Yale Expands On Broadway With $7M Buys

Once Yale gets 21 Broadway they will bulldoze everything and build a single mixed-use building. Much easier to manage that way.

They have a plan, they just aren't going to tell you.

Heard that the LL Bean store is closing early next year, if so whats in the future for this building?

Looking forward to the story where Yale kicks out the dry cleaner/consignment shop because its not on-brand with Yale's Elitism

How I wish some of this investment were going into a vibrant local cinema, with first-rate projection and sound, that is open to the community. What a loss the Criterion has been for New Haven, and we still miss the York Square despite insulation hanging for the ceiling. The Madison theater is a schlep, and its sound system is mediocre. Big cineplexes in the suburbs seem to specialize in kid stuff. Yale, please do the New Haven community a solid, and develop a comprehensive film program downtown.

A large movie cineplex, perhaps with apartments/hotels located in a large tower above it, would be great for this area. It could easily fit at the western end of Broadway if the existing gas station, Popeye's, and triangular parking lots on each side of the end of Goffe Street were all repurposed as a single development parcel.

The end of Goffe Street is unnecessary. Goffe could curve and end at Dixwell, or even better, the building with Sushi Mizu could be demolished and Dwight Street could be extended across to meet Dixwell Avenue.

Doing this would create one large city block about the size of the block bounded by Chapel, Orange, Center, and Church Streets, which would be perfect for a large cineplex like the ones that have been built in large U.S. cities. There even would be room left over for a small public park.

Or, if it's not good for a cineplex, then another large tax revenue-generating office/lab building with ground floor retail would work well there too.

It's disheartening to witness a university, a sanctuary for intellect and culture, shift its focus towards constructing a shopping center on campus. While universities are meant to be bastions of learning and critical thinking, prioritizing commercial ventures over intellectual pursuits feels like a deviation from their core purpose. It's crucial to uphold the values of academia and preserve spaces that foster knowledge and cultural growth, rather than succumbing to the allure of superficiality and consumerism.

This area is just stagecraft for the parents for drop off day, a few parents weekend visits, graduation and the two alumni reunion weekends.

As a landlord, Yale has demonstrated a willingness to keep storefronts empty if they can't find their version of the "right" tenant instead of renting to any party that's willing to foot the bill. I agree that I worry what this purchase means for the cleaners & consignment store that don't fit Yale's vision for this Broadway sector.

As funky and unique buildings and businesses continue to disappear, the Principality of Yale will complete the conversion of an architecturally and culturally diverse place into a monument to wealthy donors and corporate franchises.
They've already transformed the Harvard-Yale game into feeling like it's taking place in North Korea.
No more NH Docs on campus.
No more sledding on the golf course.
Streets quietly being appropriated to protect the fortress.
Freddy Fixer not allowed to parade to the downtown.
Yale increasingly reflects the autocrats who run the University and their need to control everything around them.

It is extremely difficult for a mom and Pop type store to open with Yale as a landlord. They often dictate long hours that you need to be open as well as holidays and weekends. Normally those requirements are in malls and large strip malls. In addition, some of their leases require the establishment to share profits with them so they are in your books each year to determine what is owed.
And until they change that practice , you wont see many survive.

Yale owns more non-educational real estate than is in the citys interest. And Yale has a long-term interest in the citys vitality, which has been harmed by its leasing policies and practices.

Picking up on Ben Howells points, Yale has a legitimate interest in seeing that harmful businesses, e.g., smoke shops, dont end up as its neighbors. But Yale has been far more finicky than this, and is an unnecessarily difficult landlord.

Anonymous, those are not bad ideas. The question is how you implement and pay for them. The city could condemn the properties for economic development (and write a very large check). But in a post-Kelo world, I think this is highly unlikely. I think the Supreme Court made the right decision in that case. But even I think that applying it to this situation would be wrong.

There are so many successful businesses that Yale has shut down for ridiculous reasons entrepreneurs that have run successful enterprises for decades, with large customer bases, just get wiped out in a day when the Landlord decides theyd like to do something different with the space.

I will never forgive them for Caffe Adulis or J. Press, and I would love a Yankee Doodle burger right about now.

I sure hope an even bigger Lululemon is coming.

While on the face of it, I agree with the largely negative comments, in the grand scheme of things, a private landlord would not survive this strip. In fact, by controlling this area, Yale kept it's character of old small town alive. They probably are slightly detached from reality in the sense that they want really strong tenants, but from a visual, real estate point, they're doing a nice job and making the area nice and clean. Probably, it would be best if there was a nice coffee shop there the area would be busier.

Nelson, you may be right but we will never know. There is no time machine that would allow us to see what would have happened if Yale had not bought up the block.

One thing that Yale does is keep storefronts vacant much longer than most other landlords. The space next to L.L.Bean has been empty for more than five years. Most of the Yale-owned storefronts on Audubon Street have been vacant for decades.

For those that remember, they essentially shut down the incredibly successful restaurant, Roomba, and upscale shoe store that replaced Barry LTD. There may be others, but those are the ones I have personal knowledge of

OK, maybe I'm missing something here, but why all the negative comments around Yale being an overbearing and elitist landlord? Everyone has a vision of what their ideal downtown should look like and contain. But seriously, has anyone walked downtown Bridgeport, Hartford, or any comparably sized CT town lately? They are basically lost cityscapes, with many rundown little shops, most with very little appeal beyond very local interest. Have you been to Westport lately, that super-rich community, that has lots of great shops, but also with lots of empty storefronts too. I would put NH up against any other town in CT Broadway, Chapel, Crown, York, Wooster, etc. all add a vibrancy that none of these other towns have. Could Yale and NH do better? Of course, but Yale is the magnet that attracts, directly and indirectly, so much of that "vibrancy" that most of those other towns lack. On a side note, and one of great importance, let's bring back the late, great York Square Cinemas!

LucaD, I second your motion about York Square. And you are right that empty storefronts are a very common phenomenon, due largely to structural changes in retailing.

But as I noted with regard to Audubon Street, Yale keeps its storefronts vacant a ridiculously long time. Given the foot traffic, I doubt the property next to LL. Bean would have been empty so long under different ownership.

BTW, the vacancies in Westport are partially due to recent developments on the Post Road there.

@LucaD and Kevin McCarthy: Westport once had mostly small local businesses in its downtown area and it contributed to a genuine sense of place.

Noooooooooo!!!!
This is the almost final nail in the coffin of independent shops and businesses not owned by Yale along Broadway that used to be filled with quirky and unique mom and pop businesses. The moat around Yale is growing wider and wider and the pseudo gated community of Yale is taking over our little city with large chain higher end boutique shops and ridiculously priced goods that your average New Havener cant afford and doesnt appeal to their needs. Even LL Bean carries mostly student appeal and student body sized clothing and the stock carried is a pale comparison to their regular stores and their catalog stock.
Pretty soon there will be nothing in the greater downtown shopping areas that appeals to anyone who isnt a college student or for anyone who is lower to low middle income to draw town and gown together at all income levels and all stages of life.
Part of what made New Haven great, was its diversity and unique character and the amazing town and gown interactions at cafes, restaurants, bars, clubs, movie theaters, bookstores, record stores, furniture stores, clothing stores, theaters, thrift shops, and small markets and drugstores.
Yale taking over retail, food and beverage, and entertainment buildings is destroying that which makes New Haven special.

I was a frequent shopper at FatFace and that store was always busy with many shoppers coming in from out of town as the only other FatFace store was in Mystic. Sadly, Yale choose not to renew their lease and replaced it with with a tiny Paper Source store, I expect due to the proximity of Yale Bookstore. Thing is, there is a large Paper Source store in Branford with free parking so it would seem the main group of shoppers the New Haven store is going to attract are the students. It is a shame as FatFace was a reasonably priced clothing store with ethically sourced clothing and great customer service.

With the closing of the Criterion and now this store, I literally have NO reason to the downtown at all. I did, however, have a lovely time in downtown Madison last month seeing a movie and shopping-the stores were all busy. And parking was free. I expect we will see leases not renewed or rents raised for the small businesses in this new purchase, again a shame as Broadway Hair was a nice salon and again, reasonably priced.

I remember how busy the downtown was during the holidays, so lively and bright. Now one needs to find that elsewhere.

Why don't they just turn the entire downtown over to the university. And stop all the intrigue and speculation.

Kevin, Heather, I agree that they do keep them vacant, but they have very good aesthetics, and whatever Yale does with their real estate, quite frankly, contributes to the appeal of New Haven as a whole. All their renovations and facade works are first class. So maybe they keep some stores vacant, because they don't need the money, but I understand their reluctance to deal with here today gone tomorrow mom and pop as well. Most retail is doomed and Yale also has a reputation to uphold and cannot be associated with crappy tenants. Maybe they should drop their prices, that's for sure. But institutions move very slowly. And no one else would have paid this price except them anyway.

This is nothing new.Ivy League Schools have been doing this for years.Check out who is the largest private landowner in New York City.I bet they even got Yale beat.

Exceeding previous estimates, Columbia is the largest private landowner in New York City, city data reveals.They even have a song.

Oh, who owns New York?

Oh, who owns New York?

Oh, who owns New York the people say.

Why, we own New York!

Why, we own New York!

C-O-L-U-M-B-I-A!

A century after the introduction of Columbias fight song, the University has become not only an institution of academic prestige, but a giant of New York City real estate. The extent of the Universitys institutional property holdings has, however, remained largely unclearuntil now.In the highest of published estimates, the RealDeal, a news outlet focused on commercial and residential real estate, reported in 2022 that the University owned 216 buildings in New York City, totaling 13.9 million square feet in ownership. This estimate earns Columbia the title of the largest private landowner in New York City by number of addresses. Yet, it still underestimates the true size of the Universitys real estate portfolio beyond holdings listed under The Trustees Columbia University.

https://www.columbiaspectator.com/city-news/2023/04/20/exceeding-previous-estimates-columbia-is-the-largest-private-landowner-in-new-york-city-city-data-reveals/

And NYU is second.

New York University and Columbia University own more city real estate by far than any other private colleges or universities.

https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2022/10/20/trd-pro-these-universities-have-the-largest-nyc-real-estate-footprints/
And look at these goodies they get.

The Untouchables: How Columbia and N.Y.U. Benefit From Huge Tax Breaks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/nyregion/columbia-university-property-tax-nyc.html

Yale has a planned take over of New Haven in the works for years. New Havens once vital cultural center has continued to be sold off to Yale furthering a town and gown environment and frankly resentment for this privileged institution that examples colonial domination. The more it takes over New Haven, the more it shuts out townees from access to their downtown!! This is all about ownership, at the expense of New Haven residents paying for Yales take overs through hefty taxes that will only explode once yales deals with city hall end. Enough already Yale!! We will protest your insidious slithering attempts at further expansion.

While Broadway has always been commercial, it used to have cultural character. Now it's just a bland-name mall.

FromtheEastside-
Yankee Doodle closed due to the landlord refusing to renew their lease. Educated Burgher closed because the family no longer wanted to run it and nobody from the younger generation wanted to take it on. Cutlers records was impacted by the shift from CDs to downloading music, but records are back in vogue, and some record shops never left the business, Tyco left due to the landlord (same building as Yankee Doodle,) and because Office Max and Staples were part of the big box store trend killing small businesses.
But Gentrees, Copper Kitchen and others closed due to Yales month-to-month leases and their insistence of businesses renting their properties to stay open longer hours at night and on Sundays and holidays and not closing for two weeks in the summer, or like in the case of the Wall St pizza place, Yale wanted it for academic purposes to take them off the tax rolls. If those Yale imposed conditions did not exist, other small mom and pop run shops would have taken their place, but those Yale imposed restrictions make it impossible for a small business to survive there.
And Yale only wants student focused higher end businesses that it feels are a suitable fit for Ivy League students and their parents when they visit, and for their higher paid faculty and administrators to enjoy.
Any given day you can walk into any of the Broadway/Elm shops and see maybe a half dozen or even fewer customers shopping and most of them are students.
If Yale was a more reasonable landlord for small businesses, and didnt take commercial properties off the tax rolls for academic uses, and if Yale supported quirky independent little businesses, then Im sure we would have other diverse businesses to replace the ones that close down or move on. Im sure we would also have more businesses that dont focus mainly on student interests and we would have more products that appeal to all walks of life, all demographics, and not just primarily students and faculty.

Remember when Yale kept prime real estate on The Green empty for years, until they found a perfect tenant? Good times(it was Shake Shack, right?)
Anyways, here's this banger from Mayor Murphy in the 1930s:

Murphy returned from the meeting dejected, telling his friend Joseph Carr: Joe, theyre tough people. I didnt get any response from them at all. But Joe, I saw something in there that I may not live to see but you may. Theres a model on the table in there which shows Yale owning all the property from Grove Street Cemetery to New Haven Hospital and from College Street to Howe. They want all of downtown.
https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/yale_new_haven_history

LittleRat-
One of New Havens cofounders Reverend John Davenport created the idea of Yale college and it didnt move to New Haven until 1718.
New Haven was established in 1638 by Theophilus Eaton and Reverend John Davenport.
See links to articles below,

New Haven was established
https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/2003/2/03.02.04/3#:~:text=New Haven Colony was established,Bay Colony some years earlier.

The early origins of Yale University
https://connecticuthistory.org/yale-university-from-colonial-times-to-the-present/#:~:text=While it is well documented,back to the mid-1600s.

New Haven as a settlement predates Yale as an idea.

Its also interesting that the first municipal incorporation concept formed was in the United Kingdom,
https://repository.uclawsf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1808&=&context=faculty_scholarship&=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fq%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Frepository.uclawsf.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1808%2526context%253Dfaculty_scholarship%26sa%3DU%26ved%3D2ahUKEwi6p6qP1_aCAxW3kYkEHRqHAsgQFnoECBcQAQ%26usg%3DAOvVaw3RiH4eobH4gS3hcOzLzIRp#search="https://repository.uclawsf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1808&context=faculty_scholarship"
And the second oldest municipal corporation outside of the UK was formed in Madras India as a reaction to the abuse of powers by Yale Universitys namesake Elihu Yale who was president of Madras during the time that the East Indian Trading Company and the British Empire was colonizing, plundering, exploiting and enslaving black and brown communities across the globe.
So Yale and the concept of incorporation of municipalities was born out of the colonization, the exploitation, enslavement and plundering of black and brown communities, and the white power superiority complex of privileged class white males from Europe, specifically Great Britain in this case, with the East Indian Trading Company, being the globes prime offender. Spain, Italy, France and Portugal are also major global colonizers who plundered, exploited and enslaved black and brown communities all over the world for the profits and control of as much of the globe as they possibly could.
So yes, I believe it is very fitting to say that Yale colonized New Haven, much as the people behind Yales history and its benefactors and all those associated with its history, were part of the same network of power and privilege that was built on the backs of the poor, black, brown and other less privileged communities that they profited off of.

Most Yale (and other Ivy League universities and colleges) legacy families and historic alumni in the upper classes can trace their generational wealth over the centuries in at least one ancestor or more involved with the East India Trading Company, the global slave trade, exploitation, theft, murder, genocide, rape, and plundering of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and North, South, Central Americas and the Caribbean.
Anyway you look at it, Yales very foundations and ongoing existence and funding is deeply connected to colonization and exploitation and oppression and white male power.