New shrubs line a waterfront promenade, as a local developer moves one step closer to reinventing what she calls New Haven’s version of southern France — the banks of the Quinnipiac River.
Fereshteh Bekhrad (pictured) has spent the past few years at the edge of Fair Haven’s waterfront, imagining a new world of water-taxis, boutiques and high-end condos on the rundown banks of the Q.
The Iranian-born architect and developer led the Independent on a tour of the latest development, a stretch of luxury condos at 764 and 776 Quinnipiac Ave. The so-called Quinnipiac Associates condos (pictured below) are part of a condo boom that has been changing the fabric of Fair Haven Heights, with mixed reactions.
The new complex was born out of two old oystering homes built in 1790 and 1825. The buildings (one is pictured) had been “butchered” from their original design and turned into a dilapidated “disaster,” Bekhrad said.
Working from photos of the original fishermen’s homes, she revamped them with historical detail and expansions that acknowledge the waterfront with modern-era use.
In the rear, where harvests were hauled into shore, an indoor Jacuzzi now opens to a river view of marsh grass and swans. Modern skylights and daring open-plan rooms (no door to the upstairs bathroom) lie within the frame of the original wooden beams of the two homes.
Bekhrad acknowledged she’s making a big leap creating luxury condos on a street still troubled by prostitution and drugs. Her strategy, she said, is to create a critical mass of new development to support a burst of new retail. The new condos are just next door to the brand new Dragon Point condos, which she took over from another developer. She now owns 10 of the 15 condos, one of which she is happy to call home.
Bekhrad, who has architecture and business degrees, came to New Haven after putting up 14 million square feet of developments around the world. One project involved constructing 130 cottages in Bermuda.
“This is much better,” she said, taking a confident stride past the gazebos and terraces of the new complex. She fell in love with the waterfront a few years ago.
“I believe this area is like the south of France,” she said, smoking a slim Capri cigarette and motioning to the tranquil waterfront.
“One Neighborhood, One Village”
Across the river, Bekhrad is working on adding 15 units to the 23 Oyster Cove condos on Front Street, which another developer built in 1991 but never finished due to a market slowdown. To the new condos, she plans add an ambitious project of 30,000 square-feet of commercial space. Along what’s now a rather dingy riverbank she plans riverside dining, a health club, a dinner-dance boat and water taxis ferrying neighbors to waterfront entertainment.
Her dream: “To make two sides of the water, so they become one complex, one neighborhood, one village, connected to the Grand Avenue Bridge and to the water,” she said. “This water will be the element that will tie everything together.”
What inspired her vision?
“I was born on the water,” in Iran on the Caspian Sea, she explained. “To me, the water is an element of fun, of vacation. You can’t hit anyone in the water — have you tried?” She paused, making a striking motion with her hand. “It goes too slow.”
She has invested $2.8 million in the Quinnipiac Associates condos. The two-to-three-bedroom units will be sold for upwards of $550,000 each, she said.
Who is she hoping would buy them in a tough economy? Empty-nesters, she said. New-Yorkers who would pay millions for a smaller place in the city. Or even Canadians, while the dollar’s cheap.
Each unit has a different layout and different details inside. Each has its own terrace, at least one fireplace, bamboo floors and marble surfaces. She designed the spaces along with Fuad Mukarbel, a Lebanese architect who, incidentally, lives next door to the project. The two have been collaborating every day.
They’ve grown attached to the riverfront (“Did you see the swan had a new baby?” Bekhrad reported, as the two debated who the mother was.) Mukarbel (at left in photo) came up with a gazebo to top each entrance leading to the parking lot and riverfront.
“Here we went nuts!” said Bekhrad, leading the way into one of the units at 764 Quinnipiac. On the second floor, a steam-room overlooks the river. The four units at that address should be ready to live in by September, she said.
The other trio of units, at 776 Quinnipiac, is where Bekhrad plans to make her home. Over the years she’s moved along with her properties, keeping a close connection and some of the same staff. A few years ago, she was living at a second-story apartment in a complex she owned on Dwight Street, where Reggaeton blasted through car stereos late into the night. She sold that place and has moved to the beautifully landscaped Dragon Point, and soon will relocate to a bigger luxury condo in her newest complex, with the same peaceful water view.
The new project includes a public walking path by the water, with seating and this new pier, also open to the public. After a two-year battle to put up a retaining wall, Bekhrad is now going to the state Department of Environmental Protection to ask for permission to set up a little marina there, too. She’s ready to start work soon cleaning up the other riverbank across the way.
After owning three apartment complexes in the Dwight area and Clinton Avenue, she sold her investments in other parts of town and threw all her assets onto the banks of the Q.
“Everything I’ve ever owned is in these two projects,” Bekhrad said. Sometimes the risk is necessary, she said: “You’re bringing something that wasn’t here before.”
This strikes me as a very cool, very speculative development. To sell these condos, she has to convince buyers that she can create a whole new neighborhood. I wish her luck!