Alders Advance Strong School Redev Deal

A national affordable housing developer’s bid to convert the long-vacant former Strong School on Grand Avenue into at least 50 new apartments took another big step forward, as alders endorsed rezoning and selling the city-owned property for $500,000.

That was the outcome of Tuesday night’s joint meeting of the Board of Alders Community Development and Legislation Committees. The meeting took place in-person in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.

Both committees unanimously recommended approval of a proposed Development and Land Disposition (DLDA) agreement that would see the Elicker administration sell a half-acre’s worth of properties spread across 69 Grand Ave., 19 Clinton Ave., and an unnumbered address on Perkins Street for $500,000 to an affiliate of Pennrose. That’s the national affordable housing developer that the city and Fair Haven neighbors selected to oversee the Strong School’s redesign back in November. 

The proposed agreement would also require the developer to build at least 50 new apartments, and to keep all of those apartments affordable to tenants making between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income (AMI) for the next 30 years. In exchange for that affordability commitment, the city would fix the property’s tax burden for all of the deed-restricted apartments at $450 per unit per year with a 3 percent annual increase over the course of 20 years.

Also on Tuesday night, the committees’ alders unanimously recommended approval of a proposed zoning map amendment that would set the underlying zone for all three properties in the Strong School campus as​“BA‑1,” also known as neighborhood center mixed-use business. The two properties behind the Grand Avenue-fronting ex-school building are currently zoned ​“RM‑1,” which refers to low-middle density residential. 

Both the DLDA and rezoning proposals now head to the full Board of Alders for a final review and vote.

This has been ​“a particularly stubborn property to get back on the tax rolls,” city Deputy Economic Development Administrator Carlos Eyzaguirre said on Tuesday about the century-old Strong School building, which has been empty for more than a decade. ​“We’ve had a couple of false starts.” But this Pennrose deal, which emerged from such a thorough and community-driven selection process, promises to bringing the property back into productive use in a way that does right by Fair Haven and right by the building.

“It’s been incredibly difficult to get it right,” said Fair Haven Alder and Clinton Avenue resident Sarah Miller, who had opposed a previous development proposal for the Strong School and who played a key role in the process that led to the selection of Pennrose. ​“Making the math work on this building has been very, very difficult.” 

The building is deteriorating, she said, and ​“we have people breaking into the building all the time.” While the Livable City Initiative ​“has been great at trying to secure” the property, she said, ​“there really is urgency to move this along.” 

And so, she said to her local legislative colleagues after eight of her Fair Haven neighbors came out to testify in support of the Pennrose deal, ​“I just want to urge you to move this forward tonight so we can begin this process of rehabilitating the school. It really is a drain right now. We’re really suffering the way that it is” today. ​“The sooner we can advance it, the better for everyone.”

Developer: "Goal Is To Keep This Affordable"

Most of Tuesday’s City Hall meeting saw committee alders peppering Eyzaguirre, Pennrose Senior Developer Karmen Cheung, and other city staffers and developer-hired lawyers with questions about the proposed DLDA.

Cheung said that her company has 50 years of experience developing affordable housing in 20 states across the country. Pennrose has an affiliated management company that would manage the rebuilt Strong School if the deal goes through.

“We’re not just developers, but we’re long-term operations of affordable housing. We envision being part of the New Haven community for the long term,” she said.

While Pennrose plans to keep and convert the former Grand Avenue-facing school building into new apartments, it does plan on knocking down the 1990’s-era addition that currently stands behind the property. Cheung said Pennrose plans to build roughly 58 apartments in total — but, since the development design is still in relatively early stages, the proposed DLDA commits the developer to building at least 50.

She said the apartments will be a mix of studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments, and all will be reserved at below-market rents: 19 percent of units at 80 percent AMI, 25 percent of units at 60 percent AMI, 43 percent of units at 50 percent AMI, and 13 percent of units at 30 percent AMI. Those rental and income restrictions translate to four-person households making between $33,525 and $89,400 per year.

She added that the project should cost roughly $26.5 million in total to build, and that it will be funded through a combination of Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LITHC) financing, state Department of Housing historic tax credits, and New Haven HOME funds, among other public and private funding sources.

“Projects like this, it’s a complicated capital stack. Because it’s expensive and because the rents are capped, we have to find subsidies to do it,” she said. All of these different funding sources are ones that ​“Pennrose is very familiar with obtaining.”

Cheung and Eyzaguirre also said that the said that ex-school’s auditorium will be preserved for some kind of arts and culture use, and the redevelopment will be intentionally ​“LBTQ affirming.”

“It’s not a preference, and it’s not a set-aside,” Cheung said about that latter commitment. ​“Anyone is welcome to apply to live here.” Rather, Pennrose wants to make sure that ​“the DNA of the project” contemplates what it means to have an apartment building that is supporting of renters who identify as LGBTQ. That could mean having gender neutral bathrooms, or paying extra attention to ​“what kinds of boxes [we asked people to] check on forms,” or hosting a complex-wide Pride Month celebration.

City Climate & Sustainability Executive Director Steve Winter added that the redevelopment ​“is going to be Enterprise Green Communities compliant,” which refers to a ​“green construction standard” for multifamily housing. It’s also going to be ​“zero energy ready compliant,” which is an ​“ultra efficient” standard set by the federal Department of Energy for residential construction, and it will be entirely electric and have an array of on-site solar panels.

A number of committee alders — including Dixwell’s Jeannette Morrison, Beaver Hills’ Brian Wingate, and Downtwon/East Rock’s Eli Sabin — asked some version of the question: What happens after the 30-year affordability mandate runs out? Will these apartments suddenly be bumped up to market rents?

“Typically, after 30 years, our goal is to recapitalize by going to CHFA for credits so we can finance improvements like replacing the roof or improving kitchens, appliances,” Cheung said in response to Morrison’s question. If Pennrose is successful in securing additional funding in the future from state agencies, than those same agencies will apply another extended term of mandated rental affordability.

“The goal is to keep this affordable and utilize state resources to fund recapitalization” every few decades, Cheung said. 

"This Is Long Overdue"

A total of nine members of the public — including Alder Sarah Miller — spoke up in support of the DLDA and rezoning, and in support of Pennrose’s plans more broadly.

“This is a very important development for our community,” said former alder and former City Hall staffer Esther Armmand, who lives on Quinnipiac Avenue. ​“I urge your favorable approval.”

In written testimony she submitted in support of the proposal, Armmand continued: ​“Since Pennrose’s selection as developer for this site, they have exhibited exceptional commitment to communicating and collaborating with Fair Haven residents including the Community Management Team. The historic Strong School building has been vacant for over a decade. Redevelopment of this site is an essential step in the revitalization of the Grand Avenue corridor and Fair Haven as a whole. This proposal fulfills community-defined needs for affordable housing and gathering space, supports local artists and arts culture, adds to our local tax base, and restores a historic building for future generations.”

Mary Wade Home President and CEO David Hunter agreed.

Hunter was on the neighborhood-led steering committee that picked Pennrose to be the Strong School’s developer. He praised the project’s addition of affordable housing to the neighborhood at a time when ​“rents in Greater New Haven County increased 21 percent from June 2020 to June 2022.”

“Our community has been working a long time on this project,” he said. ​“We are all in favor,” as evidenced by his Fair Haven neighbors who also came out in support.

“I think this is a great development for the Fair Haven area,” added Chapel Street resident Eric Gonzalez, who has lived in New Haven for 25 years and whose mom owns a home in Fair Haven.

“This project isn’t just about bricks and mortar,” said New Haven Pride Center Interim Executive Director Juancarlos Soto in support of the development’s LGBTQ-affirming commitment. ​“It’s about creating a community of respect and care,” and recognizing that ​“a healthy, safe living environment is a basic human right for all people,” including members of the LGBTQ community. 

“I am hopeful that this redevelopment project will serve as a model for future developments in New Haven and beyond.”

Fair Haven Community Health Care CEO Suzanne Lagarde agreed.

She said she’s been in the Strong School building on three occasions since 2014. ​“The deterioration has been dramatic and frightening,” she said. ​“This is long overdue and something that we strongly support.”

This project, she continued, ​“is about being open and welcoming to all groups of people. … This is going to be a really big plus,” for the neighborhood. ​“This is long overdue.”