Lucy Gellman Photo
Silt-covered floors layered with rough wood beams and hail-sized chunks of concrete. Wires dropping and curling overhead like slender garden snakes. Two sinks, back to back, lying on the dusty floor of a would-be study.
Are we finally in the house that Dave Byrne predicted over 30 years ago? A Duchamp retrospective?
Far from it. This – 651 Prospect St. – is what Christina Rossetti predicts will soon be “the hottest pad in New Haven” a year after the City Plan Commission’s unanimous approval to permit Pike International to develop luxury apartments on the premises.
The nine apartments, scheduled to open to renters between April and May, are aimed to re-purpose – or as Rossetti, director of operations at Pike, described it – “upcycle” three formerly institutional buildings, 651 Prospect, its original carriage house, and 661 Prospect. It’s part of a trend toward elaborate historic rehabilitation and higher rents in the Yale-dominated Prospect Hill section of East Rock. Click here to walk through a similar historic rehab of a 1923 Tudor mansion up the block on Prospect.
And how much does, in Pikeville, size matter? The apartments aren’t cheap – they range from $1,995 (800 square feet) to $4,995 (2,142 square feet). Pike said several of them have already been snatched up doesn’t expect trouble renting the others. “We’re hoping to attract people in the higher ed community,” Rossetti explained when asked who the target audience was. Pastor added that he also envisioned older couples who were interested in downsizing.
The first four apartments give a new face to the St. Francis Home for Children (originally Frederick Truman Bradley’s home), forced to close its doors after grant funding was cut off in 2012.
Fernando Pastor (pictured), the project’s designer, said that he wishes to honor the spirit of the house, keeping as much of the original tile, molding and brick as possible. He has taken precautions to do so, discussing the project with the New Haven Preservation Trust, partnering locally with Urban Miners for the bulk of building materials and doing significant historical research.
With his vision, the apartments are rapidly taking shape. Surprising and sumptuous amenities pop out of the literal woodwork: a wine cellar in one apartment and luxurious full bathroom in another.
A third boasts a kitchen larger than most East Rock studios with hand-picked marble counter tops and a balcony.
Two apartments in the nearby carriage house give a better idea of what the revamped 651 and 661 Prospect will look like when finished: Sleek kitchens, neat bathrooms, and bounding bedrooms (pictured above) with views of the nearby Foote School.
The shiny, sunlit hardwood floors suggest what is to come for the Spanish Colonial next door, still in the demo process.
The renovation comes at a time when some New Haveners have spoken out against Yale-driven gentrification and skyrocketing rents, while others have called for building up the tax base in response to rapidly rising taxes, and for creating value by rescuing neglecting properties doomed to foreclosure.
“We’re developing everything we possibly can,” Rossetti said.
I don't see how even 3/5 can object to this one as "gentrification." Pike is making something out of nothing. Not throwing anybody out of their homes, not changing the character of a neighborhood (it's already Gold Coast). Simply returning a cluster of derelict, long-empty mansions to something resembling their former glory, creating attractive, market-priced homes, and broadening the tax base. What's not to like?