Alders Approve Another Lab-Office Dev Deal

by Dereen Shirnekhi

Downtown/East Rock Alder Christine Kim, whose ward will include 2 Church, supports the project and wants it to serve New Haven, not just international companies: “It can’t be another biotech-Silicon-quantum fortress.” Credit: Dereen Shirnekhi photos

Developer Winstanley, center, at Tuesday night’s meeting: Grateful for the partnership with the city and alders.

The Board of Alders on Tuesday signed off on an agreement between the city and Winstanley Enterprises that makes way for the construction of a new quantum-technology hub atop the former Rt. 34 corridor.

The developer, a Massachusetts-based company controlled by Carter Winstanley, plans to build a lab-office building at the 1.8-acre empty plot at 2 Church St.

The building would stand alongside the gleaming glass towers of 100 and 101 College St., bioscience lab-office buildings also built by Winstanley.

The building is slated to be home to both the state-backed nonprofit QuantumCT and a new Global Innovation Center for the beauty-food-wellbeing-products behemoth Unilever — with the latter expected to bring 300 jobs to the city.

At Tuesday’s meeting at City Hall, alders voted unanimously to approve a Development and Land Disposition Agreement (DLDA) between the city and Winstanley. The DLDA includes the city, the New Haven Parking Authority, and Winstanley’s 2 Church Street LLC. It allows the city to give 2 Church St. to Winstanley to facilitate the new building’s development. The project also includes a new “public plaza” connecting the Hill and Downtown and would see the completion of the tunnels and drives between I-91 and I-95 and the Air Rights Garage.

Tuesday’s approval means that the city can implement a $50.5 million “Innovation Cluster” grant awarded by the state in 2025, which will help fund the related public-infrastructure projects while boosting the growth of the city’s quantum-computing and bioscience industries.

Plans also include a Church Street pedestrian thoroughfare or promenade and the rehabilitation of the Church Street bridge, made possible by a combination of state and federal funding.

The DLDA includes workforce and small contractor participation goals. The plaza and indoor spaces will be programmed with business fairs. Winstanley has committed to launching two pre-apprentice construction-readiness programs.

Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez, who chairs the Board of Alders Community Development Committee, stood before her colleagues on Tuesday and recommended that the full board approve the DLDA.

After the meeting, Rodriguez said that she supported the agreement because she feels that Winstanley had properly engaged the community by hosting and attending public meetings.

“The residents were happy to see that we were now going to complete that corridor of Rt. 34,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez also said she appreciates the ongoing training program at 101 College for New Haven students in the biosciences and quantum technology. “We visited his other labs, and to see our New Haven students in those labs preparing themselves for a better future spoke volumes to me,” she said.

The approval of the DLDA is the final step necessary for Winstanley to officially acquire the lot at 2 Church St.

“I just feel incredibly appreciative for the city and the Board of Alders tonight,” Winstanley, who was in attendance for Tuesday night’s meeting, told the Independent. “They’ve been great partners through the entire Downtown Crossing initiative.”

Winstanley said that the design for the project is being completed, and the plan is to then put it out to bid and begin construction in early 2027.

The new building will reside in Ward 7, which is represented on the board by Downtown/East Rock Alder Christine Kim. She said on Tuesday that she’s supportive of the project and the investment but wants to be sure that it serves all of New Haven. “It can’t be another biotech-Silicon-quantum fortress,” she said.

She also wants to ensure that it isn’t disruptive to the people who live nearby.

Kim said that the reconnection of the Hill and Downtown is an “amazing opportunity” to attempt to rectify the wrongs of Urban Renewal and the displacement of the Oak Street neighborhood. She’d like to see public art in the plaza, some way to honor the former residents.

“So it’s exciting. I think it’s a good way forward,” she said. “But still it’s a long way off, and we have to be very careful, communicative, and community-focused while we move forward on this.”

Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez: Seeing New Haven students learning in bioscience labs developed by Winstanley “spoke volumes to me.”