2014 A Year Of Building
Area residents could see plenty of construction in 2014, including new Meriden high schools and a redeveloped downtown, a shopping complex in Cheshire, renovated middle schools in Southington and a new fire station in Wallingford. ome of the projects scheduled to begin in the next year have been in the works for years, such as the work to prevent flooding and revitalize Meriden’s downtown.
City Manager Lawrence Kendzior said it’s been 40 or 50 years since construction on the scale planned for next year took place in the city. ork on rebuilding Platt and Maloney high schools will continue as well as work to transform the Hub into a downtown park next year. There will also be expansion to bridges to prevent downtown flooding and development of retail and residential space on Colony Street if approved by the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, Kendzior said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Wallingford panel continues discussuions with hotel developer
WALLINGFORD — Members of the town’s Economic Development Commission are interested in continuing discussions with Winston Hospitality and would like to see the partially built hotel on Route 68 completed. ut the owner of the Hilton Garden Inn, Bob Winston, is asking to speak directly to the Town Council in his efforts to decrease the property’s assessment and freeze taxes for seven years. Winston sent an email to council leadership last week asking to come before the council. Winston has been involved in negotiations with the EDC for months and made a presentation to the commission on Dec. 9, saying his plan calls for a $15 million investment on his part and would create 48 jobs. Now that the commission has had a chance to review our request, I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to personally introduce this project and our company to you at your convenience,” Winston said in the e-mail. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Construction jobs are there But are the workers??
This hardly qualifies as news, but a survey by Associated General Contractors shows construction firms are struggling to fill their work crews with qualified people. While the problem pre-dated the economic collapse of 2008, it clearly was worsened by the downturn. When the layoffs hit, construction workers who had entered the workforce confident that the housing boom and infrastructure repair work would go on forever suddenly got an education about job security. Contractors had no alternative but to trim their payrolls and, just like that, jobs went away CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING