A 200-space Munson Street parking lot could be the site of New Haven’s next biotech lab building — according to a Winchester-factory-redevelopment zoning update that received a favorable, if still skeptical, recommendation from the City Plan Commission.

Local land-use commissioners took that vote Wednesday night during the City Plan Commission’s latest special meeting, which was held online via Zoom.

The vote was in support of a request submitted by the redevelopment team behind the so-called ​“Winchester Center” project in Science Park.

That Planned Development District (PDD) zoning-update request would take the expansive surface parking lot near Munson and Winchester and include it into the existing Science Park PDD — which is a slate of specially zoned properties based around the former Winchester Arms Factory that developers have been looking to repurpose since the 1980s.

The proposal gained a vote of support Wednesday night alongside a few other changes to the self-described neighborhood reinvestment project. The requested PDD update now heads to the full Board of Alders for further review and a potential final vote. Read More

Connecticut's nonfarm industry payrolls decreased by 1,600 positions (-0.1%) in December 2022 to 1,667,900, while the state's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.2% (preliminary, seasonally adjusted). Connecticut's nonfarm industry employment is now 32,100 (2.0%) positions above the December 2021 level. The Nutmeg State has recovered 89.3% (258,300) of the 289,400 nonagricultural positions lost during the 2020 COVID lockdown. Temporary election poll workers boosted employment in November and led to December's decline. Annual average employment in 2022 was 41,600 (2.6%) above the 2021 average. Connecticut's unemployment rate was unchanged from the 4.2% November rate, and down by nine-tenths of a percentage point from the 5.1% rate a year ago. This release presents the labor statistics from two surveys (business establishment and residential) overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in partnership with the states. Read More

Overlooking the I-95 highway is the Hotel Marcel, a repurposed office building that will likely be the first net-zero hotel in the United States.

In the hotel’s parking lot are three solar canopies that, together with additional panels on the roof, power the hotel. During the summer, the hotel produces more energy than it consumes. But because of the winter’s shorter days and increased energy demands, the hotel is not quite at net-zero, despite investment in solar panels, more efficient heating systems, energy storage and other technologies.

Bruce Becker ARC ’85, owner and architect of the Hotel Marcel, plans to keep adding solar canopies until the hotel can contribute more than it takes from the grid and serve as the model for the hotel industry that he believes it can be. Read More