Highwood Square is the second artist housing development completed by NeighborWorks® New Horizons. The development consists of three buildings in the complex surround a community greenspace, giving it a small, campus-like atmosphere. Built in 2011, the modern design caters to artists and the spirit of the Highwood neighborhood. The project involved 46,000 square feet of new construction and an adaptive reuse of two existing 1920’s brick office buildings, the former Johnson Wholesale Perfume Company and the Nabisco Bakery. Highwood Square’s eastern edge is bordered by the Farmington Canal Greenway, a former canal line and railroad route which has been paved and converted to a walking and bike path stretching through 10 scenic miles of Hamden and beyond.
The complex was designed by New Haven architect Ben Ledbetter in association with Graftworks Architecture and Design of Manhattan, and constructed by LaRosa Building Group of Meriden. Funded by both public and private sources, it is a project of the American Recovery Act and the first in Connecticut to use the U.S. Treasury’s Exchange Program Funding.