BRIDGEPORT — Mayor Joe Ganim has sent proposals for five years’ — and $178 million — worth of bonding to the City Council.
Av Harris, a spokesman for Ganim, issued a statement shortly after 6:30 p.m. Friday, announcing that Ganim had finalized bonding proposals for the next five fiscal years.
“The capital plan includes more than $50 million in school construction and improvements including more than $26 million for the construction of the new Bassick High School in fiscal year 2018,” Harris wrote. “Also among Mayor Ganim’s priorities are more than $15 million in economic development initiatives such as the gateway to the South End development involving the University of Bridgeport. There is also $1 million to help repair the P.T. Barnum Museum, still severely damaged from a 2010 tornado.”
Ganim wrote in a prepared statement that sidewalks, bridges and roads also needed overhauling and said that Bridgeport was “using this opportunity to be visionary” about 10 or 20 years’ worth of planning, with an eye toward the waterfront and the South End.
According to city records, the capital projection adopted last budget cycle, which would run five years into the end of the 2019-20 fiscal year, was $97.7 million — a full $80 million less than Ganim’s five-year projection.
Harris emphasized that Ganim’s submission comprised proposals and that the City Council would make determinations, item by item and year by year.
“Not all of it’s getting bonded,” Harris told the Post. “This is just an expression of the mayor’s priorities.”
One of those priorities is a study on consolidating emergency headquarters, possibly bringing police, fire and emergency communications under one roof. The presumptive price tag is $25,000, small in comparison to many of the multimillion-dollar proposals. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New railroad station taking shape in Meriden
MERIDEN — With structural steel beginning to go up, work on a new train station on State Street is finally out of the ground and in full view.
The local station, as well as stations in Wallingford and Berlin, comprise just one section of work being done across Southern New England to upgrade 62 miles of track between New Haven and Springfield, known as the Hartford Line.
The ultimate goal of this $650 million project — for which the state of Connecticut, Amtrak and Federal Rail Administration have partnered — is to offer more frequent train stops and entice commuters to use rail travel more consistently.
Mystic’s Golden Triangle seeing development surge
Mystic — The Golden Triangle, ground zero for the region’s tourist economy, is undergoing a renaissance not seen since its inception more than 40 years ago.
More than a dozen projects, worth in excess of $150 million, are in the concept stage, under construction or recently completed near Interstate 95's Exit 90, in an area roughly bounded by Route 27, Coogan Boulevard and Jerry Brown Road.
“We’ve been mired in the downturn for so long, it's like spring has come,” said Stephen Coan, president and CEO of Sea Research Foundation, the parent organization of Mystic Aquarium. “The demographics and market studies have always shown this is a very promising area with multiple uses. The development happening now has been pent up for some time.”
At the top of the project list is a proposal for a $60 million health, research and academic campus with residences on 70 acres of the Perkins Farm, running along the east side of Jerry Brown Road from Coogan Boulevard to Pequotsepos Road.
That project, which will need sewer and zoning approvals, is projected to become the Town of Stonington’s largest taxpayer, generating $1.1 million in annual revenue. While Mystic includes portions of both Groton and Stonington, all the projects are in Stonington.
A short distance away at the end of Clara Drive, the roadway that leads to McQuade's Marketplace, construction continues on the $30 million, 179-unit Masonicare assisted living facility, slated to open later this year. The nonprofit will pay $140,000 a year to the town in lieu of taxes.
Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport and the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center also have major projects underway. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
The ultimate goal of this $650 million project — for which the state of Connecticut, Amtrak and Federal Rail Administration have partnered — is to offer more frequent train stops and entice commuters to use rail travel more consistently.
The Meriden station in particular has been championed as the anchor to this new work, with updates to include elevated platforms on both sides of the track, an overhead pedestrian bridge, and ticket vending machines all under the umbrella of a new station. Work began on the site more than a year ago with the demolition of the former Stone Insurance Building, 88 State St., and the skeleton of this new station is starting to be visible.
Bruce Olmstead, project manager for the state Department of Transportation, said that crews have been working through the first phase of work.
“Work that gets the project out of the ground, including sheeting installation, footings, stem walls, and stair tower steel has been completed.”
He added, “Much of the work is on the west side of the tracks but some work is on the east side.”
Shortly, work will focus on demolishing the existing train platforms. In order to accommodate that in a functioning station, temporary platforms will be built next month farther south along State Street.
Earlier this month, the City Council voted unanimously to abandon a portion of Brooks Street, between State Street and the Amtrak right-of-way, about halfway up the street and just past the railroad tracks. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Mystic’s Golden Triangle seeing development surge
Mystic — The Golden Triangle, ground zero for the region’s tourist economy, is undergoing a renaissance not seen since its inception more than 40 years ago.
More than a dozen projects, worth in excess of $150 million, are in the concept stage, under construction or recently completed near Interstate 95's Exit 90, in an area roughly bounded by Route 27, Coogan Boulevard and Jerry Brown Road.
“We’ve been mired in the downturn for so long, it's like spring has come,” said Stephen Coan, president and CEO of Sea Research Foundation, the parent organization of Mystic Aquarium. “The demographics and market studies have always shown this is a very promising area with multiple uses. The development happening now has been pent up for some time.”
At the top of the project list is a proposal for a $60 million health, research and academic campus with residences on 70 acres of the Perkins Farm, running along the east side of Jerry Brown Road from Coogan Boulevard to Pequotsepos Road.
That project, which will need sewer and zoning approvals, is projected to become the Town of Stonington’s largest taxpayer, generating $1.1 million in annual revenue. While Mystic includes portions of both Groton and Stonington, all the projects are in Stonington.
A short distance away at the end of Clara Drive, the roadway that leads to McQuade's Marketplace, construction continues on the $30 million, 179-unit Masonicare assisted living facility, slated to open later this year. The nonprofit will pay $140,000 a year to the town in lieu of taxes.
Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport and the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center also have major projects underway. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE