Updated 17-Year Miller St. Tax Break OK’d

Alders signed off on more tax relief — for fewer below-market-rent apartments — for a developer team planning to build a 56-unit majority-affordable housing complex atop a long-vacant lot in West River.

In a 23 – 1 vote, the Board of Alders approved a revised Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) agreement between the city and two collaborating developers, New York City’s NHP Foundation and New Haven’s West River Self Help Investment Plan (WRSHIP), which are looking to build a mixed-use complex at 16 Miller St. 

Local legislators took that vote Tuesday night during the full board’s latest bimonthly meeting in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.

The new approved tax-break agreement lowers the to-be-developed housing complex’s annual contribution to the city from $700 to $450 per unit for the 44 apartments that will be rented out at below market rates. That annual tax burden will then increase by 3 percent each year over the court of the 17-year deal. 

The proposed building itself will comprise 56 apartments in total. A majority of apartments will be two and three-bedrooms.

According to the latest plan submitted by the developers, eight of the 44 affordable apartments will be reserved for tenants with Section 8 federal rental subsidies. The rest will be rented to tenants making between 30 and 60 percent of the federally-defined Area Median Income, or between $33,780 and $67,560 for a three-bedroom apartment based on Fiscal Year 2022 standards.

The project is also slated to include a community center, coffee shop, gazebo, playground, and parking lot with electric vehicle capacity.

The developers of 16 Miller St. had initially won a tax-break agreement with the city back in 2019. That alder-approved deal would have seen the developer pay the city $700 per year for each of the 56 units (all of which, at the time, were slated to be affordable) instead of taxes. That amount was slated to increase by 5 percent every five years over the course of 17 years total.

With the 16 Miller St. project, NHP and WRSHIP ​“were faced with unprecedented challenges from the Pandemic and now inflationary pricing as construction costs increased 25% and interest rates have nearly doubled,” according to an application submitted to alders.

The application indicated that since initial presentations to alders, the project changed to include some market rate apartments and received a 9 percent Connecticut Housing Finance Authority tax credit. 

The project, which the developers estimated would cost $31,129,840, faced a $3.5 million financing gap prior to amending the PILOT agreement, the application said.

When they first approached alders about revising the contribution, NHP and WRSHIP sought to pay only $100 per affordable housing unit to the city.

The alders’ Tax Abatement Committee negotiated that amount back up to $450 per affordable unit, with a 3 percent annual increase beginning in the agreement’s second year, according to Fair Haven Alder Ernie Santiago. The agreement is still slated to last 17 years.

Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers, whose ward in West River includes the Miller Street parcel in question, wrote a letter of support for the PILOT revision to her colleagues.

“This development will be transformational for our neighborhood and broader community through the addition of affordable housing and amenity space for residents at or below as low as 30 percent AMI,” she wrote.

On Tuesday, East Rock Alder Anna Festa was the sole representative to vote against the revised tax agreement.

She argued that the developers’ annual contributions ​“should be higher” and questioned the criteria for deciding on the $450-per-unit starting payment.

“Until we have a policy for how these numbers are determined, I can’t support it,” she said.

Science Park Redev Grant Application OK'd

Another planned mixed-income, mixed-use development also came one step closer to a new funding source on Tuesday.

Alders unanimously voted to allow the city to accept a $5 million Urban Act Grant from the state, which will be funneled toward the Science Park Development Corporation’s latest construction efforts.

For decades, the Yale-affiliated development corporation has worked to build housing, laboratories, and business space in the mini-neighborhood of Science Park — an enclosed section on the border of Newhallville, Dixwell, and Prospect Hill where the former Winchester Arms firearm factory once operated.

Specifically, the Urban Act Grant will fund the the restoration of Sheffield Avenue and Mason Street, which once ran through the factory buildings.

Part of that plan includes creating an outdoor plaza on Mason Street called ​“Mason Place.”

Livable City Initiative Director Arlevia Samuel and Economic Development Administrator Mike Piscitelli elaborated in an executive summary of the grant: ​“Mason Place is designed to be an outdoor space for concerts, festivals, farmer’s markets, and to provide greenspace for rest and relaxation.”

According to the summary, these improvements will constitute part of what Science Park Development Corporation is calling ​“The Winchester Center” — a mixed-use complex with 1,000 new housing units, 200 of which are slated to be ​“affordable.”

Dixwell/Prospect Hill Alder Troy Streater, whose ward includes Science Park, expressed support for the grant at Tuesday’s meeting.

“I feel that that area has been desolate,” he said. The new plan will ​“bring in apartments, stores, which I think will revitalize that area and bring tax revenue.”

“Housing is needed, and tax revenue,” he added.