Centenarian

Mara Lavitt

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New Haven’s 1920 Union Station, designed in the Beaux Arts style by architect Cass Gilbert, started its second century in April—with a birthday makeover: a five-year, $15 million touch-up that included basic capital repairs, a power wash for the limestone, and new signage.

An estimated 4 million people per year passed through Union Station before the pandemic. Currently, it’s a good deal quieter. But the New Haven Parking Authority, which runs the station, is working with the city and the state on plans that would encourage more commercial development: retail space, restaurants, possibly an upscale food market and a hotel. Their goal, says one of the planners, is something more like New York City's Grand Central. And since this is New Haven, maybe even a pizza parlor with an old-style pizza oven.