Thomas Breen photo
Builder Joe Levy and Q Meadows Alder Gerald Antunes at City Hall vote.
VESSEL TECHNOLOGIES IMAGE
Rendering of 27 apartments planned for Hemingway.
The Board of Alders overwhelmingly approved selling a 1.29-acre Hemingway Street plot for $40,000 to a New York City-based developer that plans to build 27 new apartments on the vacant site, which includes wetlands.
Local legislators took that vote Monday night during their latest regular bimonthly meeting. The meeting took place in person in the Aldermanic Chambers on the second floor of City Hall.
Every alder present except for Downtown Alder Abby Roth voted in support of selling 136 Hemingway St. to Vessel Technologies, Inc. for $40,000.
The roughly 55,000 square-foot property is located in Fair Haven Heights, between Eastern Street and Quinnipiac Avenue. According to the minutes from the Sept. 29 Livable City Initiative (LCI) Board of Directors meeting, the city most recently appraised the property as worth $55,000. The city assessor’s database, meanwhile, lists the property’s appraised value as $147,400.
The property disposition approved on Monday night states that the developer plans to build up to 30 apartments on the site. It also requires the developer to complete a sidewalk connecting existing adjacent sidewalks near the site, and to meet with the local community management team and present the design, paved area for parking, lighting and colors of the proposed development for neighborhood comment.
According to minutes from July’s Property Acquisition and Disposition (PAD) Committee meeting and a separate proposed 30-year local tax abatement requested by Vessel Technologies Inc., the New York City-based developer plans to build a new three-story residential building on the site. The developer plans to restrict all 27 apartments to tenants making no more than 80 percent of the area median income (AMI), and to limit monthly rents for one-bedroom apartments to no more than $1,350 for the first year.
Thomas Breen photo
Monday’s Board of Alders meeting.
The proposed tax deal was not voted on Monday night. That submission still has to be heard by the aldermanic Tax Abatement Committee meeting. The only vote Monday was in regards to the sale of the land itself to Vessel for $40,000.
Roth urged her colleagues to vote against the deal for two reasons.
She criticized the process by which the item made its way to the full board, arguing that it should have been heard by an aldermanic committee and gone through two “readings,” like every other non-unanimous-consent legislative item does. She also said that the alders didn’t receive background information on the proposed sale until earlier in the day on Monday.
Roth also said she would like to know more about the separate proposed tax abatement deal, as well as about how a proposed development might affect the wetlands on the property, before taking a final vote on the public land sale.
Majority Leader Richard Furlow.
Board of Alders Majority Leader and Amity/Westville Alder Richard Furlow and Fair Haven Heights Alder Rosa Ferraro-Santana countered Roth’s critique by saying that the proposed land deal was heard by LCI’s PAD Committee and by the City Plan Commission, as is the case for every local public property disposition. LCI property referrals are the one exception to the rule that matters need unanimous consent votes unless they first get vetted in committee.
“This has nothing to do with wetlands,” Furlow added. “What we are voting on tonight is just the approval of the sale of the property. It will still need to go through its regular process to be approved if there are wetlands,” he said, referring to the City Plan Commission’s typical site plan review process for new developments.
After the meeting, Vessel Technologies Executive Vice President Joe Levy exchanged phone numbers with Quinnipiac Meadows Alder Gerald Antunes, who represents the ward that includes 136 Hemingway St.
Levy said he is “thrilled” by the property sale vote. His company is eager to embark on their first residential development in New Haven, he said.
He said his company’s next step for the property is “wetlands delineation” — that is, understanding in greater detail where the wetlands are on the Hemingway Street property, where a building can go up on that land, and where Vessel should refrain from building. He said Vessel will likely “preserve some of the land for natural purposes.”
The LCI Board of Directors meeting minutes from September indicate that Vessel plans to “keep the structure as far away from the wetlands as possible” and that “the wetlands will be offered to the [New Haven] Land Trust.” Those meeting minutes also state that the Hemingway Street parcel is continuous with 1081 Quinnipiac Ave., which is part of the Hemingway Creek Preserve.
“It’s a great city,” Levy said about New Haven on Monday night. “A city that’s blossomed” with new developments over the past 15 years. He said he’s eager to have his company join the mix of developers building new residential properties all across New Haven.
Assuming the city should support subsidized housing, affordable for someone at 80% of AMI is actually market-rate or above for this neighborhood. So, why the sweetheart deal on the land sale, to be followed by a tax abatement?
[Reporter's note: Thanks for the question! Here's one more quote from the LCI Board of Directors Sept. 29 meeting minutes that seems relevant: "The proposed price of $40,000 reflects the fact that a lot of engineering and geotechnical work needs to be done at this site, that is why LCI is proposing this as a negotiated sale below the appraised value. Vessel is proposing to develop modern, high quality, energy efficient units, which currently do not exist in this area."]