Selectman want justification for spike in Fairfield Ludlowe building cost
Students are often required to "show their work" when handing in math homework or a test.
The Board of Selectmen has asked the Fairfield Ludlowe Building Committee to do the same thing after hearing a report on the high school building/renovation project where the cost has ballooned from the authorized $11.6 million amount to more than $15 million.
Last week, the selectmen asked building committee officials to return when they meet March 4 with more details on why the project is over budget.
The construction project calls for replacing roofs and windows at the high school, building an 8,900-square-foot classroom addition and expanding the cafeteria.
"What are the top-10 reasons?" First Selectman Michael Tetreau asked. "I understand the costs are higher, why are the costs higher?"
Tom Cullen, director of operations for the Board of Education, said part of the issue is that "soft costs" were not included in original budget estimates. Soft costs usually cover things like architectural and engineering fees, testing fees and the cost of construction managers and owner's representatives. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Let's tear down the XL Center and replace it with a shiny new one
Whether coincidence or irony, the same week - this week - in which consultants unveil their findings for the future of the XL Center, the first shovels went into the dirt, breaking ground for Hartford's new minor league baseball stadium.
Perhaps this news is Granny Smiths and Valencias. (Apples and oranges). The baseball stadium is a mostly Hartford-centric undertaking, while the XL Center, whose future is a statewide function, merely sits in Hartford. Perfectly reasonable to believe that, mostly because it's true.
And irrelevant. Because the perception will be this: bad enough taxpayers are going to get whacked with this new stadium thing … then the state's going to ask for more to fix the XL Center, too? You can hear the arias and theory-mongering from the entire spectrum: the frauds who feign destitution and horde their money to the real folks who can't afford higher taxes and certainly cannot endorse something as frivolous as a sports arena.
SCI Architects of New York and officials from the Capital Region Development Authority meet Thursday to discuss future options for the XL Center. Even before the meeting's conclusion, we know this much: It's not about whether we pay, but what we pay for.
A story in Sunday's Hartford Courant unearthed four options for the future of the building: fix the arena from within, expand it to Trumbull/Church Streets (or both), raze it and start over or do nothing and watch it fade into irrelevance.
Then came this line: "Moving the arena elsewhere isn't an option, under the SCI study. The city has said it wants the arena to stay where it is, rather than leave a big, gaping hole downtown. The new location that would have made the most sense, (CRDA executive director Michael) Freimuth said, is off the table: Downtown North, where ground (was) broken Tuesday on a minor-league baseball stadium." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Costs of XL Center expansion range from $250M to $500M
HARTFORD — Expanding and transforming the city's aging XL Center into a modern, competitive arena could cost more than $250 million, while demolishing the venue and building a new one on the same spot would almost double the price tag, a consultant's report says.
Those two options and a third — working within the confines of the existing arena — were presented Thursday night to the board of the Capital Region Development Authority, the result of a three-month study to determine alternatives for rejuvenating the 40-year-old arena and possibly attracting a major league hockey team.
Funding for a dramatic makeover of the sports and entertainment venue would come almost exclusively from the state.
The report comes at a difficult financial time for the state and just a day after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy outlined cuts in state government in a budget proposal addressing billion-dollar deficits in each of the next two fiscal years.
Plans for the XL Center would have to compete for funding with a myriad of other projects, including the governor's sweeping statewide plan to improve transportation.
Cost estimates for either an expansion or a new building altogether — the latter estimated at between $450 million and $500 million — don't include the costs for necessary property acquisition. Both options would require more space.
The report, by SCI Architects of New York and a team of consultants, doesn't back one option against another. But it pointedly notes that working within the current building is not a viable option for creating an engine of economic growth downtown.
Although expansion and rebuilding are glitzy, expansion toward Trumbull Street would require acquiring atrium and other space from owner Northland Investment Corp. — and could mean reconfiguring space now leased by the University of St. Joseph and the YMCA.
An expansion also would absorb the lower-level exhibition hall, targeting the space for other uses.
"Either a totally new or transformed arena will have a significant positive impact to revitalize downtown Hartford," the report says. "It will build upon the existing strong corporate base and be a catalyst to make downtown an active urban environment seven days a week."
The 98-page report balances what needs to be done to the structure with what, from a business perspective, will help the XL Center turn a profit. The latter examines the pricing of a wider spectrum of seating options from general admission to luxury seating — and the effect of sales from increased concessions, catering and restaurants. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Retail outlet construction on track
Losing Tanger has no impact
CHESHIRE — Construction will likely begin in late spring or early summer on a shopping outlet in the town's north end. Officials from W/S Development, of Massachusetts, said in an e-mail this week that there has been no change in the project after a partnership with Tanger Factory Outlets ended late last year. The project is moving along with W/S "actively completing our final entitlements with the Connecticut Department of Transportation and Department of Energy and Environmental Protection," according to an e-mail by company spokeswoman Laurel Sibert.
"We'll break ground as soon as possible, which is likely late spring early summer of this year," Sibert said in an e-mail. Town officials, who were counting on $410,000 in building permits fees from the project this year, said last week they're no longer counting it in the operating budget for fiscal year 2015-16, which will be presented to the Town Council in April. Town Manager Michael Milone told the council last week that he is operating with the "assumption that it will not be realized."
"It's too close to call," Milone said. Milone's budget proposal includes estimates on revenues for the town, including state aid. He had planned on including the building permit revenue into the budget. With the fiscal year beginning on July 1, Milone didn't want to take a chance that the revenue will fail to come in time. Milone reached his decision after speaking with representatives of W/S.
The funds in question are only the first installment of building-related income from the project, with the town expecting $900,000 to $1 million more in construction-related fees alone.
The town has already hired a fire marshal and allocated additional money in the building department for a full-time consultant who will serve as inspector on this project.
W/S Development, of Chestnut Hill, Mass., has received final approvals from the town to build a 500,000-square-foot outlet shopping center called The Outlets at Cheshire. The project is the first of two parts of the more than $100 million project on a 111.5-acre property on the Southington town line near the intersection of Route 10 and the Interstate 691 connector.
W/S announced the partnership with Tanger in March 2014. Tanger is a publicly traded company with headquarters in Greensboro, N.C. It owns and operates 44 upscale shopping centers in 26 states and in Canada. In Connecticut, Tanger operates an outlet shopping center in Clinton.
W/S is continuing with the same project without Tanger. Sibert said there have been no changes to the project since Tanger backed out. The company declined to name any of the tenants that will occupy the shopping outlet. The project is expected to open in 2016, according to Sibert.