December 19, 2013

CT Construction Digest December 19, 2013

Windsor's Great Pond promoter askd CT for $12M

Great Pond Village's promoter is asking Connecticut taxpayers for a $12 million loan to jump-start work on the initial phases of the planned mixed-use complex in Windsor. Massachusetts developer-landlord David Winstanley in late November personally pitched directors of the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) about the project's scope and the need for a "bridge'' loan to start "shovel ready'' work on roads, water-sewer lines and other infrastructure for Great Pond's first phase
That phase envisions at least 300 new apartments and some retail spaces, Great Pond's advocates say.
If CRDA accedes to Winstanley's appeal, state money channeled to Great Pond, and later repaid, could be reinvested by the quasi-public state agency into similar regional residential-commercial development projects later on, officials say. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING

U.S. construction hits highest pace in 5 years

WASHINGTON >> U.S. builders broke ground on homes at the fastest pace in more than five years, strong evidence that the housing recovery is accelerating despite higher mortgage rates. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that developers began construction on houses and apartments in November at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.09 million. That’s 23 percent more than October’s pace of 889,000 and the fastest since February 2008, just a few months after the recession began.Construction of single-family homes jumped 21 percent to an annual pace of 727,000, also the  highest in more than five years. Apartment construction soared 26 percent to a 354,000 annual pace. Permits for future building slipped 3 percent to just over 1 million, down from 1.04 million in October. The drop reflected a decline in apartments, which can be volatile. Permits for single-family homes rose.“Evidently, builders in the field are genuinely confident about the outlook for sales of new single-family houses, despite the rise in mortgage rates,” said Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING

Planners approve downtown New Haven apartments

NEW HAVEN >> More than a year after it originally was approved, planners Wednesday again gave their blessing to conversion of a parking lot at Chapel and Howe to market rate apartments that incorporate two historic homes and moves a third to a new lot. Randy Salvatore of RMS will take a year to construct 136 apartments in a six-story building with ground-floor retail, most likely a restaurant facing Howe Street, with parking for 92 cars to serve a mix of one-bedroom, studios and two-bedroom units. The current uses of the five apartments at 169 Dwight St. and the three apartments at 175 Dwight St. will continue. The development spawned a fight over zoning and later a clarification of the intent of new rules aimed at densier mixed-use development.It survived a lawsuit by neighbor Susan Bradford, the co-owner and managing agent of a six-story apartment building at 78 Howe St. on the historic registry.“Everything has its pluses and minuses but it is better than it was,” Bradford said after the City Plan Commission’s unanimous vote. She was pleased that the rooftop deck has been changed to a patio and that the new construction is stepped back somewhat from the property line. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING