Yale offered a public hint Tuesday about a fraction of the plan it has in store for remaking a major downtown block.
The block is bounded by Chapel, York, and Crown Streets. Yale announced that it is now “committed to move forward” with a plan to construct a “landmark theatrical arts building” there with some of the $150 million David Geffen donated to the university’s drama school. (Update: After this story was published, an unidentified Yale media representative emailed the Independent to state that none of that $150 million is going toward this project. No information was provided about where the money is coming from.)
The new David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and Repertory Theatre (Yale Rep) will combine Yale’s undergraduate program and graduate theater school with the regional performing theater as well as rehearsal space for the undergraduate Yale Dramat troupe.
Yale made the announcement in this online notice, identifying Toronto-based KPMB Architects as the firm undertaking a design for the project.
Since Geffen donated the money and Yale briefly stated its intention to create the new merged facility, New Haveners have wondered about the fate of the block: Which historic buildings and commercial spaces will remain standing or be demolished? What will be the impact on the tax base? Yale owns most of the block. It has let one university building on the eastern side of the middle of the block deteriorate for years. It announced plans to demolish a historic townhouse across the street without revealing what it plans to replace it with.
The Yale announcement addresses none of those questions. It doesn’t identify where on the block the complex will be built, how big it will be, or the planned fate of the current Yale Rep building at the corner of Chapel and York.
A Yale spokesperson refused to any answer questions from the Independent and said the university will not provide information beyond what it released in the statement.
Nor has the university shared details with the city.
“Yale has not yet presented or discussed plans for the new building,” said city Economic Development Administrator Mike Piscitelli. He said the city is “looking forward to learning more.”
This plan has been "on the books" in Yale's planning documents for at least 20 or 30 years, but I think Yale had trouble raising money for it until Geffen stepped in.
It's great they raised enough to hire an architect (a really good one) and move forward. It is not surprising that this is finally happening after the huge gift from Geffen a couple years ago to make the school tuition-free for all students.
Hopefully Yale will build something very large here, so that it can accommodate more students over time. Maybe a 40-story housing tower for students and faculty, located above the school, would be nice, given that there are nowhere near enough homes for people to live in in New Haven.