$7M In State Aid Flows To Whalley Housing, Traffic-Safety Projects

Just in time for the election! And run by the Housing Authority, too!

“Frankly, this is a dangerous road,” Elicker said about Whalley. There have been too many crashes, too many drivers and pedestrians and cyclists hurt.

That's what happens when you cut traffic enforcement by 40% Mr. Mayor. Remember, it's the 3 E's: Education, Engineering AND Enforcement.

It costs several hundred thousand dollars for a developer to build a single unit of housing in a building like this. With several dozen housing units, this building will cost tens of millions of dollars to develop. Bank loans can cover some of that cost. The remainder will come from private for-profit investors. As with any real estate investment, investors are not investing for charity, they expect to generate a competitive profit on their investment.

Since most of the apartments will be restricted to lower-income households, their rent will not be able to cover the costs of financing, operating, and managing the building. As such, tax-payer subsidies (in the form of rental assistance, development grants, etc.) will be needed in order to supplement the tenants' rents so that the bank loan can be paid back, the private for-profit investors can get returns on their investment, and the building can be operated with professional management services.

Subsidized housing like this doesn't cost less to build or operate than a market rate development. In fact, they often cost more because of requirements tied to the public subsidies. Lenders and investors don't expect lower returns. The only major difference between subsidized housing and market rate housing is that in subsidized housing tax payers subsidize the rents of tenants and profits of investors.

Subsidized housing like this is a real estate investment asset class. It is not a scalable solution to New Haven's affordable housing issues.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/mortgages-real-estate/10/affordable-housing.asp

Much credit and many thanks to Mr. Spruill and the great work done by St. Luke's. From the NHR

"Bill Spruill waited 24 years for Tuesday's announcement that the state will provide $7 million to help turn a dream to build a 55-unit affordable housing complex alongside St. Luke's Episcopal Church at Whalley Avenue and Sperry Street into reality.

"Spruill has been a member of the St. Luke's Development Corp. since Day One. It was formed in 1999 out of the church's former pastor's desire for the congregation to do something to help revitalize the neighborhood around it. "

"It's amazing" to see it finally happen, Spruill, 88, said.

Whalley Ave traffic calming and pedestrian, disabled persons, and bike rider safety measures will stop at the portion that is State of CT controlled. But the entire stretch of Whalley Ave is dangerous and should have these safety measures implemented.
We have several major streets in the city that are State controlled, all of them dangerous and deadly to pedestrians and bike riders and those with disabilities. The State needs to improve and implement safety measures for non-vehicle use wherever that street goes through an area with lots of pedestrians, disabled, or bike riders needing to cross or use those streets, and wherever there are lots of businesses, parks or other attractions that those users may frequent.
We also need better coordination of stoplights to improve traffic flow and reduce driver frustration, which will also improve the length of time idling at stoplights, reducing exhaust emissions in our city with high asthma rates.
We should all pester the State officials to make these state controlled portions of streets safer for us all.

That building is epically ugly.

$600K per unit?!?
The Housing Authority has outdone itself once again.

By all means, impede traffic immediately after a traffic light to create a raised pedestrian walkway because people are too damn lazy to walk across the parking lot to the corner, to cross with the light and pedestrian walk signals. This is a monumental waste of money and rewards the lawbreaking jaywalkers.

The St. Luke’s project, which I think is great, is a cautionary tale for affordable housing proponents. As previous NHI articles note, the project received its zoning approval in 2016. Projects like this routinely involve multiple funding sources, each with its own application process and approval criteria. While the project sponsors go through this process, the cost of construction goes up. It is something of a miracle that any affordable housing gets built.

Whalley Avenue is a horror show. The fact that I regularly bike to Stop and Shop raises real questions as to my judgment, if not my mental competence. The funded projects will help. But a great deal more work needs to be done.

Dennis, New Haven Urbanism’s description of housing economics is very good. But neither he nor the city controls the Church Street South site. (I believe I know his identity, hence “he.”) He, you, and I agree that you could build a very substantial, profitable, mixed income development there. That, and a couple of dollars will buy you a (small) coffee.

I’ve spoken with a couple of developers about the site. Their view is that Northland (the site owner) is perfectly happy to sit on the site until they wring a ton of money from the city and state to develop it. This is entirely legal. The city can regulate development through zoning. But it cannot force an owner to develop their property. And I really doubt the city has the cash to buy the site.

The city is beginning to discuss how to implement automated speeding/red light enforcement. I have no inside knowledge as to where the cameras will go. (There will undoubtedly will be hearings and other mechanisms for getting public input.) But Whalley is a logical choice. But the discussion will be complex, involving issues of fairness, effectiveness, and cost.

$32.6 million seems high for this size project because the other improvements on that block are minor i.e streetscape/lighting/facade improvements. Something is off on this deal because unless the demo has known remediation issues, then we are looking at about $550K per unit (including the other $1.8 million (which is also too high) for enhancements).

Let's assume ~1,500-1,800 st ft per unit based on the apt density for the area, so we are looking at $366 per sq foot - about 30-35% too high for a build like this in that part of New Haven. Build price should be $225 - $250 sq foot for mid-range quality apt of this size - remember you can build them much faster per sq foot. Technically, you can probably build for $175 (with less profit), but the materials and mechanicals will need replacement sooner and sometimes for a much higher cost than solid mid-range equipment.

The state should make sure the bids were done correctly.

My personal opinion:

Whalley Avenue would be better off having a 2-way protected bike track as a center median with one lane for buses and one lane for all other traffic going in both directions..

Parking is really either "hit or miss" along certain stretches of Whalley, but in my opinion this particular stretch of Whalley actually don't need any on-street parking.. "Left turn lanes" are also “hit and miss” but it would likely make more sense to make the corners either curb bumpouts or right turn lanes..

I think more development along the Whalley corridor is certainly more important than the amount of parking there is on the street. Also, I think it's important that Buses and bikes become more of a priority with the process of revitalizing and transforming the area to be safer and more livable for people.

Heather, responding to your 3:53 question, the skyscrapers in Manhattan’s Battery Park City are built on fill. In development, all sorts of things are possible if you have you have enough money.

But why would you put a skyscraper on the Church Street South site when there are cheaper sites nearby. There is a vacant lot next door to 360 State. I assume it will eventually host a substantial building. And the redesign of Lower State Street will create a lot of developable land.

No disagreement with your 12:03 comment. But the city controls the bulk of Whalley Ave. - the state segment is just Boulevard to Fitch Street.

Justin, $550,000/unit is high. But the first and second phases of the market rate Audubon, which were built several years ago, came in at about $350,000/unit. And construction on this project likely won’t start until early 2025 (developers are invariably optimistic about start dates).

Wow. For all the bemoaning of "luxury units" (I hate the term. It's just another phrase for new units) being built, here comes publicly built housing that's gonna be crappier than the "luxury units" yet costs $600,000/unit to build ($32.6 million / 55 units).

What's the point of the subsidy if all it does is inflate costs to fill the coffers of favored contractors? Mayor Elicker, please abolish this housing agency, announce which red tapes you will reduce for new buildings, and fund Section 8 vouchers already. The status quo is beyond broken.

Money does not grow on trees. Surely, New Haven and our State will need to refinance their debt at some point?

Lennar is able to sell single family homes at in the $200s-$300k's (https://www.lennar.com/new-homes/texas/dallas-ft-worth).

Our housing authority can't do better than $592,000 per unit? We need to demand that our government does better. Yes, land might be cheaper in DFW area. But this Whalley Avenue site SHOULD be cheaper because we are building up!

Multifamily housing is better for the environment, using less land and promoting walking. But we need to deliver these at competitive pricing. People are moving from the Northeast to Texas and Florida for more affordable housing. That move is a gross failure by our governments to provide housing affordably.

New Haven is desperate for more housing. The state should be releasing $600 million in bond funding, not just $6 million, for projects like this one. Whalley Avenue and Amity Road should be lined with high-rise housing complexes from downtown all the way out through Woodbridge and beyond.

So construction isn't even slated to being for another YEAR?? And then it'll be about another year and a half before it's ready for tenants? And let's be honest -- those estimates are pure optimism. So many new delays can - and likely will - pop up between now and then.

WHY does it take so long for every-damn-thing to happen in this country? We can't put up an apartment building in less than a year now?

EastWest,

Public Housing used to be constructed to meet minimum standards. The buildings often ended up looking like army barracks. Many people, including residents of Public Housing, neighboring property owners, and members of the general public, called for higher quality standards for subsidized housing. Today, subsidized housing is often designed to exceed minimum standards for things like energy efficiency and aesthetic quality so that it cannot be distinguished from market rate developments. Furthermore, changes to the minimum building standards have dramatically increased construction costs in recent decades. Also, the use of public subsidies usually comes with the requirement for paying prevailing wages to construction workers, and administer other requirements related to hiring, compliance with rental assistance programs, etc. In many ways, it doesn't make sense to try to address housing affordability issues with this approach.

Heather,

To build off Kevin's comment, if you were to stand at the present day corner of South Orange Street and Columbus Avenue 200 years ago, you'd be standing in the harbor. Building tall buildings on fill is possible, but more expensive than a site on bedrock, for example. Also, steel and concrete buildings (required for tall buildings) is more expensive to build that wood frame buildings. For that reason, and other local real estate market considerations, it may make more sense financially to build podium buildings than tall buildings on the Church Street South site.

As for every little bit of affordable housing helping, I'm not so sure about that. I also think it is important to differentiate between real estate investment assets that provide housing to low-income residents through substantial public subsidies and housing that is affordable to low-income residents and can be provided at scale.

This is great. Amity/West Hills/Upper Westville needs to be done next. City said the pot profit would go back into the community suffering the craziness of increased traffic and trafficking. Someone was hit by a car and died last week.