Erik Clemons: “All the things that we are doing — there is an acute need to address those things” in Dixwell.
A new daycare, mental health clinic, and workforce training center are slated to open in less than three months at the site of the former Dixwell Plaza, as a $200 million redevelopment project nears the end of its first phase.
On Wednesday, developers unveiled the project’s name, First Haven in Dixwell, and said it was chosen to reflect their goal of building something beautiful and best-in-class for one of New Haven’s historic Black neighborhoods.
Those updates were presented by Connecticut Community Outreach and Revitalization Program (ConnCORP) leaders during a packed community meeting in the Stetson Library, located at 197 Dixwell Ave.
The new building near Dixwell Aveue and Webster Street is around 65,000 square feet, according to Erik Clemons, the founder of ConnCORP and the related job-training nonprofit ConnCAT. Inside, the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center will offer mental health counseling services, Friends Center for Children will operate its fourth daycare location, and ConnCAT will provide vocational training in fields like phlebotomy, construction, and culinary arts.
The new building will be filled with “all the things we can bring to bear to bring service, beauty, and dignity to this community,” said Clemons. It will officially open in May.
The building represents the first step in a much larger plan to redevelop the heart of Dixwell. The $200 million project calls for building a 184-unit apartment complex, grocery store, office space, plaza, performing arts center, and townhomes. ConnCORP proposed the development in January 2020 and broke ground in October 2024.
So far, development costs have tracked with the team’s initial estimates, ConnCORP President Philip Rigeuer told the Independent. He said the first building itself cost roughly $65 million to construct.
On Wednesday, Anna Blanding, the Chief Investment Officer of ConnCORP, said the development team set the lofty goal on First Haven of bringing a billion dollars of economic activity to Dixwell.
She later unveiled the development’s name and shared the reasoning for each word.
“First”: To subvert the fact that Dixwell has often received “the leftovers.” The development will boast “first-rate architecture,” “a first-rate ConnCORP team,” “first-rate brain power,” and even “first-rate countertops,” said Blanding. “This will be first, as in, the best.”
“Haven”: To reflect how Dixwell “became a haven” for Black families that migrated from the South. For those new residents, the neighborhood was “a haven for jazz, cultural arts, business, wealth generation, family, and community,” said Blanding.
“In”: To emphasize that the building is part of the Dixwell community. The development team opted against the names First Haven At Dixwell and First Haven on Dixwell, said Blanding. “It’s all the work that we’re doing in the Dixwell community — the housing, the food, the construction academy — we are very much in the community, and want to continue to be in community with you.”
“Dixwell”: To appease long-time Dixwell resident Crystal Gooding. According to Clemons, Gooding urged ConnCORP to keep Dixwell in the name of all its developments in the neighborhood. “We kept our promise to you. That’s why Dixwell is in the name,” Clemons told Gooding, with a smile. Snaps, claps, and “yes ma’ams” echoed through the room.
Melissa Singleton and Lillie Chambers.
In the next phase of development, ConnCORP’s construction partners will build a 184-unit apartment complex and grocery store.
According to Paul McCraven, the Chief Operating Officer of ConnCORP, 37 units will be designated as affordable. Half will be set aside for residents earning 80 percent of the area median income (AMI), or $90,950 for a family of four. The rest will be reserved for residents earning 60 percent of AMI, or $68,220.
In an hour-long Q&A, a few residents questioned the proposed building’s affordability requirements.
“I do like what I’m hearing, but I’m concerned,” said Lillie Chambers, a Dixwell resident. “As far as housing, the 20 percent is not enough.” While she sympathized with ConnCORP’s financial constraints, she said she worries about the community being “gentrified,” especially with luxury complexes like Axis201 rising around the neighborhood.
“A lot of people need housing — have jobs, just can’t afford it — so my concern right now is that it’s not enough,” she said.
Another resident questioned the AMI figures, pointing out that Dixwell’s median income is much lower than the area average, which captures all of New Haven County.
Clemons responded that the social services at First Haven generate no profit. As a result, he said, “There’s no way we could deliver the amenities that the community said they wanted with anything higher than 20 percent.”
“Is it high enough? Maybe not, given the circumstances,” he continued. “Is it the best we could do? Absolutely.”
Outside of First Haven, ConnCORP is creating more affordable homes in Dixwell, Ian Williams, Senior Vice President of Real Estate at ConnCORP, told the Independent. He said ConnCORP has provided 17 affordable units to the Dixwell and Newhallville neighborhoods. The group is making no money on the houses, and any future profits would be reinvested into First Haven, added Williams.
After hearing that residents were worried about First Haven pricing them out of their homes, ConnCORP looked into creating affordable housing outside of the planned development, said Rigeuer. ConnCORP’s real estate portfolio is around 80 percent affordable, he added.
In the longer term, Blanding hopes First Haven’s community services will help people find jobs and build wealth.
“Sometimes when you have the affordable housing conversation, [there’s] an assumption that we’re always going to always be poor,” said Blanding. But, in addition to creating below-market-rate units, one of the key goals of First Haven is to “help people move up the economic ladder,” so they no longer need affordable housing in the first place.
Cynthia Texiera shared concerns about building height: “I’ve seen things grow in the city without regard” for what’s already there. (McCraven said an architect planned First Haven with that concern in mind. He also noted that no part of the development would be taller than six feet.)
A packed room, filled with excitement, ideas, and a few concerns.