Design New Haven

500-unit Shartenberg Mixed-Use Development Progresses

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:50:00 +0000

Above-Ground Construction Begins; No Pedestrian Crosswalks at New Intersection? (Posted 10/1/08): State tax credits for the 360 State Street project are now in place, including the $3.2 million sales and use tax exemption that developers had requested from the Connecticut Development Authority. Major excavation work began this week and construction trailers are currently on the site. Please click here for the New Haven Independent's report on a community meeting held this week to discuss the construction phase of the project.

From start to finish, the project schedule is now 27 months, as the type of structural system used for the tower has been modified from its original design. Since the project is 90% financed through equity (through the Multi-Employer Property Trust, a fund that invests public employee and corporate pension plans), and 10% financed through state credits, the current financial crisis will have no impact on construction schedule.

Interestingly, a new traffic intersection will be added added directly across from the parking garage and tunnel entrance - and, on the other side, across from the State Street Station. A cut will be made in the median, allowing traffic to more easily flow into and out of the garage, helping to enable the success of the grocery store which will be located on the ground floor of the building.

However, despite the enormous numbers of pedestrians spilling out of the 1,000-person apartment tower and the heavily-serviced (and rapidly-growing) train station directly across the street, the new intersection in between the two will not include any pedestrian accommodation or crosswalks.

Over the next two years, this is something that the city may wish to rethink as it reportedly moves forward with a study on narrowing this section of State Street. In general, pedestrian accommodation should always be provided along major "desire lines."

360 State will be one of the largest mixed-use "green" (LEED ND Pilot) buildings in the Northeast, and represents the largest commercial private sector investment in New Haven's history.

Update 11/6/08: A critical review of the project appears in the Hartford Courant. Coverage and analysis by DNH here.

Update 12/1/08: Coverage of 360 State's official groundbreaking ceremony.

Steel Frame Erection Begins (Update 7/7/09): Mary O'Leary of the New Haven Register covers the ongoing progress on the impressive tower's construction. No word yet on whether the first floor has been leased to a grocery store. Excerpt below:

The crane has been “jumped” and the steel frame of a 27-story apartment tower is next up on the construction schedule. The five-story concrete garage and ground-level retail area is in place for 360 State St., a mixed-use development that will feature 500 apartments across from the [State Street] Train Station.

Last week, workers “jumped” the massive crane on the building lot with state and local building officials overseeing proceedings. The crane lifts itself up on a jump frame, which is wrapped around the crane tower. Four 20-foot sections were added to the frame, raising it 80 feet and putting it in position to erect steel to at least the 14-floor, officials said.

On Monday, a crane operator moved steel around the Suffolk Construction site and lifted equipment to the sixth level of the project, where a green space, pool and other amenities are planned for the apartment dwellers.

Economic Development Director Kelly Murphy said the building’s developer, Becker & Becker of Fairfield, is shooting for a gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) designation for the building. The development agreement with the city called for a silver LEED designation. A number of energy-saving technologies, including photovoltaics and a fuel cell, are planned for the building. The project, which will be completed in September 2010, is on schedule.

-- Previous Coverage Below --

Original Post: Construction Begins (4/21/08): Becker + Becker's "360 State" development on the former Shartenberg Site at the heart of Downtown New Haven is now beginning early-phase and underground construction. An 8-foot high blue fence with concrete barriers has been erected around the complete perimeter of the block, and informational graphics along the length of the fence will be installed this week (see photos below). Utility and site work has already begun, with a significant amount of underground work planned as part of the project. Major construction activity will be underway within the next few weeks.

Scheduled for completion in 2010, the 355-foot-tall tower will be the second-highest building in New Haven, bringing the residents of 500 new apartments to Chapel Street between Orange and State.

The site is conveniently located across the street from the State Street train station. Aside from its dense urban location, the development contains energy efficient design features. Elements like geothermal heating and cooling and solar cells, if used, would benefit from various state subsidy programs designed to promote energy efficiency. There will also be indoor bicycle parking spaces for each unit. The project also is planned to contain a massive ornament program, running the full length of the facade, designed by internationally-renowned New Haven-based public sculptor Kent Bloomer.

The 500-unit, 34-story building is designed to be set back from the street and tower above a retail and parking garage base with glass entrance towers. The project, tentatively called "360 State" for its actual street address as well as its panoramic views of the region (and the fact that it is 36 stories tall), will even feature a half-acre landscaped terrace (sitting on top of the parking) with an outdoor pool. The developer expects to get the same rents as what the 227 Church Street luxury building currently gets -- $3,500 for 3BRs, $2,300 for 2BRs, $1,700 for 1BRs and $1,250 for studios. Most of the building will consist of studios and 1BRs. 10% of units in the building will have subsidized ("affordable") rents tied to income level.

According to Business New Haven this week, a "high end" grocery store on the first floor may be leased shortly. The city hopes that the project will help encourage walkability between the Downtown New Haven core area and Wooster Square, a historic neighborhood just a couple blocks to the east of the site.

Click here for the preliminary renderings by Becker + Becker; updated renderings should be available shortly. In the meantime you can also download a CT Business article about the Downtown New Haven project.

Update 5/1/08: New Haven Independent coverage of the 360 State project appears here, along with a new rendering of the project. It appears that the building on the corner of Orange and Chapel Street has been changed from its original design, which was to have continued the retail and parking garage along the entire length of the block. If the building ends before the corner with Orange Street, it might create an opportunity for another developer or architect to create a concept for a second building on the site.

Update 7/31/08: The New Haven Independent reports that building permits have been approved for a revised design, following a brief delay to adjust for rising prices and a change in the construction manager, formerly Fusco, to Suffolk.

SeeClickFix Tackles Tomlinson Bridge "Disaster"; ConnDOT Vetoes Safety Improvements

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:55:00 +0000

Original Post, 3/19/09: Rather than simply profiling another SeeClickFix "Issue of the Month" this month, DNH has decided to highlight some of the significant coverage received by the Downtown New Haven, Google Maps mashup-based company over the past few days. Using a particularly strong example from the Tomlinson Bridge on Route 1 over New Haven Harbor (pictured at left), we also describe why we think the site will be spreading around the country even more quickly than predicted.

A Tool for Livable Communities: The Coverage

The City Fix, a well-known sustainable transportation blog, has a lengthy post summarizing the company's progress:

Lately, the SeeClickFix guys have garnered national media attention. They were profiled by Voice of America (en Espanol). They scored a $25,000 grant from the We Media Pitch It Awards. And last month, they started incorporating its RSS feeds into an experimental "hyperlocal" news site, sponsored by The New York Times, that covers three small towns in New Jersey. Just last week, SeeClickFix scored a deal with Philly.com, embedding their Philadelphia map into a new “pothole tracker” tool.... According to the San Francisco Chronicle’s technology blog, “They’ve wired up New Haven so well that everyone from city managers to AT&T execs monitor their site and see to it that complaints get addressed.”

Melissa Bailey of the New Haven Independent wrote a profile in yesterday's newspaper, giving detailed examples of how the site is being used in New Haven:

SeeClickFix.com now has over 2,000 users nationwide, said Berkowitz. The project’s success comes thanks to the way it was embraced by the New Haven community, he said. To be effective, the tool relies on commitment from a community of “watchers,” public officials, activists and institutions who take responsibility for maintaining the public space. When someone opens a ticket to document a problem, a report is sent out to relevant watchers based on location and keywords. There are now 454 watchers in New Haven, according to Berkowitz.... After complaints about its shuttles speeding down residential streets, Yale University recently set up a watch area to track those complaints. Given the precise time and location of a speeding shuttle, the university can identify the driver and address the problem.

The site was also highlighted on the Planning Pool, a website devoted to cutting-edge urban planning ideas, including crowdsourcing, and listed on the CEOs for Cities blog; in addition to several cities where it is already being used, a quick search reveals that all around the country, people are posting about the site on their blogs and wondering when it will come to their neighborhood. Downtown New Haveners are very proud of the site, and use throughout New Haven and its suburbs is rapidly growing.

Can SeeClickFix Spread to Large Cities?

Of course, adoption of SeeClickFix depends on involved citizens using the tool, plus government and private entities adopting it as a means of communication with their constituents and customers (typically, having many involved citizens is the first prerequisite). This has worked exceptionally well in New Haven, which has an intimate and legendarily robust civic sector -- after all, the Nine Squares of Downtown New Haven was the first city plan in the United States, Betty Brown wove a detailed story of virtually every building in New Haven in her famous book, the New Haven Independent is currently one of the nation's finest examples of "hyperlocal" online journalism, etc. New Haven's government has also been incredibly responsive: there have been many reported potholes quickly filled, and graffiti complaints have often been addressed within hours of appearing on the website. But will it ever catch on in a larger, more chaotic city like Philadelphia or Chicago?

DNH believes that SeeClickFix will be rapidly adopted by individuals concerned with transportation safety and downtown retail districts, particularly as walking, bicycling and transit use all continue to skyrocket to record levels and beyond. Creating a transportation system that serves these millions of new users requires a much greater attention to detail -- for the simple reason that a small transportation system "gap" such as a crack, missing crosswalk, pothole or gravel in the road is far less likely to damage a truck axle than it is to critically injure a pedestrian, cyclist or bus rider crossing the street.

Design New Haven was the first third-party site to host SeeClickFix, and we believe that transportation and city advocates, such as those hosting some of the roughly 250 other blogs in the transportation and livable communities-focused "Streetsblog Network", may be next. Transportation advocates and downtown boosters generally have amicable existing relationships with local municipalities; once these two user groups begin using the site together -- perhaps in collaboration with public/private entities such as Downtown New Haven's Town Green BID, one of SCF's first public "fixers" -- use can spread more widely throughout a city and even help cement those relationships. In New Haven, for example, See Click Fix was used as a planning tool to help the city identify locations where in-street yield to pedestrian crosswalk signs were needed (and the city has reportedly ordered dozens of such signs since, to be installed this spring).

The Tomlinson Bridge "Engineering Disaster": Fixed?

To give a more detailed example of how this works, and keeping with our SCF "issue of the month" series, New Haven's number one issue at the moment, based on the number of "votes" to have it fixed, is the railroad grade crossing on the U.S. Route 1 Tomlinson Bridge. Opened in 2002, this massive, $120 million bridge represents the only viable pedestrian and bicycle connection from Downtown New Haven to the eastern suburbs of the city, and ConnDOT is currently constructing another, $757 million highway bridge right next to it. Unfortunately, besides the fact that the bridge is not a "complete street" by any remote stretch of the imagination, the railroad grade crossing is at a 30 degree angle to the roadway, and is unsigned for cyclists and improperly paved -- and therefore is extremely dangerous for even the most experienced bicyclists. To view a Google street view of the problem area and the bridge -- which is widely referred to as an "engineering disaster" in terms of overall safety and contribution to community connectivity -- you may click here.

Following posting on SeeClickFix, over 500 people viewed the issue and many comments were posted on the site, all of which can be read on the issue itself, whose link is http://www.seeclickfix.com/issues/1300.html. In addition to the posted comments (which are automatically sent to anyone who signs up for the issue with their email address), dozens of local commuters and cyclists emailed one another regarding the number of people they knew who had been seriously injured at the crossing. Frankly, the catalogue resulting from this exercise was frightening and deeply disturbing.

Based on the discussion on SeeClickFix, numerous individuals ranging from state and city officials to neighborhood activists have now been able to connect and advocate for a quick solution. According to sources, ConnDOT's crack traffic engineering squad is currently conducting an urgent review of the railroad grade crossing issue and plans to have a detailed report ready by April 1st. Hopefully a fix, or at least a temporary one, will happen very soon after that, given the serious injuries taking place on a regular basis. Following this, neighborhood leaders can move on to addressing the more complicated issue of the bridge's overall inadequacy when it comes to multimodal transportation. There's no doubt that many of these users will be back to SCF to report another issue in the very near future.

All in all, due to its potential to empower the community to find solutions for serious safety problems like this one, SeeClickFix gets our award for the best transportation safety innovation of 2008. We predict that within a few months, others watching livable streets issues nationwide will feel the same way.

Update 3/24/09: SeeClickFix has been incorporated into Miami's Urban City Architecture and profiled on Streetsblog San Francisco and Streetsblog New York.

Update 3/31/09: SeeClickFix leads to a successful narcotics sting near Downtown and is compared to Jane Jacobs, while the Tomlinson Bridge story is covered in the New Haven Register Sunday edition (original link here).

Update 7/6/09: The Register has another piece on the Tomlinson Bridge, indicating that more serious "fixes" to the problem are not currently being considered by the DOT, despite the large number of ongoing cyclist crashes at the site. A couple of small metal warning signs will be installed by August, however, which is a good start -- but still grossly inadequate at addressing the situation by any federal or state design standard.

For example, an excerpt from ConnDOT's own manual, posted on SeeClickFix, recommends installation of "flange way fillers." The design manual section refers to "high speed rail lines"; the rail track in question on the Tomlinson bridge was built for future port access and rarely (if ever) used for train traffic -- which, if it did occur, would certainly take place at an extremely low speed.

On low-speed, lightly traveled railroad tracks, commercially available flange way fillers can eliminate the gap next to the rail. The filler normally fills the gap between the inside railbed and the rail. When a train wheel rolls over it, the flange way filler compresses. This solution, however, is not acceptable for high-speed rail lines, as the filler will not compress fast enough and the train may derail. -ConnDOT Bicycle Design Guidelines, Page 42

Research into these "flange way fillers" (shown above) has found that although they are useful in some situations, when it comes to track crossings with extremely acute angles like the one at the Tomlinson Bridge, the fillers could increase the likelihood of cyclists' wheels slipping in a direction parallel to the rail, especially when wet. Although the fillers may be better than nothing if cyclists are appropriately warned of a slipping risk, the only acceptable solution here most likely involves re-engineering the street itself. The street pictured above has a wide shoulder, for example.

An excerpt from Mary O'Leary's piece in the Register:

James Newman, acting engineering administrator at the state Department of Transportation, in an e-mail to an Elm City Cycling member, said “it was not possible to improve the rail crossing geometry given the constraints of the location.”

Michael Piscitelli, New Haven’s transportation czar, said the city is looking at potential engineering changes to see if they come up with a fix for Forbes. “We have to figure out how to do it first, but I think the city would be interested in helping — finding a way to make that safer,” Piscitelli said.

Meanwhile, SeeClickFix continues to rapidly expand around the country, particularly through new collaborations with city government and media sites in particular -- promising news for those concerned with creating more walkable streets and livable communities.

De Stijl Asymmetry Inspires Pirie Turlington Designs, Renewed State Street

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:40:00 +0000

Downtown New Haven-based Pirie Turlington Architects received the 2009 AIA CT Business Architecture Award for its adaptive reuse of an historic Quonset hut in Guilford, CT to house BSK Design, a collaborative glass art studio and retail art gallery (click on the image to enlarge).

Quonset huts are prefabricated structures of corrugated galvanized iron with a semicircular cross section. Designed for U.S. Navy purposes and used as barracks, about 150,000 huts were manufactured during World War II. After the war the surplus huts were sold to the public and many are still standing throughout the United States.

The architecture uses the curved form of the Quonset hut in a compositional dialogue with the installation-like display planes. The planes use color and shape to focus movement in the space and provide a variety of backgrounds to enhance the display of the artwork. They also provide a flexible and economical layout.

Laura Turlington, principal of Pirie Turlington and a member of the New Haven-Hartford ULI Steering Committee, designed and coordinated the project. Her close collaboration with the client, an artist who is greatly influenced by the De Stijl movement, is reflected in the use of color and asymmetric shapes that create a physical and visual movement in the space. In this case, the architecture will significantly contribute to the development and growth of the artist’s business.

An example of the firm's urbanistic work in Downtown New Haven may have similar inspirations. Their design for 253 State Street, a mixed-use project located at the bustling corner of Chapel and State Street proposed by the Hudson-Wareck Partnership, relates on one side to the surrounding streetscape of 19th-century brick loft buildings. But it is artfully joined by an asymmetrical glass tower that expresses the tensions at the edge of the city's 375-year-old nine square grid.

The narrow development parcels, which sit adjacent to a railroad cut, are owned by the City of New Haven and were put to bid last year by the City's Economic Development office. Based in part on feedback from developers, however, the city then decided that the land would be far more commercially viable if State Street, particularly at the intersection with Chapel, were narrowed and redesigned to look more like it did 95 years ago.

As a result, the city is currently working on major design studies for a renewed State Street. If done correctly, the project would create a new gateway to New Haven by releasing large amounts of real estate for tax-producing uses, allowing additional development next to the Downtown New Haven train station (complementing its adjacent 360 State Street residential tower, for example), and reinforcing the connections between Downtown and Wooster Square.

Doing so would be part of what Jane Jacobs called the "attrition of automobiles by cities," and be a direct reversal of decisions made in the post-war period to demolish the east side of State Street in order to create a wide boulevard flanked by the world's largest parking garages. Or more accurately, one garage. The proposed garage was designed by Paul Rudolph but never built -- imagine, for a moment, a six-block-long version of the Temple Street Garage and you'll have an idea of what this 1960s urban renewal was all about. Even without the monumental brutalist garage for thousands of vehicles, the resulting high-speed boulevard is frequently described as a "desolate highway" or "wall between Wooster Square and Downtown" by many area residents, as well as new residents searching for housing near the city center. When compared with Mayor Dick Lee's large-scale visions for New Haven, more intricate designs like 253 State show how far our society has progressed in 50 years.

Once the area is turned back into a walkable, accessible and attractive district -- which can only be done through the rethinking of State Street (as well as Lower Chapel, which was also widened in the 1960s) -- developments like these are sure to follow.

House Transportation Committee Releases Outline of New Bill

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:28:00 +0000

The country's infrastructure priorities are set every six years or so through a transportation authorization bill, which creates hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding for highway, mass transit, and other projects.

The Transportation for America (T4A) Campaign has the best ongoing coverage of the newest bill, which was outlined yesterday by Chairman Oberstar. T4A highlights reactions, news and analyses of potential windfalls to transit and light rail systems (like the proposed New Haven Streetcar), new environmental and efficiency considerations, and the political scene. The bill outline also proposes requirements for "complete streets," an "Office of Livability" and multi-modal coordination.

According to T4A's sources, Chairman Oberstar is planning on releasing the full bill text on Monday. The Highways and Transit Subcommittee will review it on Wednesday for release to the full committee.

There has been some tension between DOT Secretary LaHood's proposal for an 18-month extension of the past bill (with some reforms, according to him) and Oberstar declaring "no extensions of SAFETEA-LU." Whether Congress authorizes more transportation spending for just 18 months or for 6 more years, many feel that any additional funding needs a vision and accountability for what the money will accomplish: No new money should be spent without serious reforms.

The Seattle Transit Blog published a set of links to some of today's reaction:

Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN), Chair of the House Transportation Committee, has a doozy of a transportation bill. The transit fund would shoot up to $99 billion, from $53 billion in 2005. The Bush-era FTA cost-effectiveness metrics would be revised to allow for benefits aside from reduced travel time. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! It’s far from law, but there’s tons of coverage at Streetsblog, the NYT, the transport politic, and Transportation For America. There’s also a 17-page proposal available for viewing (pdf).

We'll have more on the potential impact to Downtown New Haven as the bill shapes up over the coming months.

Recession Proof? New Haven, CT and McAllen, TX are Only U.S. Cities with 2009 Employment Growth

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:51:00 +0000

A report released today from Brookings Institution (PDF file here) is not the first to paint a rosy view of New Haven's economic development prospects, at least when compared with the struggling nation as a whole.

Employment in New Haven and McAllen grew by 0.2%. The New Haven Independent looks at some of the reasons why.

On an overall basis, the report places New Haven's regional economy among the top 20 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas: above those of Boston, New York, Hartford, Bridgeport/Stamford, and especially Providence, which sits near the bottom. Half of the other strongest 20 metro areas are in Texas or Oklahoma. Brookings also features a number of fascinating maps and analyses of the state of the country's metropolitan regions.

Shaw's Plaza Downtown: Street Design Worse than a No-Man's Land Target?

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:02:00 +0000

The above photo shows the Shaw's supermarket, which is located at the outskirts of Downtown New Haven in the city's Dwight neighborhood. The Shaw's Plaza, built in the mid-1990s, is home to the only major supermarket in Downtown New Haven, and attracts many local residents and Yale students. Click to enlarge the aerial photograph.

Despite the supermarket's popularity and the incredibly high density of the surrounding neighborhood (according to the Census, the Dwight neighborhood just west of Downtown has a population density close to those of many of the central boroughs of London, 50-60% higher than that of Chicago or Downtown New Haven, and about 3X higher than that of the East Rock neighborhood), there are no crosswalks or traffic calming measures anywhere near the store. In addition to the lack of any pedestrian plaza right at the store's entrance, DNH readers regularly observe families of all ages, even people in wheelchairs, trying to cross Whalley Avenue near the Shaw's plaza. Usually, they dart across under great stress. To make things worse, vehicles regularly speed in excess of 50MPH down the 4-lane, median-less highway (ConnDOT and the City of New Haven hope to make other sections of Whalley Avenue look like this in the near future); two-car collisions caused by this excessive speeding are not unheard of.

In fact, according to reporting by the City, this section of Whalley Avenue regularly competes with a few high-speed regional highways on the city's edges for the title of the worst safety record in the city. The windowless building wall fronting the street is not a place where residents socialize, enjoy cups of coffee or get their daily exercise, and the plaza has suffered in recent years from retail vacancies (even as more pedestrian-oriented sections of the Avenue, just a block or two to the west, are doing quite well).

In contrast, here is an aerial photo of the Target Department Store in North Haven, Connecticut. The store opened about five years ago as part of a National Realty project, and is located in an industrial zone near the city's old landfill (known as "Mount Trashmore"). Other than its location off of I-91, Target has no physical relationship with any surrounding residential or commercial areas.

The store is the epitome of "dumb growth." But wait! Look at the beautiful Dutch-inspired, textured, shared space plaza at the front of the store. Chicanes, vehicle bollards, traffic calming, medians, brightly-striped ladder crosswalks, and pedestrian walkways can be spotted throughout.

Those who frequent this Target report feeling exceptionally comfortable and safe walking to it. Families with children are regularly spotted walking, skipping, or hobbling into the store's entrance with ease. The Starbucks located at the store's entrance does quite well, with people spilling out to enjoy their coffees in the nice weather. This despite that the area often smells like industrial emissions or manure processing, and has views of abandoned rail tracks and one of the largest parking lots in New Haven County.

Of course, this is not an attack on Shaw's or the Shaw's Plaza itself: access to supermarkets is a critical issue for urban areas like New Haven, and attracting the store to Downtown New Haven in the 1990s required an enormous amount of effort and the creation of a PDD (Planned Development District). Even though many neighborhood groups, organizations and elected officials along Whalley Avenue, including the Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hills (WEB), Dixwell, and Dwight Community Management Teams, Whalley Avenue Revitalization Committee, residents of Fellowship Place, and the Whalley Avenue Special Service District have been major supporters of Shaw's, the presence of so much local grassroots community support and the use of a PDD was not enough to ensure a harmonious balance between pedestrians and traffic flow, not to mention good architecture.

These community groups were also all signers of the New Haven Petition for Safe Streets; although the safe streets movement has resulted in some new enforcement activity in the area, until the street is redesigned (plans have been on the table for decades), pedestrians, cyclists and drivers in this area will continue to be at risk. The Safe Streets Coalition has been pushing for over a year for city-wide, neighborhood level reporting on specific enforcement and collision data; if that is made more widely available, residents will be better able to advocate for the improvement of their own neighborhoods like this one.

Taking a page from Target, perhaps the city would consider installing temporary bollards, as they did on River Street, or as ConnDOT did on Route 34 near Ella Grasso Boulevard after the dozens of serious and fatal collisions that took place near there? Could a road diet help control traffic on the chasm-like road? Or perhaps even an uncontrolled crosswalk leading to the store (of course, combined with necessary traffic calming measures, medians, and flashers at the least), now that studies have debunked the "false sense of security" myth?

This comparison begs a number of questions, including: Why are residents living in sections of one of the densest downtown areas in the United States -- a very large proportion of whom are unable to own or operate a vehicle -- treated like second class citizens? And if the Target vs. Shaw's comparison is a sign of how far planners have come in the past 10 years, how much might things change in the next 10?

"Only in New Haven" Reward for Evidence of Speeding Yale Bus

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:58:00 +0000

The SeeClickFix Blog reports on the issue of speeding Yale buses, and the unusual reward. The New Haven Independent has a detailed story about the issue, and other drivers caught on video.

2009 Summer Cycling Events in New Haven

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:40:00 +0000

A shortlist posted yesterday by Elm City Cycling can be found below. There are also a number of excellent walking tours throughout the festival, with many focusing on Downtown New Haven's unique architecture.

+ Arts & Ideas Festival Bicycle Tours. A dozen or so free tours of New Haven between now and the end of June. The Festival requires cyclists to wear helmets on all tours. See http://www.artidea.org/event.php?id=209 for more information. Tomorrow's tour, a visit to photogenic locations around the city, is led by area photographers.

+ Bike to Work Breakfast: Friday June 19th in front of New Haven City Hall, 7:30-9:30AM. Enjoy free coffee and breakfast and chat with fellow riders. Email bicyclenewhaven@gmail.com to find a bicycle commuting buddy.

+ Public Hearing: Review and comment on plans for the completion of the Farmington Canal Trail before it goes into construction. See the proposed new underground museum. City Public Meeting on Farmington Canal Greenway Trail Phase IV (the segment from Hillhouse Ave to the Long Wharf Pier on New Haven Harbor). Wed., June 24, between 6 p.m. & 8 p.m., G-2 Hearing Room, 200 Orange St.

+ 5th Annual New Haven Century, sponsored by Elm City Cycling: June 28th. See http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=8556 for more details and to register for this fully supported ride through the spectacular New Haven County shoreline and countryside.

+ 3rd Annual Wednesday Night Ice Cream Rides. Every Wednesday night from July 1st through September, meeting at 5:30PM on the New Haven Green and leaving at 5:45 PM. Much like the "Critical Mass" on the last Friday of each month, these informal social rides generally happen rain or shine, and are not sponsored or led by Elm City Cycling or any other individual. Destinations are famous ice cream shops in the New Haven region, particularly along the waterfront; rides are slow-paced and between 5 and 10 miles in each direction.

+ Cluefest 7. July 18th at 1PM. How well do you know New Haven? Race against 300 fellow citizens in this city-wide scavenger hunt, get the highest score or have the most team spirit, and be the first to find the Secret Cluefest Party. Bicycle teams are strongly encouraged. Please visit http://www.cluefest.com/ for more information, and RSVP on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=88710561853

+ Check http://www.elmcitycycling.org/ for other events, or post your own by contacting bicyclenewhaven@gmail.com. Or join Elm City Cycling's open public meetings on the second Monday of every month, on the 2nd floor of City Hall.

Any Sympathetic Narratives About Life in Suburban Sprawl?

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:16:00 +0000

Mark Oppenheimer, author of a Jane Jacobs-inspired recent New York Times Magazine cover article about livable streets in New Haven, poses the question in the New Haven Review literary magazine (which has now attracted many comments). An excerpt:

A good deal of the literature — by people including New Havener Philip Langdon, whose A Better Place to Live has given me a whole new outlook on what makes a space a happy one in which to dwell — boils down to this: don’t depend on cars. People are happier when they can walk to see neighbors, ride their bicycles, and live close enough to their neighbors that they know them....

But what I don’t have are good sympathetic non-fiction books about life in suburban sprawl. For every book critical of that way of life — Langdon’s book, Duany et al.’s Suburban Nation, Ray Oldenburg’s The Great Good Place — there seem to be exactly zero books about why it can be pleasurable to grow up in spaces that are, after all, safe, predictable, and quiet, which are all good things.

Boms: New Haven the Next Silicon Valley

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:54:00 +0000

Elon Boms, the Managing Director of Launch Capital, a Boston- and New Haven-based investment firm, writes on the Connecticut Innovations blog that New Haven has five similar characteristics. A summary of the first three:

Ingredient 1: Smart people with an incentive to stay -- Some recent informal polling of graduate students from Yale indicates that the city has become more desirable as a long-term residence.

Ingredient 2: Capital -- New Haven is situated between two of the most prominent capital centers in the world. NYC and Boston are less then two hours away and rank #2 and #11 in the top 15 richest cities by [overall] GDP (ahead of San Francisco at #15).

Ingredient 3: Strong Industry -- over 250 pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies have offices in Connecticut.

Boms is not the first to make the comparison (a new waterfront condominium project touts New Haven as the "San Francisco of the East Coast"). Aside from their waterfront locations, the two regions share basic characteristics: they host institutions with among the highest biomedical R&D funding in the nation, and are among the wealthiest, most highly-educated metropolitan areas in the country. And though the number of new venture capital deals overall has remained limited when compared to larger centers like Silicon Valley, San Diego and Boston, the 50 or so new biotechnology companies in New Haven have had dramatic success in attracting capital. A few years ago Yale University released a paper which showed that on a per capita basis, New Haven was one of the top five biotechnology clusters in the country. The University and city believe that, eventually, the level of innovation and expertise in this sector could be matched by growth in other industries.

The market for office space and housing in Downtown New Haven continues to be strong, particularly for biomedical and medical offices. The demand has resulted in numerous recent renovations to office buildings such as One Long Wharf Drive. Many firms are looking to rent or purchase stable locations in pedestrian-oriented urban centers near mass transit. These factors will gain in importance as we continue to see rising oil prices, caused primarily by what even the U.S. Department of Energy now recognizes: a permanent, and unexpectedly massive drop in world oil production combined with insatiable energy demand from Asia. Luckily, transportation convenience and walkability is an area in which New Haven is exceptionally well-positioned relative to the rest of New England; when compared to California's plan for a 180 MPH (average) high speed rail system within 20 years, though, our 42 MPH (average) Metro North trains may eventually have some catching up to do.

To illustrate one example of what DNH believes is part of an increasing trend, see this press release by the Nature Conservancy in Connecticut. The organization is moving to Downtown New Haven (to this "smart growth"-investment funded building) after 20 years in central Connecticut:

“We’ll be moving our office into downtown New Haven, with all its conveniences and amenities, and into an environmentally-friendly building,” said Lise Hanners Ph.D., state director.... It benefits from outstanding transit access, with the State Street station offering both Metro North and Shoreline East service just two blocks away, and Union Station just a half mile away.

Protest Governor Rell's Proposed Bus and Train Fare Hike

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:38:00 +0000

Original Post 6/10/09: Please show your support for affordable public transit and opposition to the Governor's proposal to increase Connecticut bus fares by 40% and train fares by 10% (PDF with details here). A press event and protest takes place today, Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at 4:00 PM at Church & Chapel Streets on the New Haven Green.

Transit is essential to improving Connecticut's economy and environment. A 40 percent increase in bus fares will heavily penalize the people most reliant on public transit, disproportionately burden the citizens who can least afford it, and negatively impact the state's efforts to encourage residents to use mass transit in order to alleviate congestion and pollution on our roads.

Speakers include New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, House Speaker Chris Donovan, Transportation Committee House Chair Rep. Tony Guerrera, New Haven Rep. Toni Walker, and other elected officials plus representatives of various advocacy organizations including AARP, Transit for Connecticut, CT Fund for the Environment and Tri-State Transportation Campaign. If you can not attend, call Gov. Jodi Rell (800-406-1527), Lt. Gov. Fedele (860-524-7384), and your state legislators.

Update 6/15/09: Coverage of the press conference from TSTC appears here.

Neighborhood Builds Hopeful Vision for Route 34 West: Friday Meeting to Feature Harlem Community Development Expert

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:49:00 +0000

While citywide discussions about the redevelopment of the barren western half of New Haven's Route 34 corridor have been underway for over a decade now, questions linger about the approval of a final city development plan.

What will the streets and blocks look like? Will new development resemble the massive new parking garages going up just to the east of the site, or be more in line with the attractive neighborhoods of tree-lined, "permeable" streets and mixed uses that border the highway? Will the area be dotted with human-scaled parks like Wooster Square and Monitor Square (like the ones proposed by neighborhood resident Jonathan Hopkins, whose striking before/after rendering can be seen at left), or will it just be seen as a highway corridor, with long, straight, high-volume one-way roads like the ones there now? When will development begin?

The planning process has recently become far more focused, contentious and urgent. Before it can sell off any parcels within the former state highway corridor, the city must first approve a municipal development plan (MDP). With the massive Yale-New Haven Hospital Cancer Center expansion nearing completion, the city is now under pressure to raise revenue by selling off parcels to developers affiliated with the burgeoning complex, which lies just east of the site (beyond that lies the eastern section of New Haven's Route 34 corridor, which is in design for a boulevardization).

Although the city has had great success in selling off small neighborhood parcels over the past two years, the Route 34 West corridor is of a much larger scale. The development of the approximately 40 acres of property here will have a major long-term impact on the health and attractiveness of surrounding neighborhoods, as well as on the city and its tax base as a whole. In addition to serving as a major gateway for visitors to New Haven, city residents regularly visit the zone in order to travel between neighborhoods and access services located there. Many new people theoretically would jump at an opportunity to move to the area, since it is very convenient to Downtown New Haven.

Ensuring that the redeveloped corridor becomes a destination that is closely integrated with the adjacent neighborhoods -- and a welcoming place that is highly attractive for renters, homeowners and business concerns for many decades to come -- is a priority for those with a long-term interest in the city's success. Ultimately, the New Haven Board of Aldermen will need to vote to approve the plan before any parcels can be sold off for development. Before hundreds of millions of public and private dollars are invested, city stakeholders want to make sure that the "blueprint" for investment is done right.

Despite the corridor's crucial importance to the city's future, the city's planning process over the past few years has focused primarily on engaging residents within the immediately surrounding blocks. A small, handpicked and largely institutional group of "stakeholders" was chosen to provide the most detailed input on the plan over the past year. To be fair, resources for planning have been limited, and development priorities appear to be rapidly changing, but the city could have come out front with a push to clearly identify overarching goals for the new neighborhood and more widely engage the creativity of residents, rather than beginning with perceived infrastructure and budget constraints (such as the need to keep the highway's one-way straightaways the way they are).

At a city-sponsored public meeting in April, dozens of residents of the immediately surrounding neighborhoods presented a letter calling for more attention to safety, walkability, public health, transportation and urban design issues. Click here for the New Haven Independent's excellent coverage. Their overarching goals included making sure that the new neighborhood and street patterns would improve health within neighborhoods that, statistically speaking, rank among least healthy census districts in the state. Equally as important, residents urged that the MDP would require the creation of memorable, human-scaled and green public spaces along the corridor, improved transportation options, truly walkable, bikeable, safe and pleasant streets that would encourage long-term economic investment from residents and homeowners, and options for affordable housing.

With health, safety, "permeability" and walkability now directly linked to the number of intersections per square mile and the quality of those intersections, laying out designs for a restored street grid -- the original having been obliterated when the highway corridor was cut in the 1960s -- prior to the approval of the MDP (which locks development into place) is of the essence.

Residents like Jonathan Hopkins, an architecture student, even took it upon themselves to lay out designs for what a closely-knit urban neighborhood might look like. Click on the images at left to see them in full detail (if you are interested in giving technical feedback to him on the drawings, please email Design New Haven at downtownnewhaven " at " g m a i l " dot " c o m and we'll forward your comments).

To follow up on the ongoing conversations, the Greater Dwight Community Development Corporation (GDDC) and others from the Dwight, West River and Hill neighborhoods, plus the New Haven Urban Design League, are inviting anyone interested in the future of this neighborhood to attend a community meeting this Friday, June 5, 2009, from 6-8 PM, at the GDDC's headquarters at 230 Edgewood Avenue. Pizza and drinks will be served. Traffic and city planning experts will join the community to answer questions about how a plan can be developed to support community goals.

John Reddick, a community planning consultant based in New York, will be the featured speaker and moderator. John has taken a great interest in New Haven and its neighborhoods since attending the Yale School of Architecture. He has worked with the Abyssinian Development Corporation on housing and planning initiatives, and served a jury member for the Jane Jacobs Medal. He was also the director of the Cityscape Institute's project to revitalize Harlem's 125th Street. This project included the creation of the new transportation hub and public space - Malcolm X Plaza - as well as enhancing public access to Central Park and planning mixed-use infill projects to revitalize the zone.

Based on the extensive amounts of time spent by residents, planners and officials on making this project better, it is clear that the city harbors significant hope that the new neighborhood along Route 34 West will eventually become a highly successful community.

Renderings and Models of New Yale University Residential Colleges Released

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:33:00 +0000

Original Post, 5/12/09: Paul Needham of the Yale Daily News reports on the design renderings, which were released earlier by Robert A.M. Stern's Boston-based rendering firm, Jeff Stikeman. Click on the image at left to enlarge a view of the proposed north courtyard, which contains a tower that would be easily viewable from the corner of Grove and Prospect, several blocks to the south. Click here to view the YDN's complete slideshow.

Towers for the $600 million project will be added to improve the walkability (and imageability) of the site. Click here for a previous Design New Haven post about the new colleges, and the decision to select RAMSA as the architect.

The YDN article also reveals that several historic buildings currently on the site, including Hammond Hall and the Mudd Library, will be torn down to make room for the new colleges (scroll down for more on that).

Although virtually all other Yale construction projects that hadn't yet broken ground have been put on hold -- even minor renovations -- design work on the colleges is funded by a special donor, and has been continuing at a rapid pace.

Update, 5/20/09: The Yale Alumni Magazine's Carole Bass reports on the new renderings, including interviews with several prominent alumni architects. According to the story, Yale intends to release additional details on the college designs by the end of May. An excerpt from the piece:

It's hard to know how literally to take the drawings, observes Paul Goldberger '72, architecture critic for the New Yorker.... Artists' renderings "are sort of the equivalent of heavily retouched photographs," he cautions. That said, Goldberger continues, "what's very clear is that Stern has decided to go head to head with the master" of Yale Gothic architecture. And "if anybody can pull off James Gamble Rogers in the twenty-first century, it's Bob Stern."

But, Goldberger notes, that raises two additional questions. First, does it make sense to imitate 80-year-old buildings that are themselves imitations of the centuries-old University of Oxford? Goldberger says he's "split right down the middle" on that question. "I have a little bit of worry that the whole thing might be like Yale's greatest hits," he says. "I might have preferred something that would have continued Yale's [more recent] tradition of being more on the cutting edge."

Goldberger's other main concern is practical. Because Gothic architecture depends on fine detailing by both designers and craftsmen, "this is a very bad kind of architecture to do on a tight budget," he says. He's "slightly surprised" that, having decided on a traditional approach, the university didn't go with a cheaper red-brick Georgian style. "On the other hand," Goldberger notes, "I think of Gothic as the heart of Yale. So if you want to tie this area to the heart of campus, it's the right choice."

Update 6/3/09: The Yale Daily News has published a story about Stern's models for the new colleges, which are displayed at Sterling Library on the campus (see YDN photo at left). The story has attracted many commenters on the preliminary designs of Stern's $600 million commission, including a great post by Ken McKenna discussing the history of the so-called "gothic style" completed over many centuries at Notre Dame in Paris.

Another commenter, A&A, makes an argument for the preservation of Hammond Hall and Mudd Library:

Hammond Hall dates back to the turn of the last century and is among the oldest extant buildings commissioned by the Sheffield Institute. Its “head house” in many ways evokes the same Beaux Arts sensibility of materials and proportions that would later be elaborated in McKim, Meade, & White’s campus for Columbia University. While the “shed” at the rear probably does not warrant saving, the head house is in excellent condition and still eminently expresses a hansom brick and limestone composition with a beautifully ornamented copper cornice where hammers and anvils recall the original program for the building. Mudd is the work of a student of Louis Kahn and is quite respectful of that master’s legacy. Its somewhat austere and simple massing is countered by the sensitive detailing of concrete, brick, and glass. Despite its warehouse program it is a very thoughtful intervention in what has heretofore been a desolate corner of the campus.

Yale abounds in delightful assemblages of building fragments: Linsly-Chittenden, Silliman, the Art Gallery, Old Campus, etc.; Hammond and Mudd could also be cleverly incorporated into the master plan for the new colleges. It seems that this large site could easily accommodate two colleges the size of TD and Silliman without sacrificing Hammond and Mudd.

Update 6/10/09: Slides from Robert A.M. Stern's presentations are now available online, obtained by the Yale Daily News. The images include a diagrammatic comparison of the college's new courtyards, materials and public spaces, as well as several new renderings. Questions linger on the relationship of the building to some surrounding buildings and streets, including the appeal of street cross-sections and the type of traffic calming required to make Prospect a much more walkable corridor for residents and students of all ages and abilities.

New Haven Newspaper Outsourced to India

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:12:00 +0000

This past week's issue of the New Haven Advocate, the copy for which was outsourced to India, has attracted some significant national attention. The alternative weekly newspaper, which is published in Downtown New Haven, also outsourced content for its sister publications in Hartford and Fairfield County. According to one of the Indian writers involved, there is some controversy over the fact that the writers were not notified of the "experiment."

An excerpt from Peter Applebome's report in the New York Times, "Made in India, but Published in New Haven":

Alert readers of the New Haven Advocate and its sister publications in Hartford and Fairfield County may have noticed a consistency among the bylines in its newest issue: Annie Rani, Dev Das, Nidhi Sharma, Asmi Rana, Neha Bhayana, Shreya Sanghani, Vijeta Bhatia and others....

The idea in Connecticut wasn’t nearly so predatory. The Indian journalists, recruited through Craigslist ads in Bangalore and Mumbai, were paid The Advocate’s normal freelance rates (which definitely weren’t making anyone rich either) to report on food, art, music, sex and other topics of interest in New Haven. The intent wasn’t to cut costs. It was to see if it could be done and, if so, what kind of journalism would result.

“The idea was for the newsprint version of performance art, and I mean that positively,” said Joshua Mamis, publisher of the three papers.... Vijayalaxmi Hegde could have been any young hipster from New Haven interviewing the band Cake, or previewing a performance by the Dark Star Orchestra.

But maybe it showed something else: that breaking the mold did work, that you could reinvent the wheel and come up with something pretty fresh. This, in fact, is exactly what’s happened in New Haven, where the most interesting journalism isn’t the “alternative” press, owned by the not-so-alternative Tribune Company of Chicago, or the daily, The New Haven Register. Instead, it’s the independent nonprofit New Haven Independent, a five-day-a-week online newspaper begun in 2005 by Paul Bass, supported by grants, sponsors and donations.... [with] a skeleton staff that meets at a [Downtown New Haven] coffeehouse.

Reviews of the "outsourced" issue ranged widely, from good (search for the issue in Google Blogs) to not-so-great, but the Consumerist gives two thumbs up for humor and issues an unlikely prediction:

The New Haven Advocate jumped on the trend by outsourcing several stories to Indian writers, inadvertently proving their own obsolescence because the humor that resulted surpassed that which any native North American journalist is capable. Mark our words: The first print newspaper to go all-India, all the time adds five years to its life.

National AIA Design Award for Downtown New Haven Bus Shelters

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:21:00 +0000

The award-winning, heated bus shelters were designed by Downtown New Haven-based architect David Thompson. Bustler covers the 2009 AIA Small Project Awards, which are given to small structures of up to $500,000 budget, here. The description from their site:

This project involved the construction of three new bus shelters at two sites. Each shelter has been conceived to insure the most effective response to concerns involving security, vandalism, maintenance and comfort of the ridership. “Green roofs” have been provided on each shelter to insure a pleasing appearance for tenants occupying tall buildings that surround each site. Cantilevered overhangs with sustainable hardwood soffit sheathing have been provided to insure vandal resistance and maximize the covered area for waiting pedestrians.

Thompson's shelters also received a 2008 design award from the Connecticut chapter of AIA, and are a nice addition to Downtown streetscapes, especially with the plants sitting on top now getting larger.

Although the improvements are federally funded, they have attracted some local notoriety for their cost: roughly $1.2 million for five installations, leading many to question the cost/benefit scenarios for each. Of course, before one starts to criticize mass transit infrastructure, they might consider the massive "government bailouts" needed each year to keep our interstate highways system afloat. Nobody seems to have a problem when highways lose billions of dollars, for example; according to Alex Marshall's column in Governing Magazine:

Although gas taxes are the largest single source of transportation revenue, we have been moving away from them. Even before the recent rise in gas prices, federal and state gas taxes supplied only 35 percent of the $132 billion in federal, state and local highway funds.

And according to the November 20, 2006 "Keep Texas Moving" Texas DOT newsletter:

...no road pays for itself in gas taxes and fees. For example, in Houston, the 15 miles of SH 99 from I-10 to US 290 will cost $1 billion to build and maintain over its lifetime, while only generating $162 million in gas taxes. That gives a tax gap ratio of .16, which means that the real gas tax rate people would need to pay on this segment of road to completely pay for it would be $2.22 per gallon.

This is just one example, but there is not one road in Texas that pays for itself based on the tax system of today. Some roads pay for about half their true cost, but most roads we have analyzed pay for considerably less.

A final verdict on the shelters' value will have to be deferred until durability issues, impact on commuter comfort and long-term maintenance costs can be better evaluated. On a more practical level, New Haven's new bus shelters also have been criticized for allowing heat to escape too quickly in the winter. For more information, see the New Haven Independent's coverage here and here. The shelters aren't the only ones in New Haven to have been recently designed by a local architect.

If you have examples of other bus stop designs that you think might work well in New Haven (like these ones from MIT's SENSEable city lab, these from all over the world, or these from New York), please post the links here.

Bagel History Highlights New Haven

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:10:00 +0000

Original Post 11/18/08: Slate Magazine's A Short History of the Bagel: Ancient Egypt to Lender's highlights another famous New Haven food first (and one of many circular firsts): the mass market bagel.

"Murray Lender hit upon a method for mass distribution of bagels. His father, Harry, had come from Poland to New Haven, Conn., and had opened a wholesale bagel bakery in 1927, one of the few outside of New York. In this small, diverse town, ethnic communities intermingled, sampling one another's local specialties."

The size, urban scale, diversity, mix of different types and ages of buildings (see Jane Jacobs and William Whyte), the exceptionally high population density of Downtown New Haven, and a large foreign-born population combined with healthy competition and cross-fertilization of ingredients among restaurant owners (such as in the 5 Thai restaurants on one block of Chapel Street, the topic of a feature article in today's New Haven Register), are surely some of the reasons why the city has become an internationally-known food capital. DNH has heard several anecdotes about upscale Downtown restaurants borrowing unusual ingredients for their dishes from nearby ethnic eateries.

Update 5/29/09: Writing in the publication Jews in New Haven IX, New Haven Oral History Project founder Andy Horowitz offers a much more comprehensive history of the Lender family in New Haven, including a portrayal of the old bakery-filled neighborhood which was destroyed to create the Route 34 connector highway. The New Haven Independent has published an electronic version of the article here. An excerpt from the piece shows that not much has changed in the past 100 years:

Murray... characterized the neighborhood as “a mini United Nations.” It was the nature of the neighborhood, and the Lenders in particular, to form bonds amidst all the diversity. “There was no such thing as not knowing everybody on the street, not saying ‘hello’ to everybody on the street,” Murray asserted. “I spent plenty of time in probably three-quarters of the homes…. It was not a matter of were you friends, it was a matter of the degree of friendship.”

Pedestrians: Now Playing on Broadway

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Tue, 26 May 2009 07:10:00 +0000

Original Post 7/11/08: Today's New York Times features an article about the incredible new plan to convert New York City's oldest and greatest boulevard into an esplanade for walking and bicycling. It won't quite match what Seoul accomplished (by far the world's most impressive example of a highway to esplanade conversion in the heart of a major city), but will still be amazing to see. A New Haven Safe Streets Coalition supporter asks here: could this be a model for our state?

The City of New Haven, in partnership with Yale and HSNP Architects, received awards for redesigning New Haven's Broadway as a beautifully landscaped, more pedestrian-friendly zone in the mid-1990s. Although quite significantly improved from what was there before, at least aesthetically speaking, the area still suffers from highly problematic (many would say nonexistent) bicycle access, even though it represents the primary west to east route through all of Downtown New Haven. It also has been plagued by speeding traffic rushing around the bend near York Street leading into Elm, which has on several occasions led to serious injuries among local pedestrians and will no doubt result in more until the street configurations are modified. The incredibly wide stretch of Elm Street from Broadway to State is particularly worrisome, but significant pressure on the city and state - perhaps coming from neighboring institutions and employers like Yale and New Alliance Bank - will be needed to influence the Connecticut DOT to allow major changes.

In order to make the area truly walkable and bikeable, which would result in a massive increase in property values and retail sales in the district, traffic speeds along this street (and the section of Whalley Avenue leading into it, in particular) must be strictly moderated to 15-20mph through improved design. Perhaps it is time to bring Jan Gehl to New Haven's Broadway?

Update 5/26/09: Broadway at Times Square is now closed to vehicles. Nicolai Ouroussoff of the New York Times critiques the plaza's new urban spaces and streetscapes, noting that further design work is needed to make the plazas a more attractive urban environment. Streetsblog offers commentary on the new lawn chair-filled spaces here. "It's a down payment on a better economic environment," says Janette Sadik-Khan, New York's transportation czar, in the Wall Street Journal's clip. The city also recently issued a groundbreaking new design manual for its public spaces and streets, one which New Haven's Complete Streets steering committee can draw upon for inspiration.

New Haven Ann Taylor Loft to Close; American Apparel and Kitchen Zinc Open

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:10:00 +0000

Property Jump reports here on the upcoming closing of Ann Taylor Loft's Downtown New Haven location. The closing will push up Chapel Street's retail vacancy rate, and may be part of a wave of reported national store closings by that retailer. No word on whether the Ann Taylor store located a block away (which was the first Ann Taylor in the country) will stay open through the recession.

Nearby, in one of the few non-Yale-owned properties on Broadway, Connecticut's second American Apparel location opened this afternoon to huge crowds. AA took up a high-rent location that was created by the move of Campus Customs' apparel operation into the former York Square Cinema building. The store was designed by Danny Orenstein (photos here). In other good news, acclaimed chef Denise Appel has released information about a new restaurant opening at 966 Chapel Street, Kitchen Zinc.

Overall, post-renaissance New Haven boasts the lowest office vacancy rate in the nation, and one of the lowest apartment vacancy rates as well (particularly in the Downtown, whose vacancy rate close to 0% is resulting in continuing development projects to renovate and build new apartments). However, it is likely that many of the results of the current nationwide economic crisis are yet to come - particularly when it comes to retail locations. Check out the Property Jump website for ongoing coverage of local leasing and real estate deals, including the recent $10 million sale of 129 Church Street.

Greater Providence: Watch and Learn from New Haven's Urban Renaissance

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:46:00 +0000

Bret Ancowitz of the GCPVD blog has written up a comparison of the New Haven and Providence "Renaissance", in response to a recent Yale Alumni Magazine feature article about New Haven.

Bret isn't the first blogger to compare the two cities. But here's an excerpt of his post:

One day, an urban planning student will be able to build an entire thesis comparing and contrasting Providence’s and New Haven’s urban revitalizations as, on the surface, the two cities’ efforts could not have been more different. We focused on creating dramatic public spaces (Waterplace Park, Capitol Center) populated by skyline altering hotels, luxury condos, and businesses, perhaps at the expense of having created some empty, sterile streetscapes. NH’s did the exact opposite, with a laser-like focus on downtown residential and streetscape development. While their skyline hasn’t changed in 30 years, they instead focused on enhancing their city’s walkability and on creating warm, accessible, and vibrant neighborhoods chocked full of hip new retail, restaurants (120+ downtown!), affordable housing, and urban amenities, all supercharged by Yale’s revolutionary program to pay its employees to live in the city. We built a successful downtown mall, NH closed their failing one and refashioned it into apartments and a community college. We upgraded our aging downtown sports arena, while NH tore their’s down.

One very minor correction on his post: with large-scale development continuing at the city's medical center, on the Yale campus, and at the 360 State apartment tower -- and of course, the new "extradosed cable," 10-story high Q bridge in the heart of the city -- New Haven's skyline is seeing significant changes. The redevelopment of the Coliseum Site may eventually add a few more towers as well. On the flip side, the YAM article is slightly inaccurate in its claim that New Haven's CBD is basically filled: there are still plenty of infill sites and deadening parking lots, ranging widely in size, waiting for higher-value land uses, not to mention the enormous potential of the area surrounding the somewhat remote train station and Route 34 Highway (proposed for boulevardization).

Expanding on GCPVD's theme, when compared to Providence, New Haven has the distinct advantage of being a part of one of the most dynamic metropolitan areas in the world. Its transportation infrastructure is somewhat better developed than Providence's (which appears to be threatened by service cuts), and it is also a bit more walkable, on the whole. New Haven also has a more robust "eds and meds" economy, due largely to the presence of Yale and the burgeoning Yale-New Haven Hospital complex. Mostly as a result, New Haven's March 2009 regional unemployment rate stands at 7.6%, whereas metro Providence's has hit 11.4% (the U.S. average was 9.0%; PDF here) and will likely continue to rise. Commenter Corey writes:

In a way though, it was all much easier for New Haven. Lets not forget that New Haven has the distinct advantage of being connected very cheaply to New York via rail. In a way it was inevitable that it would be repopulated by New York commuters (of which there are many in New Haven).

DNH believes that ultimately, however, there are more similarities than differences between the two cities. Both Providence and New Haven are well positioned to take advantage of their transportation infrastructure and the shift in consumer preferences towards urban, walkable places with short commuting times and, in the face of rising gas prices, low commuting costs. Both cities are home to major immigrant and low-income populations as well; the extent to which they succeed in the 21st Century will rest, in large part, on their ability to harness their own human capital. They also share a milder and sunnier climate than many of their inland competitors. On paper, the two cities have similar densities, populations and job bases within their immediately surrounding regions, as well as an abundance of historic architecture that is generally well-preserved.

We commend Greater City Providence for its overall "placemaking" approach. The website's several authors have a wide angle of coverage on topics like pedestrian safety, downtown arts events, transit service cuts, and improbable subway maps. It is valuable to question the value of major revitalization strategies and policies, which do not always contribute to long-term growth or the equity of opportunities for residents.

DNH Transitioning to New Site

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:47:00 +0000

Design New Haven is moving to a new site and new host. For the time being, if you are trying to access older pages, please replace the URL text "designnewhaven" with the permanent link, "downtownnewhaven.blogspot."

Example: http://www.designnewhaven.com/2008/04/hollywood-east.html becomes http://www.downtownnewhaven.blogspot.com/2008/04/hollywood-east.html.

Meanwhile, check out the winner of the CNU's video contest, which nicely answers the question of, "what is the greatest threat to our planet?": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGJt_YXIoJI.

Check back in a few weeks for the new website, and ongoing coverage of urban development issues in Downtown New Haven. Thank you!

National Train Day to hit New Haven Union Station; Rail and Bike/Ped Bills Advance

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:12:00 +0000

Original Post, 5/9/08: First Robert DeNiro and Kate Beckinsale, now National Train Day. New Haven's elegant Union Station will host the "only National Train Day celebration between New York & Boston" this Saturday from 4:00-5:30 PM, on the 2nd Floor Balcony. See here for more photos courtesy Herbert S. Newman and Partners.

The press release notes that "sticker shock at the gas pump is matched by increasing congestion on the roadways and in the air, and that polls, referenda, and ridership data on train systems across the country (including those in New Haven) all point to a demand for more trains, the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) and its local affiliates are sponsoring events at stations across the country that highlight the role of passenger trains in a networked transportation system." In addition to discussing plans for the future of Union Station and the opportunities for the national rail network, the New Haven event is also likely to focus on multi-modal transportation, such as bicycle access on trains. The speaker-driven event will include a number of local and state officials and state environmental advocates, and several members of the media are expected. For more details, see the press release.

Update 5/7/09: National Train Day returns to New Haven with an event this Saturday at Union Station at 3PM. Featured speakers include Connecticut DOT commissioner Joe Marie, Norm Garrick of the Center for Transportation and Urban Planning at UConn, and New Haven transportation czar Mike Piscitelli, among others. Click here for more information about the event.

In related news, the Hartford Courant reported yesterday on two bills that have passed the CGA Appropriations Committee this week: a bill to require a $1M study on light rail lines (including streetcars), and SB735, the state's "complete streets" legislation. The Connecticut Post offers up an op-ed on the latter:

A bill passed this week by the Appropriations Committee would require cities and towns to set aside 1 percent of any state or federal road funds to improve bicycle and pedestrian access. It would also establish a "Share the Road" commemorative license plate to raise additional funds. The plan is not to take away anyone's car or penalize drivers; it's about giving people options. Not everyone wants to drive as much as they do. A half-mile trip to a market or the post office might be something people want to take on foot or on a bicycle. But if roads are unsafe, it won't happen. That means one more trip in the car, and those trips add up -- more congestion, more pollution and reduced quality of life.

The state has developed and is laid out in such a way that automobiles are almost inescapable. There's nowhere near the requisite density for people to abandon cars for mass transit on a large scale, which is why multibillion-dollar fixed-rail projects are never likely to get very far. But change on a small scale is not only possible, it could make a huge difference. People will still be driving. But taking cars off the road by making local trips more bike-friendly would be an improvement.

Second High-End Boutique Hotel in New Haven?

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Original Post, 5/4/09: The New Haven Register confirms today that Hampshire Hotels & Resorts, owner of 205 Church Street, is funding that building's $3 million makeover. With the exception of Wachovia Bank, which occupies the building's stunning 1920s-era lobby, all remaining office tenants have been asked to move. The building's facade, which had deteriorated somewhat, is currently wrapped in an impressive shroud of blue construction mesh, including its faded gold cupola (which is receiving a new coat of gold).

The project was initially reported last month in Business New Haven. Hampshire, owner of high-end properties in New York City, London, South Beach and Hyderabad, India, is also apparently looking at a residential use for the building. A residential use would make sense for the developer, given the very high rents currently found at The Eli, a luxury office conversion just a block down the street.

A new hotel would follow on the footsteps of the highly-acclaimed Study at Yale boutique hotel, completed last year by an offshoot of the Starwood / W Hotels group led by Paul McGowan. At the time, the project was among a flurry of several other proposed hotel expansions in New Haven, several of which have now been completed. The market analysis for the Study at Yale in particular, which may be the best hotel in Connecticut, was largely driven by burgeoning activities at the city's medical campus as well as an increase in academic conferences hosted by Yale University. City tourism and development officials believe that the medical center is expanding rapidly enough to warrant additional top-end hotels.

Update, 5/6/09: The New Haven Independent covers the story, with an interview with Kevin Lillis, Hampshire's VP for real estate development. Lillis discusses some of the architectural problems inherent in a hotel conversion, but indicates that a hotel use is a likely possibility for the structure. Lillis also points out the need for an attached hotel parking garage, which he indicates is in preliminary review. A city-owned "mid block" garage that had initially been planned for the parking lot adjacent to 205 Church was never built due to the high cost of acquiring land, although the city is still planning to construct the garage on a site that the city later purchased just one block down Wall Street. Initally planned for a 2008 completion, the State/Wall garage is now on hold pending market demand.

Biotechnologist Critical After Crossing Downtown "Death Zone" on Route 34 East; CT Complete Streets Bill Gets Vote

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:10:00 +0000

Pedestrians: "This is a Death Zone"

William Kaempffer has a comprehensive article in today's New Haven Register covering another tragic collision yesterday along Route 34, in the heart of the Yale and YNHH Medical District. 56-year-old senior scientist Michael Jaye, who works for one of the neighborhood's numerous biotechnology firms, was hit by a CT Transit bus at College and South Frontage (pictured here). The incident occurred just a block from where Yale medical student Mila Rainof was struck and killed in the spring of 2008, and a few hundred feet from the spot where a Yale public health student was critically injured in 2006.

Kaempffer's article features interviews with pedestrians in the area of the collision. Aaron Cooke, a current public health student, is not the first person to describe it as a "death zone":

A 56-year-old man suffered serious head injuries Monday after being struck by a bus while crossing South Frontage Road, a roadway that pedestrians say is a nightmare to cross.

“All these people are trying to get on the highway... They’re all trying to accelerate to speeds of 65 mph,” said Aaron Cook, a public health student at Yale. "Meanwhile, pedestrians are trying to get to and from the Yale medical district and downtown. Think about it. If you put two and two together,” he said. .... You put those two things together and make it difficult to see when you should and should not be crossing the street.... This is a death zone.”

In addition to the problems of excessive speed, crosswalks in the corridor are currently very poorly marked. They are even nonexistent in some places. With a few exceptions, the situation at these intersections has not markedly improved since 2006. The pedestrian infrastructure along College Street, where yesterday's pedestrian injury took place, is particularly in need of improvements. In addition, curb returns are extremely wide in several locations (particularly at College and South Frontage - see photo above), forcing pedestrians to literally stand in the middle of the road in order to have enough time to cross. Bicyclists are clearly intimidated by the high speeds and SUVs hurtling through red lights on a regular basis, causing many of them to ride on the sidewalk. The result: numerous injuries every year.

The lack of even the most basic infrastructure along Route 34 also creates a vast chasm through the city, preventing most residents from walking or biking between the Hill neighborhood, the Yale medical campus, and Downtown New Haven. This impacts overall public health and, even without considering the fact that the area is referred to as a "death zone," greatly reduces the overall perception of Downtown New Haven's livability.

Yale Medical School faculty member Mike Nitabach was also quoted in the Register piece:

"You’re in a car and you’re on the highway going 70 miles per hour, and then you suddenly are on a surface street and it’s a whole different mind-set in terms of how you perceive your environment as the operator of a vehicle, and I think that’s part of the reason why Frontage Road is so dangerous for pedestrians,” he said.

Petitions and Promises

Both of the previous high-profile pedestrian collisions sparked major petition drives. The first, a 2006 petition that was circulated within the Yale medical campus, collected over 600 signatures. It called for walk signals at all corners of the Frontage and College intersection, rumble strips on the ramps leading to the intersection (where vehicles fly through red lights and onto the streets at 60 miles per hour), an increase in the height of the railing lining College St, an increase the time alloted for pedestrians to cross the street, and a formal, citywide assessment of intersection safety with a public report.

The second major petition drive was launched by the New Haven Safe Streets Coalition, a grassroots group that formed after Mila Rainof's death. The "Petition for Safe Streets" called for a 90% reduction in traffic injuries and fatalities, and noted that such a goal could only be accomplished if speeds were greatly reduced in areas with high concentrations of pedestrians, such as in Downtown New Haven and around the hospital district. The petition also called for detailed citywide reporting on traffic safety so that neighbors could identify problems, see the specific measures being taken to correct them, and advocate for their own neighborhoods based on the results. The online and paper petition drive collected over 2,000 signatures, and more importantly, the support of nearly 100 state and local elected officials, churches, businesses, advocacy organizations, and neighborhood associations, including all 12 of the city's Community Management Teams.

Unfortunately, years have gone by and virtually none of the specific, concrete provisions demanded by these two petitions have been implemented by the city or by ConnDOT (with a few exceptions below) -- even though the proposed measures are fairly simple, economical, and commonly used in hundreds of other communities around the world. For example, in "Essentials of Global Health," Richard Skolnik discusses how the installation of rumble strips in Ghana in 2000 resulted in an immediate 35% reduction in injuries and 55% reduction in fatalities at treated intersections.

Following the injury of the public health student plus a number of other serious injuries and deaths along the Route 34 corridor, the city and University had in fact promised walk signals and other improvements. A Yale Daily News article from the time reported:

The television channel WTNH reported yesterday that the city’s traffic engineer said walk lights were in the process of being installed on the intersection.... Shah said he also thinks the University has a key role to play in lobbying for improved pedestrian safety.

Like many other city projects designed to improve safety for pedestrians, these signals and associated improvements have been "under review" and delayed for several years. At a meeting with the Yale Medical Campus Traffic Safety Group in May 2008, the City of New Haven indicated that signals would be installed "between July 2008 and October 2009." Is it possible that a better signal, or an LPI, could have saved this pedestrian's life?

Moving Forward: Small Steps Before Big?

DNH regularly walks, bikes and drives the streets around the medical campus, and we believe that urgent actions to improve safety and accessibility in the area are still needed. Residents expressed similar concerns over the Route 34 West plan, presented last month. From a political perspective, if the city is able to demonstrate a concrete commitment to everyday New Haven residents -- the majority of whom in fact do not drive a car to work every day -- then residents will be far more likely to support city development plans like the parking garage-filled Route 34 West MDP. Perhaps measures similar to the ones that New York City took to begin to tame its famous "Boulevard of Death" could be studied as a model for Route 34. See here for some other interesting examples, by the readers of GOOD magazine (one shown below). If the city is to meet the goals established by the New Haven Safe Streets Coalition, anyhow, it must take far more comprehensive measures than painting new zebra style crosswalks.

To give credit to the city, small steps have recently been taken in response to the Safe Streets Petition. A Complete Streets Steering Committee was formed based on the unanimous vote of the city council, and although the committee held its first official meeting only last week -- almost a year after the petition was launched, and more than six months after the city passed its complete streets legislation -- its creation signals a long-term resolve on the part of the city to address these issues (for more on this, scroll down). The city has also been busy moving forward with a plan to make Downtown New Haven more bicycle and pedestrian friendly, and design standards are in the works -- with actual infrastructure, such as bike boxes or sharrows, expected to be on the ground this summer.

In addition, the city launched an educational campaign named "Street Smarts" in the fall, even though it had almost no funding to continue beyond its initial roll out; there has reportedly been a slight uptick in the number of traffic tickets issued by a new New Haven Traffic Enforcement Unit; a few zebra style crosswalks were repainted; and a few concrete bollards have been dropped onto boulevards known for deadly drag racing. But despite calls from the citywide coalition, more concrete measures (such as reduced speed limits and traffic calming) have not yet been seen, and no citywide reporting has been done to allow residents to evaluate the success of such measures within their own neighborhoods.

Board of Aldermen Unanimously Supports State "Complete Streets" Bill

On a more positive note, yesterday evening the New Haven Board of Aldermen expressed unanimous approval for a resolution supporting SB735, the Connecticut "complete streets" bill currently being pushed within the State General Assembly. The bill would require pedestrian and bicycle accommodation on all state roads, like Route 34, and also create a permanent bicycle and pedestrian advisory board within ConnDOT to serve as a permanent body advocating on behalf of bicyclists, pedestrians, and individuals with disabilities.

Following lobbying by the New Haven Safe Streets Coalition (PDF file of the testimony available here), the New Haven Board had passed a similar citywide "complete streets" law in October 2008, by a vote of 30-0.

Supporters of SB735 at the state level are now encouraging other municipalities to pass similar resolutions in support of the bill, and resolutions to do so have been introduced in several other cities including Bridgeport. Based on the support of groups including the Sierra Club, Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance, Tri-State Transportation Campaign, CT League of Conservation Voters, Transit for Connecticut, 1000 Friends of Connecticut, Greenwich Safe Cycling, Elm City Cycling, Connecticut Commission on Children, CT Fund for the Environment, and the CT Livable Streets Campaign -- and now the City of New Haven -- the Connecticut complete streets bill has gained the support of numerous legislators in Hartford. Today it goes to the CGA's powerful Appropriations Committee for another vote, where rumor has it that it is expected to pass by a wide margin. Visit this page to download a factsheet, which has more details. Update 7/9/09: The Connecticut "Complete Streets" bill was signed into law by Governor Rell.

Petition to Protect the Ninth Square

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Sat, 02 May 2009 18:43:00 +0000

Original Post 7/19/08: The online version of the petition may be viewed by clicking here. See here for a background post about the buildings, including multiple photographs. A rally at the site was held on Friday, July 18th, at which approximately 50 paper signatures were collected.

Update 7/22/08: An article in today's New Haven Register claims that the current building owner, David Nyberg, has no plans to demolish the buildings, even though the structural engineer who analyzed them recommended tearing down a large rear section:

An engineer who analyzed the condition of historic industrial buildings on Crown Street six months ago recommended a rear portion be demolished, but the owner Monday said he has no intention of taking that action.... Nyberg owns the two structures and a third adjacent building on the Crown Street block that extends from State Street to Orange Street and has site plan approval to build 110-apartments in the three 19th and early-20th century buildings, plus one new building.

“I think there is a better way,” Nyberg said Monday.... “No question about it, we are not taking anything down.” Nyberg Monday said the building facades will be restored to their original condition, and he was more confident than ever that work can restart by Sept. 1.

Update 8/28/08: The petition has been delivered to City Hall with over 600 signatures (online and print).

Update 11/7/08: Two months have gone by and work has not yet started on the buildings. These historic treasures continue to sit vacant and exposed to the elements.

Update 12/8/08: According to the New Haven Register, renovation work on these critically important historic buildings will begin this week.

Update 5/2/09: Business New Haven reports that work on the buildings is continuing, under new ownership:

In late January PMC Property Group began about six months of structural reconstruction work on two historic buildings at 26-28 and 30-36 Crown. New floors, new beams, new columns and new stairways are being installed.PMC owns the buildings, has a permit for interior demolition at 40 Crown Street, and is working on final plans for the properties, according to city building official Andy Rizzo."David Nyberg is no longer associated with this project," Rizzo adds.

New Materials in New Haven Architecture

noreply@blogger.com (Moderator) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:40:00 +0000

Original Post, 4/29/08: April 2008 photographs of new buildings currently rising in Downtown New Haven. Through their unique material expression, these new works offer a window into contemporary life in New Haven.

Pictures include: Gwathmey Siegel's Loria Center for the History of Art and Rudolph Building Renovation at Yale on York (zinc panels and limestone facade), Cesar Pelli's Arts and Humanities Magnet High School on College (glass with elm leaves motif and copper stair towers and roof details), Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg's new Chapel Street hotel (glass curtain wall with color glass detail), Hopkins Architect's Kroon Hall at Yale (designed to be the most environmentally friendly building in the United States in terms of CO2 reduction, showing wood truss structure), and Studio ABK's historic renovation of a stunning building on the corner of Chapel and Orange (restored terra cotta and marble details at street level). Click to enlarge the photos.

With major new commissions such as the Yale School of Management New Campus (Sir Norman Foster), College Square (Robert A.M. Stern), 55 Park Street (Svigals + Partners and Behnisch Architects), Yale-New Haven Hospital's new 500,000 square-foot Cancer Hospital (SBRA), 360 State (Becker + Becker), University Health Services (Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam) and Gateway Community College (Perkins + Will) -- and many others -- currently in design or construction, the image of Downtown New Haven will be changing for years to come. Can New Haven sustain its longstanding reputation as a place for some of the nation's most groundbreaking architecture and design?

Update 6/2/08: Chronicle of Higher Education's Buildings and Grounds site has a great new article about the Loria Center, which explains some of its interesting material qualities in greater detail. The irregular stone box of the Loria Center seems like a proper formal response to the idea of Yale being a stone campus, with each building featuring some kind of unique element in that material. In that way it can be iconic, but contextual. One of our readers points out that "it is very difficult to find a material compatible with concrete.... this stone, with its colors shifting from oyster to rust does it well."

Update 6/6/08: Another article from the Chronicle asks, what would you have done?

Update 10/15/08: Click here for more coverage of the Study at Yale project and the following link for reviews of the Loria Center.

Update 4/29/09: Writing in the Hartford Courant, New Urban News Senior Editor and New Haven resident Phil Langdon reviews the new Kroon Hall. Langdon writes on Kroon's contribution to campus planning and walkability, as well as the building's environmental features and use of unique materials:

Its interior blends expanses of concrete (a material that moderates temperature fluctuations) with generous areas of wood, much of it red oak sustainably harvested from the Yale-Myers Forest in northeastern Connecticut. The wood exudes warmth — perfect for a forestry and environment school. The most stunning part of the four-story structure is the vaulted top level, where you can glimpse the sky through a slim segment of glass in the high, curving roof. Wood abounds in the top level as well — on louvers that protect glass end-walls from excessive sun, and on the paneling of the ceiling and interior walls.

This is one of Yale's best recent interiors — spacious, even grand, without being overwhelming. People go to the top of Kroon for classes, meetings, special events, social gatherings — and just to read or hang out.

In somewhat related news, Trinity Financial has recently proposed a 104-unit housing tower for the corner of Ward and Sylvan Avenue in New Haven, one block from Yale-New Haven Hospital and cater corner to the Jewish Home. This time, more traditional materials are planned, but the building massing is interesting. Dubbed the "New Rowe Residences" or "Sylvan Residences," the tower would be co-developed with the New Haven Housing Authority and consist of mixed-income housing.

An image of the proposed structure, showing the corner of Ward and Sylvan (with the entrance on Sylvan), is shown at left. The building would most likely feature a small retail use on the ground floor, along with maintenance and community room functions, though plans have not yet been finalized.