Zak Stone Photo
Developers will proceed with Phase 3 of the Quinnipiac Terrace housing development – albeit with a switch from homeownership to rental units because of a tanked real estate market.
That amended version came before The Board of Aldermen’s Community Development Commitee at City Hall Wednesday night. The committee unanimously approved an amended version of the development plan, presented by Kenan Bibgy.
Bibgy represented the Boston-based Trinity Financial urban development group, which manages the project. A once rundown project, Q Terrace was razed and rebuilt into a new urbanist-style neighborhood. Much of the new Q has already opened, to much neighborhood acclaim.
Bigby told the committee that his company wants to begin work on Phase 3’s 33 rental units this April. New construction will take “no more than 12 months,” Bibgy said. The proposed home-ownership units will be deferred to a new Phase 4 with an unscheduled starting date, assuming the amendment passes before the full Board of Aldermen.
Q Terrace is part of the wave of new housing built in New Haven with the help of Hope VI federal grant money, designated for the revitalization of “severely distressed public housing,” according to its website. The Q Terrace project, located on the west bank of the Quinnipiac River in Fair Haven, was intended to create 160 new housing units at a cost of $54 million.
Bigby said that his company decided about a year ago to wait on the construction of homeownership units until the troubles with the economy and housing market improved. The decision was “strictly based on numbers,” and Bibgy said that he wants to see the homeownership units built as soon as the market opens up for new financing.
In the meantime, the land reserved for future home ownership will sit empty while the rental units go up. Deputy Director of the Livable City Initiative, Cathy Carbonaro-Schroeter, said that the units designated for home-ownership cannot be redesignated for rental “because of HUD requirements.”
Bigby said that his company would maintain the empty lots so that they do not burden the neighborhood as an overgrown eyesore. He said that his company will also start work on a nearby park by building two playgrounds and fixing the lighting.
The new rental units will include one‑, two‑, and three-bedroom units, and will be built in the same architectural style as the completed Q Terrace apartments.
Home ownership units are so important to this project having lasting, invested impact. I'm a bit perplexed on the schematic above. On the map there is listed phase III north and phase III south. There simply isn't any more land for phase IV. Is this a clerical error and one of the phase III lots is really intended to be phase IV???