East Rock Church-To-Housing Conversion OK’d

A New York City-based developer has won approval for plans to convert a century-old church building into seven new apartments in East Rock.

The City Plan Commission voted unanimously in support of the developer’s site plan application to convert the Evangelical Covenant Church of New Haven at 590 Orange St. into seven new apartments.

Commissioners took that vote Wednesday night during the City Plan Commission’s latest monthly meeting, which was held online via Zoom.

The1925-built Colonial Revival church building is still owned by the church. Local development consultant (and former city Building Official) Andy Rizzo — presented the church-to-housing conversion plans Wednesday night on behalf of Manhattan-based developer Nitsan Ben-Horin. Ben-Horin plans to buy the property and undertake the residential development.

Now that the Board of Zoning Appeals and the City Plan Commission have both signed off on the project, Ben-Horin said during a phone interview Thursday, ​“We’re hoping to start next year with the work.”

He said that ​“historic preservation” is his passion: The exterior of the church building ​“is not going to change at all. We’re just going to make the apartments. It’s a good improvement for the neighborhood.”

Ben-Horin, a retired former printing company executive, also owns the apartment building at 831 Whalley Ave. in Westville. He said he lives in Manhattan, and comes to New Haven at least twice a week.

“I kind of fell in love with New Haven,” he said. ​“I like how everything is walkable. I’m not a big fan of cars. I like how you have all these nice coffee shops. People are extremely friendly.”

He said that the ​“mix of working-class people and Yale people” in New Haven ​“creates a sort of dynamic” he hasn’t seen anywhere else in the world. As for the architecture in New Haven, he said, ​“It’s almost like taking a trip to Europe without taking a plane.”

According to Rizzo’s pitch to the City Plan Commissioners Wednesday night, the seven planned new apartments at 590 Orange St. will be a mix of one‑, two‑, three‑, and four-bedroom units.

And according to the Evangelical Covenant Church of New Haven’s Facebook page, that church held its last worship on June 6.

That Facebook post stated that the congregation was founded in 1887. A National Register of Historic Places nomination document from 1989 for the Whitney Avenue Historic District states that the 590 Orange St. building was constructed in 1925. The New Haven Building Archive states that the church building was constructed for the Swedish Emanuel Congregational Church.