New Haven Renewal Juggernaut Keeps Churning

After years of abandonment, a “typical commercial block of the 1870s” at the base of the Ninth Square is set for revitalization as 65 new apartments.

The Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) Tuesday night approved a plan to rehab the buildings (pictured) at 26-36 and 44 Crown St. The approval was for a variety of zoning variances to allow for more building coverage, smaller side and rear yards, more square footage, less open space, and a greater number of units than otherwise allowed. After some deliberation, the board ruled that each apartment must have 50 square feet of space to store, for example bikes.

The Crown Street buildings, which have stood vacant for years, are listed on the Connecticut Historical Commission’s Historic Resources Inventory, which describes one of them as “an important part of what remains of this late 19th-c. block of lower Crown St.” The earliest known tenants, according to the commission, include the Kahn, Wertheimer, and Smith Clothing Store and Tuttle Color Printing, both of which were in the building as of at least 1913.

Part of the building will return to commercial space as part of the revitalization, which is planned by PMC Property Management, a nationwide company based in Philadelphia. Doug Hitchner (at left in photo below), representing PMC, appeared before the BZA on Tuesday with local attorney Marjorie Shansky (at right). Local developer David Nyberg used to be associated with the team and the building, too.

That end of Crown Street has been reborn as a “new urbanist” jewel in recent years. Its landmarks, housed in preserved and retrofitted bulidings, include cafe nine, the Firehouse jazz club and studio and bar, Skappo Italian Wine Bar, Gray Organschi Architecture, and right across Orange Street, Artspace.

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