Dixwell community leaders speak in favor of Monterey deal

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Marcella Monk Flake, right, a relative of jazz great Thelonious Monk, speaks at a news conference in front of the former Monterey Cafe on Dixwell Avenue in New Haven Monday.

A news conference is held in front of the former Monterey Cafe on Dixwell Avenue in New Haven Monday.

NEW HAVEN — The city's bid to buy four Dixwell Avenue properties including the site of the former Monterey jazz club for $1.3 million gained support from several key neighborhood leaders Monday, just two days before it comes up for a vote.

The family of the late Rufus Greenlee, who opened the Monterey at 265 Dixwell Ave. in 1934, "was thrilled" that the city is looking to put it back to use, said Marcella Monk Flake, a retired city teacher whose father was the first cousin of jazz great Thelonious Monk.

Monk, a piano player, "actually performed in this space," said Monk Flake, as she stood in the rain in front of the former Monterey, which back in the day presented a number of well-known jazz performers including John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday.

She was pleased with the city's plan to see community input before ultimately deciding what to do with the Monterey, which holds a special place the hearts of many New Haveners, particularly those who grew up in the neighborhood.

Jazz drummer Jesse Hameen Jr., who is on the board of Jazz Haven, is a member of the New Haven Cultural Affairs Commission and an instructor for the Neighborhood Music School, was born and raised in the neighborhood.

He still lives there, and was happy to see something finally would happen with the long vacant property.

"I am a product of the Monterey," Hameen said, pointing out that the Monterey "wasn't the only venue" along Dixwell Avenue in its heyday. But while "there were others here," the Monterey "was like the hub," he said.

Hameen has performed over the years with the likes of Ruth Brown, Kenny Burrell, Jimmy McGriff, Curtis Mayfield, Lena Horne, Stanley Turrentine, Jimmy Witherspoon, Grover Washington Jr., Pharoah Sanders, George Benson, Brook Benton, Bonnie Raitt and David "Fathead" Newman, among many others.

But the Monterey is where he cut his teeth.

"I'm happy to see this regeneration here, physically," and "I'm happy to be a part of it."

The city's plan to buy the four properties at 262, 263, 265 and 269 Dixwell Ave. from Ocean Management for $1.3 million cleared its first hurdle last week when the Board of Alders' Community Development Committee unanimously approved the plan. It is set to go before the Livable City Initiative board of directors Wednesday.

The proposed purchase price is higher than the $942,400 appraised value and the $500,000 that Ocean Management paid for the properties before letting the the two commercial properties sit vacant for several years.

But Mayor Justin Elicker said that's not unusual and right now, "nearly every property in New Haven is being sold at above appraised value. ... This is just kind of the going rate."

Elicker said he was "so excited to see so many community leaders here today," as well as to see the work that the city is doing to revitalize Dixwell and build affordable housing there, which began before he took over as mayor with the rebuilding of the nearby Dixwell Community "Q" House.

Of the four properties that would be part of the deal, 262 Dixwell and 263 Dixwell, which have residential tenants, would be sold to Beulah Land Development Corp. to be rehabbed and turned into affordable housing. The other two properties, 265 Dixwell and 269 Dixwell, would go through a "community engagement" public input process to decide what they will become, said Arlevia Samuel, LCI executive director.

"That's a community decision," Samuel said.

The purchase would be paid for with 2021 federal Community Development Block Grant funds that the city will lose if it doesn't use them by April 2023, she has said.

The Rev. Darrell Brooks, pastor of Beulah Heights First Pentecostal Church and chief operating officer of Beulah Land Development Corp., joked that "my first love is gospel, but jazz is second."

He said he was excited by what's happening in Dixwell, including the affordable housing project Beaulah is involved in "just up the block," as part of a broader effort to "bring that luster back to Dixwell. I'm excited about the renaissance that's happening here."

The Rev. Kelcy G.L. Steele, pastor of Varick Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, said he was "in favor of beautifying the community" and looks forward to "making advancements and improvements" to the neighborhood.

The development is taking place in a neighborhood just a stone's throw from the proposed new ConnCAT Place on the site that currently is Dixwell Plaza.

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