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$600M Project Wins Final Public Approval

by Thomas MacMillan | Jan 4, 2011 8:36 am

(3) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Business/Labor/ Economic Development, Higher Ed

Illustration by Jeff Stikeman, for Robert A. M. Stern ArchitectsAs aldermen gave Yale the green light to drop $600 million on two new residential colleges, Alderman Jorge Perez touted the benefits to the city: jobs, fees, and an increase in Yale’s voluntary payment to the city.

The Board of Aldermen voted Monday night to approve a Planned Development District (PDD) for the construction of two new residential buildings at the corner of Prospect and Sachem Streets. The two new colleges will hold over 800 students, in a move that will expand the university’s student body overall. The project is due to be complete in 2015 at an estimated cost of $600 million.

Monday’s approval was the final of several won by Yale in the last several months. The plan passed through the City Plan Commission and the Board of Aldermen’s Legislation Committee on the way to the full board.

Hill Alderman Perez, the chair of the Legislation Committee, stood on Monday evening “with great pleasure” to urge his colleagues to support the PDD.

The project is not taking any property off the tax rolls, Perez said. The PDD will allow Yale and the city to have greater control over the zoning regulations that govern the sight, he said.

The two new colleges, designed by Robert Stern, the dean of the Yale architecture school, are designed to fit in with the surrounding neighborhoods, Perez said. Plans call for two towers. There will be a theater with 250 seats and a public walkway. The construction will be LEED Gold certified, and Yale has promised to work with the city to preserve as many existing trees as possible, Perez said.

Construction will generate $9.7 million in building fees and 100 new construction jobs, Perez said. With the expansion to Yale’s student body, the new colleges will also generate new permanent jobs, he said. Yale also plans to increase its voluntary payment to the city, he said.

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posted by: Ex-townie on January 4, 2011  10:24am

What Yale wants, Yale gets. Glad I’m out of this one-horse town.

posted by: Gretchen Pritchard on January 4, 2011  1:01pm

Are they really going to be all retro-Tudor as in the picture? Lord, Former A&A School dean Paul Rudolph and the rest of his gang of Brutalists must be turning (over in stark sculptural patterns, of course) in their graves.

posted by: anon on January 4, 2011  2:10pm

It is great to see such a major investment within New Haven, but the pedestrian and bike infrastructure clearly is not even remotely adequate in this area.  Sidewalks are too narrow, crosswalks either nonexistent or too dangerous, and the surrounding roads (especially Sachem and Prospect) are way too wide and high-speed to support comfortable walking and cycling. 

I hope Yale will invest much more significantly in the surrounding streets, between Grove, Ashmun, Edwards and Whitney, before they add thousands of new students and employees, many of whom may have disabilities.  There are also hundreds of children living in the immediately surrounding neighborhoods who walk and bike through this area on a daily basis.

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