Markeshia Ricks file photo
Juan Salas-Romer (center) at 2016 ribbon cutting: Village Suites residential conversion endorsed by City Plan.
A local developer’s plans to convert a 112-room extended-stay hotel on Long Wharf into 112 new apartments moved ahead thanks to a favorable recommendation from the City Plan Commission.
Local land-use commissioners took that vote Wednesday night during their latest regular monthly meeting, which was held online via Zoom.
The commissioners voted unanimously in support of a coastal site plan to allow “multi-family dwelling unit use of an existing 112-room all-suite hotel” in Planned Development District (PDD) 65, to quote from the title of the application itself. They also voted unanimously in support of a proposed zoning text amendment to allow for a multi-family dwelling unit use at that same hotel location in that same PDD.
That 3.1‑acre site at 3 Long Wharf Dr. and 175 Hallock Ave. is currently home to the 14-building, 112-room Village Suites hotel.
The owner of that hotel property, a holding company controlled by NHR Group’s Juan Salas-Romer, has submitted a petition calling on the Board of Alders to allow him to convert the hotel site from 112 hotel rooms into 112 apartments.
Thanks to the City Plan Commission’s favorable recommendation Wednesday night, that rezoning proposal now advances to the Board of Alders for further review and a potential final vote.
Wednesday night's City Plan Commission meeting.
The site of the current Village Suites on Long Wharf.
Salas-Romer has been “an active investor in New Haven for the past 20 years,” local attorney Chris McKeon told the commissioners Wednesday. He “has shown a dedicated commitment to the city in a number of different projects. … He has a commitment to New Haven, and will continue to have one with respect to what we’re proposing tonight.”
McKeon said that the hotel site’s PDD was created in 1986, when that plot of land was an “underutilized industrial space.” The original nearly 40-year-old zoning rules for this site permit only an extended-stay hotel there. Now, McKeon said, Salas-Romer’s company wants permission from the Board of Alders to add another allowable use: multi-family dwellings, i.e., apartments.
“As simple as that request may be, the procedure for obtaining an amendment to a PDD” requires quite a few steps, including submitting a petition to the Board of Alders and appearing before the City Plan Commission and local legislators. “We’re simply asking for the use of multi-family dwelling units to be added to this PDD zone.”
He also stressed that there is no new construction planned for this hotel-to-apartment conversion. Rather, if Salas-Romer’s company wins the necessary city approvals, it would convert the site’s existing 112 hotel rooms into 28 two-bedroom apartments and 84 studio apartments, with 5 percent set aside at below market rents per the city’s inclusionary zoning (IZ) ordinance.
City Plan Director Laura Brown added that this project would be exempt from the recently adopted Long Wharf building moratorium because it is a pending project and because, if the developer follows through on the conversion, it would involve the implementation of existing approved general plans.
Thomas Breen file photo
The Village Suites hotel at 3 Long Wharf Dr.
During the public hearing portion of Wednesday night’s meeting, Hill neighbors generally threw their support behind the hotel-to-apartments conversion — even as many expressed concerns about housing affordability in the neighborhood more broadly.
“I am all for housing,” Myra Smith said. “I just would like to make sure that it is within means and that it is affordable” for people who already call the Hill home. “We are all for housing but please make sure we’re doing it so that people can enjoy it and people can afford it.”
Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez praised Salas-Romer for his participation in a recent community meeting about this project, and lauded his “commitment to the community.”
“We look forward to a great partnership,” she said.
Miguel Pittman, Sr., meanwhile, pressed the developer on exactly how much he plans to charge in rent at these to-be-converted apartments.
“We’re in a really exploratory phase,” Salas-Romer replied. “We realize with a structure that dates back to 1986, it is definitely more geared towards a workforce housing situation than for an affluent rental situation.” But, he added, “I can’t tell you specifically what that [rent] number would be.”
Westville Alder and City Plan Commissioner Adam Marchand noted at the end of the public hearing that the commissioners cannot generally take into account concerns about rent affordability, besides what’s laid out in the IZ ordinance, when deciding whether or not to approve a new housing project.
But, he said, all of the testimony Wednesday night about affordable housing concerns in the Hill “does add to the growing volume of public testimony where people are saying that there’s a tremendous need for more affordable units. I think we should note that.”
With that, the commissioners voted unanimously in support of recommending approval of the PDD text amendment.
This is a wonderful use of this property if it increases affordable housing units in the area. Our outdated zoning restrictions should allow an existing hotel to be converted to apartments. It should allow for houses to be rebuilt or remodeled in the same style and the same number of units as their neighboring houses with the same setbacks and parking as their neighboring houses that were built prior to 1940’s as long as adequate fireproofing is in place to reduce fire hazards.
Empty and abandoned industrial and commercial properties should be allowed to become mixed use with housing from the second floor up, and either residential handicap accessible units, or retail, or food and beverage businesses, or services, or entertainment, or activities, or sports businesses on the ground floor, with free parking limited to handicapped parking, parking for people with children under 3, loading zones on the property, as long as it is near bus lines or trains and has secure bike storage.