Humphreys & Partners LP
This is Science Park? Rendering of Munson plan.
Hundreds of new neighbors and construction jobs, along with $2,500-plus monthly rents, could be coming to a rapidly changing part of the city where the Newhallville and Dixwell communities meet.
At the most recent monthly Dixwell Managment Team, Double A Development Partners LLC unveiled those long-awaited details of its plans to build on 13 acres of a former Winchester Repeating Arms factory site at 201 Munson St. The plans call for a mix of 10 two- and four-story apartment buildings with 385 apartments apartments that have as many as three bedrooms and attached garages.
But the density of the proposed complex, the cost of the apartments — the future three-bedrooms could rent for an estimated $2,500 to $2,800 — and whether any of them will be affordable for working class families gave neighbors pause. The neighbors applauded the developers’ willingness to hire local contractors and laborers — as early as this week — to work on the project, which is slated for completion in 2019.
It was the first look that community members got at plans for the site that the developers purchased last year from Olin Corp., which bought out the Winchester rifle company in 1931. A major cleanup of the site is expected to begin this month and be completed by the end of the year. Double A last week received approval from the City Plan Commission to stockpile clean dirt that will be trucked in from the site of what will be the new Yale University science building, in preparation for the remediation of the site.
Doug Gray, a principle with Double A, told neighbors at the meeting last week that the developers tried to balance the transition from Science Park and its office buildings to single-family homes that line Munson Street. To do that, the developers want to build a “big house” concept — five two-story buildings that look like big homes — to front Munson Street.
“From the street, it will appear to be a big house and not just this monolithic apartment building,” Gray said. “Our intention is to give the impression that it’s just homes going down the street.”
The Munson Street buildings will have 10 units per big house. Garages will face into the complex instead of out directly onto Munson Street. The other buildings will be four-story and about 50 feet tall. All the parking for the complex will be contained on the site. The plans include a gym, a clubhouse, two pools and a dog park.
Gray said currently he and his partner Brent Anderson, who also was in attendance at Thursday’s meeting, are working with the city and the state to designate some of the apartments as less expensive “workforce” housing. Right now, they’re considering about 10 percent of the apartments, or 39 units, for workforce housing. But that percentage could change.
Livable City Initiative Director Serena Neal-Sanjurjo said that the city is working with Double A and the neighbors impacted by the project in Dixwell and Newhallville in the same manner that it did with Randy Salvatore, who is building the first major piece of the Hill-to-Downtown project. Neighbors and city officials working with the developer were able to get that project from 10 percent of the units being priced to be affordable for working-to-middle class families to 30 percent.
“Our goal at the city through LCI and the mayor’s charge is that we have to absolutely ensure that there is an affordability component to all the new developments that are happening here,” said Neal-Sanjurjo, whose city agencies oversees neighborhood development and anti-blight efforts. “That means that we have to partner with the state, and we meet with them on a regular basis to try to pull these projects together to ensure we do this. This is a large complex and workforce housing is the most important piece to us because there are those who are working that can afford to pay some of the rent.”
Neighbors expressed skepticism that working-to-middle income families can afford nearly $3,000 for a three-bedroom apartment. (Another recent addition to the area, Winchester Lofts, charges up to $3,000 a month for rent.) Newhallville’s Ward 21 Democratic co-chair, Rodney Williams said that the community has to figure out how to get and keep the kinds of jobs necessary to afford that kind of rent.
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Brent Anderson explains the details
The ears of several neighbors perked up when the developers talked about the work that will have to take place on site before anyone can live there. Already a contractor is working on cleaning up the overgrown site in preparation for the trucking in of the clean soil, the demolition of remaining buildings on the site and finally the excavation of dirty soil and its replacement with the clean soil.
The developers said they are working with a local contractor to do that work, but anyone can walk down to the site and ask to speak to the person in charge to see about a job.
“Right now, we haven’t done a specific calculation of the number of jobs but it is a significant construction project,” Double A’s Brent Anderson said. “We’ll need a lot of people, and we have talked to city staff about how to integrate into their programs [for local hiring]. We’ve already hired local engineers, and a local landscape guy is cleaning up the site. If you’ve got people who want to be employed, please send them to the site.”
Williams endorsed the developers’ approach to hiring and praised them for coming to the neighborhood with their plans and seeking community input. He added that he would like to see Dixwell neighbors who need jobs benefit most from the short-term employment opportunities that will be available over the next two years.
“They’re talking about jobs,” he said. “Very few projects came to our area where we actually get to know the developer at this stage. Right now, I think this is a good thing. They’re sincere and they know what has happened to us in the past because I told them.
“This is an opportunity for stimulating our community and job creation,” he added. “I say this, as this project goes along we have to keep inviting them back. The numbers are going to show if we get work. We’re going to send people who are qualified to get work. If they’re not getting work we’ll know.”
Foskey-Cyrus said she and the other Newhallille alders, Alfreda Edwards and Delphine Clyburn, endorsed the project given that the property has sat fallow in the community for years.
Munson Street: A Special Case
Gray talks with Munson Street neighbor Vonetta Joe.
Neighbors agreed Thursday night that Munson Street neighbors need a special meeting to address their specific concerns since they will be most impacted by what happens on the site going forward.
Munson Street residents Jesse and Iman Hameen and Vonetta Joe showed up to the Dixwell meeting Thursday and were shocked to learn that a project that was rumored to be about 200 units has nearly 400 instead. They expressed dismay about the density of the proposed project, which will be practically in their back yards. They the development could significantly increase traffic in an area that is already feeling overburdened by the traffic generated by Science Park.
Joe said if each of the 385 proposed apartments has at least two people with two cars, that could add nearly 800 more vehicles to the roadway in that part of the community. Neal-Sanjurjo assured her that the developers would have to submit a traffic study as part of the preparation for the development. Gray said that information would be publicly available to neighbors.
Iman Hameen probably summed up best the general feeling of Munson Street neighbors about the proposed plan: “It’s too many units.”
This looks like a really impressive, transformative development. I'm sure Three Fifths will hate it, but Yale is going to love it. They've been really wanting to push north and expand the Science Park area, but many Yalies won't even consider living in the Newhalville area, which is too bad.
Should be interesting to see how this turns out.