Thomas Breen photo
Celebrating the new “Orange Street Promenade” in the Ninth Square.
Millie Yoshida, Jack Wolfe, and Matthew Shaffer on their lunch break.
Retail apocalypse? What retail apocalypse?
As commercial storefronts across the city and country struggle to stay open during the pandemic-induced economic crisis, a newly opened “Orange Street Promenade” showed off a Ninth Square in full bloom.
Over two dozen city officials, neighborhood business owners, and downtown economic development boosters held a celebratory press conference Tuesday afternoon near the intersection of Orange Street and Center Street.
The group stood not on the sidewalk, but in the middle of the street, which for the past three weeks has been closed to car traffic and reserved for pedestrian access only.
The new rainbow-patterned street markings, sidewalk planters, outdoor dining tables, terraces, street signs and barricades come courtesy of a collaboration among the city, the Town Green Special Services District, the Economic Development Corporation of New Haven, the New Haven Innovation Collaborative, Avangrid, and the Boston-based landlord Beacon Communities.
Last year, Beacon purchased the neighborhood-anchoring 335-unit, mixed-use Residences at Ninth Square complex. This year, the landlord has expanded its neighborhood holdings to include nearby properties at the corner of Chapel and State Streets.
The closed-to-car-traffic “promenade” is the second city street to be blocked off during the pandemic, following College Street’s model of replacing roadways with extra space for pedestrians and diners to enjoy the outdoors.
“Most importantly we are celebrating the economic resiliency of our city during the pandemic,” city Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli (pictured) said at the top of the presser. He said that the reconfigured Ninth Square block represents the “building of market confidence as people come back out into the community. … It’s all part of a storyboard that makes New Haven a very special place to be.”
“Even during a pandemic, new businesses are starting up,” Mayor Justin Elicker (pictured) said as he beamed out at the crowd. “We are making things happen, despite all the odds.”
Tuesday’s business boosting wasn’t just hot air. On either side of the Orange Street block, which in recent years has been beset by closure after closure, recently repainted and refurbished storefronts were filled with small businesses.
Beacon Communities CEO Dara Kovel (pictured) said that three businesses have opened on that stretch of the Ninth Square during the pandemic. Those are the arepa restaurant Somos, the coffee shop Life Bowls, and the Indian restaurant Lazeez.
Kovel also called out longtime neighborhood businesses that have stayed in place and reopened their doors during Connecticut’s Phase 2 partial reopening. Those include Skappo, Skappo Merkato, Bridal Trusseau, Hunan House, Baobab Tree Studios, Artspace, and Elm City Games.
“This has been a really hard time for retail,” Kovel said. “It has been more than a challenge. But we are persevering through this crisis together.”
Kovel said that Beacon Communities is in the process of investing $15 million renovating the exteriors and interiors of the Residences at Ninth Square complex, residential and commercial alike.
Amidst such celebrations, city Health Director Maritza Bond reminded those present that New Haveners and visitors must still wear masks when out in public, wash their hands frequently, and watch their distances when around other people if the city is to keep the pandemic relatively under control.
“Please be mindful of where we are as a city,” she said. “In order for us to stay open, we’ve got to be diligent. We cannot be complacent.”
Elm City Games’ Trish Loter and Matt Fantastic with Baobab’s Kevin Ewing.
Standing outside of the bright pink storefront of Elm City Games, Matt Fantastic and Trish Loter along with Baobab Tree Studios owner Kevin Ewing praised the work put in by the city, their landlord, and various local economic development partners in converting that block of Orange Street into a bit of a “town square.”
“I’ve been trying to get this street closed for years,” Fantastic said. And now that it is, and brightened up with a street painting and planters and terraces and outdoor dining tables, he said there is a “greater connection between residents, visitors and businesses in the neighborhood.”
At a time when people are reluctant to go inside stores out of a concern of contracting Covid-19, the outdoor tables and gathering spaces provide an opportunity to talk and socialize. “People feel much safer spending time here because they feel they can keep a distance.”
He and Ewing said that businesses has definitely been slow during the pandemic. But even amidst such economic hardship and uncertainty, Beacon’s takeover of the properties has represented a significant improvement in their quality of life as downtown business owners.
Ewing described Beacon as “connective, responsive, and engaged with the neighborhood. They treat us as partners,” and not just tenants.
“We have nine years left on our lease,” Fantastic said. “And we’re ecstatic” to stay put in that spot.
At the tables outside of Somos, the mayor took a break to grab a quick lunch …
… As did Millie Yoshida, Jack Wolfe, and Matthew Shaffer (pictured at the top of this article) who sat a few feet away, eating arepas on their lunch break from their jobs around the corner at Gray Organschi Architecture.
“I think it’s a good change,” Shaffer said about the new, brighter, closed-to-traffic streetscape. “I like seeing people out on the street.”
Watch the full press conference below.
*Shutdown-induced economic crisis.