Those driving into New Haven will be greeted on the right in a few years by a new 11-story lab building designed as a glowing “lantern” to welcome them into the city, developers told officials on Wednesday.
Construction is scheduled to start in June at the former New Haven Coliseum site, and the new building will be designed and situated to serve as a landmark leading into the city, said Peter Calkins, vice president of development at Ancora Partners.
“It’s an incredibly great gateway location,” Calkins said, adding that the planned building will bolster the life sciences cluster on nearby College Street created by developer Carter Winstanley.
“There’s the beginnings of an ecosystem that we’re looking to help expand,” Calkins added.
Calkins outlined the lab building project to the New Haven Development Commission Wednesday ahead of site plan votes and a public hearing at the City Plan commission slated for Jan. 18.
Ancora has sited the 200,000-square-foot new building for the front corner of the Coliseum site at Orange Street and Frontage Road and plans to break ground this summer. Medical labs are expected to occupy nine floors of the Pelli Clarke & Partners-designed building, which has open-air balconies on upper levels.
Construction on an apartment project developed by Spinnaker Real Estate Partners started in November as the first phase of the larger mixed-use project at the Coliseum site, dubbed Square 10. Work is progressing on the 200-unit residential building, with ground improvements and concrete foundation work planned for the coming months.
Additional apartment buildings planned for the next phases of the project are slated to bring about 700 total residential units to Square 10, in addition to retail space and public plazas.
New Haven tops other cities in permits
The Square 10 apartment project joins seven other major residential developments under way in the city right now, Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli said.
New Haven has issued permits for more than 2,200 housing units since 2019, significantly more than nearby cities including Stamford, Piscitelli said. Despite the strong housing market, city officials are working hard to ensure that projects move forward in the difficult economic climate, he said.
“With interest rates rising, more pressure on the marketplace, we think the demand is there, but the pressures are going to be more significant,” Piscitelli said.
Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.
