Stamford Hospital's new building almost ready
STAMFORD -- Two years after officials broke ground, the glass-wrapped monolith of the new Stamford Hospital is closing in on opening day.
According to the project's construction manager, the $450 million state-of-the-art medical center is more than halfway done.
For now, layer upon layer of color-coded electrical piping sits atop matte silver heating and air conditioning above where ceilings that do not yet exist are to go. In every wall, dozens of wired outlets are visible, wrapped in blue construction tape. In a little over a year, they will power diagnostic equipment in 180 single-patient rooms.
Before all the copper, steel and glass came together on the West Side, hospital and construction managers built a virtual model. They will use the three-dimensional rendering for future building maintenance as well.
The model has helped juggle the different steps -- wiring, plumbing and so on -- of putting up a new building. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Luxury movie theaters coming to Steel Point
BRIDGEPORT -- A beaming Mayor Bill Finch on Wednesday announced the latest confirmed tenant at the city's massive Steel Point development -- a 12-screen luxury movie theater complex scheduled to open in 2017.
Cinepolis USA, a California-based theater chain, will open the 50,000-square-foot, 1,200-seat theater on the long-delayed waterfront development, following the first phase that includes anchor Bass Pro Shops and three smaller stores. When completed, the 50-acre Steelepointe Harbor project is to include a 2 million-square-foot mix of residential, office and retail development along a waterfront promenade.
"This is going to be a luxury experience where they serve you food and drinks while you watch the movie," Finch said.
Cinepolis USA has locations in California and Florida. Its parent company, Mexico-based Cinepolis, is the largest movie theater chain in Latin America.
The Bridgeport location will include five luxury theaters with comfortable seating, in-theater waiter service and a full bar. The other seven screens will have the comfortable seating but not food service.
An adult ticket at a Cinepolis luxury theater in Florida costs $13.75.
Cinepolis in Bridgeport will occupy the top level of a multistory building south of Stratford Avenue between Pembroke and East Main streets. The building will also include parking and ground-level retail, which has not been determined.
The theater is being built without state or city subsidies, officials said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Oxford power plant OK'd
Representatives of Competitive Power Ventures smiled and shook hands as they left a Connecticut Siting Council hearing on Thursday, confident that the long process toward building a power plant in Oxford is near a conclusion.
The Siting Council, which has jurisdiction over the placement of utilities, approved with conditions CPV's application to build a 785-megawatt natural-gas-fired power plant by a 5-2 vote. The decision was expected following a straw poll two weeks ago that gave council staff guidance on drafting the decision order.
"We're very pleased with the decision," said Andrew Bazinet, director of development for Maryland-based CPV. "We've been a part of this process for the last six months, and responded to every question and issue that's been raised. I like to think this is the product of our due diligence."
The decision is a modification of a smaller power plant approved for the same site on Woodruff Hill Road in 1999. That plan was stalled by wider economic troubles, and CPV acquired the rights to the plant's construction in 2012. Last year, it submitted a revised plan for the larger, more efficient plant that was approved Thursday. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Groton will hold community meetings on school building plan
Groton — The group charged with creating a plan to upgrade Groton’s aging public schools has scheduled two community meetings to outline its plan to the public.
The School Facilities Initiative Task Force will hold community meetings at 6:30 p.m. on May 21 in the Town Hall Annex and at 6:30 p.m. on May 28 in the Groton Senior Center. The group will give a 30-minute presentation of the school construction proposal, which it is calling the “Groton 2020 Plan,” at each meeting, then take questions from the public.
The plan would build one new middle school adjacent to Robert E. Fitch High School to create a campus atmosphere for students in grades 6-12. The proposal would then build two elementary schools on the sites of Carl C. Cutler and West Side middle schools. Pleasant Valley, Claude Chester and S.B. Butler elementary schools would close.
In early June, the task force intends to launch a community survey by phone to gauge public support for the proposal, Jerry Lindsley, president of the Center for Research and Public Policy, said Thursday. Results would be released at the end of the month. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Scaled back Berlin police station plans under review
BERLIN — A new proposal for a police station, smaller than the $21 million building rejected in November by voters, is under review by the commission that will produce preliminary plans and a cost estimate.
The new proposal, approved unanimously by the town council, eventually will be sent to a referendum for voters to decide if it should be built. Mayor Rachel Rochette said Thursday that it is too early to tell if the long review process will be done in time to get the issue on the November election ballot.
"If it is ready in time, I will ask for the council to approve it for the fall," she said.
The proposal sent to the Public Building Commission cuts 4,783 square feet out of the 31,000-square-foot design defeated in a November 2014 referendum. In an April 27 letter to Rochette, the chairman of the police commission said the revised plan should meet police needs for the next 20 years.
The chairman, Joseph Annunziata, wrote that independent estimates determined it would be less costly to build a new station on town land on Farmington Avenue than to expand the current police station, now in the lower floor of the 40-year-old town hall complex. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Newington officials approve plans for senior living complex
NEWINGTON -- The planning commission this week unanimously approved a large senior living complex off East Cedar Street that is expected to bring more than 300 jobs and more than $1 million in new tax revenue to the town.
"I just see it as a win-win for the everyone," Councilman Terry Borjeson said immediately after the vote. "It's a great step forward for Newington."
The development is good news for town officials who have said repeatedly in recent months that Newington must grow its tax base.
Patricia LeGault, owner and CEO of Amara Community Living, LLC, said that she was pleased with the commission's decision and happy to become part of the Newington community.
"It's been a long road," LeGault said. "We're thrilled to be partnering with the town. We're glad to be here. We're looking forward to becoming part of Newington."
Amara plans to build a 300,000-plus square-foot facility at the intersection of Russell Road and East Cedar Street near the border with Wethersfield. The six-story building will provide upscale housing to about 260 senior citizens in a resort-like atmosphere. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
UIL under fire over cleanup of New Haven power plant
New Haven officials and the owners of the now-defunct English Station power plant have one thing in common: They both want UIL Holdings to pay for a large share of the environmental cleanup at the Grand Avenue site.
But in two separate locations on Tuesday, the two sides took different approaches toward achieving that goal. Uri Kaufman, a representative for Asnat Realty of New York and Wilmington, Maryland-based Evergreen Power, took the more direct approach, appearing before state utility regulators in New Britain during the public comments portion of a hearing on the proposed $3 billion acquisition of UIL Holdings by Spanish energy giant Iberdrola.
Kaufman urged commissioners with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to require the two merger partners to create a $60 million fund to pay for the cleanup of English Station, which sits on a 9-acre island in the Mill River. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Chesire shopping outlet delayed
CHESHIRE -- A shopping outlet proposed for the town's north end is expected to miss most of the construction season.W/S Development of Massachusetts asked and was granted a one-year extension for its earth removal and grading permits Monday. The company, which is proposing a 500,000-square-foot shopping outlet on the border with Southington, received the permits last year in preparation for construction beginning earlier this year.
Town Planner William Voelker said the company will "maybe start construction in early fall." With that time schedule, work will need to continue into 2016, which means the company needs the extension, Voelker said.The extension, approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday, is good through July 25, 2016.
W/S Development 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 Interstate 691.
W/S announced in March 2014 a partnership with Tanger Factory Outlets, a publicly traded company which owns and operates 44 upscale shopping centers in 26 states and in Canada. But by the end of 2014, the partnership ended. W/S has said it will continue the project as planned, but the start of construction seems to be pushed further into the year. The project received initial approvals in 2007. Those permits are good for 10 years, so W/S has until 2017 to do the work. After that it will have to reapply, with the commission having to hold new public hearings, according to Fazzone.
Town officials have been in touch with W/S officials who have assured them the project is moving ahead.
Last month, the project received an important approval from the Office of the State Traffic Administration that will allow the company to add lanes, improve intersections on Route 10 and ramps of Interstate 691. The state traffic permit will allow the company to file building plans locally, a final step before construction can begin. Local permits have yet to be filed.