Hill Plans For Future ​“Union Square”

Hill resident Aura Soto showed up with her two children to the latest planning meeting for the future of the former Church Street South site with concerns about neighborhood safety, and ideas about educational programs to ​“keep the kids busy and out of trouble.”

She left feeling optimistic. ​“With the help of the people,” Soto said, looking around at those gathered in the cafeteria of High School in the Community, ​“we will make it a better place.”

Soto was one of nearly two dozen attendees at Thursday night’s meeting of the Union Square Transformation Committee, held at 175 Water St.

The get-together marked the latest public input session after the city’s public housing authority purchased the 8.27-acre vacant property across from Union Station last November for $21 million and announced plans to build up that site into a high-density, mixed-use, mixed-income development. 

The vacant plot used to be home to the privately-owned, government-rent-subsidized 301-unit Church Street South apartment complex, which was demolished in 2018 after years of neglected maintenance destroyed roofs and walls and poisoned kids with asthma. 

On Thursday, the housing authority-led committee gathered neighbors and interested residents to continue imagining what could be built there instead — at a train station-proximate property redubbed ​“Union Square.”

Thursday night’s listening session was led by Union Square Transformation Committee Program Manager Haley Vincent and designer Chris DiStasi. The session served as a touchstone between the committee and community members as the development on the property continues.

​“The big question is: are we getting it right?” DiStasi asked the room of about 20 Hill residents.

Five posters sat at the front of the room with different themes: Connectivity and Mobility, Health and Safety, Educational Attainment, Economic Mobility, and Housing and Affordability. 

At the bottom of each poster was a blank portion for residents to sticky note their suggestions. Among these suggestions, many focused on more educational resources, affordable housing, increased security, accessible transportation services, and available medical centers. 

For Hill resident Mayra Pabron, accessible and affordable housing was a key concern. As someone with a high heart rate and difficulty walking, Pabron wrote on her sticky note that she wanted more access to hospitals and medical services — as well as to be able to easily reach them. 

“Right now, I live on the third floor and my heart rate is high,” Pabron said. ​“Lower buildings would be a better place to live.”

Nickelle Cooper, another Hill neighbor, emphasized educational reform, wanting the committee to focus on quality libraries and schools to be built in the redeveloped neighborhood. Additionally, Cooper wanted leaders who would stay invested in the community.

“I want people that care and people who are invested in the neighborhood, not people who need a photo op,” Cooper said. 

The housing authority received a $500,000 planning grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development last fall. The committee intends to follow a six-phase plan before developing a Neighborhood Transformation Plan and applying for another much larger grant to fund the reconstruction. 

The phases include needs assessments and plan revisions. Though the planning grant outlines a two-year long timeline, Vincent estimates that the committee will not need the full two years, as they ​“hit the ground running.”

Currently, the committee is in the second phase, which includes needs assessments of residents. Yale School of Management is conducting surveys and needs assessments of the 92 tenants of the Robert T. Wolfe apartments and former residents of the Church Street South site. 

The housing authority plans to demolish the Robert T. Wolfe building as part of this redevelopment project. It also has not yet settled on a definite number of new apartments to build on the vacant site. 

Church Street South’s former landlord, Northland Investment Corp., 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 the housing authority, also known as Elm City Communities, purchased it late last year.