Thomas MacMillan Photo
New restaurants may be coming to these vacant storefronts.
The UPS store near the corner of Dixwell and Goffe is packing up and shipping out.
The store will deliver itself to a new location, a stone’s throw away across Dixwell Avenue.
Just down the block, two new take-out restaurants will open up. And new apartments may not be far behind.
Yale University unveiled those plans Tuesday evening at the monthly meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) in the Hall of Records on Orange Street.
Yale representatives appeared to ask city permission for two projects: moving the UPS store, and opening two new eateries. The BZA approved the former and referred the latter to the City Plan Commission for an opinion ahead of a BZA vote next month.
33 – 37 Dixwell
Yale attorney Joseph Hammer made the case to the BZA Tuesday evening. He requested a zoning variance to allow the UPS store to move to 33 – 37 Dixwell Ave. (pictured), in an RM‑2 zone. The store would occupy a 3,000-square-foot space on the first floor, most recently occupied by the Yale police department as a temporary office. Prior to that, the space has been vacant for 15 years and was never used as a residence, Hammer said.
UPS would have more storage space at the new location, Hammer said.
An adjoining parking lot has 17 spaces. The BZA decided to require Yale to re-stripe that lot.
Apartments on the floors above the store have been vacant for years and are in poor condition. If they’re renovated and rented out, the parking lot will have ample space for tenants, Hammer said.
BZA member Victor Fasano asked what would happen at the UPS store’s current location (pictured). Hammer said Yale is still looking at potential replacements; nothing has been finalized.
The BZA voted unanimously to approve the variance.
9 Dixwell
Hammer next asked for special zoning exceptions to allow a restaurant in a space formerly occupied by a package store, and to have zero parking spaces where 14 are required.
Yale wants to lease first-floor spaces at 9 Dixwell Ave. to two restaurants.
Hammer told the BZA that the restaurants will be dine-in/take-out operations. One will have 14 seats, the other 40. Neither is seeking permission to sell alcohol. Most of the customers will walk in, not drive in, Hammer said.
Lauren Zucker, Yale’s director of student affairs, said that since university hasn’t yet signed leases with the restaurants, she could not disclose their identities.
“They’re not in New Haven right now,” Zucker said. “They’re going to be great additions.”
Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison, the alder for the area, said she supports the projects. She said she doesn’t know what restaurants will come in, but that they will be “not high end — something that all people can take advantage of, just like people are able to take advantage of Popeye’s,” the fried-chicken restaurant nearby.
Yale is also talking quietly about converting HGS from a dorm into apartments, and Bruce Alexander also has plans to build graduate students apartments on the Tyco lot, between York Street and Trailblazer.
My understanding is that the new Yale Provost wants to keep Yale $$$ "in house", even going so far as to ban outside caterers for Yale functions.