STAMFORD -- Building and Land Technology is expected to defend the 2011 demolition of a protected boatyard this week in an attempt to overturn an order from land-use officials pressing the powerful developer to restore a boatyard to the city's South End. A cease-and-desist order issued in July 2012 has prevented BLT from proceeding with any construction activity at a 14-acre site near Dyke Lane and Bateman Way, except for an approved environmental remediation of the land that costs $35 million. The order has also blocked land-use review of BLT's application to build a 850,000-square-foot headquarters on the property for Westport hedge fund Bridgewater Associates.
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Water issues could halt development
DANBURY -- Commercial and residential development in the city could come to a screeching halt if state health and environmental officials have their way. That's because state officials are thinking of removing Lake Kenosia from the city's water supply, which would virtually eliminate water capacity for future development. "It would stop all economic development in the city," said Mayor Mark Boughton. "Anyone who would want to expand their business or construct a new building in Danbury wouldn't be able to do so." Area developers said that would be devastating to the city.
"If there is no capacity, there is no way to grow," said David Hawley, president of Hawley Construction Corp. Dan Bertram, the principal of BRT Corp., said a sufficient water supply is "critical" to building multifamily housing developments, including Kennedy Place, which is planned for the north end of Main Street. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Railwork will cause road closures in Meriden
MERIDEN — Work will continue on the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail line this week, forcing detours and closures in the area of South Colony Street and Cook Avenue for two weeks.
Starting Monday, Jan. 6, crews will continue the installation of signal and communication systems in the area of South Colony and Cook for the $365 million, 62-mile railway project, said Amtrak Project Manager Peter Finch. The two-week project will take place in the area of the railroad bridge that runs over South Colony Street. South Colony will be closed while crews are working. Only local traffic will be have access to South Colony from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Traffic will be detoured to Cook Avenue. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
North Stonnington retaining wall work could run into the spring
North Stonington - Repairs that began last month on the stone retaining walls around the Shunock River next to the recently-completed Town Hall Bridge may continue well into the spring, depending on the weather. The eroded walls are some of the last vestiges of the March 2010 floods that washed out or damaged several other landmarks in town, including the Village Green Bridge - where $245,000 in repairs began in July and wrapped up in October - and the Town Hall Bridge, a nearly $2 million project completed last March to much fanfare. The Federal Emergency Management Agency funded 75 percent of the bridge work. But reinforcement of the walls - costing about $280,000, including the engineering, design, and project management - will not be eligible for federal aid. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
State businessman eyes decaying mill for makeover
Vernon (AP) - The Hockanum Mill complex looks like a crumbling monument to the town's past as an industrial hub, but behind the peeling paint and empty, broken windows, a local businessman is breathing new life into the buildings. "I don't see what is. I see what can be. I see potential," Ken Kaplan, owner of Kaplan Computers, says. "When it's done, it's going to be an amazing place."
The complex dates to the 1800s, and the white wooden structure visible along West Main Street was built in the 1850s to replace the circa-1814 building that burned down in 1854. Kaplan says the new building was constructed with posts and beams, with bricks in between, a style that Kerry Uzell, one of two job foremen, calls "slow-burn technology." Since then, the buildings have survived a number of fires of varying sizes, been the subject of failed plans to be turned into apartments, and endured an FBI investigation of former tenants for environmental violations. Potential $6M project CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Works in progress across the state in 2014
Under construction In downtown Hartford, the Front Street entertainment district will come into its own this year with the spring opening of Infinity Music Hall & Bistro and at least two more restaurants. Also, early in the year, the University of Connecticut is expected to back the makeover of the former Hartford Times building — at one end of Front Street — for classrooms and offices that will replace the university's current campus in West Hartford. Throughout downtown Hartford, the first apartment conversion projects, boosted by millions of dollars in state funding, are now beginning construction. Some of those units, mostly studios and one bedrooms, could be ready by the end of 2014. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING