that appeal to the poorer or younger demographic.”
Nudging The Market?
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Meanwhile, City Hall’s unsuccessful efforts to land a higher-end retailer on the spot have prompted an internal debate about the role of government in driving the retail market, according to development chief Nemerson (pictured).
In retrospect, Nemerson said, he wonders if his office should have offered money to subsidize the lease of a high-end retailer. He compared the tactic to how private developers fill out shopping malls: They offer “lavish incentives” to anchor department stores. They can then jack up the rents they charge for smaller surrounding spaces. Similarly, the city perhaps could have raised property values along Chapel Street if a higher-end retailer had occupied the 9,000 square-foot Centerpointe storefront, he argued. Then the city would make back its subsidy, and more, over the long term, through higher assessments.
The other side of the argument: Government wastes money trying to steer markets, picking “winners” and “losers” rather than building on choices shoppers make with their credit cards.
I guess it's better than nothing, but not by much. I really don't know why this prime spot has been vacant for so long..