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The New Haven Register, Joseph
Straw - Register Staff
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March 27, 2003
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Included in the $400 million-plus plan are Gateway Community College, relocated to the vacant Macy’s and Malley’s sites on Church Street, and a new Long Wharf Theatre facility
behind the Knights of Columbus tower along North Frontage Road.
The concept calls for a 300-room hotel at the foot of the parcel on State Street, with a 100,000-square-foot conference
and convention center.
The plan also includes five apartment buildings with 280 market-rate units
and 54,000 square feet of street-level retail space, all on George Street, with three on the south side bordering
the plaza.
The development would require 1,500 parking spaces, 650 of them proposed
below ground.
The plan, developed for the city by the York Street architectural and planning firm Herbert
S. Newman and Partners, is a response to a request from Gov. John G. Rowland.
Rowland told city officials last year that he would not sign off on the
estimated $10 million in aid needed to demolish the coliseum until he saw
plans for what would appear in its place.
The city owns the 4.5-acre coliseum parcel and the adjoining park at Columbus Plaza, on the corner of Church and George
streets.
Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said that despite the
concept’s scope, projects would be pursued individually, each facilitating
the next.
"I think it’s a development that should be approached in separate
pieces. There’s no ‘master developer’ here," DeStefano
said, expressing optimism that the state will pitch in soon for the coliseum
demolition.
Once the site is cleared, the city could "immediately proceed" with
the residential component, DeStefano said,
answering what is, at least right now, a pent-up demand for rental housing
downtown.
Newman and City Economic Development Administrator Henry Fernandez said the
plaza, inspired by Rome’s Piazza Navona, may be the first
component to appear, as an enticement to private residential developers.
"The key is this piece," Newman said, pointing to the plaza in a
scale model. "And that’s the cheapest part."
The plan would require an estimated $45 million in state subsidies, not
including the $140 million price tag of the new Gateway Campus.
The trustees of the state’s community college system have committed to
consolidating Gateway’s North Haven and Long Wharf campuses downtown, and have already
pledged $62 million of the new campus’ cost. The city owns and has offered
the land to the college.
Long Wharf Theatre’s new site would cost a projected $30 million. The
theater’s trustees hope to pay half the cost through fund-raising, the other
half with state aid.
The plan’s parking component, which would also include an aboveground garage
on the north side of Crown Street between Church and South Orange streets, would require a $20 million
subsidy, Fernandez said.
The city is in talks with two major hotel companies about building the
conference center, although Fernandez and others declined to confirm which
companies.
Fernandez conceded that like many convention centers, the one proposed would
require an operating subsidy, which he said could be provided through New Haven’s share of the state’s hotel tax. That
revenue, however, may be redirected next year into the state’s general fund
due to the fiscal crisis.
The Coliseum Authority will likely solicit bids from demolition firms with
the next month, Fernandez said. Once cost is determined, the Authority will
seek the needed aid from the state Bonding Commission, via the state
Department of Economic and Community Development.
Paul R. Devin, staff attorney with the Knights of Columbus, said the city
gave membership a description of the plans, but he declined further comment.
"We’re interested. We’re very concerned about what’s going to be here,
obviously. It’s just way too early in the process to evaluate it," Devin
said.
Anthony Rescigno, president of the Greater New
Haven Chamber of Commerce, voiced hope that state and private sector would
commit funding.
"It’s a great vision. I just hope we can pull it all off," Rescigno said.
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