Thomas Breen photo
MOD Equities developers Jacob and Josef Feldman at Tuesday night’s meeting.
The Feldman brothers plan to build a new 30-unit, market-rate apartment complex on Howe Street.
When the New York developers break ground this summer, neighbors want to see those construction jobs staying local.
Jacob and Josef Feldman announced their latest development project at Tuesday night’s Dwight Community Management Team meeting, held in the Amistad Academy gymnasium on Edgewood Avenue.
The brothers, who live in New York and run their real estate development and management company MOD Equities out of downtown New Haven, said they will be tearing down a vacant, two-story office building that they own at 95 Howe St. and building in its stead a six-story, 30-unit apartment complex.
“We don’t live here,” Jacob Feldman said, “but we’ve been here for about ten years, and our office is downtown, and we feel very connected to the neighborhood.”
95 Howe St.
The new 30,000 square-foot, as-of-right apartment complex near the corner of Edgewood Avenue will contain a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom apartments. The Feldmans did not have a proposed exterior design for the new building with them on Tuesday night, but Jacob said they are interested in constructing a building in the historic Dwight neighborhood “that will fit in and be timeless and be unique at the same time, and complement what’s there.”
The new complex will stand directly in between two other apartment buildings owned by the Feldmans: a 36-unit apartment complex at 91 Howe St. and a 6‑unit apartment building at 97 Howe.
Dwight Alder Frank Douglass (right).
The proposed development will also be right across the street from an 84-unit apartment complex and surface parking lot that the local real estate company Cambridge Realty Partners recently purchased for nearly $12 million. Cambridge has not yet announced its plans for that Howe Street site.
“All market?” Dwight Alder Frank Douglass asked about rents at the new apartments.
“Compared to the regular market,” Josef Feldman said. “I think we’ll be a little bit less than new construction, but still market rent.”
His brother said that their company will not be seeking any public subsidies for the project. He said they they do not plan on building the complex, charging as high a rent as possible, then flipping the apartments to the highest bidder.
“We plan on keeping it,” Jacob said. “We hope to be here and own properties for many years to come. We try to keep our rents to make the projects buildable, but to be competitive.”
Dennis Serfilippi (left).
Westville resident Dennis Serfilippi asked about the Feldmans’ policy towards hiring local for their construction projects.
Jacob said they will likely hire a construction manager for this project, who will be responsible for hiring the various subcontractors providing employees for the construction project. “We always try to hire local when possible,” he said.
Serfillipi pushed back. “Local is nice,” he said. “But local isn’t good enough, in my opinion. We want New Haven. Because Branford and Guilford and Orange and Woodbridge is local. And there’s a lot of talented hardworking contractors in New Haven.”
Dwight Management Team Vice Chair Curlena McDonald.
Curlena McDonald, the management team’s vice chair, agreed. “You can make a commitment that there are gonna be community people that are gonna be getting jobs,” she told the Feldmans.
Jacob said that, as MOD Equities prepares to begin construction in a few months, the brothers will make sure to hire a local general contractor approved by the city’s building department. The brothers will then ask the general contractor to put an emphasis on hiring subcontractors from New Haven and even from the Dwight neighborhood, if possible.
“I definitely agree with what you’re saying,” Jacob said. “I would love to hire local.”
The Feldmans should be applauded for proposing new construction, without subsidies, that will enhance the neighborhood, and add to New Haven's taxable base. Through higher taxes, the project will help the City's programs, schools and infrastructure.
Instead, the union-fed Alders are demanding that construction jobs are given to locals without consideration whether they are qualified to perform the work. The Alders use their government positions to further private interests, rather than sticking to zoning and related building requirements.
Its a detriment to New Haven that the Alders are allowed to purse their unholy alliance between zoning approval and government fed jobs in return for votes -- to further private union interests.