Plans for nearly 700 new apartments in New Haven gain key approval

Mary E. O’Leary

NEW HAVEN — Look for hundreds more luxury apartments to be built as the city opens up its harbor district to residents and approves another apartment tower in the Wooster Square neighborhood.

The City Plan Commission approved a text amendment to the Fusco Corp.’s planned development district that will allow up to 500 apartments at 501-585 Long Wharf Drive. The commission also approved a required Coastal Management Site Plan.

In a separate vote for an unrelated project, a total of 186 more apartments have been approved for development by the Epimoni Corp. at 20 and 34 Fair St.

Wooster Square is undergoing a transformation with more than 700 apartments under construction in little over a block.

For City Engineer Giovanni Zinn, the Long Wharf approval makes concrete some of the recommendations in the Long Wharf Growth Plan that seeks to make this area more resilient to protect the important industries there and welcome a residential component.

Zinn said the Fusco proposal fits into the city’s approach to planning for the future while taking into consideration sea rise levels, climate change, protecting its strategic assets and environmental justice.

The original PDD was put in place when the Fusco Corp. constructed its Maritime Center on adjacent property in 1984, where it has its main headquarters and other business tenants.

The new proposal still has to go to an aldermanic committee hearing and get approval from the Board of Alders. City Plan will then address a full site plan, although considerable detail has already been released.

Fusco wants to construct two mixed-use buildings of 13 and 15 stories with a range of apartments from studios to three-bedrooms. The first floor would contain 20,000 square feet of commercial space, including a public market with indoor and outdoor food services.

The project will sit on 4.3 acres with some 2 acres landscaped for public use and featuring plazas, seating and a contiguous harbor walk, a big plus for the Hill neighbors who reacted positively to the proposal.

It will not be wood and podium construction, which is mainly what is featured in New Haven, but rather the buildings will be made of brick, masonry and glass, according to attorney Matthew Ranelli, who represents Fusco.

The growth plan proposed five new walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods for Long Wharf, one of which was a Harbor District. It said that Long Wharf was underutilized and it recommended “denser development of new residential and commercial uses.”

Ranelli told the commission that the proposal “will create a destination for New Haven residents and others to visit the shoreline. The mixed-use amenities will create a synergy and direct connection with the (Canal Dock) boathouse, Long Wharf Park, and the Hill South and Downtown neighborhoods.”

The approval comes as Brian Thompson, director of the land and water resources division of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, recommended that the alders turn down the proposal over potential flooding concerns.

Thompson said the property straddles two 100-year flood zones and adding “significant residential density increases, rather than minimizes, the hazards to life and property inconsistent” with the Connecticut Coastal Management Act.

“The proposed (PDD) modifications would create a pathway for a large population of residents to live in an area that is exposed to existing impacts from coastal storms and flood events, which will be exacerbated in the future due to climate change,” he wrote.

Thompson told the alders that if the development were to receive any state or federal funding, “the residential component of the proposed buildings will need to be elevated to the 500-year Flood level plus two feet of freeboard,” according to state law.”

He said it is DEEP’s policy to “minimize the necessity of public expenditure and shoreline armoring to protect future new development from such hazards.”

Zinn said the city shares DEEP’s concerns for the protection of residents, as well property and not to approve something that would later require investments in structures and other protections.

Zinn said it is still early in the process, but staff feel that “Fusco has shown a pathway (to protection against flooding) by having their first floor elevation at 15 feet, which is two feet higher than the base flood elevation of 13 feet.”

“There is no substitute for elevation in terms of preventing flooding,” he said.

Zinn said there are important technical challenges, but as a coastal community that will be faced with the brunt of climate change, New Haven has opted to determine what it can do to mitigate it now, rather than “throw up our hands” and wait for the serious impacts to unfold.

Zinn said the city is already tackling part of the climate issue by creating natural ways of dealing with storm runoff as New Haven plans for the next 50 to 100 years.

The city engineer said there is an environmental justice side to this.

“We can’t give up the benefits of being in our strategic location and simply have to live with the burdens of it,” Zinn said, of the negative impact creation of Interstates 91 and 95 had on neighborhoods.

Plans are in place to protect the transportation corridors and the Metro North rail yards, something that is of importance to the region.

Zinn said using responsible quality development also is a way to “create and fund the infrastructure” that will be needed to mitigate climate change.

Others pointed out that while residential buildings are questioned, a fuel terminal could be built by right and is allowed as a water-related use under coastal management.

“Starting a transformation now will allow the city to still benefit and prosper from these transportation corridors,” the engineer said of the highways and rail connections.

Chairwoman Leslie Radcliffe said she agrees with Zinn’s interpretation and is impressed with the extent of Fusco’s consultation with the neighborhood, as well as the amenities that are open to the public.

Aicha Woods, executive director of City Plan, said she feels the applicant “did a really good job” of addressing the safety concerns and the building code.

She said New Haven is an historic coastal city that has to manage the transition from polluted industrial water uses to clean uses, while also anticipating climate change and reducing dependence on fossil fuel.

Wooster Square

On the Epimoni project, which was the subject of numerous public meetings with Wooster Square neighbors concerned about a lack of affordable units, the commission approved the seven-story apartment complex and the public greenway.

It will feature studio, one-, two-, three- and four bedroom units and more than 1,000 square feet of commercial space.

It has already been approved as a Planned Development Unit and has gained zoning relief to allow apartments starting at a minimum of 850 square feet down from 1,000 square feet.

The developer will grant the city an easement for the greenway which will open up Fair Street. Darren Seid of Epimoni, a New York firm, while turning over the greenway to the city, said his company will provide the maintenance for the amenity.

Seid also owns the 299-unit Olive and Wooster apartment complex that is slated to open next month and is located next to the Fair Street project.

Rents at Olive and Wooster will range from $1,911 for studios to $5,700 for four-bedroom apartments, according to its website. It will feature 8,000 square feet of retail space.

Next to Olive and Wooster is The Whit, under construction by Hines, a Houston based builder. It will have 230 apartments.

Homeland Security bill would include $50 million for Coast Guard Museum in New London

Greg Smith 

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., announced this week he is making a hard push for Congressional approval of a $50 million boost to the fundraising effort for construction of a National Coast Guard Museum in New London.

Murphy, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, included the $50 million in the Fiscal Year 2022 Homeland Security bill, which provides discretionary funding of $71 .7 billion.

It would mark the first time federal money would be directed toward construction of the museum, as it is exempt from previous restrictions, Murphy’s office said. Past work by the local congressional delegation, including Murphy, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, cleared a path for use of federal funding on design and engineering elements of the estimated $150 million museum project.

There has been $20 million in federal funds appropriated to the museum in prior years to preserve artifacts, and design, fabricate and install exhibits.

The new Homeland Security bill also includes $6 million for improvements to New London’s City Pier to accommodate the barque Eagle, which is expected to dock adjacent to the future Coast Guard Museum along the city’s waterfront. The museum would be located behind Union Station.

Murphy, in an op-ed this week in The Day, highlighted the importance of museum and need to jumpstart funding for construction.

“It makes no sense that the Coast Guard is the only historic branch of the armed services with no national museum. The other armed services have over 77 museums between them,” Murphy said.

Murphy said he views the museum as an opportunity for new educational experiences for children and touted its potential to bring more visitors to southeastern Connecticut, create jobs and funnel upwards of $20 million a year into the region’s economy.

Museum officials have said in the past a large federal commitment to the museum was likely to open the doors to more private donations. Fundraising for the museum began in 2014, around the time New London, under former Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio, donated a 0.37-acre site to the Coast Guard to accommodate the future museum.

Retired USCG Capt. Wes Pulver, president of the National Coast Guard Museum Association, welcomed the news of a large federal investment. The $50 million would inch the museum association closer to its $150 million fundraising goal.

The museum association reports $79 million in fundraising to date.

"Our Connecticut Delegation, led by Senator Murphy, Senator Blumenthal, Representative DeLauro, and Representative Courtney have been committed to working with their peers in Washington to secure additional authorities and resources in support of a premier National Museum in southeastern Connecticut,” Pulver said in a statement. “When coupled with previously committed Federal, State, and private funding from across our country, we are well postured to begin Construction Phase I in 2022."

The first phase of the project is expected to include bulkheading portions of the waterfront in anticipation of construction. The project remains in the permitting phase.

The museum association said the $50 million would be in addition to the $29 million raised in private donation towards construction of the $100 million museum. The association estimates $30 million will be needed for exhibits and furnishing, of which $20 million is already committed in federal funds.

The state of Connecticut has committed $20 million toward construction of a pedestrian bridge to ferry people over Water Street and the train tracks to the museum and city’s waterfront.

Blumenthal called it “absolutely shameful and inexplicable” that there is no museum to commemorate and celebrate the Coast Guard.

“It’s more than just a museum. It’s a tribute to a national treasure, our Coast Guard,” Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal said the passage of the spending bill will not come without obstacles but work is ongoing behind the scenes to persuade colleagues in Congress.

“Our task is to lay the groundwork for a vote on the floor. It’s really been a solid team effort,” Blumenthal said.

Courtney called the inclusion of $50 million in the spending proposal a "breakthrough step towards making this long-overdue museum a reality in New London."

"There are several steps left to go, but I will be strongly supporting this effort as the House and Senate start working on a final budget agreement for 2022,” Courtney said.

With government funding set to expire on Dec. 3, Congress needs to reach an agreement on Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations bills before then or pass a continuing resolution for Fiscal Year 2021. A continuing resolution would not include the new funding.

Century-old ex-factory on New Britain’s East Side on track to become apartment complex

DON STACOM

A roughly 250,000-square-foot former General Electric factory on New Britain’s East Side is on track to be converted to nearly 150 apartments.

A Boston developer intends to remodel the five-story building at 321 Ellis St. over the next two years, and the city has agreed to tax incentives to make the plan work.

WinnDevelopment is looking to secure state low-income housing tax credits for the project, and the city this summer amended its redevelopment district master plan. The plan is for a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units.

It won’t be age-restricted, but the city’s housing authority wants to get a large number of seniors housed there.

“This would fill a big need in that part of the city. We’re thinking of senior citizens — we’ve got a list of hundreds of people waiting for senior housing,” Mayor Erin Stewart said.

WinnDevelopment has provided no cost figures, but city officials estimate the project will be in the $50 million to $60 million range. If the state tax credits are approved, WinnDevelopment would buy the property from Ellis Street Holdings LLC and begin a large-scale renovation.

The building is the largest part of a complex that’s on both sides of Ellis Street and connected by three-story enclosed walkway above the road. WinnDevelopment would buy the section south of Ellis, the northern part would remain leased to small businesses and industries.

The complex, built in stages between 1916 and 1936, was once home to Landers, Frary and Clark, one of New Britain’s major employers in its industrial heyday. The company employed as many as 1,000 workers in the late 1930s, and produced an extensive line of irons, cake mixers, heaters and other electric appliances.

The company closed the factory in 1965; General Electric continued manufacturing there for four years before moving operations elsewhere. The building has been used by a collection of small-scale industries since then, and part of it has stayed mostly vacant.

New Britain is giving the company a 20-year phase-in of annual taxes. WinnDevelopment would pay about $50,000 in the first year of operations, and that rate would rise each year to reach $120,000 after 20 years.

WinnDevelopment is in negotiations with the state to renovate 290,000 square feet of space at the former Fairfield Hills psychiatric hospital in Newtown. The company two years ago converted East Haven’s former high school into The Tyler, a 70-unit apartment building for seniors.

WinnDevelopment has done extensive renovations of former mills and factories in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and elsewhere. Stewart said she’s confident the company can get the New Britain project done.

“This type of development is what they’re used to doing,” she said.

Biden Pares Back Policy Goals in Search of a Deal

Ken Thomas and Kristina Peterson

WASHINGTON—With a series of deadlines approaching, President Biden’s increased involvement in talks over his sweeping social-policy agenda shows the line he is walking between being a pragmatic deal maker, with hopes of delivering tangible political wins, and his desire to enact transformative, long-term progressive policies.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Sunday she was optimistic lawmakers would be able to agree this week to a framework on the legislation and vote on a separate, roughly $1 trillion infrastructure package before current highway funding expires next Sunday. The administration hopes to have a deal in hand before the president heads overseas this week on a trip that includes climate talks in Scotland.

“We’re pretty much there now,” Mrs. Pelosi said on CNN, noting that lawmakers were working to pin down sources of revenue for the package, likely including a new annual tax on billionaires’ unrealized capital gains.

Mr. Biden met Sunday at his Delaware home with key centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) in an effort to resolve some lingering issues, including whether to expand Medicare benefits.

Mr. Biden has suggested areas to cut or pare back in the legislation, which carries a price tag of about $2 trillion, an amount that has been trimmed from a projected $3.5 trillion.

“He has given us ample time to figure out our priorities, but one of the principles is finality,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.), who said the president at a White House meeting with lawmakers last week indicated that it was time for the negotiations to wrap up. “He conveyed to us a sense of urgency.”

Long known as a moderate, Mr. Biden has embraced more liberal policies in recent years but remains roughly in the ideological center of the Democratic Party, which has itself moved to the left. He has sought consensus in the recent meetings, going around the room and asking lawmakers to describe their priorities, according to people familiar with the exchanges. In some cases, Mr. Biden, who spent nearly four decades in the Senate and another eight years as vice president, has spoken by phone with lawmakers on his walk to the White House residence at the end of the day, aides say.

But he has also said the U.S. needs to show that it can deliver on its commitments, a message he hopes to send when he travels to Europe Thursday for the Group of 20 nations summit in Rome and the Glasgow Climate Summit in Scotland.

The proposal, which his administration calls “Build Back Better,” served as the backbone of his policy agenda during the 2020 presidential campaign. Until recently, he has avoided describing in detail the terms of his negotiations. During a CNN town hall Thursday night, Mr. Biden spoke of his plans in lofty terms, saying his goal was to “build the middle class and the working class.” But he also pointed to a series of concessions he has made in search of a deal.

He said a proposal to provide 12 weeks of paid leave for new parents and caregivers had been reduced to four weeks. He said a plan to expand Medicare to include coverage for dental, vision and hearing was a “reach” because of opposition in part from Mr. Manchin and fellow centrist Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.) but floated a potential $800 voucher to cover dental work. He confirmed that a tuition-free community college plan—a longtime priority for him and first lady Jill Biden—had been pulled because of a lack of support but that he hopes to increase Pell grant payments.

Behind the scenes, Mr. Biden told lawmakers Tuesday that Mr. Manchin’s opposition to a clean energy program, a key part of the bill’s climate change provisions, meant it would need to be scrapped. And he noted that Ms. Sinema had opposed raising tax rates on the wealthy and corporations, something he disclosed during the televised town hall.

Mr. Biden has held dozens of meetings and phone calls on the proposal, frequently conferring with Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema, who are viewed as a key to reaching an agreement on the bill. Mr. Biden huddled over a breakfast of omelets with Mr. Manchin this past week, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

“These negotiations are—how do you thread the needle here?” said Louisa Terrell, the White House director of legislative affairs.

In the House, some Democrats want Mr. Biden to make fewer compromises with the two senators.

“They need to continue to push this Congress, our colleagues in the Senate,” said Rep. Steven Horsford (D., Nev.), who spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris about it when she was in Las Vegas on Monday.

Mr. Horsford said he has urged Mr. Biden to resist Mr. Manchin’s push to add a work requirement and lower the income thresholds for the child tax credit, which according to the latest proposal would be extended at current levels for one more year instead of four. Mr. Biden said in the CNN town hall that he would oppose the work requirement on the child tax credit.

But Mr. Biden needs both Democratic centrists on board to win approval. Republicans remain firmly opposed to the plan and have accused the president of overreach, arguing that Democrats erred by immediately passing a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package earlier this year without any GOP support. That set up a more difficult political environment, Republicans contend, to then pass another sprawling package.

“Because they shoveled out $2 trillion in spending there, it’s overheated segments of the economy, which has made it more difficult for them,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee.

Democrats view the social-policy bill as central to their 2022 midterm strategy and have praised Mr. Biden’s deep involvement in the latest round of negotiations.

Still, some Democrats expressed concern that they set expectations too high by passing a $3.5 trillion budget resolution without first securing the support of the crucial centrist Democratic votes in the Senate.

“We’re not going down from $6 trillion or $3.5 trillion—we never had those numbers. … It’s given the impression that that’s what we have and that we’re cutting back from it,” said Rep. Scott Peters (D., Calif.). “What we have is zero. Anything we add is literally a plus and is a success.”

As contours of the plan emerged this past week, some expressed disappointment after it looked on track to fund a variety of programs for a shorter period. Many lawmakers had said they hoped to fund fewer programs for a longer stretch.

For example, many Democrats had hoped to make expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies permanent. Currently they are expected to be extended for three years, according to lawmakers and aides.

“Nobody’s going to notice the ACA subsidies if they only inch up or they expire in a year or two,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.).

In Tuesday’s meeting between Mr. Biden and moderate Democrats, lawmakers brought up worries that the short duration of many programs would set up a series of future policy cliffs, said Rep. Ami Bera (D., Calif.), who attended it.

“Concern was expressed in the room,” Mr. Bera said. “It does give us an opportunity over the next two to three years to actually see which programs have the biggest impact, but we are going to have our work cut out for us to extend some of these important programs.”

Liberal House Democrats, who pushed to include a broader array of programs for shorter durations, said they were confident the public would embrace them. Rep. Mark Pocan (D., Wis.), who attended a meeting of progressive lawmakers with Mr. Biden on Tuesday, praised the president’s negotiating style.

“He operates behind the scenes,” Mr. Pocan said. “He’s very effective, doesn’t do a public fight unless he has to and because of it, things are moving, I think really well.”