The Hamden Fire Department is investigating the Oct. 16, fire at the vacant former Hamden Middle School, located at 550 Newhall St.
Fire Marshal Brian Dolan told HQNN the fire was reported around 5:15 p.m. in a fourth-floor utility room that contained “miscellaneous items.”
The building was further damaged by the fire. The former middle school has been vacant since 2002 after the current middle school was built. The building has withered over the years of its vacancy — the front door has become bent and broken, many of the windows are shattered and there is graffiti laced around the perimeter of the building.
Dolan said officials had to cut holes in the roof to access the blaze. The room the fire started in was also burned.
In addition to the structural damage, the building sits on contaminated soil. According to a 2002 fact sheet from school administrators, the site of the building was a landfill for industrial waste and garbage during the 1930s and 1940s. In 2000, officials sampled the soil on the property while planning for an addition to the building. The sampling found hazardous materials like lead and methane gas in the soil from the landfill residue.
At the time, parents advocated for the town’s plan to leave the old middle school and build a new one, which is now located at 2623 Dixwell Ave., according to a 2002 New York Times article. Despite supporters of the old location arguing the vacant building would “leave a hole in the town’s community,” the new middle school eventually opened in 2005.
Since then, discussions about how to utilize the property have occurred but no changes have been made. In 2021, the Hamden Legislative Council partnered with the Mutual Housing Association of South Central Connecticut looking to build affordable housing on the ex-middle school site. However, the decision to move forward has repeatedly been delayed.
In April, the Legislative Council voted 8-5 to not renew the town’s contract with MHA. In the council’s April 25 meeting, several members cited concerns over the partnership due to what they perceive as changing needs in the community.
After the dissolution of the partnership with MHA, in July, Karen Bivens, Hamden’s acting director of arts, culture, recreation and wellness sent a memorandum to Mayor Lauren Garrett’s administration requesting more $7 million to build a new arts and cultural center at the former middle school site.
Garrett later presented the idea of a new community center in the town’s July American Rescue Plan Act presentation. Some aspects of the proposed center would include a commercial kitchen, fitness center and various community rooms.
Garrett talked about moving forward in a statement she posted on Facebook about the fire.
“This latest incident underscores the need to demolish the structures on this site,” Garrett wrote. “We are working closely with our state delegation to secure funding to finally get this done.”
Garrett told HQNN she placed the request for funding on the project through Sen. Jorge Cabrera’s office. Garrett said the funds requested to complete the project were “roughly $5 million.” She said she is confident the funds will be obtained in the budget year 2023.
Still, some residents hope that the space the former school currently sits on is turned into something useful.
“I don’t know what they’re gonna make it into, but this is a good space though,” said Brian Henderson, a New Haven resident who said his father attended the former middle school.
Henderson said he hopes the area will be renovated into a recreation center for the youth in the neighborhood.
“I would like to see a little bit more parks and rec back there,” Henderson said. “Make a nice facility, you could use some big buildings, you can fit a 94 feet basketball court in there.”