https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt7oS9WdPzc
Foxwoods banking on outlet center
LEDYARD >> In the fight to retain market share against the growing number of casinos in New England and New York, Foxwoods is doubling down on its bet that an indoor retail outlet center will keep visitors coming back to the woods of Connecticut. With just under seven months to go before the Tanger Outlets at Foxwoods opens to the public on May 21, executives from the casino and the retail partnership that is managing the $120,000 million, 300,000-square-foot retail center took members of the media on a tour of the construction site. Construction of the complex, which straddles Trolley Line Boulevard and will have an entrance just off the casino floor by the Fox Tower, started last September. Much remains to be done: The center has a roof, but walls still need to be put in place in one section of the building. But with a crew of 600 construction workers toiling away non-stop, an executive with Greenwich-based Gordon Group Holdings, which is developing the retail complex in a partnership with Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, said the building will be ready when the first tenants start moving in sometime in early February. “We’re going to drive a lot of traffic to the casino and the casino is going to drive a lot of traffic to us,” said Matt Armstrong, executive vice president of development at Gordon Group Holdings. “It’s going to difficult (for any other resort operator) to replicate what we’ve got here. This becomes the 800-pound gorilla.” Among the 85 retailers that will be tenants in the Tanger Outlets at Foxwoods are the Nike Factory Store, American Eagle Outfitters and Tommy Hilfiger. The size of the stores ranges from 1,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet, which is the space that the Nike Factory Store will be taking, Armstrong said. The center will employ 400 people once it opens and generate $10.4 million in sales tax annually.
Construction of the center is occurring against a backdrop of increased competition in the gaming industry in neighboring states. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Chesire voters approve five referendum questions
CHESHIRE — Voters backed all five capital budget referendum items in Tuesday’s election, according to preliminary ballot counts. This year’s capital referendum items were a $1.8 million allocation for road repaving, $1.1 million for a second ladder truck for the Cheshire Fire Department, $1 million for new land acquisition, $850,000 for the replacement of the Creamery Road bridge, and an addition of $250,000 to the budget of a dormant renovation project for the high school’s boys locker room. The results don’t include between 600 and 700 absentee votes that were cast, according to the registrars of voters office. “I was happy that everything passed,” Town Manager Michael A. Milone said. “It was reassuring to not only have the support of the council but also the public.”
Voters supported the road repaving question by 8,367 to 2,654 votes. “We’re very happy that the residents are supportive of our repaving program,” said George Noewatne, the town’s public works director. The roads to be repaved will be selected based on their pavement condition index, a national metric, and inspection of town roads after the winter storm season, he said. Residents supported the purchase of an additional fire department ladder truck by 6,830 to 4,247 votes “We look forward to adding the vehicle and putting it into our fleet to the protect the residents of Cheshire,” Fire Chief Jack Casner said. A consultant will be hired to design specifications, and then the town will invite bids, he said. A vehicle would be delivered nine to 12 months later. Voters narrowly backed the purchase of new land 5,558 to 5,302 votes, although the outcome could potentially be reversed by absentee ballot results. Milone was surprised by the margin, given that the town hasn’t asked residents to approve money for new property in about five years. Because properties were unspecified, Milone said, people may have been hesitant. The replacement of the Creamery Road bridge received substantial support, winning 6,834 to 4,067 votes. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
How will the Foxwoods mall differ from other malls? For one thing, Foxwoods patrons who earn Rewards Card points at the casino will be able to redeem them at the stores in the outlet mall. O'Connell said Foxwoods is negotiating agreements with each of the stores. "Other sites won't have the Rewards connection, they're not enclosed and they're not part of a resort that has everything - golf, shows, shopping, gaming," Armstrong said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
After bond approved, NPU ready to add natural gas service
NORWICH - With a fresh $9.5 million commitment in hand from voters to expand its natural gas pipeline, Norwich Public Utilities said neighborhoods in the city’s Occum section and around John M. Moriarty Elementary School are being targeted for the work. “I think the voters in Norwich delivered a real strong message to us that they have the confidence and trust in us to continue to extend these projects to them and bring reliable natural gas to more places in the community,” NPU General Manager John Bilda said. On Tuesday, taxpayers widely approved the bond by a vote of 4,539 to 2,697. Since 2010, residents have authorized making a $20.5 million investment to bring natural gas services to the city. Bilda said over the next few months, officials will evaluate where the demand is greatest. Proponents of the bonds say one reason they have been so successful at the polls is because of the method used to pay them back. No work begins until NPU has enough customers in an area to guarantee repayment of construction. But there’s also a wider benefit to the city, because the increased revenue stream adds to the amount of money repaid by NPU to the city at the end of the fiscal year. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Demolition work underway at site for rejected Berlin police station
BERLIN — Demolition work is underway at the proposed site for a $21 million police station that voters rejected on Tuesday, but it has no connection to that proposal, the town economic development director said Thursday. "That work is part of a previous $2 million bond that allowed the town to buy 903-913 Farmington Ave.," James Mahoney said. "That bonding authorization also included funds for the initial designs for the site and for demolition. People will see demolition there, but it is what was already approved."
The parcel has been fenced off for more than a month while crews raze the adjacent building at 889 Farmington Avenue and take down the structures at 903-913 Farmington. Mahoney said some of that demolition work has started and people will continue to see activity on the site.
But the rejection of the new police station will halt any post-demolition work on the site, which the town purchased in 2011 as a place to build a new headquarters for police. The proposal defeated by voters called for a 30,000 square-foot building — three times the size of the current police station that has been housed since 1974 in most of the ground floor of the town hall complex. Town council members, although divided along party lines on the $21 million proposal, have agreed that the local police have outgrown the current station and more room is needed. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Another big election winner: Transportation funding initiatives
Voters across the nation again demonstrated they strongly support increased investment in transportation improvements, approving 60 of 90 (67 percent) transportation-related initiatives that were on the November ballot, according to a report from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s Transportation Investment Advocacy Center (ARTBA-TIAC).
The measures will provide nearly $21 billion in additional in revenue for transportation projects, the ARTBA-TIAC’s post-election analysis finds. “These election results show, once again, the public wants our government to invest in our mobility and safety and are willing to pay for it,” ARTBA President & CEO Pete Ruane said. “It doesn’t make a difference whether it is a Republican- or Democratic-leaning state. The newly-elected Congress and the White House must take note and do their job and permanently fix the Highway Trust Fund. Transportation funding cannot remain frozen in the ice of political inertia and partisanship. The states rely on federal funds for, on average, 52 percent of their highway and bridge capital investments.” Texans approved the largest state funding initiative, redirecting nearly $1.2 billion in oil and gas revenues from the state’s rainy day fund for transportation. Voters in Maryland (81 percent) and Wisconsin (80 percent) overwhelmingly approved measures to ensure that transportation-related revenues are used exclusively for their intended purpose, and not diverted to non-transportation programs. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Opening of stores delayed until 2016
CHESHIRE — Construction of an outlet center in the north end is expected to begin in the winter, with stores opening in the spring of 2016. In an email, officials of W/S Development and Tanger Factory Outlets Centers answered questions about the project, which was expected to be under construction by now. The project's completion appears to have been pushed to spring 2016 from a fall 2015 timeline presented to the town. The project received approvals from the town in February. There was no visible action on the project for months, as more permits were needed, including one from the town's Water Pollution Control Authority. The project "does not yet have all final approvals" but it is nearing full permitting with state agencies, according to W/S Development spokeswoman Laurel Sibert. In August, the project received approval for the construction of a sewer system within the complex with a 105,000-gallons-per-day capacity. The permit was the last local permit the project needed. The project was also expected to receive permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Cheshire Outlets, which is a joint venture between W/S Development and Tanger Factory Outlets Centers, is expected to buy the 111.5-acre property on the Southington border in the spring. Sibert said the property will change hands after "permitting is complete and our minimum pre-leasing thresholds have been met, which is currently expected to occur in 2015. No tenants are being disclosed yet.
"The leasing process is moving forward at an encouraging pace as new tenants continue to sign on for new space," Sibert wrote in an email. W/S Development submitted applications with the town in late 2006 and received initial approvals for the project in 2007. In the face of the economic downturn, the project was delayed for a few years. In 2013, the company requested final approvals for the project, which is to be built in two phases. The first phase includes an outdoor shopping center to be called Outlets at Cheshire. A second phase includes 147 apartments, a hotel and fitness center, and athletic club. This phase is expected to be completed after the housing market improves, W/S officials have told the town.