BLT granted extension for Stamford's Gateway office complex
STAMFORD -- The Zoning Board on Monday night granted a one-year extension to Building and Land Technology on its mixed-use project near the train station known as Gateway. Development plans for the 6-acre site on Washington Boulevard, which included two 10-story office buildings and well as a residential building, were approved in 2010.
The first phase, a parking garage, has already been completed. A portion of the garage consisting of 750 spaces have been made available to the public.
In March, BLT requested more time to break ground on the second phase of the project, citing "market conditions." In a letter, John Freeman, general counsel for the developer, said the company's goal was to secure a tenant before the construction of the buildings.
The overall commercial vacancy rate for the city's downtown was 24 percent during the fourth quarter of 2014, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield. CLICK TITILE TO CONTINUE
Boughton proposes major capital spending in new $238M budget
DANBURY -- Mayor Mark Boughton proposed a $238 million budget Tuesday that carries a 2.4 percent tax rate increase and calls for a huge investment in city infrastructure.
The $30 million proposed for road paving, bridge repair, new school roofs and public safety equipment is six times the normal amount of a capital budget, Boughton told The News-Times before making his presentation to the City Council on Tuesday night.
"Our normal capital budget in a given year runs about $4 (million) or $5 million," Boughton said, adding low interest rates make this a good time to invest in capital projects. "We are going to spend a lot of money on stuff that has returning value to the community."
Money for capital items ranging from replacement fire trucks to intersection improvements and parking garage repairs will come from a handful of funding sources that include state grants, the sale of city land and money left over from a school construction project that ended under budget.
The city will have less debt service next year because it has repaid what it borrowed for several large building projects. As a result, the impact of the big capital plan will be nominal on taxpayers.
The proposed tax rate would be $2,826 per $100,000 of assessed value. A homeowner with a house assessed at $220,000, typical for Danbury, would pay $6,217 in taxes next year, or $80 more than this year.
Sewer and water rates would remain the same in 2015-2016.
Spending in the proposed budget represents an 0.8 percent increase over the current year, or $2 million more. All of the new spending is going toward the school budget, Boughton said. CLICK TITILE TO CONTINUE
New London to move forward with town hall renovations
New London — The City Council on Monday night unanimously authorized $3 million in bonding to fund the planning, design and construction phases of a historic restoration of City Hall, and approved another $15,655 to make immediate repairs to some City Hall offices as the city grapples with a space crunch.
Authorizing the $3 million in bonding, which the City Council did as part of its consent agenda and without public discussion, allows the council to move forward with its commitment to conduct a historically accurate restoration of the disheveled City Hall.
Since an 18-foot-long crack in a concrete floor of the Stanton Building, 111 Union St., was discovered in February, city employees have been relocated to temporary offices elsewhere, creating a logistical headache.
The Office of Development and Planning has been relocated from its offices in the Stanton Building to the second floor of City Hall, 10 employees from other departments were relocated and the city has had a temporary office space trailer set up in the parking lot adjacent to the Stanton Building to house four or five employees from the Building Inspection Division through this summer.
The council was presented with two options Monday night: appropriate state Local Capital Improvement Program funding to make improvements to now-vacant offices on the second floor of City Hall to give ODP more space, or authorize the city to lease privately owned office space downtown. CLICK TITILE TO CONTINUE
Williams demands employee ownership
When Kansas City-based Burns & McDonnell landed the $1.1 billion Middletown-Norwalk power transmission line project in 2004, the company tabbed J. Brett Williams to oversee it — and he took the ball and ran.
As program manager, Williams committed fully to the massive project designed to prevent the kind of power outage that darkened the Northeast in August 2003. He and his wife sold their Kansas City house and moved with their three young children to Connecticut.
"I said, 'If I'm gong to do this, we're gong to commit,' " Williams recalls. " 'I don't want to travel back and forth. I want my family with me. I want to raise my kids at night.' "
Williams brought along a handful of Burns & McDonnell colleagues. He told them they didn't relocate to build one project; they were there to build a business. To do that and to open a regional office, for which the company had no formal plans, they would have to prove themselves on Middletown-Norwalk.
The project finished a year ahead of schedule and about $90 million under budget. That led to more business and a Northeast office in Wallingford. The company landed other big Northeast power projects that helped it thrive during the recession.
That take-charge, take-ownership attitude seems to define the management style of Williams, 48, who has overseen about $10 billion worth of infrastructure projects for the design-build corporation. He joined Burns & McDonnell 15 years ago after stints over 10 years with Halliburton Co. in Dallas and Butler Construction in Hong Kong and Kansas City.
Today, the Northeast office Williams oversees as president and manager has about 260 full-time employee-owners. Altogether, Burns & McDonnell has more than 5,000 employees. The company this year ranked No. 15 on the Forbes 100 Best Companies to Work For List. CLICK TITILE TO CONTINUE
Hartford to close two roads for baseball stadium construction
HARTFORD — The city plans to close a pair of roads later this month, one temporarily and one permanently, for the construction of the minor league baseball stadium being built in the new Downtown North development area.
Trumbull Street between Main and Market streets will be closed from the end of the day Friday, April 17, until Friday, Sept. 4, to accommodate the construction.
The portion of Windsor Street between Pleasant and Trumbull streets will be permanently closed. It will serve as a staging area through the construction phase, the will be converted into the "Windsor Walk" pedestrian and bicycle lanes.
The Downtown North area now under construction on the edge of downtown is slated to feature a minor league baseball stadium, apartments, a supermarket and a brewery on 15 acres near Main and Trumbull streets with an estimated price tag of $350 million. Construction of the 9,000-seat stadium, which began in mid-February, is expected to be completed by March 2016 and will serve as the home of the Hartford Yard Goats, the new hame for what is now the New Britain Rock Cats.
Milford board approves one housing plan, rejects another
MILFORD >> It was like multi-family/affordable housing night at Tuesday’s Planning and Zoning Board meeting. The board denied a controversial proposal to build a 257-unit apartment building at 460 Bic Drive, and per a court settlement approved seven residential units for 1556 New Haven Ave. that previously had been denied, and also held a public hearing on a new proposal to build 15 units in five building at 14 Gulf Street.
Each project drew opposition from residents who packed City Hall. Dozens of residents showed to make sure the PZB denied the 257-unit Bic Drive project, as they has indicated they would at last month’s meeting.
But because of the state’s fair housing act, which overrides local zoning laws, and has led to many successful appeals of such denials, residents said they can’t feel true relief. “It’s a short-term victory,” said resident John Maccone, who, like many other residents, expect the project to go forward on appeal. Even board chairman Ben Gettinger conceded that, by voting against the motion to deny the project, because “I know what’s going to happen at the court level.” He said the project fits the requirements for statute 8-30g, which allows a developer to ask the courts to override a local zoning decision in order to construct affordable housing for working class and low-income individuals. Another case on Tuesday’s agenda was an example of that statute at work. Per a court settlement and some plan changes, including reduction by one unit, the board approved seven residential units on New Haven Avenue that had been denied by the PZB and which the public opposed. CLICK TITILE TO CONTINUE