Carter: Big-box food stores are interested.
An abandoned bus garage at the gateway to Fair Haven could become a big-box supermarket — or else a “cool space” incubation hub for “a new generation of makers.”
Melissa Bailey File Photo
Those visions are contained in two plans developers submitted to the city by a deadline this week to redevelop a 195,000-square-foot building (pictured) and surrounding 6.95-acre land at 470 James St. The city is taking the property, a polluted former CT Transit facility, from the state in order to sell it to someone who can, in Economic Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson’s term, turn it into a stretch of “Brooklyn” at the gateway of Fair Haven’s emerging Mill River industrial/commercial district.
One plan comes from New York developer Jason Carter. Carter told the Independent Friday that he has been in discussions with large-scale “food retailers” to anchor his $30 million proposal for the property and pay most of the rent. Carter said he envisions the large food business occupying the bulk of the preserved portions of the building. He’d also construct a 40-foot-wide “breezeway” in the middle with some storefronts, and add a kayak launch to an expanded public-access area along the Mill River.
David Salinas
The other plan comes from David Salinas, co-founder and CEO of of the Digital Surgeons marketing firm, and two partners, Digital Surgeons co-founder Peter Sena and Eric O’Brien, who runs New Haven’s Crossfit gym.
“470 James Street will be transformed into a place where innovators will be inspired, new industries will be built, and a future generation of makers will create. A portion of the building will act as a unique incubation space for tomorrow’s entrepreneurs to thrive,” the trio wrote in a proposal delivered to the city this week.
Salinas and O’Brien are thus competing with their current landlord. Digital Surgeons and Crossfit are located directly across James Street at Trolley Square, a former factory reborn as a mix of start-up businesses, specialty shops, and artist studios. Carter owns that property and is renovating it.
A selection committee including Nemerson, state Department of Economic and Community Development Deputy Commissioner Tim Sullivan, and East Rock Alder Jessica Holmes, among others, will review the two proposals. The state has promised to clean up toxins it found at the site, including hydrocarbons, asbestos and lead. Sullivan confirmed recently that the state plans to follow through on the promise.
“We need tech space. We need mixed-use ‘maker’ space. Maybe a little bit of recreational space,” Nemerson said. He defined “maker” space as “flexible space that can be used as a small factory for fabrics or jewelry or ‘artisan’ goods, small design shops.” He also expressed the need for
“funky, expandable, relatively inexpensive space for software and internet and new media companies” and said he could see some “larger retail” use — though the city would like to see the developer “preserve as much of the building as possible.”
The proposal the city (including the above aerial-view drawing) received from the Digital Surgeons/Crossfit team used some of the same language. It promised to preserve and renovate 100,000 of the current building’s current 195,000 square feet to create “a unique and functional campus where forward thinking individuals/companies of any size can collaborate and grow.” The team also said it will build a “cool” new 5,000 square-foot incubator, a “‘placemaker’ workspace (incubator and maker-space) … to provide entrepreneurs interested in making conceptual and physical goods access to office space, manufacturing/tech equipment, training, funding potential, and other resources to reduce the exposure to excessive up-front capital expenditures that could stifle their development….
“Axial to this cool space is the main building with a central atrium. Windows and skylights abound allow for natural light to fill the work spaces, providing a creative, nurturing atmosphere. Directly attached to the western side of the building is a bistro style restaurant that acts as a focal point to connect the main building with the grounds. Public access to the Mill River Trail is enhanced by a river walk garden and kayak launch that promote the aesthetics of the area. Incorporating an amphitheater will allow for educational, inspirational and entertaining events for the local community and visitors alike.”
In an interview Thursday, David Salinas (pictured) said his team has secured commitments from enough tenants already — a mix of start-ups and expanding local businesses — to fill 70 percent of the building. That figure includes Digital Surgeons and Crossfit, which would move across the street to the complex from Trolley Square. Salinas said other committed tenants include a local venture capital firm, Launch Capital, as well as “an unnamed start-up that we can’t talk about — an exciting one.” He said the team also has a commitment “from a restaurateur” to operate a breakfast, lunch and dinner cafe that would include a beer garden, with outdoor tables by the banks of the Mill River, along with more public access to the river.
His team is highlighting its New Haven bona fides as “local doing local.” Salinas formed Digital Surgeons eight years ago; it has grown to include 42 employees.
“We are excited about this. I think we have a fantastic proposal,” Salinas said of 470 James.
Carter said Friday that he wouldn’t proceed with the project until the major tenant signs a lease. He, like Salinas, said he plans to demolish the western end of the building. He’d put a three- to four-story parking garage there with 130 cars per level, he said. Local architect Barry Svigals’ firm is designing his proposed project.
“Because of the underground oil storage tanks on the westerly half, I would demolish on the westerly half,” Carter said. “You can’t completely curb the vaporization upwards … If you even take out the concrete floor, if you pour a new concrete floor, it still precipitates through the porous concrete. It has an industrial smell.”
Carter said reviving that property would complement his plans to overhaul Trolley Square across the street, an effort that he said has grown into a $20 million or $30 million job. He spoke of building a project with a “Brooklyn” feel.
Carter runs the Manhattan-based real-estate firm Carter Management Company, which has “newly constructed, rehabilitated and restored over twenty buildings throughout Manhattan,” according to its website. It states that Carter has “owned, built and managed a billion dollars of Manhattan real estate since 1978.” Through a limited liability corporation called Cultural Enrichment, Carter purchased the vacant former bank building at the corner of Church and Center streets for $1.65 million two months ago.
The lot sits right off of I‑91’s Exit 6 and the one-day-to-reopen (fingers crossed) State Street bridge, the closing of which has devastated business on both sides. The 195,000-square-foot former CT Transit building includes two stories of offices in the front and garage bays stretching out towards the rear. City appraisers pegged the fair market value at $5.6 million in 2011. CT Transit used the building to house local division offices and to maintain and store 100 buses. About 190 bus drivers would report to work there, pick up their buses, and head out to their routes.
The building was erected in 1950 as a garage for a private bus company that used to provide regional bus service, according to the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD). In 1976, as private bus companies across the nation were going bankrupt and getting bought out by government entities, the State of Connecticut bought the company and changed the name to CT Transit. The state bought the James Street lot that year, too.
The 470 James St. lot has been abandoned since September 2010, when CT Transit moved its New Haven operations to a new facility in Hamden. The state tried selling the lot in 2012.
I think the DS proposal needs some work, particularly on the State Street side. Nevertheless, if this group has access to capital, having local people who are already heavily vested in the city is a big bonus in my mind.