Plans OK’d For “Westville Music Bowl”

by Thomas Breen & Allan Appel | Oct 17, 2019 7:55 am

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Posted to: Arts & Culture, Music, Westville

New Haven’s vacant tennis stadium is on track to become an outdoor music and comedy venue now that the team behind the College Street Music Hall has won approval — from both the City Plan Commission and, in a twist on history, Westville neighbors. Those approvals, one formal, one not, came at two different public meetings Wednesday night, one in the community and one in City Hall. Premier Facilities LLC President Keith Mahler and local attorney Steve Mednick presented plans at the meetings to convert the tennis stadium next to the Yale Bowl at 45 Yale Ave. into the Westville Music Bowl—a new outdoor concert and comedy venue that will host performances between May and September. The new venture will be run by the nonprofit NHCPA Outdoors LLC, a subsidiary of the New Haven Center for Performing Arts (NHCPA) Inc. which in turn owns the College Street Music Hall downtown. At the Westville/West Hills Community Management Team meeting at the Mauro-Sheridan Interdistrict Magnet School on Fountain Street, and then at the regular monthly City Plan Commission meeting on the second floor of City Hall, Mahler and Mednick described plans to install a temporary stage in the middle of the existing stadium. Mahler, whose Premier Facilities company is the facilities manager for College Street Music Hall, said that the summer concerts hosted by the Westville Music Bowl should scale between 3,000 to 5,000-person audiences. College Street Music Hall, by comparison, can scale its audiences between 675 and 2,000. “It’s the right place in the right location at the right time,” Mahler said about the planned new venue. The stadium itself was built decades ago in time to host the August 1991 Volvo International Tennis Tournament. Earlier this year, the Tennis Foundation of Connecticut (TFC), which leased the land on which the stadium was built and nearby parking from Yale University, announced that it would no longer be host the Connecticut Open there. At the City Plan Commission meeting, Mahler and Mednick, joined by longtime TFC board member Jay Brotman and TFC attorney Danielle Bercury, won unanimous support from commissioners in their bid to amend the ground lease and parking agreement with Yale to make NHCPA Outdoors LLC the new tenant of the property. They needed that approval in order to close on the pending deal to take over the lease at the tennis staidum. “Rain Or Shine” Before they made their pitch to City Plan, Mahler and Mednick made a stop at the Westville/West Hills Community Management Team meeting at Mauro-Sheridan. A generation ago, when Mednick himself was an area alder, WestvilIians would not have been interested in such a project. Neighbors shot down plans in the 1990s for live music at the Yale Bowl, including a planned Paul McCartney concert, because of concerns about traffic and noise. How times have changed. Even before the M & M team finished their polished pitch, one could tell it was going to be enthusiastically received. In mid-description of the project, Susan Vonstade, a long-time Westvillian, blurted out about the vacant tennis stadium, “It’s an eye sore.” Kate Bradley asked if there will be a roof on the stadium. Mahler replied tersely, “Rain or shine.” That is, no roof. Bradley was particularly interested in one of the seemingly universal questions New Haveners bring up, no matter what the project: Parking. Mahler assured her the Yale lots, which will be rented along with the stadium from Yale University, are sufficient to park all the cars, even if the stadium hits capacity. The aim, he said, is to have all cars in the lots and not on nearby streets. “We want to have a strict policy. It’s called ticketing,” Mahler said. Then, he put a showman’s cherry on top, adding, “We’ve budgeted to have a tow truck nearby,” advertising that if you park in the residentially zoned neighbors’ spots, the car pound is your fate. Bennett Lovett-Graff declared that he is “very excited that the tennis stadium will be repurposed.” He expressed general concerns about noise, cleaning up the immediate area outside the stadium, and monitoring bad behaviors. “We’re concerned with the same issues,” Mahler replied. “We want people drinking in the stadium. We’ll have the Yale police department and our own security, and a no-open-drinking policy will be enforced.” Regarding noise, Mahler said the concerts will end at no later than midnight. The bowl shape of the tennis stadium will help ensure relative acoustic calm in the neighborhood during concerts. “Our audio guy says there’s no drift [of the noise] problem.” He cited the four years his group has run the College Street Music Hall, with apartment units adjacent and above, and not one complaint has emerged, he said. The area’s top cop, Lt. Rose Dell, citing burglaries in the area, asked if the renovations will also feature putting up security cameras. Mahler said intrusions have been minor, according to reports he has received. But yes, there will be security cameras. Lizzy Donius, who heads the Westville Village Renaissance Association, said she is “really psyched” about the Westville Music Bowl and sees little downside. “And,” she added, “they put ‘Westville’ in the name. That’s fantastic.” Finally, from the past-is-future department, activist Dennis Serfillipi, reported that back in February, without any knowledge whatsoever of potential plans for the site, he created on the Nextdoor app (usually a forum for gripes) a poll that asked one question: “Would you support bringing concerts back to the Yale Bowl and the tennis stadium?” There were 109 respondents, he reported at the end of Wednesday night’s meeting. “And 93 percent were: Yes.” Kate Bradley, who had asked the initial question about parking, said she was happy enough with Mahler and Mednick’s answers and presentation. “It’s going to happen. You’ve got to deal with it,” she concluded. “This Big Tennis Stadium In Westville That’s Vacant” Mahler and Mednick then headed downtown to present to the City Plan Commission, which heard the tennis stadium-turned-concert venue item just before 10 p.m. “There’s this big tennis stadium in Westville that’s vacant,” city Acting Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli told the commissioners as he introduced the application. The College Street Music Hall-affiliated nonprofit has come to an “agreement in principle” with Yale University and the TFC to replace the tennis foundation as the stadium’s tenant and to turn the venue into a summer, outdoor performance space. “The transaction is pretty simple,” Mednick said. Per the conditions of the original Planned Development District (PDD) that the City Plan Commission and the Board of Alders approved back in 1990 to allow for the construction of the stadium in the first place, the NHCPA Outdoors LLC needed City Plan Commission sign off on amending the ground lease and the parking agreement with Yale. The amended ground lease would allow the new tenant to use the stadium for, according to the document itself, “musical concerts and comedy and other performing arts events. In addition, Tenant shall have the right to use the Premises for professional tennis tournaments, community tennis tournaments and other events specifically approved in writing by Landlord, in its sole discretion.” The amended parking agreement, meanwhile, would grant the new tenant use of Yale-owned parking spaces for 15 years, through Aug. 31, 2035. The parking agreement would then automatically renew on a year-to-year basis. Otherwise, Mednick said, the applicant was not seeking any other changes to the PDD. No new permanent structures will be built. No new height to the existing building. No changes to lighting that would violate the PDD’s current regulations. The only major work the new tenant plans to do is install a temporary stage within the confines of the existing structure and rehab the current, dilapidated concession stands. Therefore, he asked the commissioners, could they also strike the city staff report’s recommended condition of approval that they come back for a detailed site plan review for the project? City Deputy Director of Zoning Jenna Montesano said she had left that site plan review condition in city staff’s recommendations because, based on her reading of the application, the new stage with lighting could be in place for upwards of two years. Usually, such a large new structure and new lighting would trigger detailed site plan review. “Everything’s confined within the bowl,” Mahler said. The stage will be disassembled seasonally, and the lights will reach nowhere near the top of the current outdoor stadium. “It will be extremely detrimental to this facility” and, he said, to the College Street Music Hall, if commissioners required the applicant to come back for site plan review. That would mean another month lost in locking in acts for next summer’s planned lineup of concerts and performances, he said. The commissioners, city staff, and Mahler and Mednick ultimately agreed to a compromise: The commissioners unanimously approved the requested lease amendments with the condition that, if the city’s Building Department subsequently determines that the stage is a permanent and not a temporary fixture, then the applicant will have to come back to the commission for a detailed site plan review.

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posted by: westville man on October 17, 2019 8:23am YAY!!! It’s about time! Ignore the old fogies about loud music. We bought our homes long after the Bowl was there and for most of us, after the tennis center was there. Now use the Yale Bowl, with it’s new turf, for other events like high school playoff football, larger soccer events, etc.

posted by: Put the blame where it belongs on October 17, 2019 8:24am I have two questions

How many city residents jobs are now going to be created on a qualified basis only ? Please tell me how this benefits the cities ever increasing tax burden. How much tax revenue does this bring to the city ?

posted by: LookOut on October 17, 2019 8:40am Great idea! Excited for the Edgewood neighborhood.

posted by: dad101 on October 17, 2019 8:47am HUGE question will they pay for the extra police /emergency services at market rate to deal with these events? When it was tennis center, when Yale host events it was often subsidized to the detriment of tax payers and supplemented with YALE officers. How will this work? IS this even a part of the conversation..Let be real when that number of patrons comes to and leaves it will impact the community and traffic flow .With a police department that is already short staffed will they hire private companies or will they have to use NHPD and YPD?

I wonder how the discretion to pick artists will impact the success and and continued acceptance of this facility. Is this going to take away from NEW HAVENS arts an IDEAS festival seeing as it is during the same time. Who will have presidence over resources?

posted by: RetiredGuy I can’t wait to see “Metallica Unplugged”!

posted by: LorcaNotOrca on October 17, 2019 9:30am I’d say this is great news; I’m all for a good outdoor venue, and realistically, there’s not much else the Bowl could even be used for. Given the size of it, and the new ownership, my guess is that anyone they book here will have to be famous/popular enough to have that draw. Otherwise it’d be sitting vacant, and this is better than that (though based on the progress of the former Delaneys site, it seems some people are happy about prime spots sitting vacant for extended periods of time, anyway). Parking and traffic will likely be terrible though; it’s bad enough at rush hour over there.

posted by: DrJay on October 17, 2019 9:33am I remember concerts at the tennis center. I heard the Indigo Girls there. The sound was poor. The acoustics in an outdoor venue are a challenge- hope they have invest in top notch audio equipment.

Parking is also inferior to other area venues

I just don’t see it competing successfully with the Oakdale or the new arena in Bridgeport. Hope I’m wrong.

posted by: George Polk on October 17, 2019 9:44am When I volunteered at New Haven’s former tennis tournament, out of towners would ask how the stadium is used during the rest of the year? I tell them it sits empty. This will allow New Haven to compete with Wallingford, and the new XL Theater in Bridgeport. Question will assumed to be millionaire musicians be welcomed better than millionaire (most who played New Haven) Tennis players? Will suburbanites be courted or will in typical New Haven fashion want it to be just a New Haven thing?

Hope New Haven and West Haven don’t use this as a overtime treasure chest for quick money and chase promoters away.

posted by: Westville voter on October 17, 2019 9:54am This may or may not be a great idea. However, any claim of Westville neighborhood support is at best premature or at worst simply a lie. I have lived within earshot of this facility for many years and stay relatively engaged with neighborhood news. This article is the first any of us who actually live here have heard of this plan. Ignoring the neighbors creates suspicion, distrust, and ill-will. As our alder, Adam Marchand had a duty to seek neighborhood input and gauge concerns before rubber stamping this. He didn’t do so. Perhaps he thinks he knows better than his constituents, or perhaps he just doesn’t care. Either way, there are many questions about noise, traffic, and especially public safety that must be answered. Failing to engage those affected has made it harder to convince us that these concerns will be addressed at all. I’m not necessarily opposed to this project, but this process undermines its prospects for neighborhood support.

posted by: Mark Oppenheimer on October 17, 2019 10:01am I effing love every effing thing about this. My understanding is the Yale Bowl used to host big concerts, back in the day. Times have changes, few acts draw 10s of 1000s anymore, and smaller-scale is probably better. My only regret is that it sounds as if we lose the potential to bring back big-time tennis in the future—I hope the architects can allow some possibility for a quick resurfacing/repurposing; with all the great Yale courts, it is a good tournament site. That said, BRING IT ON. Turn it up to 11. And amen to keeping “Westville” in the name.

posted by: beaverhills on October 17, 2019 10:20am This is awesome!! I hope that with the Westville location they will also have some concerts that aren’t late at night that will be family friendly (don’t need to be artists aimed at kids, but good music starting at 5 or 6 instead of 8.)

posted by: jepadilla on October 17, 2019 10:22am It’s about time. Driving by a facility that is unused 95% of the year reminds me how ridiculous this has been! Looking forward to some great music coming there.

posted by: Noteworthy on October 17, 2019 10:28am Awesome - it’s about time that facility got some more use. I’m not a concert devotee but debt is still owed on the bonds. Great way to pay for them and get more than two weeks of use. Glad the neighborhood agrees.

posted by: JohnTulin on October 17, 2019 10:28am Awesome - it is about time. Hopefully all the old fogies who’ve been resisting this idea for decades have ...moved on…

posted by: Gretchen Pritchard on October 17, 2019 10:53am “Lizzy Donius, who heads the Westville Village Renaissance Association, said she is ‘really psyched’ about the Westville Music Bowl and sees little downside. “‘And,’ she added, “they put “Westville” in the name. That’s fantastic’.” I wonder how long that will remain, if somebody decides they want the naming rights and is prepared to fork over some cash for that purpose.

posted by: Concerned74 on October 17, 2019 11:30am Will they actually use union labor at this facility (unlike College St which does not)?

posted by: AverageTaxpayer on October 17, 2019 11:41am This will be a great addition to the New Haven music scene. Can’t wait to hang out with friends and neighbors on a summer evening. The few NIMBY neighbors should be embarrassed, as this will barely affect them.

posted by: westville man on October 17, 2019 12:00pm I’m within 3 blocks of the facility, I can hear the Yale games going on and I didn’t know about this either. AND I DON’T CARE- bring it on! Let’s worry about traffic, noise and police issues IF they occur. Man, sometimes I think we live in Madison or Guilford, not New Haven.

posted by: JMS on October 17, 2019 1:11pm Westville resident sounding off in favor of this idea 200%.

posted by: Noteworthy on October 17, 2019 1:44pm And yes…the venue needs to make sure it pays for police presence not only for parking enforcement but behavioral issues too. We can’t afford to subsidize this - wasn’t in favoring of the huge taxpayer gift to tennis each yr and the same is true now. But there should be plenty of money to make this profitable and fun.

posted by: NewHavenRaven on October 17, 2019 1:57pm @Westville Voter apparently you aren’t engaged with the rest of the neighborhood on nextdoor.com. This topic has come up in the past and always has majority support. I suggest you join.

posted by: thecove on October 17, 2019 2:13pm @DrJay Are you sure? I don’t recall a single concert at the Tennis Center. Maybe you’re thinking of another venue? On the other hand, I could be wrong.

[Paul: I attended a 1994 concert at the Tennis Center; Bonnie Raitt and Bruce Hornsby played. It was great! I didn’t make it to Moody Blues or some of the others, but I do remember a series of them in the 1990s.]

posted by: Mark Oppenheimer on October 17, 2019 2:35pm @Westville Voter. First off, reveal yourself, Fellow Human! We can all be friendly here. Second, the “noise, traffic” complaint ... I mean, what if we have a dozen nights a summer when the concert goes til 10, or, gasp, 11? I have young children, and hear the “crowds” at Yale football games from my house, and can imagine how it would be worse on Cleveland or Oliver, and STILL I think that bringing awesome concerts to our neighborhood is a massive win. And I can have trouble finding parking on the day of the Harvard game, and imagine there could be some parking issues a dozen nights a summer (or not), and STILL this seems like it would be a great idea. And “public safety”? From the marauding Avett Brothers fans who might come in? The Bonnie Raitt Brigade? The people turning over cars after a Decembrists concert? Gov’t Mule? Moved to violence by Angelique Kidjo? (BTW, I am not on nextdoor.com, either, unlike @NewHavenRaven. I just love me some concerts.)

posted by: Bill Saunders on October 17, 2019 2:44pm It is nice to see New Haven re-evolving back into a City known for it’s music venues.

posted by: Bill Saunders on October 17, 2019 2:48pm (will there be Professional Wrestling!)

posted by: DrJay on October 17, 2019 3:12pm I found a list of 7 concerts at the Tennis Center in 1992-94 . https://www.setlist.fm/venue/connecticut-tennis-center-stadium-west-haven-ct-usa-1bd26980.html But I’m sure I saw Indigo Girls there in 1994 and they aren’t on this list, so it’s incomplete.

posted by: LookOut on October 17, 2019 5:20pm Why in the world would they consider union labor? It will only add to cost without improving value at all. Do we really need to pay extra for a union ticket taker or union beer pourer?

posted by: swatty on October 17, 2019 9:41pm CAN WE ALL PLEASE SPEAK A LITTLE LOUDER? I’M NOW DEAF AS A POST BECAUSE WOODSTOCK IS BACK IN TOWN. MY FRIENDS IN WESTVILLE BY THE BOWL (THE FIRST AND ONLY YALE BOWL) SAY THE BEAUTY OF THIS REQUEST IS THAT EVERYONE HEARD SO MUCH ABOUT IT BEFORE IT WENT TO VOTE! SO MANY DOOR KNOCKERS AND PERSON-TO-PERSON COMMUNITY OUTREACH! GREAT COMMUNITY BUILDING ALL! APPARENTLY EVERYONE LIVING ON YALE AND CHAPEL AND WEST ELM STREET WAS GIVEN A FRUIT BASKET WHICH INCLUDED ALICE B. TOKLAS BROWNIES TO SUPPORT THE WALL OF SOUND THAT WILL SOON BE CRACKING THE WALLS TO THE FOUNDATION OF THE YALE BOWL. BUT IT SAYS WESTVILLE ON IT! HOW COOL!!! WHAT DID YOU SAY? HOW’S DREW? DREW WHO? TO WHO WHO? WHAT? AHFORGETIT.

posted by: Bill Saunders on October 17, 2019 10:44pm Dr Jay, That must be a different Tennis Center—the one in West Haven???? How did we miss out on ‘the cred’?

posted by: LoveNH on October 18, 2019 1:28am While Westville is busy making smart development moves, what’s the chance we can bring back a Minor League farm team across the street, too? Is the economics there? If not, heck, I’ll settle for a weekly game between Yale and Quinnipiac as long as we can just bring back “Thirsty Thursdays” from the New Haven Ravens days. The beer was cheap enough that we could all get it there and then walk over to DrJay’s skybox at the Indigo Girls New Haven reunion concerts. If Delaneys comes back, too, Yale Ave will be the greatest street in America.

posted by: westville man on October 18, 2019 8:11am LoveNH- Spot on!! When my daughter was young we would go to the Ravens games on a weekly basis. Hot dogs, ice cream, fireworks on Friday nights. The full moon rising over the stadium. They were such special times and were incredibly inexpensive. It would be nice to be able to take my grandchildren there someday. If only Yale would step up to the plate.( Pun intended). All of the approvals for the Delaney site are in place since April 2018. The owner of the property clearly lied about putting a shovel in the ground the next month. My guess is he is trying to peddle the deal but nobody is buying at this point. I am looking forward to attending some concerts at the tennis center next year. It is a step forward.

posted by: NHRavens on October 18, 2019 9:18am @lovenh A more realistic proposition with all the development and now that the Bluefish have left Bridgeport. They’d have the greater new haven area, points south, and the area up to about Middletown/Meriden before hitting a competing market with the Bees and Yard Goats. The area seems in better shape to support a team. Besides, with the big upgrades to the football and soccer stadiums recently, maybe the baseball stadium is next in line with a lease covering some of that cost?

posted by: anonymous on October 18, 2019 10:03am Finish that $900,000,000 neuroscience center going up a few blocks away, complete the Edgewood & Yale cycle track, bring another couple flights into Tweed, get those new restaurants and music venues up and running, and property values in Westville and nearby neighborhoods will double overnight. That will help relieve the relative tax burden shifts that have been socking East Rock and downtown hard since the downturn in the mid-aughts.

posted by: __quinnchionn__ on October 18, 2019 10:04am Great idea for both Westville and the city as a whole. I often think of Westville as being kinda like a “gateway district” into the city from the west (via Derby Avenue, Route 34) I think a music venue is a perfect addition to replace the old tennis studium that’s been vacant for quite some time. It’s certainly a large space that should be revitalized in a prime location.

posted by: ElmCityAle on October 18, 2019 10:29am Regarding noise, Mahler said the concerts will end at no later than midnight. The bowl shape of the tennis stadium will help ensure relative acoustic calm in the neighborhood during concerts. “Our audio guy says there’s no drift [of the noise] problem.” 1. Isn’t there already a noise ordinance with time and measurable loudness limits? It’s not my neighborhood, but I wouldn’t want an outdoor concert nearby lasting until midnight - and I love music (and sound engineering). 2. It isn’t difficult to rent the same type of sound system proposed for deployment at the new music center to perform some testing, which should be documented carefully to prove it pushes the same levels realistically involved for the concerts. Publicize the testing schedule so the local residents can listen for themselves to see what will be involved. Modern sound system technology can do wondrous things “steering” the sound energy, but many thousands of watts of power behind powerful subwoofers creating kick drums and bass guitar that shake to the delight of the audience may be quite a sonic storm for nearby residents. No amount of words/comments from advocates or detractors can replace such testing. If the results indicate issues with sonic “bleed”, it could lead to requiring the company to invest in more equipment to better manage the sound energy, resulting in a win-win for everyone involved. 3.

posted by: PDCH22 on October 18, 2019 10:34am DrJay: Here you go. “The Center last requested and was granted permission to hold a concert in 1993, ahead of a multi-show lineup in 1994 that included the Indigo Girls, the Steve Miller Band, Bonnie Raitt and Bruce Hornsby, Patti Labelle and Ashford & Simpson, and Alan Jackson and Faith Hill, who were scheduled to perform in September 1994. The last Register story for a concert at the Tennis Center was a Julio Iglesias show in August 1994.” From this article: https://www.nhregister.com/connecticut/article/Fall-concert-of-prominent-performer-slated-11317051.php