NewHavenBIZ

n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m | A p r i l 2 0 2 3 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 27 eventually have a retail component where customers can buy fresh- baked bread hot from the ovens. A&M hopes to bring some existing employees to the new facility, which will have anywhere from 60-90 jobs. Town officials have offered their services to find housing opportunities in North Haven or surrounding towns. Freda said the town does have an incentive program for some businesses, which A&M may or may not utilize. e company's investment in North Haven, Freda said, represents a powerful symbol for this type of business coming in and creating a positive ripple effect for the area. "So this represents a significant new business coming to town from out of state," Freda said. "I'm very excited about the new development here." Freda said the bakery will add to North Haven's "great diversification of wonderful companies that have located here," from health care, a variety of restaurants and retail operations, to large distributors like Amazon to smaller businesses like Joseph Cohn & Son, which sold the Devine Street building and is looking for a smaller commercial space. Garrett Sheehan, president and CEO of the Greater New Haven and Quinnipiac chambers of commerce, said he's excited about the new development plans in North Haven. "e continued investment of companies into our region exemplifies that the Greater New Haven region is growing, and businesses are interested in what we have to offer. A&M Bronx Bakery is a great addition to North Haven and to our region." n By Hanna Snyder Gambini A South Dakota-based devel- oper has purchased multiple properties in New Haven's Hill neighborhood for more than $4.3 million, clearing the way for construction of a planned multi-family development. New Haven's City Plan Commission in October 2022 approved plans by developer John Lockhart of Catalina Buffalo Holdings LLC to build a 194- unit apartment complex. e cluster of buildings recently purchased at the corner of Congress and Davenport will be demolished. In its place, Catalina Buffalo will build a five-story complex with mostly market rate apartments, and 5% set aside as affordable. Catalina Buffalo was the buyer on the deals recorded Feb. 22, which include: • 354 Davenport Ave., and 859 Con- gress Ave., sold by Clark-Son Com- pany, Inc., for $1.5 million. • 380 and 384 Davenport Ave., and 879 Congress Ave., sold by Herb Mandelker and Robert Rawden for $1.1 million. • 370 Davenport Ave., and 860 Con- gress Ave., sold by PK&R LLC and Paragon Construction for $800,000. • 348-350 Davenport Ave., sold by Adam Y Scheps for $530,000. • 326 Davenport Ave., sold by 326 Davenport Realty LLC for $420,000. According to plans, the $60 million project will contain 73 studio apart- ments, 87 one-bedroom units, 26 two-bedrooms and eight, three-bed- rooms. Apartments will range in size from 550 to 1,445 square feet. e building will also have a large rooop deck with grills, lounges and gathering areas, a full-size gym, a large interior courtyard, and two amen- ity-style spaces on each side of the rooop deck, Lockhart said. Developers are aiming for demolition by this fall, and hope to break ground either this year or early next spring. e development team is also assist- ing existing tenants with relocating. Some pre-demolition remediation of materials inside the properties is required, but Lockhart said, "the site is extremely clean by New Haven stan- dards, the existing structures on the assemblage parcels were the first mod- ern construction on our parcels. We have no urban fill to worry about and no heavy industry was ever conducted inside the buildings." Leasing will begin roughly six months aer completion, and will be handled by a professional third party manager, Lockhart said. He expects rents will be $200 to $300 lower per month than other new construction residential properties in the immediate vicinity of New Haven's medical district, he said. Before the project was approved, a vote was delayed slightly due to a con- tentious public hearing in September 2022, before the commission ultimately approved the application in October. Concerns from residents about affordability and gentrification with the luxury apartment plan caused the commission to delay a vote. "I do feel that this item warrants additional community engagement around this issue," City Plan Director Laura Brown said. But Carolyn Kone, attorney for Catalina Buffalo, said other large apart- ment projects were approved without additional public input, and she feared the delay "creates a terrible precedent. I don't know why this particular project was being singled out for any special treatment." "We are in an environment with really increasing interest rates, lending sources that are terrified of what's been going on with the site plan application, and sellers who are demanding addi- tional deposits because of the delays," Kone said. Lockhart said that his company had only received positive feedback from immediate neighbors of the proposed complex and expressed frustration that his project had been caught up in larger issues around gentrification. Still, Lockhart said, "the couple month delay did not have much of an effect on our project, as we were always going to have a period aer closing on the assemblage and prior to demolition and construction where we needed to relocate some of the existing tenants." Nearly six months aer approval, Lockhart said the interest rates "have made things tougher and are outra- geous when compared to this time last year." Luckily, "construction costs seem to be evening out," and the costs of some materials are coming down, according to Lockhart. "But none of the construction cost changes are comparable to how much the change in interest rates has affected the underwriting of large projects like ours," Lockhart said. He is optimistic about the project in the vicinity of New Haven's burgeoning life science industry. He said other de- velopments in this area "will continue to grow and create more high paying jobs, and those folks will need some- where to live." New Haven's market is very tight, he said, with limited sites for large-scale development, and even fewer within walking distance from its job-dense medical district. "e city is achieving both a density of businesses and resident capacity that is allowing it to rapidly move out of its last late stages of post-indus- trial decay into something new and exciting," Lockhart said. "So while we wish that debt was cheaper, we aren't dissuaded from this rare development opportunity." n The interior of this industrial building at 50 Devine St., North Haven will be renovated for new owner A&M Bronx Bakery. W h a t ' s T h e D e a l Parcels purchased for Hill neighborhood apartment project These renderings show the proposed new apartment complex by Catalina Buffalo development company in New Haven's Hill neighborhood. IMAGES | CONTRIBUTED Several properties at the corner of Congress and Davenport avenues were purchased by Catalina Buffalo development company and will be demolished to make way for a new apartment complex.

• Cover