New Haven Gets $12.1M State Grant For Long Wharf Park Revitilization

NEW HAVEN, CT —The city is set to receive $12.1 million in state funding through the state’s Community Investment Fund (CIF) grant program to support the revitalization of Long Wharf Park, a 18-acre site along the New Haven shoreline.

New features in the park will include public site furniture, a playground, outdoor fitness equipment, upgraded walkways, bike paths, lighting, a food truck pavilion, as well as special furnishings and landscaping near the war memorials to help facilitate solemn remembrance and reflection.

Residents and visitors alike currently frequent the Long Wharf area, located near I-95 entrance and exit ramps, to enjoy the waterfront and a meal from the dozens of food trucks that station themselves there daily.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker was joined by Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, state Senate President Martin Looney, State Rep. Juan Candelaria, State Rep. Roland Lemar, Alder Carmen Rodriguez, and other elected, city, and community leaders to announce the revitalization project.

The grant for Long Wharf Park was the largest among the $99 million in total CIF grants announced earlier this month by Gov. Ned Lamont, Looney, and Speaker Matt Ritter to help support economic development in historically underserved communities across Connecticut.

Officials discussed how the CIF grant and development of Long Wharf Park fits into the City of New Haven’s larger Long Wharf Responsible Growth Plan and represents the latest in a series of recent infrastructure investments, strategic planning, and community engagement to strengthen costal resiliency, protect the costal habitat and wetlands, reconnect residents to the shoreline, and support the responsible development of this key waterfront area.

Other recent investments include: plans for a mixed-used, 500-unit residential complex located at 501-585 Long Wharf Drive; a $25 million FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant for the city’s Inland and Coastal Resiliency Project to build a living shoreline and stormwater tunnel; a $160 million Army Corps of Engineers project to build a floodwall, closures, and pump station; and a $63 million Army Corps of Engineers project for the New Haven Harbor Deepening Project.