That's an awesome spot, the whole area (State & Audubon) is a nice section. I really dream of it someday as having it's own train station, and with business filling around. This area really is a great opportunity to set up a transit-oriented development. It's best to plan things carefully here. It might be worth it to keep it a parking lot for a while (I agree, they should take care of their lot too), who knows - sometime we might even have a building sprouting there.

True, nhv - and yet, it would be such a neighborly thing to make a pocket-park in one corner of that lot. Break up a square of tar, put in some nice URI trees and a patch of lawn, a few benches. Somewhere to sit and eat lunch, feed the birds, breathe the air. Greenspace is sorely lacking along that stretch of town.

I agree with "NHV." The city has looked at this lot for new buildings in the past, including an extension of the Audubon "arts district" that combines mixed-use office, housing and retail activities.

This lot would be a great site for a nonprofit community-run housing coop with a mix of market-rate housing, affordable housing, live-work loft spaces, and retail and office space at the corners. This creates a 24/7 community that adds a lot of character and activity to the neighborhood, in a sustainable way that transitions between the downtown business district and the East Rock neighborhood. There are many great examples in Minneapolis and San Francisco that our planners could learn from. Some of the AT&T parking can be transferred elsewhere (or partially underground) and the need for it reduced using demand management (TDM) strategies.

I agree with Juli that a massive parking lot does nothing for the city except add to pollution. For now, it should at least be better-maintained.

This lot is part of the "dead zone" between Downtown and Upper State St. The FBI building has probably really killed this area for development, as there is no chance that it [the FBI building] will ever change from its suburban fortress design, to an appropriate urban form, i.e. built out to the curb, pedestrian oriented, non-fortified, mixed use. Giving the land to a church would be a terrible idea. First of all whose church? There is already a large NHHA building On Orange @ Audubon. No more public housing please; the city is a bad landlord (aside from being broke).

I agree that the FBI building has dramatically limited the potential of this area (and several blocks in each direction, in fact), and was a huge mistake. However it isn't hopeless if better decisions can be made going forward. There are plenty of suburban fortress designs in thriving, central areas of other cities.

Significantly narrowing State Street so that retail and housing could survive on both sides of the street would mitigate the negative impact of the FBI building. The city has looked into this because of the incredible economic potential of land located so close to train stations.

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jeffery, stop closing issues for no reason.

oh, are we parking more cars now Jeffrey? Why don't you go buy a couple hummers and park them there for us, that'll save the city.

This still isn't fixed.

wow

The big sticking point with this is AT&T. They have stated in no uncertain terms that if they were to lose their precious surface lot, or even if they were forced to build structured parking (a garage), they would leave New Haven.

Whether this is just bluster or a real threat, it's the reason why the new arts high school did not materialize here, or any development has occurred, since obviously it would be a disaster if AT&T left.

My hope is that once the surrounding land becomes more developed and more valuable, the lot would become too desirable for development, and things may change.

Just to get a sense of history, this lot has always been a bit of a dead spot. Before the parking lot, this was the site of the warehouse for the Register, and parking for all of it's delivery trucks.

The FBI building was the site of the long-lost New Haven arena, which was demolished in the early 70's.

I agree that narrowing the road and re-opening both sides of the street to development need to happen over the next few years. This used to be the busiest section of New Haven and now it's a ghostland between Wooster and downtown.

FYI, current plans for the lot south of the FBI building are for a parking garage (not a mixed use, just a plain garage without a liner building) for that site. This would be to support the hotel that would open in the Wachovia building on Elm and Church.

THAT would almost certainly stop mixed development cold, so it bears keeping an eye out on that as well.

Thanks, Pedro. If you hear about the plans for that moving forward, please post them here.

Another plain garage, with no facade treatment, in the middle of a dense downtown is not acceptable unless for some reason we want New Haven to start looking like the underpass of I-84 in Hartford.

This spot would be a golden location for housing and possibly some retail. Buildings on the site will generate much more in property taxes than a parking lot. The City could use some of that tax increase to subsidize railroad passes, bicycle repairs, or bus tickets for AT&T employees for the next ten years, and still come out way ahead. Even if the City instead used that extra tax revenue to subsidize a small parking garage, I think redeveloping the lot would still be a net benefit to New Haven. Not only would extra activity in the area help connect Wooster Sq and Downtown, but would make Audubon St more lively and improve walkability and safety between East Rock / Upper State and Downtown.

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this is my impression of at&t and how it affects the city that i love.

this is my impression of at&t and how it affects the city that i love.

Both the FBI lot and the AT&T/Church block are underused and should consolidate parking in the center of the block while developing the periphery that faces the sidewalks.

Orange Street and Audobon are the most important to infill first since they have the most potential to be marketable fast.

Eventually, the FBI building has got to go and much more urban fabric should emerge in the section of downtown.

Did you actually say that the FBI building's got to go? Roads and sidewalks are waaaay more flexible than buildings. You can widen or narrow roads. You can add more sidewalk, twitch around in a few different ways. But you can't take a building and just destroy it because you don't like how it's set up.

Take out the parking lot, put a lawn there with a nice fountain. Bam, just saved over 100 million dollars, and improved city beautification at the same time!

AT&T should bear in mind that healthy urban fabric, walkable and bikable streets, and mixed use developments have been known to attract the demographic that is know to sign up for lucrative iPhone data plans.

Don't they want to grow their local market share by making New Haven more urban and vibrant?

Nice drawings, Jonathan.

To be fair, Jonathan's comment was that the FBI *eventually* has got to go, as in, perhaps 30 or 50 years from now. I don't think anyone expects a building like that to last forever, especially when it is so viciously disrespectful of its surrounding urban fabric.

if they make a park and someone gets hurt ,mugged or killed here come the lawsuits. next people will want them to supply coffee and donuts. stop low income housing stop building schools on prime real estate and collect taxes on these assets instead.

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