RFPs Coming Soon For Ex-School Buildings

by Maya McFadden The New Haven independent

… and the former West Rock STREAM Academy, now under city ownership.

The Elicker administration plans to release requests for proposals (RFPs) in the coming weeks to seek out developers looking to build up two vacant former school buildings that the Board of Education recently handed over to the city.

Those two properties are the former West Rock STREAM Academy at 311 Valley St. and the former Quinnipiac Real World STEM School at 460 Lexington Ave., also known as 805 Quinnipiac Ave. Both schools have been closed since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Board of Education voted in late June to formally “retire” these properties, thereby handing them over to the city. In an interview this week, Mayor Justin Elicker said that alders do not need to take a final vote on accepting these properties from the Board of Ed. They will, however, have a final say over if and when they are ultimately sold.

The mayor said the city is moving forward with trying to restore these ex-school properties to a productive use for the community and have them contribute to the city’s finances.

Elicker said he is “enthusiastic” and “optimistic” the city will receive responses to the future RFPs that will satisfy both needs for the community.

In a June comment provided to the Independent, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) spokesperson Justin Harmon said the district expects to save around $74,000 a year in utility costs and maintenance by dropping ownership of these two buildings.

Reached for comment Thursday, West Rock/West Hills Alder Honda Smith told the Independent she has three things in mind when considering the future of the former West Rock STREAM Academy property.

The first, given the recent closure of Brennan Rogers School, is that she thinks the neighborhood needs a community school to serve West Rock/West Hills families and students.

Second, she said she does not believe the neighborhood needs more housing because “what’s the use in developing housing if you don’t have a school here for the kids to go to.” She noted several recent or ongoing housing projects, like the redevelopment of the Valley Townhouses and McConaughy Terrace. She added that more housing could bring more public safety problems. “I only believe in more housing that’s needed,” she said.

Third, she said the neighborhood and city as a whole need more economic development and thriving businesses that don’t lean on local tax breaks. A business would also bring jobs for the neighborhood, she said.

“We the taxpayers are paying for our kids to be educated while parents out here without vehicles struggle to get children to school because we have no neighborhood school,” she said.

She also suggested the former Katherine Brennan school building be reopened as a school and the former Clarence Rogers school building be turned into a grocery store for the neighborhood.

In a separate interview Thursday, Paul Garlinghouse, a Green Party candidate for alder of Fair Haven Heights’ Ward 13, said that neighbors have advocated for an arts school or a community center or veteran and senior housing to replace the ex-Quinnipiac School building. He said neighbors voiced these ideas during a recent meeting with city officials and the Quinnipiac East Community Management Team.

Garlinghouse said while he is not opposed to developers building housing, he does not think the older building is zoned for dense housing. He said he’s very open to the community’s ideas beyond housing. “I don’t want the RFP to be phrased as just looking for condos, but their thinking did seem to emphasize housing,” he said about his interpretation of the city presentation. He said there is a need for more affordable housing but is not sure this is the best place for it.

He added that a mixed-use building could work well here — something like an artist co-op with restaurants and rentals. He cited a similar setup in downtown Providence as a model for what could come here.

“Really anything thats not just handing it over to a developer,” Garlinghouse concluded. “That’s one things all of us in the meeting agreed on was wanting someone from the neighborhood to be in room when this is being discussed.”

Mildred Melendez, the endorsed Democrat running for the Ward 13 alder seat, told the Independent Thursday she is still listening to the community’s thoughts for the space. She said she definitely doesn’t want to see the space blighted or “sold to a megalandlord.”