Demo Crew Levels Whalley Eyesore

A demolition crew tore the crumbling former home of Newt’s Cafe into rubble on Whalley Avenue Tuesday as passersby watched and wondered what will come next to the spot.

The vacant building at 345 Whalley after a March 28 inspection found the floors had fallen through and the roof caved in. City Building Official Jim Turcio said the wood inside the building had completely rotted as well.

New Haven Abatement & Demolition won the bid to take down the building Tuesday. Four workers demolished the building within four hours.

They rolled in two Caterpillar excavator grapple machines. The site, which most recently housed Newt’s Cafe bar and then sat vacant for years, was condemned in May.

Workers began by tearing down the back of the building.

Then once they were about 15 feet in, they swung the grapple around to collapse the walls inward.

Finally they moved to the front. In order to reach the front, they packed down layers of debris for the caterpillar machine to climb.

In the next few days they plan to cap the sewage pipes, sort and clear away the debris, then fill in and flatten the site.

The property’s owners, John, Albert and Mario Vuoso , was notified about its ​“unstable condition.” Vuoso, a former leader of the neighborhood improvement Whalley Special Services District, could not be reached for comment about his future plans for the property, which neighbors had pushed him to fix up since at least the mid-2010s.

Vuoso and his partners will now be billed $106,000 for the cost of the demolition plus a fee for the erection of a fence around the property, according Turcio.

Until Monday, Turcio said, the building was not sealed off to trespassers. The city worried about danger to potential trespassers. He said officials also worried about homeless individuals or animals setting up camp inside the unsafe building. Turcio said another concern was falling debris onto the sidewalk posing a hazard to pedestrians.

In total, Demolition Officer Jose Romero, estimated the project will take between 10 and 15 days to complete to have the property all cleared of rubble. New Haven Abatement & Demolition came in on Monday to clear away shrubs and prepare the site for demolition.

Joy Mitchell, who watched the demolition, recalled seeing raccoons and cats fighting on the roof. She used to go to Newt’s Cafe after work and is pleased that the building is finally coming down.

“It was kind of like a monster looming over — just abandoned,” said Mitchell. ​“I’ve been here seven years and it has never been attended to. Not once.”

Darrell Jones was walking by when he noticed the building was being knocked down. He has lived in the area since he was 15 years old. He said he has doubts about whether the space’s future use.

“What are they going to bring here?” asked Jones. ​“Is it going to help the community? Is it going to try to suck money out of the community and put nothing back in?”

Both Jones and James Graham, a landscaper working nearby, suggested that the space become a youth center or old serve another education-oriented use for local children.

“They could extend it, have a little basketball court,” said Graham, who watched the demolition from an auto shop next door. ​“That would be nice; might stop the violence around here.”

Harold Flynch was waiting for a friend outside Dunkin as he watched the building crumble. He went in once years ago when the space was Newt’s Cafe. 

Flynch said he was glad to see the building finally torn down. ​“It’s been sitting there for a while.”

Willie Dudley used to go to Newt’s Cafe every Saturday night when the club was thriving. He stopped going when the owner retired. ​“Next thing I knew they shut it down.”

He has seen the space evolve as apartment spaces into an empty lot. He even saw it through a fire in 2001.

If he had control over the space, Dudley said he’d convert it into a White Castle.

Sokheng Chay witnessed the demolition from next door at American Muffler & Brake. Chay started working at American Muffler & Brake in 2008, roughly a year after Newt’s closed.

Through the years, he watched the lot become a bit of a dumping ground for old furniture and small piles of litter. In the back shrubs and weeds grew tall. ​“And the house was in very bad shape,” he recalled.

Chay said the lot should be turned into shops, restaurants, or a community center.

Damone McCollum’s family owns three of the surrounding buildings. He said he’s not worried about any damages to those properties from the demolition.

“I was encouraging them to get it down,” McCollum said.

To protect the neighboring building, Romero said, they’re tearing down pieces along the brick wall that runs between the buildings by hand. They plan to use jackhammers and sledgehammers to do so.

If the space was in McCollum’s hands, he would put in a rehearsal studio. McCollum plays the bass and drums. He said he would also like to see a theater or performance center in the area.

“Or something for the kids so they have something to do. Anything for the community,” he added.

Delvin Prescad, who owns Prescad’s Home Improvements, stood watching the demolition in the parking lot. He said he wished his company had been contacted or wished this demolition project had been posted online. ​“It’s an inner-city project right in the heart of New Haven. Where’s the diversity going on here?”

Turcio gave him a contact and encouraged him to try getting placed on the building department’s ​“emergency demo” list to have a shot at similar projects.

Beaver Hills alder candidate Shafiq Abdussabur advocated in recent weeks for the building department and Livable Cities Initiative to demolish the blighted property. He worked alongside LCI’s Maggie Fernandez, WEB Chair Nadine Horton, police District Manager Lt. John Healy, Assistant Police Chief Karl Jacobson and Kelly Blanchat of the newly formed Beaver Hills Housing Taskforce.

“Over the past nine months, I heard the complaints from residents in the WEB Community Management Team meetings and hundreds of homes that I have visited,” said Abdussabur. ​“They have made it clear that one of the most important roles that was needed in Beaver Hills was an alder who would advocate for the needs of the community and follow up behind city services. Newt’s Cafe was at the top of the list.”