With a scoop of dirt and a toss of the shovel, the Route 34 West project officially got underway in New Haven Wednesday.
“It's always been our goal to reconnect the city. This used to be a vibrant neighborhood,” said New Haven Mayor Toni Harp.
Now, it's a parking lot, but this 5.5 acre block of land will soon be home to a mixed-use building filled with retail space and medical offices. The anchor tenant will be Continuum of Care, which is a non-profit that provides services to people with mental illness and developmental disabilities. It currently has two locations in New Haven that it's growing out of.
“Over the past ten years in particular, we've more than doubled the organization's size and the people that we service, so we desperately need this corporate office, or administrative office,” said Continuum President and CEO Patti Walker.
Continuum hopes the building will be done in 18 months, so that the organization can celebrate its 50th anniversary there.
The state of Connecticut is pitching in a $7.5 million grant for the project, particularly because of the work that Continuum does to help the state provide mental health services.
“It's an appropriate phase one because it's an agency that we care so deeply about that does such a great job helping over 1,500 individuals per year, placing upwards of 300 individuals per year. This is important work,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
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However, the people who live in the area do have concerns about the overall project. The main concern is that the two main roadways, North Frontage Road and Legion Avenue, will still exist. They were hoping for smaller street to make this section more walkable. Mayor Harp says she's working with neighbors.
“There's still a huge site left from Boulevard coming up to this project that they will help us decide how we're going to utilize that,” said Mayor Toni Harp.
