Rendering of Phase 1C's new lab-office building.
Thomas Breen photo
Construction currently underway at the former Coliseum site.
The redevelopers of the ex-Coliseum site won city approval to build 120 more apartments, 657 new parking-garage spaces, and a new 11-story lab and office building — all as construction of another 200 new apartments right next door has already begun — in the latest chapter of the planned overhaul of a former-arena-turned-parking lot into “Square 10.”
The City Plan Commission granted those approvals Wednesday night during the local land-use body’s latest monthly meeting, which was held online via Zoom.
The commissioners unanimously voted to broaden the scope of the first of two phases of redevelopment of the 3.5‑acre block bounded by Orange Street, George Street, State Street and MLK Boulevard — all with the goal of bringing new housing, retail, offices, open space, and biomedical labs to the downtown-adjacent property.
That area, which is now an active construction site, has long sat as a surface parking lot ever since the demolition of the sports and entertainment complex in 2007.
Thanks to Wednesday’s votes, the Norwalk-based developer Spinnaker Real Estate Partners has now won site plan approvals to build a total of 320 new apartments, a new 657-space parking garage, and a new 11-story lab office-building at that 275 South Orange St. property.
Newly divided Parcels 1A, 1C and 1B.
A Wednesday’s meeting, the developer, represented by local attorney Carolyn Kone, received unanimous support for a modified site plan and two new site plans for three different “subphases” of development at the former Coliseum site. The developer also received approval for a special permit to create a parking garage with over 200 spaces.
Those subphases are divided into three different parcels, known as Parcel 1A, Parcel 1B, and Parcel 1C, each corresponding to a different stage of the development project.
These approvals come more than two years after the same developer won an initial site plan approval back in November 2020 to build 200 new apartments, a retail “laneway,” and a new public plaza as part of Phase 1A.
On Wednesday, the developer won permission to modify that previously approved plan. The modified version maintains many of the key elements of the prior approved version, preserving the planned new 200-unit apartment building that will be nine stories tall along with roughly 25,000 square feet of public open space.
As part of the modified plan for Phase 1, the developer has now walked back on plans to build a surface parking lot on the northern area of the site. Instead, they introduced a new site plan for Phase 1B which will add an additional 120 units of housing as well as a new 657-space parking garage. The planned new 120 apartments will wrap around that garage, the latter of which will be open to both residents and the public.
The final subphase introduced — and OK’d — by the developer on Wednesday night was for Parcel 1C, located in the southwest portion of the property. That now-approved site plan focuses on the construction of an 11-story life-science laboratory building featuring additional retail space on the ground level and office space throughout.
The former Coliseum site, where Phase 1A is now under construction.
The lab building, which will be constructed by a company called Ancora based out of North Carolina, is meant to be a uniquely sustainable undertaking with minimized carbon emissions that developers hope will receive a LEED gold building rating.
Even as the developer announced a significant expansion in the project’s parking plans, they also described a concerted effort to grow a pedestrian-focused retail lane passing through the three parcels from west to east. That retail lane would include a protected bike lane, benches, and newly planted trees, and could host farmer’s markets and art exhibits.
City staff hailed the new site plans Wednesday night, with Economic Development Administrator Mike Piscitelli welcoming the project as a means of “improving health outcomes for people all over the world” in a global “health mission” while introducing housing and affordable apartments as part of an “inclusive agenda” for New Haveners.
The three sub-phases and fresh site plans came with new clarity on expanded open space, environmentally focused construction and how to create a neighborhood friendly urban feel.
City Plan Director Laura Brown said she believed the developers’ plans highlighted the potential to “create a vibrant, pedestrian friendly and transit oriented setting that will grow new native jobs and tax base.”
City Plan Commissioners complimented many of the proposed changes to the site plans, welcoming the environmental and pedestrian-focused interventions — all while focusing on the expansion of the now-approved new parking garage.
City Plan Commissioner and Westville Alder Adam Marchand complimented the developers’ sustainable goals, but questioned whether the developers were overestimating the amount of parking spaces needed by future residents of the development.
Engineer Peter Calkin responded that if the city wanted to decrease parking availability, the developers would likely have to build fewer floors of apartments. The developers also expressed a commitment to ensure 10 percent of the garage spaces have capacity to serve electric vehicles.
Commissioner Josh Van Hoesen also articulated concerns about setting aside so much space for parking needs. He acknowledged that establishing a parking garage rather than multiple surface lots would relieve “some of the congestion on the streets” and preserve space.
Commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe, meanwhile, added that “the number of cars and carbon monoxide” attributed to building a massive parking garage would provoke fears in another part of the city, but the garage’s location directly off the highway seemed fitting from her perspective and could ultimately “reduce the amount of traffic of people going through the downtown area just trying to find parking.”
The commissioners ultimately voted unanimously in favor of each of the developers’ proposals.
Marchand said that when he heard the developers were looking to modify their past plan, he felt concerned that “it’s not going to be as good a project… I thought this could be a set of compromises or watering down of things we had really wanted to see in the project. In fact,” he said, “It’s the opposite of that.”
I’m looking forward to this project and believe that the residential and lab space will fill fairly quickly. I am much less sanguine about the retail and office space. The retail space at 100 College is empty, years after the building opened. Office and retail space generally has high vacancy rates.
The development will bring people with money to New Haven, as residents or employees. I’m fine with that - the taxes they pay will support the school system, fire department, etc. But it will provide little direct benefit for New Haven residents, particularly those without college degrees.