Harp Embraces The Haven

You better believe that when The Haven opens, Toni Harp will be prominently featured cutting the ribbon and buying lipstick....

Ahhhh. Parking lots on the Sound. Just as god intended.

How do you spell E-P-I-C F-A-I-L? I mean how the heck is this new retail development happening in West Haven and not on Long Wharf?

With IKEA and Jordan's Furniture as two massive retail anchors, you would think that further retail development of that area would be a no-brainer. Instead we have an abandoned Gateway, the RWA, Assa Abloy and the New Haven Terminal -- none of which are best uses or tax-revenue generators from such prime parcels.

Note that West Haven used their eminent domain powers to make The Haven possible. And the world did not end.

PS -- the Exit 44 on-ramp into I-95 North is FRIGHTENINGLY UN-SAFE. Is anything going to be done to address this issue? Or do we just wait until an innocent family gets killed in a multi-car tragedy?

(The on-ramp is way too short, and with absolutely no shoulder as it goes under the Howard Avenue bridge, it is a quick forced merger into what can be very heavy traffic, all of which is compounded by a curve and people changing lanes in anticipation of the I-95/I-91 split.)

I think she's right. There's no need for us to compete with this development and it will absolutely bring jobs into the area. There are no outlets likely to open in New Haven.

What I would like to see more of is retail locations that work in cities like NYC, like GameStop, TrueValue hardware, etc. Not every shop should be a fancy boutique. Sometimes i just need to buy a hammer and I don't feel like driving to Hamden to do it.

(Note: The new Home Goods store on Chapel actually has a surprisingly decent selection of these random items).

But I do think there area few options like that that could work. Best Buy probably can't work with its multi-level retail, but there have to be other city-based retailers that can work besides pharmacies and dollar stores.

A stupid plan----to build shops when few have any extra $$ for shopping...for anything.
Shopping malls and big boxes are already obsolete. I get nauseous just driving by them.

That part of West Haven when you come over the bridge might as well be New Haven. The City is currently in a growing process, so you would think that New Haven would take over the land, eventually. Right? Maybe so. But I think having a mall built in the area was a really good investment because ever since the mall Downtown has shut down more people have just found New Haven to be less attractive. There needs to be more job opportunities for kids and for younger adults. I think this was part of the reason why a lot of people have moved out of New Haven before.

Alex Garvin has written extensively about the effectiveness of open space as a vital agent for the health of both citizens and economies in U.S.cities. He teaches part-time at Yale. Why can't someone from city hall sit down with a person like that? It's not a secret formula. Our leaders just need the courage to guide us there.

https://books.google.com/books?id=aOqERAAACAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

wiseman, New Haven can't just annex chunks of the surrounding towns. This is New England, WE DO NOT DO THAT. If we could, our taxes, and schools, and a lot else about us, would be very different.

It kind of blows my mind that anybody is thinking of building a shopping mall in 2017. Where did I read or hear that no new malls had been built in the last decade (?) and meanwhile the old ones are going begging for tenants and customers? Many of them are on their way to either demolition or some kind of re-purposing. Sort of like the old New England mills, but uglier and out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by baked asphalt parking lots.

Good luck with this, everybody.

Apparently, WH doesn't understand that "Big Box" malls are a thing of the past.

Using eminent domain to build parking lots on the sound is shameful. This is a project from 20 years ago. West Haven should be focusing development around their fantastic train station, not building a mall.

@AverageTaxpayer ~ Exactly! There's been no kind of major retail on Long Wharf before they built IKEA and Jordan's Furniture as far as I'm concerned. Other than that, all that's there is a bunch of old abandoned industrial buildings and back roads that leads to nowhere. Long Wharf should be destined with more redevelopment.

Stop Eminent Domain Abuse in West Haven!
Stop the West Haven Land Grab

We, your neighbors, have formed Develop Don't Destroy West Haven to fight our city's abuse of eminent domain. West Haven City Council is pursuing a two-phase development project that could affect over 150 homes and businesses in our city.

City Council has already authorized the use of eminent domain for the first phase, The Haven South, which will transform 24 acres of land, including cherished homes and businesses, into an upscale outlet mall. This neighborhood is home to many longtime West Haven residents and local businesses that create jobs and revenue for our city. They should not be forced to sell for a private development project—that's eminent domain abuse.

http://developdontdestroywh.org/

This is New Haven. Can't we just give the money to homeless people, thus attracting more homeless people?

Neophyte Paca is using the public financing system. Meanwhile, the incumbent mayor, in charge of everything, even the schools which should have an independent board, says it's "too confusing? Wow.

Why is everyone white in the mock up of the mall?

Just saw this 'article' about the 100 best smaller cities experiencing 'growth' and population increases.... somehow Norwalk beat out New Haven in CT......

Take your pride and glory and shove it hard somewhere ... it ain't here.....
(a lot of great looking cities to visit, on the other hand....)

https://livability.com/best-places/top-100-best-places-to-live/2017?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Article&utm_campaign=Best_Places_to_Live

Mayor Harp continues to be a step behind Marcus Paca. A millennial task force has been on Mr. Paca's platform from day one. Now that Mayor Harp has seen how popular the idea is, she is following along. Mayor Harp may try to pass this off as her idea, but we all know who was there first. Marcus Paca.

https://www.marcuspaca2017.com/issues

Bev Hills,

Because it is secretly known as "White Haven' by the developers looking to attract money.

In addition to congratulating Paca for qualifying for the Democracy Fund, Harp should congratulate him with introducing the idea of a "millennial task force" to engage young residents:
https://www.marcuspaca2017.com/visionary-leadership.

Why does Harp always seem to lead from behind? Does she have any original ideas to offer?

Just saw a new list of the 15 US Cities with the worst reputations......

We Made It!!!! We Made IT!!!!!!!

(are we doing anything about it except stroking each other off)

http://travel.alot.com/themes/15-us-cities-with-the-worst-reputations--15221?s=8

@BevHills730
...and there are no children, elderly, hispanics or asians represented either.......

Marcus Paca has been assembling a Millennial Task force for months - I know because I've been invited to participate - so Harp's sudden interest in younger folks seems like a panicked response to the Paca campaign.

"Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery."

A mall? Really? To attract more highway traffic to an already clogged I-95?

Next to the Sound? Really?

This is an ill-conceived plan of major proportions. Let's hope the people of West Haven wake up and fight this.

I-95 really should be either 4 or 5 lanes in both directions going over the west river. Judging by the current state that it's now, there's absolutely no way that I would build an outlet mall knowing that people would probably get killed when having a hard time getting off and back on the highway. Exit 44 is nothing but a deathtrap! It's probably not a good location even though it's close to the highway. Bad idea from that perspective...

bevhills730,

At least part of the problem is that its just harder to find photoshop entourage of multi-ethnic, very young, and older people. I've run into this issue when I've done architectural rendering work. It's much more difficult to find diverse photoshop entourage. Often times, I've had to create the images myself by editing existing photographs so that a diversity of people can be added to a rendering, but that takes time, effort, and usually its just easier to go with the stock photos that I can easily find on the internet, and those images more often than not are of able-bodied young-to-middle aged white people.

In order to change this, someone would have to edit an enormous number of high resolution images and flood google's search function with their diverse photoshop entourage, but again that takes time, effort, and money.

The Building of a High End Mall to be completed in when, 2020? Seems to be a risky endevour. I guess greater minds than I must have studied the area, saw all those high end apartment blue prints and figured those people need to shop or they think that Amazon and HSN thing is just a fad. If this fails Connecticut will be known for two Eminent Domain flops. As far as that I-95, I understand the entrance ramps at Ella Grasso Blvd. are temporary but the DOT should have never approved that design. The reason for the four o'clock pile up going south is because of that ramp, that ramp would be dangerous if it was on the Wilbur Cross. Will are prosperous newly minted gen x'ers , milleniuls as well as a few old timers make their way to West Haven? As far as surrounding towns what stores will "The Haven" have that are so unique for items that cannot currently be found to the north, south east and even west of this area that will draw those populations to The Haven?

What a strange contrast between the prevailing environmental culture that seeks to disparage big business for a utopian ideal of environmental sustainability as it promotes a return to small business and a return to nature, while at the same time their depleted spirts still have an insatiable thirst to filled with material products as they walk through buildings that have grass growing from the floors. Does the grass really hide the contradiction or does the parking lot abutting the beautiful sea reveal the contradiction all the more?

Ugh, potentially beautiful waterfront property wasted with a parking lot and mall, at a time when malls all over the country are irrelevant and dying. Ridiculous.
Exponentially worse traffic on I-95, which will require MORE road work in an already tight area with a horribly dangerous on-ramp. That's OK though, I-95 is always under construction -- always has been, always will be.
I forget, is this a win?

@3/5th - on your website there is one long term resident highlighted and the owners of a gas station...

Nobody here but Acer seems to have brought up the fact that malls are dying or dead. This article is only one of several I've seen online recently--its photos document the "new normal" in 21st century America. Why West Haven thinks it can make this work eludes me.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/these-haunting-photos-of-the-retail-apocalypse-reveal-a-new-normal-in-america/ss-BByFpjX?ocid=spartandhp#image=32