Neighbor Paul Hammer presses a question.
What’s an “affordable” one-bedroom apartment in Fair Haven? Neighbors said: $600 a month. An out-of-town developer looking to turn to buy the old Strong School said: not a dollar less than $875.
Newman Architects
Rendering of Lazarus’s plan.
The debate over what is truly affordable housing in Fair Haven was just one of several flash points that arose Monday night during an occasionally tense three-hour meeting between 50 neighbors and Litchfield developer Ted Lazarus.
Held at Fair Haven School, the meeting gave neighbors their first look at Lazarus’s proposal to buy the long vacant and dilapidated Strong School from the city for $500,000 and turn it into 37 studio and one-bedroom apartments, after feeling they had initially been shut out of the process.
Lazurus’s was the lone respondent to a request for proposal from the city to resurrect the circa 1915 school at 69 Grand Ave. His proposal came after six years of the city trying to find someone to revive the 33,000 square-foot three-story former school. And after the city rejected a proposal from a coalition of Chatham Square neighbors who had come up with a plan to transform the school into a performing arts center. (Read more about the plan here.) The school is in the Chatham Square section of Fair Haven.
A city committee will eventually review and vote on the Lazarus plan. Committee members include city economic development chief Matthew Nemerson, Alders Richard Furlow and David Reyes, architects Craig Newick and Ken Boroson, and Fair Haven Heights activist Jane Coppock. An additional neighbor, Tony Pellegrino, was added to the committee to provide an additional voice from the neighborhood.
Lazarus has proposed spending $16.7 million converting it into apartments and a shared space for the future tenants and the community. The proposal calls for a historic renovation of the building using historic preservation tax credits.
But instead of providing housing for seniors, as was initially reported, Lazarus unveiled a plan for apartments Monday evening aimed at millennials including those fresh out of college. In what would seem to be a nod to the working class make-up of the neighborhood Lazarus told the crowd that the apartments would be “workforce housing,” aimed mostly at people who earning up to 120 percent of the area median income. He also said that seven or eight of the proposed apartment complex’s units, or about 20 percent, would be preserved for earning 80 percent of the area median income (between $60,000 and $80,000 a year).
Architect Santos.
Project architect Paul Santos who pointed out various aspects of the proposed project such as a rooftop with lounge chairs, a pool table and outdoor televisions, and a proposed community plaza out front as a place that would be “fun, imaginative and exciting” for young people interested in simple, tiny house-like living.
Though Lazarus came looking to collaborate on possible ideas for transforming the school gym, what he got was an earful from neighbors who were simultaneously baffled by how he had determined that he could build housing in predominately immigrant and working class Fair Haven that would appeal to millennials. They also panned what they saw as a token effort at creating affordable housing.
Atwater Street resident Paul Hammer said an apartment complex aimed at people making between $60,000 and $80,000 a year might reflect what is possible in New Haven, or more realistically the Greater New Haven area. But at first blush, it didn’t seem to be based specifically on the demographics of Fair Haven.
“Even the rent for the affordable units would be well above what the average New Havener could afford,” Hammer said. “My first impression is it is a wonderful project … But I think the demographic you’re talking about does not reflect the demographic of the surrounding community.”
Lazarus in the hot seat at Fair Haven School.
Lazarus responded that workforce housing is the minimum price-point that would support the capital investment that the building would need to undergo. As for “affordable” housing? That’s defined by the state.
“At that level, I can’t fight against what’s given up there as true,” he said of the definition provided by the federal government. Neighbors continued to question whether the project is truly affordable and express doubt about whether Lazarus could attract the people to whom he proposes to market the project.
Lazarus said that he was taken aback that the community might reject people who were not like those already living in the neighborhood. Neighbors called that a mischaracterization of what they were trying to convey about who has historically been attracted to Fair Haven.
Definitions of “affordable” housing often depend on which state or federal programs subsidize a project. Four-member households earning as high as 120 percent of New Haven’s $87,000 annual area median income can qualify for state programs, for instance.
Risky Business
Neighbors were thirsty for details. Lazarus said it is too early in the process to share most of those details — such as whether or not he would include the cost of utilities in the rent price, and whether he’d done a detailed market analysis to determine whether his proposal is viable in Fair Haven. They also asked whether he had done similar projects in communities like Fair Haven and whether they had been financially successful, particularly given that his company is only five years old.
“If your building fails here in five years because the rent is too high and we know the type of people who live here, we don’t want to have to clean up your eyesore,” one neighbor said.
“That’s the risk the city will have to take,” he replied.
“No, it’s the risk that you have to take,” another neighbor countered.
“Normally, in this process a market study is what we do after we get control of the building,” Lazarus said. “We looked around, and based on what we believe the building could command, we looked at the neighborhood and beyond to tell us what rents could be based on the way that we’ve proposed to outfit it out.”
A 9‑year-old Samuel Heenan, a Christopher Columbus Family Academy student told Lazarus that he frequented the playground and wanted to know what were the plans for incorporating young people into any new development. Santos said the plan is to improve the playground, likely by replacing it.
“This project is very much about community involvement,” he said. “Currently, you have a playground that is in pretty good shape, a little unsafe at times. We’re allocating an area to improve that play ground and give you possibly a new modern playground.”
Olive Branches
A conceptual apartment design.
Skeptic neighbors challenged Lazarus not only about the affordability of his complex, but about his plan for a one-to-one parking scheme. They repeatedly spoke about the work that had already been invested by members of the community into a vision for the school, that emphasized extensive office and community space for not-for-profits over housing. Lazarus proposes a smaller amount of shared community space, in the current gym, which is about 3,400 square feet. It was noted by architect Santos that that space could be doubled because of the height of the space.
Lazarus held firm to his proposed vision and tried to urge neighbors to provide input on the shared community space instead of continuing to criticize his overall idea — which, as he pointed out, has not been selected.
“There is all this space — one of the most beautiful interiors in the state,” Lazarus said. “And all of it will be available to the community. What I need to hear about from people are really elegant, wonderful ideas as how that can be used both to your benefit and the benefit of those who might ultimately live here. We’d like to hear what you have to propose for the use of that space.”
Though lifelong Fair Havener Francisco Ortiz initially panned the affordability housing portion of the complex, he ultimately offered an idea: Allow young people to use the shared space to play basketball and get help with homework.
“We have a lot of kids who are dropping out,” he said.
“That’s an excellent idea,” Lazarus said.
Neighbors said they’d like another meeting with Lazarus to get more specific details about the project and to provide him with more information about the neighborhood. He was invited to the neighborhood “soup night” on Dec. 4. It is unclear whether Lazarus planned to take them up on that offer. But Deputy Economic Development Director Steve Fontana did commit to arranging another meeting with neighbors before the committee convenes to review the Lazarus proposal.
Carlos Galo: We want representation.
Neighbor Carlos Galo pressed city officials for additional community members to be added to the committee that will review Lazarus’ plan. He said he was concerned that the city would make decisions about selecting Lazarus’ plan behind closed doors. He also was concerned that many of the people who would make the decision don’t live in Fair Haven.
Fontana: Dialogue will continue.
City development chief Matthew Nemerson said after the meeting that one of the reasons that the neighborhood was able to meet Lazarus this early is because he is the only applicant. Had there been multiple applicants to buy the property, the city would have had to keep some information about competing proposals, particularly any proprietary information, confidential. He said if the community had submitted a proposal of its own, no member of Fair Haven would have been able to vote on that proposal, though community members would and still can participate in the public meetings where the committee will meet.
“We try to have a somewhat objective process,” he said.
I might be wrong but are those Turkey Vultures in the air in 1st pic.
They are getting ready to pick the bones clean.
Put the homeless to work, and give them a room.
$500.00 would be better, not $875.00