Markeshia Ricks Photo
By the end of the summer Fuel Coffee Shop plans to say goodbye to the corner of Chapel and Chestnut streets.
After more than a decade of serving cups of Joe and tasty treats in Wooster Square, owner Courtney Ciesla said it’s time to go …
Barista Pat whipping up lattes during the afternoon rush.
… to a new location in the neighborhood, that is.
“I’ve been here for 10 years, and it started as a community focused coffee shop, and I feel I’ve really been supported by the neighborhood,” she said. “After 10 years, I love it and I really want to stay.”
Ciesla said when new owners bought her building in January, she started thinking about all she has learned as a business owner and how she’d do things differently, and it seemed like the right time to make a move.
The buzz at the City Plan Commission last week was that Fuel has found a new home on Wooster Street.
Ciesla said Thursday she couldn’t announce the new location because she’s not yet signed a lease, but she said the food and coffee that so many in the neighborhood have enjoyed over the years would be “basically the same great stuff, but a little more efficient, a little more aesthetically pleasing.”
City Plan was talking about Fuel because the new owner of its current home at 516 Chapel St. wants to make the building all residential. Owner Zhiming Wang was not present for the meeting. City Plan staff recommended approval for a request from Wang for a special exception for a reduction of the one required parking space.
Wang plans to convert the existing ground-floor storefront, which has been a commercial space for at least 50 years, to an apartment, according to a City Plan advisory report. The building already has three apartments that were built before the adoption of New Haven’s zoning ordinance, which requires at least two parking spaces. A public hearing on the special exception on parking for the fourth unit was held May 12; no one spoke in favor or against it. The City Plan Commission approved the staff’s recommendation in favor; the Board of Zoning Appeals must still approve it.
Ciesla said she plans to have Fuel in its new home by the end of the summer. “It’s going to be really fast and smooth,” she said of the transition to the new space. “I don’t anticipate any down time from moving from this place to the new one.”
Wang plans to convert the existing ground-floor storefront, which has been a commercial space for at least 50 years, to an apartment, according to a City Plan advisory report. The building already has three apartments that were built before the adoption of New Haven's zoning ordinance, which requires at least two parking spaces. A public hearing on the special exception on parking for the fourth unit was held May 12; no one spoke in favor or against it. The City Plan Commission approved the staff's recommendation in favor; the Board of Zoning Appeals must still approve it.
These changes are robbing cities of their authenticity I wonder what the rent will be for those apartments?Hey VC this is what I am talking about how gentrification moves long time people and business out.
My bad I forgot.Hey VC Look at what they are doing in West Haven.It will not be long before New Haven will be doing the same.
Controversy brewing in West Haven over use of eminent domain to pave way for The Haven
http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20150524/controversy-brewing-in-west-haven-over-use-of-eminent-domain-to-pave-way-for-the-haven