Pastor Pushes Newhallville Project

Newhallville’s community management team has endorsed a proposal pushed by the Rev. Boise Kimber to build an intergenerational community center and eight affordable two-family homes on a long-vacant city lot right behind his church.

The project has more hurdles to overcome before becoming reality.

Kimber, along with gerontologist-turned-developer Jeff Lefkovich of the South Windsor-based JB Commercial, pitched the idea at a community management team meeting last week. They said they plan to build the new development between Hazel Street, Dixwell Avenue, Ivy Street, and the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail.

They said they were looking for a letter of support from the management team they could include in the grant applications that they’ll be sending out to find funding for the project.

The project depends on the city agreeing to sell the land, and the state agreeing to support the project financially.

The site for the proposed development — 201 Hazel St. — has been vacant for decades, during which government supported a clean-up of environmental contamination at the property.

Kimber said that he has met with the city to discuss purchasing the land from the city. He has met also with the alders from Wards 19 through 22.

The development team has been trying to get state funding for the project as well. Kimber said they’ve already started talking to officials like state Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno. He added that, once built, the center would sustain itself from initial home sales and continued rent payments.

The First Calvary Baptist Church at 605 Dixwell Ave., where Kimber is reverend, occupies the same block as the planned developments. The site is adjacent to a former distribution site for the Sealtest Dairy milk company at 193 – 201 Hazel St., which was acquired by the city in 1994, purchased by Kimber in 2002, and developed years later into an additional sanctuary for the First Calvary Baptist Church.

While the new development has been planned largely for the part of the block currently owned by the city, Lefkovich said that a segment of the project will cross over onto Kimber’s property.

But Kimber this week said that wouldn’t happen, because his church’s board had voted down the proposal to give any property for the development.

“No, they’re not going to do that. They ain’t even renting it,” he said. ​“They wanted to take some of the parking spaces, and the church board said no. They aren’t giving it up: no cutting off the lot or nothing.”

Kimber said that Lefkovich is now reviewing his plans ​“to cut it down.”

Meanwhile, Kimber has been trying for a year to win approval from city government’s Livable City Initiative (LCI), where he has been negotiating with officials.

“We are aware that Rev. Kimber has been interested in this property. He sent a proposal in early 2019,” mayoral spokesperson Gage Frank said Thursday. ​“The application is under review.”

Pitching The Neighbors

When Kimber presented to Newhallvile’s management team, he said there is ​“no black daycare in Newhallville.”

“Uhh…” said Management Team Chair Kim Harris, who runs the Harris and Tucker Preschool along the border between Newhallville and Hamden. She said that her school, a Christian organization that runs both a daycare and preschool, pays taxes in both New Haven and Hamden.

After the community management team meeting, when asked to specify his involvement in the development, Kimber called his role ​“supporter.” The site was empty and blighted, he said, and ​“I wanted to see [the development] get done.”

“They have not declared anything for me. I just wanted to make sure that what they were doing is in line with what the community wanted. I don’t have a role, no more than just a supporting role,” Kimber said. ​“If I get paid, I’ll call and let you know.”

“Rev. Kimber is very supportive of community building and community strengthening,” Lefkovich, the developer, said about Kimber’s involvement. ​“This is actually part of the project will be on a segment of his property. This is something he’s been wanting to accomplish for a [long time].”

Lefkovich said that the nonprofit community center planned for the middle of the block, which he referred to as the Intergeneration Center, would include an early childhood program for 80 infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged kids.

The center would also house an after-school program for teens and an ​“adult day center for older adults who are home isolated,” which might provide either social or medical services, he added.

Kimber, the co-chair of New Haven’s Early Childhood Council, which allocates state-funded School Readiness slots to local education providers, said that the Newhallville neighborhood needs a preschool.

“There’s not a daycare in Newhallville, so we want to do a survey to see how many kids are at home with parents or grandparents when they could be in school,” Kimber said.

A key part of the vision for the center, Lefkovitch said, is ​“people of different ages coming together” to ​“reduce social isolation.” He said the center would ​“give young kids the opportunity to learn from older adults.”

The leadership structure for the nonprofit community center has not yet been determined, according to Lefkovich. The organization would be a ​“collaboration among multiple organizations including the city, possibly the state as well,” he said.

Since late 2016, Lefkovich has been at work building a similarly themed intergenerational housing development at a much larger scale on the eastern edge of the state. He bought a 61-acre site in Griswold, where Lefkovich plans to build hundreds of units for aging adults as well as for people of any age. The complex, known as the Heritage River Village, will feature other amenities like a walking trail and ampitheater as well as a child development center.

Kimber, who met Lefkovich through a mutual friend, said he was supporting the developer because of his track record. ​“He’s done it,” Kimber said. ​“He’s got the experience.”

As for the residential houses, Lefkovich said that each would be a two-family home, with a one or two-bedroom apartment on the ground floor and a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment on the second floor intended for ​“growing families.” The houses would be available for purchase, providing affordable opportunities for homeownership, according to Lefkovich.

“Can you put a dollar amount on that house?” asked Newhallville resident Claudine Wilkins-Chambers.

Lefkovich answered that he couldn’t provide a specific number.

No Time To Lose

Wilkins-Chambers pressed him, saying that the homes’ affordability should be for people who live in Newhallville.

Lefkovich agreed. ​“It has to be, or else it makes no sense,” he said.

Management Team Chair Harris asked Lefkovich and Kimber if they could present more information to the management team at the next meeting.

Kimber protested, saying that waiting until the next management team meeting would delay the project. He said that he and Lefkovich could have prepared to explain the plans in more detail, but they were allotted only four minutes to present per the management team’s packed meeting schedule.

Harris then asked Kimber to email her a formalized letter of support that the management team could elect to sign onto. She said she would start an email thread among voting members of the management team in order to determine whether to approve the letter of support.

On Wednesday, Harris told the Independent that the management team unanimously supported the project.

“I’m just happy that people are coming in and bringing good to the neighborhood and I think that’s what most people felt,” she said. ​“There are so many children that need good quality care and I believe that this will be an asset to this community. This will be great.”

Christopher Peak contributed reporting.