by Laura Glesby
A long-abandoned James Street community garden is one of nine city-owned properties in the process of being sold to the New Haven Land Bank for $1 each.
The Board of Alders unanimously approved the sale of those nine properties, almost all of which are vacant lots, at a meeting in the Aldermanic Chamber of City Hall on Tuesday evening.
Alders also unanimously approved the sale of four empty lots in the Hill to the longstanding local affordable homeownership nonprofit developer Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven.
The alders’ vote on Tuesday created an avenue for the city to sell a total of 13 properties, including 10 vacant lots in the Hill.
It also marked the second-ever batch of city-sold acquisitions by the New Haven Land Bank.
The Land Bank is an Elicker Administration initiative first proposed in 2022. It is technically a separate entity from the city, though its board consists of city leaders. As a nonprofit, it has the power to purchase blighted or vacant properties, not only from the city but from private landlords. The land bank can then transform those properties into housing that meets legal standards, and then sell them to affordable housing providers.
After its official start as a nonprofit in 2023, the Land Bank won aldermanic approval to purchase its first set of properties in October 2025 — 5 vacant lots from the city, similarly for $1 each.
Many of the vacant lots at the center of Tuesday’s city-disposition vote are located in the Hill: 3 Arthur St., 8 Dewitt St., 14 Dewitt St., 26 Dewitt St., 56 Button St., and 105 Greenwood St. (The Dewitt Street lots are all located on the same block, and two of them are adjacent to one another.)
The city is also selling the Land Bank two properties located in Jocelyn Square: a single-story garage at 156 Humphrey Street, which the city purchased for $51,000 in 2018, and an adjacent vacant lot at 158 Humphrey St.
Finally, the Land Bank is also acquiring the city-owned lot at 285 James St. The lot once operated as a community garden, but has long gone unused.
That lot is right next to another vacant lot on the corner of James and Market, separated by a chain-link fence. That other lot, 287 James St., is owned by Bridgeport resident Vincent Quinto.
Fair Haven/East Rock Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith as well as her aldermanic predecessor Claudia Herrera have expressed a vision for both of those lots to be acquired by the Land Bank, combined, and transformed into the site of one affordable housing complex.
While the Land Bank doesn’t appear to have acquired any of the alder-approved, city-sold properties yet — including the tranche approved last October — the city’s land records database does show that the Land Bank has purchased two properties from private owners in the past few months.
One sale, recorded on Dec. 15, saw the Land Bank buy a single-story church building at 261 Newhall St. from House of Jacob Church Inc. for $100,000.
The other sale, recorded on Jan. 6, saw the Land Bank buy a vacant lot at 6 Arthur St. from BLAM LLC — a holding company controlled by Moises Grunblatt — for $80,000.
Meanwhile, Neighborhood Housing Services is set to purchase 24 Frank St., 137 Frank St., 139 B Frank St., and 169 West St. from the city for a total of $6,000.
According to minutes from the Livable City Initiative’s January board meeting, Neighborhood Housing Services plans to build three two-family homes on those properties. (The two adjacent lots at 137 and 139B Frank St. would be combined.) The homes would be sold to first-time homebuyers with an owner-occupancy requirement for at least 10 years.