Stamford rail station project stuck on negotiations with state
STAMFORD -- The project has been described as the city's most vital upcoming redevelopment, an estimated $500 million undertaking that will have a resounding impact on thousands of train commuters and boost the city's economy with new business.
But more than a year and a half after announcing the team of private developers that will replace the downtown train station's aging parking garage, and build a mixed-use development in the surrounding area, the state Department of Transportation still has not released any new public details on the plan or the studies behind it, nor has it indicated when the project will begin.
Instead, the state DOT has spent the last several months locked in slow-moving negotiations with city officials about aspects of the plan, and over how much say Stamford gets on how the property is used.
The DOT has consistently maintained that land owned by the state is not subject to local zoning approval; the Martin administration, meanwhile, argues that the city needs to have input on a project of such local importance and impact. In November, the city Zoning Board asserted its own authority on the matter, passing a zoning regulation requiring the train station project to receive certain city approvals.
The matter is set to play out at the state level soon, when the state legislature tackles a bill introduced last month that would critics say would strip towns and cities of their local planning and zoning decision-making authority in areas surrounding rail and bus stations. It was introduced by the governor.
By the DOT's account, the need to broker an agreement with the city has delayed the state's effort to finalize its contract with the station's developers, a group led by John McClutchy of JHM Group. That's because once an agreement is signed, a clock begins to tick on McClutchy's three-year construction deadline to build the garage. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Steel beams at East Hampton High School 'a major milestone'
EAST HAMPTON >> Battered by the tenacious winter and continuing confusion over state funding to the project, members of the High School Building Committee can now point to a real and positive sign. Steel beams are thrusting up into the brightening sky on the northern edge of the eastern front of the school. Steven Smith, project manager for Downes Construction, the general contractor, described the steel as “a major milestone” during the building committee’s meeting Thursday. The beams are being installed in what will become the science wing of the high school. “And next week, we will be moving over to the cafeteria area” toward the southern end of the building “and start on that,” Smith said.
With the weather starting to loosen its icy grip on the project, “We’re going to be starting more site work,” Smith added during a presentation to the committee. “At least it’s not 17 below,” said Jeff Anderson, who is Downes’ assistant director of operations. Last month, a Downes official said the combination of the heavy snow and extreme cold had put Downes perhaps as much as a month behind schedule. Now, with the changing of the seasons, Smith said it is appropriate to re-evaluate that time-frame. However, that is a considerable amount of time to make up, Smith acknowledged.
At present, Downes’ Smith said, there are six subcontractors on site. By this summer, he estimates there will as many as 20. On another front, committee officials were scheduled to conduct a tour of the school/construction site Friday afternoon, with would-be bidders who hope to take over the role of overall project manager. Last month, the committee dismissed its original OPM, CREC, the Capital Region Educational Council. The deadline for the submission of bids for the the position is next Friday, committee member Cynthia Abraham said. Abraham, a member of the OPM search subcommittee, said she is confident there will be a number of interested bidders. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Middletown received only one bid pump station last month
MIDDLETOWN — The city has received a single bid for construction of a sewage pump station, and that bid was $5 million above engineering estimates for the project.
City officials said they will seek another round of bids for the job, which would cause at least a three-month delay.
Voters in 2012 approved a $37 million bond package to build a pump station and pipeline to join the Mattabassett District in Cromwell, which operates a water pollution control plant. The common council raised the bond package by $3 million in 2014 after the water and sewer department said initial engineering estimates for the pump station component were inadequate.
The station will be built off East Main Street where the fire training center is now.
Mayor Daniel Drew and Water and Sewer Director Guy Russo said receiving only one bid was a fluke in the timing of the bid opening.
Russo said the cost of the pump station will take an estimated $23 million to $24 million of the total work, and the bid the city received was for $28.9 million. He said it is unclear whether the construction will end up costing that much once other bids are received.
"It's hard to make a judgment with one bid," Russo said. "We're looking at the factors that led to only one company bidding."
Drew said that at the same time the city was seeking bids, other larger projects, including a state Department of Transportation project and major work at the Metropolitan District in Hartford, were likely a higher priority for construction firms.
To get a better idea of what the final cost will be, the city needs more bids, he said.
"If they all come in higher we'll have to regroup and figure out other options [for additional funding]," Drew said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Optimists see a rosy year ahead, and they are right... Maybe
Diesel powers lots of construction work, but probably the best fuel of all is optimism. Before the first engine is powered up on a project, optimism has fired the imagination of a project owner, who is persuaded that letting of contracts is a certain precursor to reaping profits. Absent such optimism, projects stay idle. “We have reason for optimism in 2015,” says Portland Cement Association chief economist Ed Sullivan. He reports that talking to exhibitors at World of Concrete in Las Vegas in February revealed “unprecedented, unbridled optimism that has been absent for a decade. And there are palpable reasons for this.” Palpable is good. Optimism sometimes is grounded in wishful thinking. While such thinking still tends to lift the sights of the thinker, it doesn’t always pan out, which is discouraging. Having clearly evident reasons for feeling optimistic almost turns optimism into realism: Everyone can see the good things coming. So it is that Worlds of Concrete exhibitors see concrete flowing in 2015. Their thinking is keyed to economic data showing millions of net new jobs in the U.S., falling unemployment rates, low oil prices, a low inflation rate, and a probable surge in new home construction. Given all that, the outlook is understandably upbeat. A year ago, the ConExpo-ConAGG and IFPE gathering in Las Vegas generated similar optimism. ConExpo organizers said they discerned “momentum building in the industry.” In the end, 2014 didn’t turn out to be a truly banner year, but enough progress was made to suggest that growth was sustainable. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE