I vote... Apple Store!

Pedro - don't forget the Yale-owned storefronts on Audubon St, which are now almost entirely empty. Sweet Relief, the Bead Hive, the Toystore, the Devil's Gear II, the schmancy gift shop whose name temporarily escapes me. What was once was a charming artsy college-town precinct feels like a ghost town. Thank goodness for Koffee and the cultural institutions on the south side of the street!

Good point! I know that downtown retail in small cities is definitely a tough nut to crack -there's a reason why we are overrun with banks and cell phone stores- and I do give yale credit for not filling up spots with whatever they can, but on the otherhand I have a gut feeling that perhaps they are too demanding sometimes. I do know of several Yale tenants who have chosen to leave due to high rents or stringent shop hours. Everything in the broadway district MUST stay open until 9pm, for example.

So are they they empty because they are Yale-owned, or because they are Yale-owned will they be the first to be filled when the economy turns around?

We certainly have a burgeoning restaurant scene.. I actually wouldn't mind if some of those storefronts turned into restaurants.

I agree. It's a little nutty that this main drag looks like this here. I lobby for a Crumbs bakery, which are in NYC, LA, Westport, Greenwich.... Email them to attract them to NH!
http://www.crumbs.com/contacts/

please fix this!

if not fixed w/in one year PLEASE take it by eminent domain.

Yale's tolerance for empty storefronts goes too far. This is the key block on the south side of the green and Yale is greatly contributing to its poor presentation. 15 years of empty storefronts is disrespectful to Yale's home town. Bruce is a talented guy and can do better.

Well, this ain't the only vacant spot on Chapel Street :D

It's embarrassing for the city to have retail-less storefronts along one of it's main streets. Between Church and Temple on Chapel St, we've got a whole block without retail (save Starbucks and Cafe Bottega)

It's time we get a bit serious about our stores, and it's time we start shopping at them, too.

What would be really cool is if Yale would use some of those spaces to incubate small locally grown businesses. Link it with SOM or one of the many institutes in the university. Have a contest. Pick a few prime locations and put out a request for proposals from local entrepreneurs and see what you get. Run some workshops in the neighborhoods to help residents enter the competition. Then pick a few and actually help them get set up in business. That way we foster local business, fill vacant space and create jobs. This is just off the top of my head but I'm sure it could be done.

Kevin,
That's a brilliantly simple use of Yale's retail space. There are lots of start-up entrepreneurial ventures that could move on a dime and could use month 2 month space to get started.
Michelle Whelley should jump all over this!

I second Ben's assessment of Kevin's idea - brilliant!

A proper florist's, maybe?

I agree, use these as incubators -- with short term leases that can get extended if the business takes off.

Another thing that is being experimented in some cities is to use the empty storefronts as community art galleries / showcases. It keeps the neighborhood looking good and for the landlords, the spaces presentable.

With 360 State going in, the vision should be for eight great blocks of Chapel Street running from State to Orange-Church-Temple-College-High-York-Park-Howe.

Obviously the grocery store at 360 State, (please tell me it's happening), will be a fantastic anchor. And the College-High-York blocks will remain the showcase, what with being in the middle of Yale, and being home to the art galleries. In fact, add the York to Park block into that solid middle, with the Study and Yale Art and Architecture schools.

So the focus for now should really be those two blocks along the New Haven Green. Why are there so many empty storefronts? Is the problem parking? Or is it the Malley property on the corner of Temple and Chapel? Or does it not feel safe?

Here's hoping Yale takes the lead. And the City's economic development people should ask the Malley heirs to sell, or if not, consider eminent domain. Wouldn't a mixed-use redevelopment work very well there?

I think one huge contributing thing to there being no storefronts is that there isn't much of a market for retail at the moment. Restaurants are doing great, but in downtown-people just aren't shopping as much as the economy would like them to.

Audubon St. problem 1: no crosswalk at Whitney; problem 2: What's at the other end of Audubon St.? nothing! Orange St. (between Trumbull and Audubon) functions as an extension of the I91/I95 entrance ramp, and across Orange St. is a huge, fenced in surface parking lot, so there's one short block with a huge dead space at one end, and no pedestrian access at the other.
Chapel St., between Church and Temple, is dead because the "Death Star", i.e. 900 Chapel St., is looming menacingly over the street and casts a perpetual shadow of doom over Chapel and the southern end of the New Haven green. The permanent gloom of the sidewalk, under 900 Chapel St., is depressing and claustrophobic. The entire block, bordered by Chapel, Church, Crown and Temple should be demolished and rebuilt with pedestrian access through the center...

Just heard a story about this on Marketplace. Here's the link.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/02/01/pm-techtonic/

Unfortunately you guys are waisting your time. I couldn't agree more that Yale should be a good neighbor and fix up these properties and play a substantial part in the revitalization of New Haven. However Yale has put a freeze on all construction projects with few exceptions: projects that are presently under construction are going to be completed, and projects funded from outside sources will be completed, but Yale is trying to tighten their belt so much that nothing is getting done. If they can't even fix the leak on the roof of the presidents office, do you think they are going to renovate a vacant storefront anytime soon? A better solution would be to find someone to come in and buy the building from Yale, or someone who will rent the property and do the renovations for free. Until then maybe we could try Karen's idea and turn it into a street gallery or something...

Dear Mr. Anderson,
While I had not seen this until someone in the office pointed it out, I agree with your comments. University Properties has done an excellent job with many leasing challenges, but we have not at all done well with this one. 976 Chapel could have been leased but not to any use that the location deserves. Putting a low-quality tenant in my experience is often worse than a vacant storefront because it drags down the whole block and makes attracting the better tenants all that more difficult. We have showed that space to literally scores of excellent tenants and have come close but never were able to close a deal. Rent is not the issue; rather it is the lack of sufficient projected sales volumes. At 986 Chapel we have sketches of several alternative storefronts we are prepared to build for a quality tenant (to allow them to choose), and perhaps in retrospect we should have just built one out instead of giving prospective tenants that flexibility. It is not lost on us that these are important spaces, and the staff of University Properties had already made a New Year's resolution to do better in 2010.

if it were easier to walk and bike downtown, projected sales volumes would be higher. more than 50% of residents of new haven are under the age of 30 and many of them do not have or want access to a private car.

can prospect street remain closed to auto traffic, so that residents and families of new haven can use it (via the farmington canal or humphrey street access) to access downtown without having to worry about being run over by speeding cars?

Hi Bruce,

Great Response! Thank you for listening. I am curious if you have entertained the idea of incubator space temporarily hiding behind faux decorative frontage until a retail tenant can occupy the space.

As a start-up founder in New Haven it was the ability to rent month to month under 500/month that helped us put our first foot on solid ground.

I have heard some of the concerns for why this might not be possible in Yale retail space but it seems that the town gown bridge that could be created here along with the potential for economic development could be astounding and might outweigh those concerns.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Ben

Former Retail Analyst,

Would you mind adding that comment as a separate issue at the location so that it does not detract from this post.

Thanks!

-Ben

I'm responding directly to Bruce's comment about low projected sales volumes, which is a legitimate concern here. From a dollar per dollar point of view, it would be more efficient for Yale and the city to invest in improving the overall economics of the area than to try to lower rents or create free space. I don't think Yale wants to pour money into a new facade and see the space fail again.

That said, an Apple Store here would be pretty sweet!

Thanks to Bruce for responding and being honest about what the real problem is.

Relevant YDN reporting on this matter:
http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/city-news/2010/02/05/univ-properties-remain-vacant/

For the record, I think that YU Properties is doing a good job and that this is a non-issue.

Okay, Brian. The building should just sit empty for another decade? Because without Mr. Alexander taking the bull by the reins, it probably will.

And I too think University Properties is doing a pretty good job. But in this case they can certainly do better. If we want to have a stronger retail environment, and fill up these vacancies, maybe the community should join with the businesses, City and Yale to figure out a more progressive parking policy. Right Broadway has the only retail friendly parking in the Downtown area.

fwiw.

Yeah, I guess I see your point. In particular, the whole idea of keeping rents high to keep out the riff-raff leaves me somewhat baffled. As it stands now, I'm honestly not sure if I have ever (EVER)—in a year and a half in New Haven—shopped in a store renting from YU Properties (unless you count the Yale Bookstore and Tyco—but in both cases I didn't have much choice in the matter). I walked into Trailblazer one time, but walked out empty-handed after 15 minutes because I couldn't afford anything. When I dine out, it is almost always either on Howe St or Upper State Street. Most of the other shopping I do in New Haven is either at Walgreens, Shaws, or Staples (although now I have to either bicycle or ride the bus to Hamden for that).

You know, now that you mention it, I would REALLY appreciate it if they lowered their rents such that stores where I could actually afford to shop, or restaurants where I could actually dine for less than $10, could move in.

Unless, of course, Yale students who are here on financial aid (like myself) are not the desired clientele…

The riff-raff they are speaking of is not yale students on financial aid. Where Basta is now (next to Claire's), there used to be another Willowby's Coffee. Yale didn't like it because it was a hipster coffee shop with a bunch of pierced and painted clientele. As I understand it, Yale forced them out despite the fact that they wanted to renew their lease. I enjoyed going there for coffee and I know many others who did as well.

As I understand it, Yale also forced out some of the shops on Audubon Street that now stand vacant. They apparently forced out 2-3 shops at the same time. Its not like on Audubon they had another shop ready to go, they just didn't like the shops or the atmosphere it was creating there.

The problem with your assessment is that you think lower rents will equal lower cost items. It is nice to think that would be the case, but how do you know it wouldn't equal a larger profit margin for the store owners? It certainly is possible that they could sell more on volume then on higher priced items, but perhaps Yale's selectivity is more an issue than the price of their rents. But I am not certain about that as I do not know their rate per square foot.

The city should appoint a commission to look into these rental policies.

It is unacceptable for places to stay vacant so long given that there are many tenants willing to open there and enliven the street.

Thank you for opening up this issue. We moved to New Haven a few years ago and have steadily seen the city go into decline. It is depressing to go downtown because so many of the stores are closing or have closed. I feel like we're in Detroit. While I recognize that the entire country is in a recession, it seems that if folks at Yale can't come up with a good solution, which city can?

There have been a few good suggestions on this site, including the one about an SOM project. Is anyone following through with this?

One of the biggest problems with that location is that the storefront is hideous. You would think that restaurants and bookstores would like the location--a bookstore or restaurant facing the green? Whatever the ultimate tenant is, the University needs to work harder to make that block (and the rest of New Haven) more of a walkable community that is family friendly.

I second the florist idea!

I avoid that block because it contains some of the most aggressive panhandlers in New Haven. I know some people sing the praises of public transit, but if you walk down the blocks near the covered CT Transit stops a minimum of one person is going to beg you for just some change. They're getting more and more aggressive - insisting that if you don't have change, you should give them bills, and that you really should give them a $20. They don't get anything from me, but I find that having a man follow me half a block wailing "Ain't I human just like you?" encourages me to avoid that block in the future. The trip to Hamden, soul-less and suburbanized, is at least free of guilt-laden harassment. Is ending panhandling suddenly on the list of things Papa Yale is supposed to take care of in New Haven?

The Town Green Special Services District’s Downtown Ambassadors are dressed in yellow and serve as the eyes & ears of the Police. They are trained to identify and engage aggressive panhandlers who won’t take no for an answer. Town Green also employs a part-time street outreach worker to identify anyone in need of services. We also give safety escorts to anybody who feels unsafe while walking around Downtown. Our team works Monday through Thursday 7 AM – 9 PM, Friday and Saturday 7 AM – 10 PM and Sundays Noon to 5:30 PM. We can be reached through INFO New Haven (203) 773-9494 and will dispatch an ambassador to a Downtown location to walk with you to your destination.

If you are aggressively panhandled or witness others being aggressively panhandled, please call us at INFO New Haven (203) 773-9494 and report it to us so we can dispatch an Ambassador to assist with the situation. If you see something that strikes you as questionable behavior – call us.

Please do not give money to panhandlers. If you feel you need to give money, do so by donating to one of the many social service agencies that offer help and support those in need. For a list of service providers, please download a copy of our Street Sheet at: http://www.infonewhaven.com/1861

Please help us to provide better services by working with us to create a better Downtown New Haven for all.

If all else fails, there's always the Potemkin village approach...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255162/Fake-shopfronts-built-improve-look-recession-hit-high-streets.html

That's not a bad idea, actually. I would support it!

Though I'm sure Yale would get tons of flak over it; people expect the impossible and always seem so cynical whenever anyone tries to do a little to help.

Or, Yale and the city together could actively, deliberately prioritise the kind of stores that draw people here from elsewhere and make New Haven what it is (what is it?).

I mean, if it's good enough for Paris:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/a-french-revolution-of-a-bookish-sort/article1483457/

See also Shaw's on Whalley, etc...

Why not put in a new separate Yale museum shop, like some of the more famous museums do (for example the Smithsonian museum shop in the DC airport, the MoMA museum shop located in several places around NYC)? This would fit the bill; it'd be cultural, literary, artistic and would probably do good business.

That's a great idea!

It sounds like the solution isn't with Yale, it is with increasing foot traffic at the location.

One of the issues here is that the widths of the streets here make them somewhat unpleasant to cross. Red light running at College & Chapel is also a problem. I have walked this intersection for nearly 15 years, with and without disabilities, and know it very well.

Street width has a major impact on the average walking radius, particularly for families and older citizens who make up the core of the downtown retail market. Folks walk from Atticus or the Yale Rep, across narrow High Street along the blue stone pavers but don't necessarily go beyond that. Consequently, retail is far more successful between College and York than it is between College and Temple.

The approach that many other cities take is not necessarily to reduce street width, but instead to narrow crossing distances and thereby improve perceived pedestrian safety. This catalyzes increased foot traffic by making distances feel shorter.

The attached photo shows a typical crosswalk in central London. Despite high traffic volumes in London, pedestrian crossing distances are often around 10 feet, and traffic speeds around 20 MPH max, due to the use of neckdowns, curb extensions and pedestrian refuge medians. At College and Chapel, you have pedestrian crossing distances of around 50 feet, and traffic speeds regularly exceeding 40 miles per hour. At a local shopping mall, you have distances of 0 feet and speeds of 0.

Think about where the average family with a stroller would rather walk. In an environment like the one shown here, the average person will walk significantly greater distances and cross more streets.

Proof of point, I visited London with a very bad knee injury last year, but still walked (well, hobbled) for miles. If the streets had looked like they do in most of downtown New Haven, I honestly would have stayed home.

Agree 100% with Mark. If you want even more dramatic proof, walk over to the Chapel Square Mall and look to see which storefronts are filled, and which ones are empty.

Pedestrian friendly(er) Temple and Crown are almost filled up, but Chapel is pretty much vacated at the moment (Bodega moved to Temple), and BWW and College wine being the sole tenants on Church Street (although church does have the advantage of street parking on both sides, whereas Chapel has zero. Starbucks is the sole outlier, but they are right on a busy pedestrian corner.

So here you have roughly equal storefronts fronting differing road configurations with vastly different results. If this isn't a clear example, I don't know what is.

Mark -
Perhaps we can fix that much more easily by simply increasing the amount of time that pedestrians have on the walk signal?

Pioneer, I'm not sure increasing the walk signal timing would help, though its possible a slight increase is warranted (New Haven does not generally use the most progressive feet-per-second rules). Significantly extending it might frustrate drivers even more, causing them to speed and/or run red lights at even greater frequency.

A redesign could make things better for pedestrians as well as drivers by encouraging more smooth traffic flow, courtesy and visibility of both parties. Furthermore, if pedestrian crossing distances were reduced, you might actually be able to significantly decrease the amount of time pedestrians need to cross - also a benefit to all parties.

Tenant idea: Bubble Tea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_tea
Imagine a smoothie or milkshake with tapioca balls at the bottom. It's all the rage on the west coast. I just had it for the first time while visiting a friend at the University of Washington in Seattle. We need this in New Haven!
(image from Wikipedia)

Don't we have it here already at Bangkok Garden, 172 York St. and most likely several other restaurants? Or are you thinking of another similar drink?

Sure, why not? It's always worth it to try interesting some companies via civilian email ;)

I'll email TEASE, a place in New York that makes em, maybe they might be interested in expanding?

Oh. I was unaware of this. I'll have to try it out. Thanks!

The place where I went in Seattle is its own shop dedicated just to bubble tea (and Trivial Pursuit), although I'm not sure how sustainable that business model is... For the moment, though, the place is quite popular.

Brian, please let me know what you find. I think the restaurant advertises their bubble drinks, handwritten on a chalkboard when you enter Bangkok Gardens. I haven't bought any bubble drinks recently so I'm not sure my memory is absolutely accurate. PS Their curries are delicious as is their other food.

Brian - have you tried the bubble tea (also known as pearl milk tea or boba tea) at J. Mart on Orange Street? They had a large variety last time I checked -- I liked the almond flavor.

The Masons will soon bankrupt New Haven as they did to West Haven. It's just that pesky Yale... so they now have finally overun Yale, and have started the abandonment and destruction of formerly prime real estate. Just kidding.

Retail downtown used to be supported by the suburbs, because there were no malls. After the malls there was support from the large businesses who had headquarters downtown, like SNET, UI, banks, and oh yes, Yale staff. Now those companies have fled, and Yale staff can't afford to shop in most of the stores; the stores they can shop in are often too far for a lunch time walk and back, or those stores no longer exist. There are a couple of stores downtown that I like to shop in, but between parking, (and by the way, there is an incredible lack of handicapped parking downtown, i.e., almost non existent), the limited (and often unpleasant) bus services, panhandlers, affordability, etc, I usually only get there once a year, when looking for something special as a gift. As New Haven resident, that's a shame.

As a New Haven resident and Yale staff member, I find that Yale storefronts are always aimed at tourists and shoppers from far away. Many students make the same complaint. Looking for tenants who would market to our existing population could be a worthwhile strategy instead of designer boutiques and mass cloned all-the-same-low-quality coffee stores.

Any Yale staff member who has this concern can call me so we can have a more specific conversation about the 100 retail spaces in University Properties’ community investment program developments. There are only a few coffee shops in the portfolio and most seem to be very nice, but we welcome thoughts that improves our offerings for the entire New Haven community. Bruce Alexander

well, good to know that bruce alexander only cares about the opinions of yale staff members.

I wish I could think of a better retailer to request since it turns out bubble tea is already available at multiple restaurants.

I really like Kevin’s idea of housing some sort of retail incubator. It could be a retail complement to Science Park. Does anyone know who I could ask at the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute to see if they might be interested?

It would also be nice to let Artspace do its thing and convert a few empty Yale-owned storefronts into art exhibitions on a rotating basis.

I can’t remember if this was just an idea in my head or something real, but for some reason I’m also imagining a storefront displaying mock-up furniture created by architecture students.

Lastly, I would love for there to be a storefront for Yale Transportation Options. Portland State University has a transportation info hub where you can get bus schedules, pick up bike maps, and even practice loading your bicycle into an actual bus bike rack mounted into the wall. Next door to this info hub is a non-profit student-run bike shop.

I would like to see more stores for people who actually live and work in the area. Let's not increase traffic density and fuel consumption by attracting still more people from far, far away, and by driving our local shoppers out to the suburbs. We don't even have a basic stationery store and supermarket or clothing stores in this area any more.

More restaurants does not seem like a good idea to me. The area already has many of them spanning a very wide price range, and all duplicating each other to a significant extent. How many Thai noodle stores and muffin and cookie stores do you want? Let's get some diversity of substance, not just a new storefront for the same old stuff.

I like the idea of a stationary store. With Staples gone, budget office supplies are hard to find. Walgreens is pretty good, but has limited selection. The Yale Bookstore is way over-priced.

I would also very much like to see a successor to Hull's Hardware, someplace where you can buy everything you need to build a sculpture, build a theater set, or repair broken furniture.

What if Dwight Hall was allowed to use an empty storefront while they wait for funding to renovate and move into their future home at Elm and Temple?

I’m not normally an advocate of more cars in New Haven, but I really like this ingenious piece of marketing that Ford just rolled out in Portland, OR:
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/07/ford_draws_on_local_appeal_to.html

Basically, Ford has teamed up with a couple local fashion designers and retailers to temporarily move into a formerly vacant storefront. Ford places a shiny new Fiesta in the storefront, while the fashion designers use the storefront as a retail space during the day. At night, they pack away the fancy clothes and hold indie pop shows and dance parties…all in the presence of the shiny new Ford Fiesta!

(Photo from the Oregonian newspaper.)

I’m not normally one to advocate for more cars in New Haven, but I love this new marketing ploy that Ford has rolled out in Portland, OR:
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/07/ford_draws_on_local_appeal_to.html

Basically, Ford has teamed up with local fashion designers and retailers to move into a formerly vacant storefront. The fashion designers use the storefront as retail space during the day, and at night the fancy clothes are packed away to make room for indie pop shows and dance parties…all in the presence of a shiny new lime green Ford Fiesta!

It’s like Artspace Underground meets top dollar marketing! “Pop-up shops” are definitely the solution to YU Properties’ vacant storefronts, if you ask me!

(Photo from the Oregonian newspaper.)

Here’s that photo from the Oregonian newspaper. Hopefully it makes it through this time.

Let’s try that one more time…

Here’s that photo from the Oregonian newspaper. Hopefully it makes it through this time.

Not a bad idea! Pop-up shops are a good way to fill space and bring in something interesting.

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/empty_storefronts_artists_to_the_rescue/

Making this area more walkable would help. Someone just reported a problem in this area: http://www.seeclickfix.com/issues/69437

Still vacant.

Have any of you guys ever had a sandwich from Potbelly? They’re a chain based out of Chicago. I had a sandwich from them in DC, where they have a couple of storefronts within blocks of each other (not sure why, but it allowed me to skip the huge line at the first one). It was quite good. I think I will suggest it to Mr. Alexander.

If anyone out there is looking to franchise a restaurant, can you please open a Potbelly here in New Haven? Thanks!

http://www.potbelly.com/franchising/ebrochure/default_splash.aspx

Shoot! Their website says franchising is not yet available in CT: http://www.potbelly.com/franchising/ebrochure/AvailabilityMap.aspx#

Lower the rent for an office supply/stationers.

there is no place left since staples left.

better than empty.

Forget it Ed, not a Yale staffer so no use emailing Bruce. Maybe Yale should put its stores behind Yale gates, pointing in, instead of outside Yale gates pointing to the whole city, you know, the City of New Haven, anyone ever hear of it?

University Properties has been trying to interest an office supply store in New Haven since Staples left. Rent is not the issue as it is a relatively small percentage of operating expenses. The issue for all these national chains is the volume of sales they project for a particular location, and independent merchants, whom we also seek, are difficult to find because they don`t have the buying power of the national tenants. Bruce Alexander

Still vacant. Has Our Empty Spaces looked at this?

I have made numerous attempts to contact Yale University Properties and have been only met with crickets. I would love to host pop-ups in YUP's vacant storefronts; however, I assume, YUP would prefer to host decorated/empty windows and not prospective merchants wanting to 'test' the New Haven/Yale market.

If Our Empty Space could utilize YUP's properties, the possibility for quality of pop-up merchants/restaurants would dramatically increase.

I am more than happy to partner with YUP should someone contact me.

Do not wish to close now; just want to report that we are within 30-60 days of announcing a tenant for this space.

Congratulations! Since that space is occupied, what's going on with the other 10-15 remaining empty storefronts? :)