Since the recession, retail development in southwestern Connecicut largely has been limited to first-floor space in new apartment buildings and retrofitting vacant big-box stores. But a Monroe developer is bucking that trend with plans for a mega-store complex.
The town's planning and zoning commission last month approved plans by Kimball Development for a 161,000-square-foot retail building on Victoria Drive off Main Street (Route 25) near the Swiss Army corporate headquarters. Plans for the project, which will be built on 40 acres and require road improvements and construction of a waste-water treatment facility, are being reviewed by the state Traffic Administration and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Developer John Kimball has a tenant for the project, called Victoria Place, but he isn't telling. He also hasn't told the traffic administrators as finishing touches are put on its final submission to the agency, according state Traffic Administration spokesman Kevin Nursick. CLICK OK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Town meeting on sewer project in Hawleyville
NEWTOWN -- After a public hearing Tuesday, the Newtown Water and Sewer Authority voted to approve a resolution to bond for $2.8 million to pay the costs for planning, design, acquisition, construction and installation of sewers along Route 6 to serve the Hawleyville area west of Whipporwill Hill Road to Splending Place and along Route 25 to serve a section of Covered Bridge Road.Town leaders had previously endorsed the project, and on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Center taxpayers will be asked to vote on the project.The proposed sewer project is touted as a means to help attract economic development in a commercially-zoned area off Interstate 84. The 20-year bonds for this project will be paid through benefit assessments by the users.
Newington hires agency to manage Natinal Welding site development
At their meeting Tuesday, the Newington Town Council authorized the town to hire the Capitol Region Development Authority to manage the revamp of the blighted National Welding property, but is still deciding whether or not to enter into a contract with the state to use a $2 million grant for the project, estimated to cost over $4 million.Because the site is adjacent to CTfastrak’s Cedar Street Station that’s now being built, it poses an opportunity for “transit-oriented development” — a term locals have long feared the implications of.Tuesday’s resolution authorizing the town manager to enter into an agreement with the CRDA to administer the $2 million grant and handle the demolition, abatement and then redevelopment of the site passed 6-2. Republicans Maureen Klett and Dan Dinunzio disapproved, citing a lack of information about the selection process.
“There’s nothing to compare to; they were brought to the table like they were the only game in town,” Klett said of the agency, which managed the construction of the CT Convention Center and other large-scale projects in the Hartford area. CLICK OK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
UConn has signed an $88 million contract with a New Haven construction company Skanska to build a facility at the school's technology park, according to Skanska.The 118,000-square-foot Innovation Partnership Building will house laboratories for researchers and entrepreneurs to work alongside UConn students, Skanska said. The project is slated for a Jan. 2017 completion date.
The company built Laurel Hall — UConn's 68,000-square-foot, $26 million social sciences and humanities building in 2011. Skanska is a Swedish company with its U.S. construction headquarters in New Haven.
Burns & McDonnell to hire 54 new employees
The firm said demand is driving the additions. It posted $2.3 billion in sales across all its business units last year, up 15 percent from $2 billion in 2012.The Kansas City company, which has 325 New England workers, said the planned additions are part of a company-wide plan to hire 600 people this year. The employee-owned firm said it added 700 jobs in 2013, ending the year with 4,300.
The company built Laurel Hall — UConn's 68,000-square-foot, $26 million social sciences and humanities building in 2011. Skanska is a Swedish company with its U.S. construction headquarters in New Haven.
Burns & McDonnell to hire 54 new employees
The firm said demand is driving the additions. It posted $2.3 billion in sales across all its business units last year, up 15 percent from $2 billion in 2012.The Kansas City company, which has 325 New England workers, said the planned additions are part of a company-wide plan to hire 600 people this year. The employee-owned firm said it added 700 jobs in 2013, ending the year with 4,300.