Foxwoods mall will miss Christmas 2014
Construction realities appear to have crushed hopes that the new Tanger outlet mall at the Foxwoods casino would be open in time for next year's Christmas shopping season.
"Tanger expects to grand open Tanger Outlets at Foxwoods in the first half of 2015," said Charles Worsham, vice president of development for Tanger Outlet Centers.
That's a disappointment to Foxwoods, which had hoped to open the doors in time to capture the seasonal rush of shoppers.While Tanger officials view their first casino-related development as an experiment, Foxwoods officials are more certain that there's synergy in the marriage of destination retail and destination gaming.Foxwoods CEO Scott Butera has deep Las Vegas ties and is quick to point to the litany of successful retail ventures in and around casino properties in Sin City — the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace, the Grand Canal Shops at the Venetian and a pair of outlet malls that bracket each end of the famed Strip.In his three years of trying to remake the debt-heavy Foxwoods, Butera has been focused on developing as many options as possible for the resorts guests. He's expanded the restaurant choices, renovated the resort's 2,200 rooms and updated the gaming floor at North America's largest casino.
Apprenticeships can lead to high-paying jobs to those without degrees
Instead of racking up debt while going to college, apprentices start earning money within their first year in the classroom.According to a recent report published by the office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections, enrolling in an apprenticeship program can be a cost effective way to boost earnings while gaining the job training you need.Most of these programs require apprentices to train with an experienced professional for at least 2,000 hours as well as completing classes. At the end of the program, apprentices receive a nationally recognized certificate of completion, either from the Department of Labor or from an approved state agency.There were more than 358,000 registered apprentices in more than 21,000 apprenticeship programs in 2012, according to the DOL's website, mostly in construction, manufacturing, and health-care industries.Popular programs include electricians (four years), cabinetmakers (four years), mine inspectors (four years), firefighters (three years), paramedics (two years), pharmacy support staff (one year), correctional officers (one year), and dental assistants (one year).
Construction plans eyed for replacing structure on Pine Street
BRISTOL — For the first time since the expansion of Route 72, new construction is being eyed along a stretch of Pine Street encompassed by the new roadway.The Belinda Co. is seeking to construct a new commercial building at 91 Pine St. that would replace a smaller retail structure that has been empty for a few years.The plan calls for razing the existing strip of stores, which included a Laundromat and an ice cream parlor in days past, as well as knocking down a century-old house at 103 Pine St. next door.The new commercial building, whose expected use is not clear from plans, would have 45 parking spaces in front and on the eastern side of the lot. The plan became public recently when The Belinda Co. asked the city’s wetlands commission for its approval. There is a narrow wetland just north of the property along the Pequabuck River. The parcels eyed for the project are on the north side of Pine Street, shortly before the right lane jogs off across the Savino Bridge to line up with Riverside Avenue. The existing commercial building there, constructed in 1990, is valued at $375,000 by the city assessor. The house next door that would be demolished as well is valued at $137,000.
Parking garage being explored for Fort Trumbul in New London
New London - The city and the Renaissance City Development Association are continuing to explore the construction of a parking garage in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood to accommodate the parking needs of Electric Boat and future development on the peninsula.Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, which is retrofitting a building on nearby Howard Street for medical offices, is also interested in parking in that area of the city."It's in the preliminary stages," Michael Joplin, a member of the RCDA, said Friday. "But everyone now is beginning to understand, yes, we have a parking problem, and a garage is the way out of it."Electric Boat, the city and the RCDA are discussing how to provide more parking for the roughly 3,000 people who work daily at the Electric Boat facility on Pequot Avenue, he said.The site being looked at in Fort Trumbull is on ledge and runs along the railroad tracks, Joplin said. The garage would be a public facility. The state Department of Economic and Community Development is also in on discussions, Joplin said, in an effort to help the city find federal and state grants to fund the project.Parking garages cost about $18,000 to $20,000 per space to build. A 500-space garage would cost around $10 million, Joplin said.EB has needed more parking than what is available in its own parking garage on Pequot Avenue ever since moving into the former Pfizer Global Research and Development Headquarters in 2010. Each day hundreds of EB workers park along Pequot Avenue and on streets in Fort Trumbull. Others are bused from the Groton facility to New London. Electric Boat needs between 400 and 650 more spaces for its workers, Joplin said.But Robert Hamilton, spokesman for EB, said the company provides enough parking for its employees.
Grocery store and apartments proposed for downtown New London
New London - Klewin Development is proposing to build a grocery store and 40 apartments on a 3-acre parcel of city-owned land at the intersection of Bank and Howard streets.Klewin Development, with offices in Groton, has been talking with the city about plans for an 18,000-square-foot grocery store, with market-rate and affordable housing units above.Kyle Klewin, a member of Klewin Development, was granted prime developer status last February for the site. He is asking for an extension on the developer status and will make a presentation to the City Council Monday night.
The Economic Development Committee will meet at 5:30 p.m., followed by the City Council at 7 p.m.Klewin could not be reached for comment Friday, but in correspondence with the city he said the state Department of Economic and Community Development is supportive of the project. The company is preparing an application for funds from the Competitive Housing Assistance for Multifamily Properties, which awards grants and low-interest loans to projects that address affordable housing needs. The housing would be 80 percent market rate and 20 percent affordable.
The company is partnering with Sheldon Oak Central and the Women's Development Corp. for the project. The partners have applied for a $250,000 pre-development loan from the DECD. The money would be used to fund design engineering, environmental review, cost estimates, financial analysis, legal and financing fees.
Plan to fix Oakville road moves slowly
WATERTOWN — Plans to straighten a dangerous stretch of Main Street in Oakville are moving forward, albeit a bit more slowly than originally planned.The 1,200-foot strip between Candee Hill Road and Rockdale Avenue was the site of 48 accidents between January 2006 and December 2008, according to Erik Jarboe, project engineer in highway design for the state Department of Transportation.Most of those accidents, 71 percent, were single cars hitting objects off the road with only 33 percent resulting in injuries, Jarboe said.He said people tend to drive pretty quickly through the curves, leading to the high accident rate.Of the 48 accidents, 63 percent were due to people driving too fast for conditions, Jarboe said.
The project will soften the curves, straighten the roadway, remove an old railroad bridge abutment, cut back rock to improve sight lines around corners and widen an area for a bypass at Candee Hill Road. It will also improve drainage, clean up the driveway to Steele Brook Commons and replace the asphalt sidewalk with concrete and extend it down in front of the Commons.
State workers will reconstruct the edge of the road at Rockdale Avenue and remove a driveway to Ro's Pizza, Jarboe said.The project is estimated to cost $2.1 million, with 80 percent of the funds coming from the federal government and 20 percent from the state.
Jarboe said the state is just completing the design for the project, with construction planned to start in late summer or early fall 2014. In 2010, the state had predicted that construction would start in spring 2012.Jarboe said the delay was caused by design changes around some rights-of-way and the environmental permitting process.
He said the project is complicated because workers will have to cut a lot of rock and remove a bridge abutment, but they should be able to work through the winter if it isn't too severe. The project should be complete by the summer of 2015, Jarboe said.
Once the project is complete, Jarboe said he would like to see the number of accidents go down to the single digits.The 1,500-foot section of road just south of the project area had five accidents per year over a three-year period, Jarboe said.