Contractors try to stay ahead of rising material prices
Building-materials prices are struggling to keep up with demand, good news — for the time being — for Connecticut developers and contractors erecting or converting apartments and other commercial projects Steel, cement, lumber, drywall, asphalt, among a market basket of other construction supplies, have climbed in the past year but as of early 2014 are still way below the pricing peaks reached before the 2008 economic collapse, contractors, developers, suppliers and project-cost estimators say. Even construction-labor costs remain somewhat soft, experts say, as too many skilled hands chase too few building projects throughout New England and the U.S. With spring the seasonal tipoff for most construction projects, the mid-winter months of January and February typically are when builders and their clients finalize their construction budgets and submit materials orders to suppliers. Then they cross their fingers. Dakota Partners, the Massachusetts investor converting floors atop the Black Bear Saloon at 179 Allyn St. downtown to 64 apartments, got an early and helpful start budgeting materials for its $14.9 million project. Dakota and its Massachusetts contractor, Maggiore Construction Corp., also is just starting to set its budget for a similar apartment conversion of the former Hartford Supply building on Capitol Avenue. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
$12M Evergreen Walk hotel set, is first of two
The first of two planned hotels for South Windsor's Evergreen Walk open-air retail campus has broken ground, planners say. When it opens in early 2015, the $12 million, 110-room extended-stay hotel will be branded Cambria Suites, the luxury flag of the Choice Hotels International family of lodgings, according to Scott Yaeger, president of Canton, Ohio-based Radius Hospitality Group.
Radius will own and operate the hotel being erected on a 3.1-acre site, a spokesman said.
The hotel's formal address is 1000 Town Square, west of the Promenade Shops, along Evergreen Walk. The four-story building will have oversized rooms, with separate living and bedrooms, Yaeger said. Other amenities will include 800 square feet of meeting rooms, an indoor pool, fitness center, restaurant and bar, outdoor patio areas off the pool and restaurant, with fire pits and seating.
Golf carts will shuttle hotel guests to Evergreen's shops and restaurants, Yaeger said.
John Finguerra, who co-developed both Evergreen Walk and neighboring Buckland Hills mall in Manchester, said in a statement that Cambria Suites "will be a great addition to Evergreen Walk and draw more people to the whole Buckland Hills area." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
State Bioscience CT projects on target
After 18 months of initial construction, UConn Health Center officials say Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's ambitious $864 billion Bioscience Connecticut projects in Farmington remain on schedule and on budget. Since the first groundbreaking in summer 2012, the projects have created nearly 1,700 construction jobs. Almost 80 percent of the contracts have been awarded to Connecticut companies, UConn Health Center officials said. Bioscience Connecticut includes several major projects on the UConn Health Center campus including construction of a new patient tower and ambulatory care center. About 238,000 square feet of existing research facilities are being renovated and 28,000 square feet of new incubator space will be created. The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine is also building a 189,000-square-foot research center scheduled to open this fall. Construction of the new patient tower is on pace to be finished by early 2016, officials said. Structural steel has been going up for a month, and the skeleton of the new emergency department and operating room suite is taking shape. The final phase of the project involves moving hospital operations into the new tower and renovating the current John Dempsey Hospital. Meanwhile, the eight-story, 300,000-square-foot ambulatory care center is nearly enclosed. Next step is completion of exterior glass and glazing, which will allow interior construction to proceed, officials said. A newly built, 1,400 space parking garage opened in November and research lab renovations on the campus' "L" building are underway, officials said.