Demolition, Remediation Of 'Last Contaminated Tract' Of Science Park Kicked Off Monday

NEW HAVEN, CT — Demolition and remediation of the "last contaminated tract of Science Park" kicked off Monday.

Mayor Justin Elicker and city and state officials joined the Science Park Board of Directors and Winchester Partners development team at a news briefing Monday to commemorate the beginning of the end. The demolition and remediation is expected to take a year, officials said Monday.

"This is a big deal. Why is it a big deal destroying a building," Elicker said rhetorically. "Because it's the final building, the final building that has all kinds of contaminants in that will be safely demolished and removed."

The three-acre site containing nine former factory buildings that have been unused and a blight on the community since 1987, the city maintains. The final tract of land will be redeveloped into at least 100 residential units or 100,000 square feet of commercial space, as part of an overall re-imagination and redevelopment of the Science Park campus.

"It's the final step in the 45-year journey," Elicker said, "The 45-year journey of transforming places that made instruments of death into life, into community, into places where people live, where people innovate."

The project is part of a larger multiphase redevelopment effort by the Science Park Board of Directors, a nonprofit organization. It was founded in 1981 by the city, state, Yale University and the Olin Corporation to redevelop the former Winchester Repeating Arms Company factory complex.

More than 65 percent or 1.1 million square feet of buildings have been rehabilitated and repurposed into offices, biotech labs, educational facilities, and apartments.

Every residential building, such as Winchester Lofts —169 residential units— and the new 287-unit apartment complex currently under construction, includes 20 percent affordable units.

The Science Park Development Corporation is "committed to redeveloping Science Park, eliminating blight, and supporting the overall revitalization of the Dixwell and Newhallville communities," it was noted at the briefing.

Winchester Partners is a collaboration between Twining Properties and LMXD, with investment from Urban Investment Group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, KeyBank, and the New Haven Housing Authority.

The demolition, abatement, and remediation are expected to take approximately one year, concluding in June 2026, and the work is supported by $10.8 million in funding from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development.