nothin City Buys Walt’s Cleaners For Dixwell Plan | New Haven Independent

City Buys Walt’s Cleaners For Dixwell Plan

Thomas Breen photo

The former Walt Cleaner’s at 310 Dixwell, now owned by the city.

The city has purchased the former Walt’s Cleaners building on Dixwell Avenue for $150,000 as part of a broader plan to revitalize that commercial corridor’s small business landscape — a plan that a top city official said is now all the more critical, and all the more uncertain, as the Covid-19 pandemic has shut down wide swaths of New Haven’s economy.

According to the city land records database, on March 4, the City of New Haven bought the three-story commercial building at 310 Dixwell Ave. that formerly housed Walt’s Cleaners for $150,000 from Carol Oliver. Included in that land deal were the adjacent empty lots at 312 Dixwell Ave. and 777 Orchard St.

The combined appraised worth of the three Dixwell parcels according to the city assessor’s database is $188,260.

Livable City Initiative (LCI) Executive Director Serena Neal-Sanjurjo (pictured) told the Independent that the acquisition is part of the city’s commercial corridor revitalization strategy,” designed to attract new locally-owned small businesses to a commercial strip dotted with blighted and empty storefronts.

The city already owns nearby parcels at 252 Dixwell (bought by the city in 2003), 256 Dixwell (2003), 294 Dixwell (2004), 306 Dixwell (2018), 316 Dixwell (2019), 321 Dixwell (2017) and 325 Dixwell (2015).

LCI is also in negotiations to purchase a two-story church at 308 Dixwell Ave., where the city hopes to locate a neighborhood daycare center.

The Walt’s Cleaners purchase was the city’s latest effort to gain site control over blighted properties on the Dixwell Avenue block with the future goal of filling the empty storefront with some new, productive neighborhood use.

And then the Covid-19 pandemic hit New Haven last month, and state and local emergency declarations and social distancing” public safety precautions have shuttered all but state-designated essential businesses.”

Every plan or proposed project on the board will be relooked at over the next couple months,” Neal-Sanjurjo told the Independent. We closed last month, but I don’t know what’s going to happen.

Our hope is, on the other side of this thing, we will continue to press and move towards the Dixwell corridor” being a vibrant and local business-rich commercial sector.

Right now we’re just hopeful that we will flatten the curve,” she said.

Google Maps

In other recent property sales, on Feb. 28, Vespoli USA 2020 LLC, a holding company owned by Vespoli USA President David Trond, purchased the boat manufacturer’s headquarters at 385 Clinton Ave. for $1.75 million from 385 Clinton Avenue LLC, a holding company owned by Michael Vespoli. The city last appraised the 30,000-plus square foot parcel as worth $1,253,900.

In Wooster Square, on March 9, Wooster Square Apartments LLC, a holding company owned by Adam Bonoff and Adam Dunsby, purchased the six-unit apartment complex at 334 Saint John St. from MYM Realty 2 LLC, a holding company owned by Shneor and Georges Edelkopf, for $1.36 million.

The property last sold for $750,000 in 2018, and the city last appraised it as worth $449,300.

City assessor database

242 Crescent St.

And companies associated with the large-scale local landlord Mandy Management spent $575,000 buying 7 different housing units in four different buildings.

On March 9, Mandy Management property manager Yehuda Gurevitch purchased the single-family house at 242 Crescent St. from Douglas and Nicole McEachern for $215,000. The property last sold for $280,000 in 2005, and the city last appraised it as worth $155,800.

On Dec. 19 of last year, in a property transaction only recently recorded on the city’s land records database, the Mandy-affiliated holding company Re Fund II SFRLLC purchased the three-family house at 700 Winchester Ave. for $150,000 from Christopher Francis. The property last sold for $140,000 in 2013, and the city last appraised it as worth $132,500.

On March 19, Re Fund II SFTLLC purchased the two-family house at 140 Henry St. from Mark Petrelis for $125,000. The property last sold in 2009 for $60,000, and the city last appraised it as worth $94,100.

And on March 26, Re Fund II SFTLLC purchased the single-family house at 121 Auburn St. for $85,000 from Paola Marco. The property last sold for $49,000 in 2010, and the city last appraised it as worth $94,900.

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