Factory Zone Change OK’d

Two such stories in one day, very disheartening. This is why we need business people on the BOA and in the Mayor's office. This factory should have been sold to a small manufacturing company, or a distribution business, something that would bring jobs to the city.
All new residential development should be stopped. Condos such as the ones in the story, as well as the apartments in the new 360 State Street tower only propel all city rentals upwards, forcing working people to either leave the city or live in less desirable neighborhoods. Meanwhile these developments remain mostly empty and unused. The buildings might look nice but they don't have any real positive affect.

Many of the buildings surrounding this factory were built by developers who wanted to take advantage of the need for worker housing adjacent to an employment center. These properties were owned by landlords who rented out units to working families. The entire point was to keep surrounding properties affordable, so that employees of nearby factories didn't have to commute from far away to get to work.
The real estate industry and opportunistic homeowners, over the last 20 years, have systematically raised home prices and property values in the area north of downtown between Whitney and State by folding different communities into the "East Rock" real estate district. While small incremental steps like this zoning change do not completely change the functionality and purpose of the entire neighborhood, a continuous pattern of these types of moves has and will continue to make this formerly working class area unaffordable to live in. "Goatville" currently has a pretty nice mix of affordable units, subsidized units, and owner-occupied homes, but that may all change very soon if steps to ensure the neighborhoods accessibility are not taken.

On the other hand, with no alternative proposal for this vacant site, any use is better than none, so hopefully the redevelopment is a success. It will be up to the residents to fight for uses that maintain the neighborhood's mixed-use character - and not only retail and residential, but also office and industry space.

<i>Pastor argued that it doesn't make sense to have light industrial use in "the most coveted residential area in the city."</i>

You learn something new everyday; I had no idea the old factory was located here in the Edgewood part of WEB.

Atwater, I work for a family manufacturing business right here in New Haven, and am TOTALLY OK with these two projects. In fact, I was on the committee that helped select the Nash Street developer.

If you have been following the news, you'll see that in fact that the city is making a major move to ensure that manufacturing remains in the New Haven.

The Mill River industrial district combined with the Water Street industrial district has the full attention of the city and state and is a perfect place for light manufacturing and food services to develop.

Here's the article if you want to read more-
http://nhregister.com/articles/2011/06/13/news/metro/doc4df6bc5ac2bc1678613767.txt



My company, Space-Craft, Mfg on East Street is only about 1 mile from the Nash Street school, so it is not like the city is trying to locate business in non walkable, non bikable areas. We're closer to downtown than Yale New Haven hospital is. I'm extremely excited as to the future potential of this area.

Manufacturing requires things like loading docks, concrete slab construction, adequate ventilation, and flexibility to be able to expand. Setting up shop on Foster street is one of the LAST places i'd think of moving my business.

I agree that there needs to be more mixed use in residential areas, but this building has a much better future as residences than as a manufacturing building.

Residential development is VITAL, VITAL to New Haven, as is restoring our jobs base.

One of the reasons we have "less desirable" neighborhoods is because there needs to be more residential development aimed at the middle class in this city. This is not mutually exclusive to high-end or affordable housing, but another important facet of development that needs to occur here.


You are flat out wrong about buildings like 360 State remaining empty.
In less than a year it is almost at 70% capacity. Less than half of the people who live there own a car as well. It's been nothing short of a huge success, and does not appear to be taking away from demand in the other downtown rental buildings.

360 State brings almost a thousand people to live and work downtown and brings a full service locally owned grocery store into downtown, to say nothing about the tax revenues the city will receive. How is that not a positive effect?


There are many in the city that hear LOUD AND CLEAR that we need jobs, jobs and jobs here. The solution isn't to get rid of high-end projects, the solution is to also push for more manufacturing and skilled labor companies to relocate here and make conditions where that is a possibility.

@Pedro: I do not think the 360 tower is at 70% occupancy, and if it is, how many of them are HUD/FHA residents? Also, how is a working person supposed to live in an area where the rents are as high as they are downtown, or in East Rock? High-end residential projects only attract high-end residents, most of these people work for Yale Corp, or work out of town. High-end residential development does affect surrounding rental rates. If a landlord knows he can charge $900 and up for a one bedroom apartment in East Rock then he'll charge that amount. However, if rents were stabilized, either through the suspension of high-end residential or through City Hall's intervention, then working-class people could return to the area.
Unless there is a demand for workers through opportunity there will never be a developer willing to build middle-class/working-class housing. You do make good points about the Mill River projects and Water Street projects, but I would like to see similar projects in East Rock, Newhalville, Westville, and even downtown.
We can make New Haven a worker's paradise. But, first we have to stop the yuppies.

Last i checked, yuppies, Yale employees and most others i know living in East Rock are working people. We have this notion that if manufacturing companies come to New Haven (or any other town in New England), they would bring with them plentiful low skilled employment opportunities that existed when Marlin and Lehman Brothers operated decades ago. Those days as we all know are long gone. Manufacturing that can be sustained in CT is unfortunately not about jobs, its about high tech machinary manned by fewer highly skilled employees. Our economic development strategies need to take that reality into account.

As Mr. Soto describes well, the city needs more middle income residents and dare i say upper income residents to help balance the socioeconomic issues affecting our town. Rents and housing prices in East Rock are high compared other neighborhoods because the neighborhood offers a great living experience and thus demand for units is stronger there. That kind of demand is a positive thing for the city.

The days of Lehman Brothers might be long gone, but per the drive of globalization and its eventual collapse, the days will return again. Sustainable manufacturing for interstate and intrastate commerce is necessary to create jobs and long-term economic security. Yuppies and Yalies are not working people, they are paper pushers, for the most part.
And I find it laughable that someone said that living in East Rock is a great living experience. It is okay, but it's over-priced and overrated. I can live in a nicer town in any state below the Mason-Dixon line, maybe even below the Hudson River. And, bringing in more upper-class residents will only aggravate the socio-economic polarization in the city.