$5.2M Grant Funds State Street Revitalization Downtown, Wooster Square

NEW HAVEN, CT – The newly-awarded $5.35 million grant from the Connecticut Communities Challenge Program will be used to help "realign, redevelop and revitalize State Street from Audubon to Water Streets in the Downtown and Wooster Square neighborhoods," local and state officials said Tuesday.

The grant will fund the project that officials said would "unlock the redevelopment potential" of several currently underused parking lots. Uses will include transit-oriented, mixed-used development for a potential build out of 650,000 square feet of developed space, including 450 new residential units and 80,000 square feet of retail space.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker called the project a "game-changer" for the "critical commercial and transit hub."

The Connecticut Communities Challenge Grant Program was created last year by Gov. Ned Lamont to "fund a wide range of revitalization projects that improve the livability and vibrancy of communities throughout the state." And has as a goal the creation of approximately 3,000 new jobs.

Last week, Lamont announced the state would be awarding $45 million in funding to 12 cities and towns under the newly established grant program, including the State Street project in New Haven. The grants leverage approximately $74 million in non-state and private dollars.

Elicker said the project, supported by the grant funding, would "help jump-start new opportunities for inclusive growth and housing," among other benefits. Those include generating new tax revenue to pay for essential city services, improved safety for residents through traffic-calming measures, and improved connections to the Farmington Canal greenway, Elicker said.

With the initiative, the city will also be working with "existing stakeholders" in and around the eight-block stretch of State Street. Those include the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen and Liberty Safe Haven, as well as existing small businesses like Cafe 9 and Sharon Joy Salon, among others on "inclusive growth throughout the district."

Watch the news briefing here, from the New Haven Independent.