ELKUS MANFREDI ARCHITECTS
101 College St. rendering
“Parcel B,” where materials and vehicles will be located during construction of 101 College.
Expect to see dirt piles, dump trucks, and a whole lot of hard hats and building materials atop the former Rt. 34 Connector downtown —as the planned two-year construction of a new 10-story, 525,000 square-foot bioscience lab and office tower is about to begin.
That planned new development is 101 College St.
On Wednesday night, the developers behind the estimated $100 million project discussed their plans for an imminent start to construction during the latest monthly meeting of the City Plan Commission. The two-and-a-half hour virtual meeting took place online via Zoom.
Land-use commissioners unanimously approved a special permit for a holding company controlled by the Massachusetts-based developer Winstanley Enterprises to set up a construction staging area on so-called “Parcel B.”
That’s a vacant plot of city-owned land bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the north, Church Street to the east, South Frontage Road to the south, and the site of the soon-to-be-built 101 College St. building to the west.
Meanwhile, Yale announced Friday that it has signed a lease to become an anchor tenant of the tower. It will occupy 125,000 square feet on three of the building’s ten floors.
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Wednesday night’s City Plan Commission meeting.
Attorney Carolyn Kone and engineer Ted DeSantos explained to the City Plan commissioners Wednesday evening that the developer plans to use “Parcel B” as a staging area for construction equipment and materials — including a whole lot of dirt — needed to build the new biotower.
That means that, starting on June 9 of this year and running through June 2023, that site will host a dirt stockpile, concrete, steel, other building materials, and plenty of construction vehicles as Winstanley’s general contractor works on erecting 101 College St. right next door.
“This is a tight site for construction at 101 College,” DeSantos said. “It’s a little under two acres, and we have a 10-plus-two story building that we need to construct.”
By having the staging area on Parcel B right next to the construction site, he said, the developer and the city won’t need to set up any special traffic detours on nearby city streets.
Rather, all of the work will be done while still maintaining existing public access to the service drives that currently run through the former Rt. 34 Connector.
“The need for that Parcel B land is to allow for a soil stockpile almost immediately after starting construction,” DeSantos said. “We have some deep excavation we need to do to be able to place the footings and foundations.”
Soil will be dug up from the 101 College St. site, moved over to Parcel B, and then moved back over to fill in the 101 College St. site as construction progresses.
“There is a lot going on on these relatively small parcels.”
A detailed plan for construction vehicle traffic in and out of Parcel B.
DeSantos said that, during Phase 1 of construction from June 9 through approximately February 2022, between 2,000 and 3,000 cubic yards of soil will be removed from the 101 College St. site and placed in a stockpile on the northeast corner of Parcel B.
“During Phase 1, contractors will travel on the northern and southern portions of Parcel B, which will be divided by the North Service Road, where the public will travel, to pick up soil from the 101 College Street Parcel and deposit it on the stockpile,” the developer’s special permit application reads. “There will be a gated entrance to the area in which the stockpile is located, and anti-tracking pads will be located at the entrance to the stockpile, while straw bales and silt fencing will surround the stockpile.”
The developer will then set up a second stockpile and a lay down area just to the west and south of the first stockpile that will remain in place through June 2023.
In total, no more than 4,000 to 5,000 cubic yards of soil will be stored on Parcel B during this time, DeSantos said. He added that the city will likely use some of the stockpiled dirt for its own Downtown Crossing project related to the eventual construction of a new Temple Street bridge.
DeSantos estimated that the site will see roughly 50 to 60 trucks per day ferrying dirt to and from Parcel B and the construction site over the course of the next two years.
The developer’s special permit application states that Parcel B construction-related activities will take place Mondays through Fridays between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Thomas Breen photo
Looking east from College St. towards 101 College site and “Parcel B,” in April.
Where exactly is this dirt coming from, again? asked Commission Vice-Chair Ed Mattison.
“The material that will be stockpiled here will be coming directly from 101 College next door,” DeSantos replied. “It will be coming from that site and going back to that site.” This project will not require any other dirt or “fill” to be trucked in from off site.
And how will all of these construction vehicles actually get to this “Parcel B” site? asked Commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe.
DeSantos said the vehicles will travel along I‑91 and I‑95, cross through the new Orange Street intersection, and onto a contractor-specific travel lane that leads to the construction site.
Commissioner Ernest Pagan, who is also a leader in the local carpenter’s union, paused before voting in support to thank the developers for investing in such a big way in New Haven — and for creating opportunities for plenty of construction-related jobs over the next two years.
“On behalf of the construction community, I’d like to say thank you,” Pagan said. “We understand this brings real economic development to our community. Members of the community are looking forward to taking advantage of this opportunity. So, thank you.”
