Parking lot to become apartment complex on Elm Street in New Haven

The Union apartments in New Haven are at right, next to the parking lot at 85 Elm St., where 105 more apartments, mainly studios, will be built. It will also have 21 extended-stay hotel rooms. The Union apartments in New Haven are at right, next to the parking lot at 85 Elm St., where 105 more apartments, mainly studios, will be built. It will also have 21 extended-stay hotel rooms. Photo: MARY E. O’LEARY / HEARST CONNECTICUT MEDIA Photo: MARY E. O’LEARY / HEARST CONNECTICUT MEDIA Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Parking lot to become apartment complex on Elm Street in New Haven 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN >> A surface parking lot the city could never convince the owners of to fill with a garage, will now be developed into an apartment complex with a floor of extended-stay hotel rooms.

Attorney Caleb Hamel, representing David Kuperberg’s Cooper Church LLC/Elm Cooper LLC, pitched the 105-unit apartment complex with 21 hotel rooms, plus a two-level garage, to the members of the Downtown Wooster Square Community Management Team Tuesday.

The construction at 85 Elm St. will be next to the former Union & New Haven Trust Co., an iconic building on a corner of Elm and Church streets, that Kuiperberg converted to a 137-unit apartment building.

Opened last year, Hamel said The Union is 100 percent occupied.

Economic Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson told the management team that one of the goals of Mayor Toni Harp’s administration was to have developers have such a good experience in the city that they would build more than one complex.

Kuperberg took them up on that.

Nemerson said the parking, per agreement, will be for the Wells Fargo branch that is on the first floor of The Union. There will be a total of 57 parking spaces where 53 are required under the zoning regulations.

“We are very excited about it,” Nemerson said. The plan connects both buildings on the third floor where there will be amenities that can be shared by both complexes.

Hamel said there is a demand for hotel options that are longer than a week or two, but shorter than a rental arrangement.

“A lot of people have seen a need for that sort of service,” Hamel said of the market.

Above the hotel, there will be five floors of apartments; 85 will be studios, 15 will be one-bedrooms with five 2-bedroom units.

Hamel said he expects the rents to be more modest in price than The Union, but he did not have figures with him.

There will be a small lobby space on the first floor.

Hamel also could not answer a question as to whether they would have someone in charge to make sure the state Labor Department would not have to issue stop work orders over construction issues.

Anstress Farwell, president of the New Haven Urban Design League, thought the studio apartments, which she called micro-units, provided too little living space..

The developer’s plans showed studio apartments of 400 to 410 square feet, with a few that are 435 square feet and some up to 542 square feet.

The plans were supposed to be discussed at the City Plan Commission on Wednesday, but it will be put off until September.

Hamel said City Plan staff had some questions on the interior circulation in the garage.

The management team also heard from Dr. Linda Mayes, director of the Yale Child Study Center, on plans for an $11 million renovation of 350 George St., a building formerly used by telecommunication companies.

The renovation will allow the center, which now has three locations, to operate out of one facility.

Mayes said the center, which provides behavioral and developmental health services for children up to 18 years of age, had more than 50,000 visits last year.

“The numbers are steadily going up. We are serving many more children and families,” she said.

They are now located at 230 South Frontage Road, 100 York St. and 40 Temple St.

It already has its parking plan approved, a hurdle for Yale properties. Bruce McCann, director of planning for the Yale School of Medicine, said staff will continue to use the current parking spaces assigned to them. He estimated the internal renovations will take 16 months to complete.

The center has applied for a change of use, which will be heard by City Plan on Wednesday.