HARTFORD — The grande dame of state office buildings could get her first makeover in more than 80 years. And what a makeover it could be, with a price tag that's quite a surprise.
After more than a year of study, the state hopes to launch a $254 million renovation of the five-story edifice, at 165 Capitol Ave. — the first major office building constructed in Hartford specifically for state government workers.
The project — rivaling the cost of what would be needed to renovate and expand the city's XL Center arena — includes the construction of a $22 million, 1,000-plus space parking garage. The exterior, faced in Indiana limestone and embellished with Art Deco flourishes, would be preserved; but inside, the floors would be almost entirely gutted and reconfigured with modern office layouts and amenities.
The state legislature has already approved $24 million for architectural and other studies, but the funds still need to be released by the State Bond Commission. The balance — $230 million — must still be secured from the General Assembly.
The cost is significantly higher than one initial estimate of $147 million in 2013 that state officials said recently did not include all the expenses leading up to the actual construction.
The cost is raising some eyebrows among some legislators.
Rep. Christopher Davis, R-Ellington and East Windsor, said it is vitally important to preserve architectural history in a city that has lost so much of it. Still, he said, it's important to learn if there's a less costly way to do it.
"You have to wonder if that is truly in the best interest of the taxpayers of Connecticut," said Davis, the ranking Republican on the legislature's finance, revenue and bonding committee.
Track construction begins on New Haven-Springfield line
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Construction of a second track for the expanded rail line from New Haven to Springfield, Massachusetts, began Monday, and commuters will be bused along the route for the next year.
The project will boost north-south rail transportation from six daily round-trip trains to 17 a day south of Hartford and 12 north of Hartford. About $435 million is available, said John Bernick, assistant rail administrator at the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Of that amount, $191 million is from Washington, D.C., and the remainder is state funding, he said.
The increased number of trains is intended not only to boost economic development in central Connecticut. It's also part of a broader web of rail line expansions between Springfield and Boston and north to Vermont and Montreal.
"It puts Hartford right in the middle of this great rail infrastructure," Bernick said. "It's huge. When you discuss it with businesses, their eyes really light up. It all starts right now with this critical track bed."
The rail line in Connecticut is currently split between single and double track. Funding would add double track and upgrade stations in Berlin, Hartford, Meriden and Wallingford, Bernick said.
The Connecticut portion of the project from North Haven to Windsor is expected to be completed by 2017. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Guest speakers include state Housing Commissioner Evonne Klein and First Selectman George Crouse.
The affordable housing project's first phase will encompass 43 units in two buildings, plus a separate management building. A total of 86 units are foreseen.
Developed by NeighborWorks/New Horizons, the first phase will consist of 24 one-bedroom units, 15 two-bedroom units and four three-bedroom units. The Department of Housing, Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and Liberty Bank are providing funding.
First, they unanimously authorized Mayor John Rodolico to enter into a contract with Hartford-based CREC Construction Services for clerk of the works services. During construction, the clerk does his or her best to ensure work on the site follows existing drawings.
According to the nonprofit organization's proposal, five employees of varying experience would spend about 1,780 hours on the project. Proposed clerk of the works Michael Faenza would account for 1,218 of those hours, averaging about 20 hours a week at $90 per hour.
CREC also included 140 hours of administrative support in its estimate — a depth in oversight that Committee Chairman Steve Juskiewicz said set it apart from other companies.
CREC, or Capitol Region Education Council, has existed since 1966 and has had a role in the construction of several education-related buildings.
That its focus has been on educational buildings, Juskiewicz said, should not be a huge deal because many commercial buildings have similar attributes.
"It just appeared to me that the clerk (for CREC) is better qualified," he said, noting that Faenza has worked on a college campus police station renovation in the past. "So in the end, when all bets are equal, I'm going with the more qualified clerk to say, 'Something's not right here.'" CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Wanted downtown: Grocery, bike shop more restaurants
Downtown Hartford's apartment dwellers have their amenities "wish list," and so do their landlords.
Tops on landlords' list, of course, is a grocery store, followed by a wider selection of downtown retail shops and restaurants, longer coffee shop hours, a bicycle shop, a dry cleaners, more cultural attractions, even a 24-hour urgent-care facility. Many downtown dwellers and renters say they want the same.
Some Hartford apartment landlords were eager to share their check-list of downtown amenities they want added or expanded, to make the center city, and hence their properties, more attractive to urban dwellers. The stakes are particularly high as landlords add more than a thousand new downtown apartment units over the next few years, fueling the need to attract new residents.
Centerplan Cos., which is redeveloping the Downtown North acreage into a ballpark, also plans a nearby mixed-used project featuring apartments, parking and a supermarket.
"Hartford would benefit from completing the basic infrastructure of any community so all services that are typically necessary should be available: grocery, urgent care, cafés, deep-shopping options,'' said Jeff Ravetz, co-developer of the new Spectra Boutique Apartments, overlooking Constitution Plaza.
"To the extent that the density of these options is such that they are accessible by foot,'' Ravetz said, "that is obviously best and given the physical spread of the multifamily properties it would be best to have multiple options spread around the city." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Construction industry addressing worker shortage
Q&A talks with John Butts, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Connecticut, about the group's efforts to recruit more young people to the construction trades.
Q: Why is there a workforce shortage in Connecticut's construction industry?
A: The economic recession had a big impact. Between 2007 and 2012, many workers in Connecticut's construction industry were laid off or left for lack of work. Since then, as the economy and the industry have slowly recovered, the construction labor force has gradually returned as well. Regardless, we're still not back to the numbers we saw in 2007. According to the Connecticut Department of Labor, at the end of 2007, we had 69,000 construction workers in the workforce, and after a low of 49,000 workers in 2010, we've climbed back up to 60,500, as of last month.
Q: What are the potential long-term ramifications of a workforce shortage?
A: The worst-case scenario for the construction industry is that companies will turn away work and projects will be delayed or won't get built at all for lack of qualified bidders.
On a national scale, there are signs that may be happening. In a recent survey of its members, the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America reported that 87 percent of firms reported having a hard time filling key professional and craft worker positions, and for the first time in many years, companies reported turning away work because of a labor shortage.
In Connecticut, while some of that may be playing out at a micro level, we are a long way from the point that projects won't get built because there's a shortage of skilled workers. The industry still has a lot of capacity and there are many firms out there that are ready, willing and capable of delivering quality projects in spite of a few spot shortages in certain trades. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Derby, Shelton bridge to get makeover
DERBY >> The Derby-Shelton Bridge is poised to get a $2 million makeover.
Thanks to funding recently approved by the state Bond Commission, the state Department of Transportation will make major improvements to the bridge, which spans the Housatonic River, connecting the downtowns of both Derby and Shelton.
The funds will be administered through the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments. According to NVCOG Executive Director Rick Dunne, the project includes resurfacing of the bridge’s deck and approach lanes, along with the addition of a separate bicycle and pedestrian lane, new parapet walls, decorative lighting, benches, planters, tree boxes and a scenic overlook.
The project also will entail installation of granite curbing along the edge of Bridge Street, construction of a direct connection to the Derby Greenway at the east end of the bridge at Route 34 and installation of buffers between the travel lanes, bikeway and pedestrian promenade, Dunne said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New Haven job training program moves operation to Meriden
MERIDEN >> Eight years ago Lisa Henderson got a leg up on her career as a painter by getting experience with the Construction Workforce Initiative 2, where she trained alongside professionals on property owned by the local housing authority. She was among some 90 people at the recent opening of a new home for CWI 2 in an industrial section of Meriden.
Henderson, 42, was able to get into the apprenticeship program of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, Local 186, and is now a journeyman with full union scale pay, benefits, amenities and steady work.
The new CWI 2 site at 15,000 square feet is three times the size of the former location in New Haven at 316 Dixwell Ave.
That building, which trainers rebuilt starting in 2012, is no longer available during a probe and personnel fight between New Haven and the executive director of the Commission on Equal Opportunities, Nichole Jefferson, who is on administrative leave from the CEO post but also oversees CWI 2 in a longtime arrangement with the administration of former Mayor John DeStefano Jr.
“It really helped me,” Henderson said of her initial training at CWI 2. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have the job I have today.” Since 2011, she has been a painter for the Board of Education in Bridgeport. She was joined at the grand opening by union leaders who have all used graduates of CWI 2 since the program started to gear up in 2003.
It was established to provide pre-apprenticeship training so contractors would have a cadre of workers to choose from to fulfill a city ordinance that requires a percentage of New Haven residents, minorities and women work on publicly funded construction projects. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Wind energy turbines rising
COLEBROOK — The Colebrook South commercial wind turbines so bitterly opposed by some residents are now rising above the horizon. A huge crane has been on site for two weeks now, lifting segments of the 322-foot towers into place. One tower stretched well above the tree line Monday morning, while a huge, 48-foot blade lay on the ground, waiting for the day it will be installed. Near the blade stands the base for another tower. A third tower has been approved by the Connecticut Siting Council for Flagg Hill, but construction has not started because a purchase agreement for the power generated has yet to be completed.
"We're working on that," said Gregory Zupkus, president and CEO of BNE Wind Energy, the company constructing the tower. Zupkus said the process of constructing Connecticut's first wind energy project began eight years ago with a search for the right spot. The Colebrook location was identified as having sufficient wind power to make the project feasible.
The Siting Council approved construction and operation of six 1.6-megawatt turbines in 2011, three on Flagg Hill, known as Colebrook South, and three at the intersection of Route 44 and Rock Hall Road, known as Colebrook North. But it was not until last year that the Connecticut Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge from FairwindCT, a citizens group that challenged the council's jurisdiction. While awaiting the court's decision, BNE built access roads and completed preliminary work at the Colebrook South site. First Selectman Thomas McKeon said he has heard few grumbles from Colebrook residents as the work has progressed. "I think they realize it is out of our control," he said. "It is all up to the Siting Council. Saturday (the construction crew) worked late, and I didn't appreciate the phone calls (from neighbors with complaints), but all I can do is call the Siting Council and it is supposed to take care of it." Zupkus reiterated the benefits that he sees from the project. "Each year, these towers will produce twice the power used in Colebrook," he said. "It will make Colebrook the greenest town in Connecticut. And we will be the largest taxpayer in town while using no resources." Both Zupkus and McKeon noted that the property nearest to the towers was recently sold to new owners from Kansas. "They knew we had the rights to this property and they bought it anyway," said Zupkus. "We were going to buy the house when the former owner informed us they had another offer. The new owners figure they have all this protected land around them."