The former CVS property at 252 Orange Ave, now owned by the University of New Haven, has sat idle for over a year but will soon receive a makeover.
This comes as the university’s plans for the site were recently approved by the city’s planning and zoning commission. The touch-up is meant to give the property “more of an institutional appearance than a retail appearance,” Louis Annino, the school’s chief facilities officer told the New Haven Register.
The university bought the property last May, according to public land records. The purchase is part of the university’s “masterplan” to have “one contiguous piece of property which then opens up opportunities for us to consider strategic investments in those properties,” Annino said in a November Charger Bulletin interview.
The former store is expected to include academic and administrative space for the Center of Advanced Policing and the Tow Youth Justice Institute, two establishments within the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences.
The planning commission’s vice chairman, John Biancur, complimented plans for the site and said it would create an exterior that visually blends with surrounding university properties, unlike the former pharmacy building.
This is the university’s latest expansion plan approval throughout Allington since purchasing the former Railroad Salvage property at 1131 Campbell Ave. last December. The university is also considering a $500,000 purchase of the city-owned North End Field behind the property. This after the West Haven City Council voted 7-1 to approve the sale of the field to the university. George Synodi, university vice president for finance and treasurer told the Register that while the university has no plans for the field, it could address some of the university’s needs.
“We have needs and recreational space is certainly one of them,” said Synodi. “We don’t have enough green fields for students, which is one of our needs.”
City officials said the property has not been properly managed for roughly 20 years, with the narrow access point through the 1132 Campbell Ave. parking lot located between the former Railroad Salvage and Dunkin’ Donuts on First Ave. This challenge, accompanied by flooding and poor lighting, led to the property gradually becoming abandoned and a hotspot for some criminal activity.
Jens Frederiksen, university president, told the New Haven Register the university views the property at the intersection of Boston Post Road and Campbell Avenue by the main entrance of the campus as a “gateway” to “signal we are very much an outward-facing university and not just hidden behind walls and ivory towers.”
According to Annino, the CVS building will consist mostly of office space, but will also have a “classroom-sized community room,” said to the Register.
The project is expected to take about a year according to Annino, and the building should be open by the next academic year.
