Laura Glesby photo
Hill residents Thomasine Shaw, former Hill Alder Dolores Colon, and former Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn.
A plan to rebuild at the site of the old Church Street South apartments will bring a new start not only for the neighbors still living in the Hill, but also for the people who lived there until hazardous conditions forced them out.
After Church Street South residents were forced to leave their homes when the apartment complex was condemned, they secured an agreement from the then-landlord that they could someday move back to redeveloped apartments at that address.
At a public meeting on Monday evening that drew sixty people from the Hill and beyond to High School in the Community, the property’s new owner, Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of New Haven, assured attendees that that promise to former residents still stands.
ECC leaders also announced that it will demolish and redevelop the adjacent 93-unit Robert T. Wolfe building, which is still operating as public housing for elderly and disabled tenants. Tenants in those apartments, too, are guaranteed housing in the to-be-developed apartments.
On Nov. 13, Elm City Communities (also known as ECC, the Housing Authority of New Haven and its nonprofit affiliates) spent $21 million purchasing the 8.27-acre property from the Massachusetts-based Northland Investment Corp., the landlord that owned the property at the time of the historic apartment complex’s demise.
“This is a huge site, an important site, and we want to be intentional,” said ECC Executive Vice President Shenae Draughn.
The now-demolished private affordable housing complex once comprised 301 apartments, which housed generations of New Haveners. Church Street South often made the news for its reputation as a site of drugs and violence, and eventually for the long-brewing mold and structural problems that gave numerous residents chronic asthma. But to many former Church Street South residents, the apartments were a site of strong friendships and community networks, of matchbox car races, hide-and-seek games, double-dutch teams, and block parties at the height of hip hop’s rise.
When local and federal government agencies declared the apartments uninhabitable in 2015, the residents were forced to relocate, their community dispersed. Eventually, more than a thousand former tenants sued the landlord, Northland Investment Corporation, and received an $18.75 million settlement.
Though Northland initially sought to redevelop the site into 1,000 new apartments, with 300 set aside at affordable rents, its plans stalled for years, leaving the property’s future in limbo until Elm City Communities purchased it this month.
Laura Glesby photo
Elm City Communities Project Manager Haley Vincent, President Karen DuBois-Walton, and Vice President Shenae Draughn.
Monday’s meeting marked the first of many planned public conversations over the course of the next year about what the vacant expanse across from Union Station could potentially become. That planning process is supported by a $500,000 federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department Choice Neighborhood Implementation planning grant. The agency plans to submit the outcome of many planning sessions and community conversations about Church Street South to HUD in November 2024 to try to secure more funds to actually build on the site.
Former Hill Alder Dolores Colon, who worked with Church Street South residents to advocate for better conditions while she was in office, questioned the amount of money that the Housing Authority paid to Northland. “The price is $21 million,” she said. “How was that price determined? Was this an opportunity [for Northland] to recoup losses from the lawsuit?”
Draughn replied that the $21 million figure arose from a variety of factors. If, for example, ECC were to build 1,000 units on the site, that purchase price would be divided into about $21,000 per unit. “That is money we can make up,” Draughn said.
“This is a prime piece of property,” she added — especially given its proximity to Union Station just across the street.
And finally, “if there was an outside developer that came in, you may not see a lot of affordable housing.” ECC’s purchase of the property ensures that much of the housing units there remain accessible to residents making lower incomes, she argued.
Neighbors Imagine Gyms, Cafes, Homeownership
Davante Mallard calls for homeownership opportunities.
ECC leadership informed meeting attendees that they plan to work alongside the city’s Hill-to-Downtown vision of a more walkable, “transit-oriented” accessible route between between Union Station and its adjacent neighborhoods.
For now, Elm City Communities has few constraints or specific plans in mind for the development, which it plans to rename “Union Square.” The only certain thing is that the site will include ample housing units for low and very-low income tenants alongside market-rate units.
“We are dreaming this together,” said ECC President Karen DuBois-Walton. She prompted the room to offer suggestions for the site. “If you are a little [kid], what would you hope that community has?” And for people who work every day, who are aging, who live with a disability? “I wish I had that in my neighborhood — what’s on that list?”
“Exercise rooms!” called out Leticia Counsel, whose mom lives in Robert T. Wolfe. Counsel said she’s observed flooding in the backyard; when she raised this problem at the meeting, DuBois-Walton said that the Housing Authority will still invest in maintenance repairs at Robert T. Wolfe up until its demolition, and that the new buildings will be constructed with attention to rising sea levels.
“Trader Joes!” whispered Carmen Rodriguez, who represents the ward including “Union Square” on the Board of Alders, to the others at her table.
Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez.
She later raised her hand. “We have previously heard there was gonna be commercial space on the bottom,” she said. She suggested that some space be allotted for young people living in the building to use for businesses. For instance, “If they wanted to start a cafe. Then, they’re building wealth.”
“Will residents have a chance to own?” asked Davante Mallard, a developer who grew up in the Hill.
“We are looking at that,” replied Draughn.
“I’m big on the ownership piece,” Mallard said later. In a largely Black and Brown neighborhood affected by redlining and predatory lending over the last century, having homeownership opportunities would “give our community a jump start in building that wealth.”
“Don’t forget the elderly,” piped up Thomasine Shaw. “I want to see them there.”
Georgia James: Do New Haven residents get priority?
Throughout the meeting, attendees continued to raise questions about who would have the chance to actually live in the new buildings.
Andrew Giering urged Elm City Communities to provide housing for former Church Street South residents who lived there within as broad a span of time as possible, and “not just the folks who stuck to the bitter end.”
“Is their priority for New Haven residents?” asked Georgia James. She particularly had in mind people who have been on ECC’s housing waitlist, which as of October was about 30,000 households long and isn’t just limited to New Haven residents.
“Anything we build that’s affordable, we go to the wait list we already have,” responded DuBois-Walton.
James later said she asked the question because she knows a family who’s been on that waitlist for 5 years.
More information about future public meetings can be found at https://unionsquarechoice.com/.
I'm sure many worthwhile and not-so-worthwhile proposals are already being put on various tables. I'm also quite sure that promises have already been made to many, some to be kept and some made, only to gain support. One thing that seems to be a priority is ensuring that whatever is built here, any development must be seen as one of the important gateways into the city's downtown and Yale areas.