HVAC worker Eli Todd: It’s hot, “to say the least.” Out of the way, cars. New raised intersection at the canal trail and Munson. Construction has begun on a new Japanese food hall that is slated to fill the old Fussy Coffee site — right by a Farmington Canal Trail intersection that ha s been newly raised to slow down car traffic to allow for cyclists and pedestrians to cross safely. Such is the latest with the ground-floor retail space at 276 Winchester Ave. and the nearby intersection of the Farmington Canal Trail and Munson Street. That retail spot has been empty ever since Fussy Coffee closed in September 2025 following a seven-year run. For months, the former Fussy spot and an adjacent long-vacant retail space has borne signs indicating that a New York City-based business called Japan Village would be moving in in 2026. In recent days, those signs have been swapped out for new ones that indicate that Japan Village will be opening there in 2027. “New Haven’s First Japanese Food Hall,” one window sign reads. “Bento Onigiri Ramen Donburi Soba Takoyaki And More!” reads another. “Market Bar Cafe Events Open 2027”. The building where Japen Village will be located is owned by an affiliate of Winstanley Enterprises, while the retail space is managed by Yale University Properties. Eli Todd, a hard-hatted construction worker with the company Air Dynamics, told the Independent on Wednesday that he was working on installing air handlers, condensers, and other HVAC equipment in the future Japan Village site. It’s hot, he said, “to say the least.” Fortunately, it’s a little cooler inside where he was working. A “Mechanical Permit” posted to one of the front doors of the Japan Village site indicates that Yale University has secured permission to install 3 Daiken condensers — “2 14 ton twinned together and 1 20 ton condenser.” The permit also allows for the installation of “four 8 ton air handlers, one 4.5 ton air handlers, and one 6 ton air handler.” That permit was issued by the city’s Building Department on April 23. The city’s building permit database also shows that, on April 28, the city’s Building Department issued a permit to contractor Babbidge Construction Company for the interior renovation of a ground-floor tenant space at 276 Winchester Ave. “to create a new food hall and market space. Japan Village and Sunrise Market.” That permit estimates the related construction work as costing $1.1 million. Another permit, issued on June 22, allows for the installation of temporary lighting and plug boxes at the site. Meanwhile, a few dozen feet away from the future Japan Village, construction has now wrapped up at the raised intersection of the Farmington Canal Trail and Munson Street. That’s one of 12 trail intersections in New Haven and Hamden that has been lifted up to sidewalk level, among other safety improvements, in a long-in-the-works effort to slow down cars along a path popular with joggers, walkers, and cyclists. Jonah Poczobutt, a software engineer who lives in Dwight, crossed the intersection at around noon Wednesday as part of his regular lunchtime walk on the trail. “I think it’s a good thing,” he said about the raised intersection, the flashing pedestrian crossing beacons, and other improvements to the intersection. Hopefully this will slow cars down. Given that construction began just a few months ago, he said, the project seemed to wrap up pretty quickly. New signage, too! Meanwhile, nearby, Elena’s will (hopefully) be moving in soon to the former Hair’s Kay Beauty Salon site at 320 Ashmun. The post Construction Begun On Japanese Food Hall At Ex-Fussy Coffee Site appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less