The city of New Haven’s Housing Authority is seeking $5.54 million from the state to remediate part of the site of the old Church Street South apartments. The goal is to pave the way for a new era of environmentally-sound housing at a location once known for making tenants sick from mold.

Grant Application Advances

The Board of Alders Community Development Committee has unanimously advanced the application for a Municipal Brownfields Grant from the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) to pay for the site’s cleanup. The city is applying for the grant on behalf of the Glendower Group, the nonprofit development arm of the Housing Authority of New Haven.

The Housing Authority purchased the site of the notoriously hazardous and now-demolished Church Street South apartments in 2023. The organization has pursued plans to develop up to 2,490 housing units as well as commercial spaces and greenspaces on the property, split into multiple phases.

The grant application focuses on the 1.96 acres of land at 169 Union Ave., where the first two buildings within the first phase are slated to be constructed. According to environmental consultant Neil Payne of Payne Environmental, the toxins that need to be remediated include asbestos concrete pipes, urban fill, and at least three source areas of oil leakage that contaminated the soil on the site.

Original reporting: New Haven Independent — read the source article.