LiveWorkLearnPlay is out; developer Clay Fowler of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners is in as the long-planned redevelopment of the former Veterans Memorial Coliseum site got a reboot on Thursday.
The project in question is a $400 million “mini-city” on the block bounded by Orange, George, State streets and MLK Boulevard. On the 5.5-acre site would rise a mixed-use development including apartments, retail and open space.
More than five years ago the city designated a Montreal firm, LiveWorkLearnPlay, as designated developer for the downtown parcel left vacant since the demolition of the Coliseum in January 2007. According to various accounts, LWLP either could not raise the money to make the project or unforeseen design problems (including utility-relocation issues) intervened.
Whatever the reason, the Montreal group never came through and city officials were forced to pivot. The selection of Fairfield’s Spinnaker was hardly a surprise — Fowler has been the go-to guy for the most recent round of downtown development projects, most notably the Audubon Square mixed-use residential-retail project, as well as a hotel project at the former Webster Bank site at Elm and Orange streets.
Fowler said Thursday that Spinnaker would partner with the Fieber Group, a New Canaan architecture and general contractor, and KDP New Haven Investment LLP on the Coliseum project.
Spinnaker, Fieber and KDP will invest an estimated $122 million in building the mixed-use project in two phases. The original 2013 development and land disposition agreement (DLDA) specifies community benefits including a minimum 20-percent affordable housing component, public open space as well as construction workforce and small-business contracting requirements.
“We welcome this new partnership to build upon the existing DLDA for the coliseum parcel and move ahead on this transformative project,” Mayor Toni N. Harp said at Thursday’s briefing. “Spinnaker and Fieber each has a long track record with projects to re-energize neighborhoods while preserving their character.”
“Spinnaker specializes in development opportunities that integrate the uniqueness and sense of place found in existing communities,” said Fowler at Thursday’s briefing. “We are constantly exploring neighborhoods that possess authenticity, connectedness and the potential for livability. This project has all those characteristics and we are honored to be a part of it.”
At the briefing Fowler said he expected to break ground on the first of two phases of the project during the first quarter of 2021. Construction of that phase is slated to be completed by spring of 2023.
The redevelopment of the Coliseum site is a keystone of the city’s ongoing Downtown Crossing project. Phase 2 also includes a highway removal project that will reconnect Union Station, the Medical District, and the Hill neighborhood to downtown New Haven.
Once completed, the streetscape surrounding the former Coliseum site will rejoin Orange Street to South Orange Street across what was once Route 34 toward Union Station, creating an at-grade street for pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles. Groundbreaking for that piece of the project is scheduled for July 22.
