NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) – There are major changes coming to a neighborhood in New Haven. The City Plan Commission has approved plans to build a new apartment complex on Orange Street.
The lot in which Frontier employees park will be transformed into apartments, a parking lot and retail space.
Harry Singh is the manager of Sitar Indian Cuisine, a restaurant across from where more than 250 apartments will be built. There will also be 3,900 square feet of street level retail space. Singh, who is from New Haven, is looking forward to it.
“I think it’s a good thing. New Haven is growing,” said Singh. “You have an Ivy League school here so a lot of people are coming in.”
Related Content: New apartment building planned for New Haven
More people will be coming in, too. Later phases of the project will add more housing nearby for nearly 300 more families. The neighborhood, like the city itself, is mixed income and growing.
“We are trying to add 10,000 people over the next ten years here,” said Matthew Nemerson, Economic Development Administrator for the City of New Haven. “We want to be a bigger city. We want to be a diverse city.”
The apartments to be built won’t be cheap, but they are market rate. A one-bedroom unit will cost around $2,000, at least for phase one of the project.
“We’re looking perhaps in the next phases for some affordability,” said Nemerson. “We’re also hoping there might even be some homeownership, maybe co-ops or condos later on.”
Spinnaker, the developer, bought the parking lot last year for $5 million. There are about 400 spaces in the lot, but the city is not losing parking spots. The new garage will have about 650 spaces.
“Our goal is to fill up every parking lot in the city and take these surface parking spaces and put people into parking garages,” said Nemerson.
Singh is hoping that will mean his kitchen will get even busier, and that the project will be good for the entire neighborhood.
“It has a modern feel to it so the building itself is going to help the area look nicer,” said Singh.
“We applaud the vote of the City Plan Commission and we believe that this project will add jobs, economic vitality, and vibrancy to the city,” said Mayor Toni Harp.
Construction is expected to start this spring. It is expected to take about a year and a half to complete.
