Daggett Demolition Debated

Mayor Justin Elicker listened to Yale’s presentation: “We do not own the property. Yale University owns the property,” he remarked during the meeting.

Yale plans to demolish a vacant former rubber factory in the Hill that was once home to vibrant, illegal live-work artist studios — prompting pushback from some neighbors who don’t want to see the site turned into an 89-space surface parking lot.

University officials presented those plans Tuesday evening during a meeting at John C. Daniels School. Yale purchased the Daggett Square complex at 69-75 Daggett St. in 2024 — almost ten years after the city evicted artist-tenants from the site.

The university now wants more space “to help alleviate congestion in the area’s on-street parking” around the medical campus and hospital, according to Alexandra Daum, associate vice president for New Haven Affairs and University Properties at Yale.

Daum said on Tuesday that university planners determined that the building cannot be repurposed. For them, demolition is the only option. Yale still needs to receive site plan approval from the City Plan Commission for this factory-to-parking lot plan.