The proposed 12 acre shopping center on the corner of West Avenue and North Water Street known as the Sono Collection is inching closer to being a done deal — bringing the City of Norwalk within striking range of adding yet another game-changing attraction to the city.
“I think it is going to be a tremendous boost to our economy,” said Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling. “It will be providing jobs for our residents, it will be proving significant property tax revenue for the city of Norwalk, but more importantly it will attract people from the entire tri-state area who will come here and shop and hopefully take advantage of the other things we have to offer like restaurants, the Maritime Aquarium, Stepping Stones Museum and the shoreline.”
According to General Growth Properties (GGP), the Chicago-based development agency behind the proposed project, plans for the shopping center include 700,000 square feet of retail comprised of 80 to 100 small shops and restaurants supported by two major anchor tenants, Bloomingdales and Nordstrom department stores.
Acknowledging Norwalk’s already well-established, rich diversity of unique restaurants, members of the GGP development team have designated the majority of the project to retail with a much smaller emphasis on restaurants.
Bisected by North Water Street, one 762,000-square-foot parcel is planned to include 506,705 square feet of retail space with 31,350 square feet designated for restaurants and cafés.
Another 302,000-square-foot parcel is slated to have more than 154,800 square feet of retail space with 13,000 square feet dedicated to food and beverage businesses.
On top of the retail and dining options the shopping center would include a 150-room boutique hotel.
At least 5 percent of the center will also be dedicated to open space that can be used for public events and leisure, though GGP Senior Director for Development, Douglas Adams told the Norwalk zoning commission on April 27, “we will be substantially over that.”
Click here for an animated tour of the proposed project. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Bridge inspections forcing lane closures this week
State bridge inspectors will be working in several area communities this week, with lane closures and alternating one-way traffic at different times of the day.
Inspections are scheduled in Ansonia, Derby, Stratford, Bridgeport, Trumbull, Norwalk and Stamford, according to a schedule on the state Department of Transportation web site.
Today in Ansonia there will be alternating left and right lanes closures on Route 8, between Exits 18 and 22. Work will be done on the northbound side of the highway from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. and on the southbound side from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Work on I-95 in Bridgeport is also scheduled today, with inspections on the bridge between Exits 27 and 28. The DOT advises that there will be alternating left and right lane closures on both sides of the highway in that area, with the northbound inspection from 9 a.m. until noon and the southbound side inspected from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Expect periodic closures on I-95 in Stratford today, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., between exits 30 and 33. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Complex ‘operation’ replacing Norwalk bridge
NORWALK — Imagine the pending replacement of the movable train bridge straddling the river between South and East Norwalk as a massive version of the classic Operation board game.
State transportation department officials insist the 120-year-old Norwalk River Bridge, or Walk Bridge, which routinely gets stuck in the open position and is prone to storm damage, must be removed for the health of the rail system.
“This carries 200 trains and 125,000 passengers a day in the Northeast Corridor,” said James Fallon, the state DOT’s manager of facilities and transit.
Many of those passengers are commuters from Bridgeport and southwestern Connecticut who are eager for the cranky and outdated bridge to be updated.
“It benefits anybody traveling from New York to Boston. Does it benefit Norwalk?” said Edward Musante Jr., head of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce. “It could have a ton of negative implications. Cranes. Construction. Potential street closings.”
Suddenly, clear thinking becomes paramount.
The Operation board game requires a steady hand to pluck the plastic bones and organs out of the “patient” with a pair of toy tweezers.
In 2014, for example, Connecticut education officials pointed to the imbalance at Claude Chester Elementary School, which had a minority population of 68.2 percent at the time. The state considers a school out of balance if the percentage of minority students deviates by 25 percentage points from the district average in the same grades. Groton had an average minority-student population of about 43 percent, placing it fractionally out of balance.
The state cited other schools as having a pending imbalance, defined as a percentage deviation of 15 percentage points or more.
Coincidentally, Groton needed new or renovated schools in any event because they were outdated and in poor condition. It came up with the plan to build one new middle school and convert through renovation the two existing middle schools into elementary schools, in the process attracting students from a better cross-section of the town and encouraging enrollments more in line with Groton’s overall racial makeup.
Having mandated that Groton fix the problem, Connecticut should be a partner in paying for it, but it is offering no assurances that it will do so in a substantial manner, which in turn will make it difficult to gain voter support in November.
As things stand, Connecticut is promising nothing more than the standard 47 percent Groton would receive under a reimbursement formula having nothing to do with racial makeup. Under traditional reimbursement rates, Groton would get $88 million, leaving local taxpayers paying about $100 million of the estimated $188 million project, according to the latest numbers from Superintendent Michael Graner. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Groton to consider revised $188 million school construction plan
Groton – Town and school leaders plan to present an alternative school construction plan to the Groton Town Council and to voters: Build one new middle school and renovate the two existing middle schools as elementary schools.
The new plan would cost $188 million, of which Groton taxpayers would pay $77 million, if Groton gets the reimbursement rate it expects. This would mean about $95 a year in additional taxes per $100,000 of assessed value for Groton taxpayers, Superintendent Michael Graner told the Board of Education on Monday.
Town and school leaders met Friday after the commissioner of the State Department of Administrative Services said she could not include Groton’s earlier $141 million request for new schools in the school construction package for the legislature, because the district had not followed proper procedure.
Groton had hoped to seek state reimbursement to cover 72 percent of the earlier $195.6 million cost to build one new middle school and two new elementary schools, leaving taxpayers to fund $55 million.
Leaders changed the school construction proposal because without 72 percent from the state, the old plan would have cost Groton taxpayers $103 million because of the lower reimbursement rate they qualify for. Renovating an old school lowers costs to a community because the state provides a greater reimbursement for renovating buildings than building new ones.
One of the new schools is also expected to qualify for 80 percent reimbursement next year under the state's diversity grant, which boosts reimbursements if a school is racially imbalanced. Claude Chester Elementary School, which this October fell just below that threshold, has an incoming kindergarten class that is 70 percent minority. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Proponents make last pitch for North Stonington school project
North Stonington — In one of their final pitches to the town's residents, members of the Ad Hoc School building committee presented their third proposal to modernize the town's schools on Monday.
Around 100 residents sat in the elementary school's multipurpose room to listen and and forward the project to a May 16 referendum vote.
The project calls for adding a new wing onto the town's gymatorium for the middle and high school students, addressing problems with the science labs, renovating the elementary school, adding a central kitchen, separating gym and cafeteria facilities and eliminating the use of the tunnel under Route 2.
Mike Urgo, chairman of the Ad Hoc School Building Committee, focused on the cost of the project and the safety it would provide to students.
"Probably the last time it failed because it was too expensive ... we were told if you wait it would go up 10 percent per year (but) we delivered a project that's actually less," Urgo said.
The project will cost $38 million, of which the town will be responsible for between $21.6 million and $23.4 million depending whether the town can obtain a waiver from the state concerning the size of the project.
While Urgo said the waiver was not guaranteed, the town is a good candidate.
Andrew Carlson, a junior at Wheeler High School who spoke wearing a #WeAreWHEELER T-shirt, spoke about the individual care he sees as a student in the North Stonington school system. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
State: Foundations Are Failing At Least In Part Because Of Mineral Pyrrhotite
HARTFORD — The first round of state testing into failing home foundations in northern and eastern Connecticut has concluded that the presence of a certain mineral in the concrete aggregate is at least partly to blame.
"Although [the] investigation will continue into the fall, we believe there is now sufficient evidence to conclude that significant levels of the mineral pyrrhotite in stone aggregate used in the production of concrete is a substantial contributing factor to the crumbling foundations," state Attorney General George Jepsen said in a written statement. The early finding was announced Monday afternoon in a news release from Jepsen and the state Department of Consumer Protection.
In addition, the agencies said they reached an agreement with J.J. Mottes Co. of Stafford Springs to discontinue using or selling aggregate from Becker's Quarry in Willington for residential foundations until June 30, 2017. The agreement also applies to Becker's Construction, another business in the family. Mottes' concrete has been cited in lawsuits filed by homeowners with faulty foundations. The agreement does not apply to commercial foundations. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Connecticut Department of Transportation Bureau Chief Thomas Maziarz met with members of the Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments on April 29 and presented information on the state's transportation initiative, "Let's Go CT."The 30-year, $100 billion investment program would cover improvements to roads, bridges, rail and bus service, ports, and pedestrian and bicycle paths. The broad ranging project would change the future of transportation in the state, according to Maziarz.
Killingly is waiting for the state to okay a sidewalk construction project on the west side of Main Street from Academy Street to Hutchins Street. Sidewalks on the east side of Main Street, from Academy to Broad Street, might also be included.
Canterbury, Scotland, and Thompson have signed up for road safety audits as part of the "Let's Go, CT" package. In Thompson, the state will provide technical assistance to review the feasibility of putting in sidewalks on Riverside Drive. That project is slated to begin on May 16, according to First Selectman Ken Beausoleil. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Environmental cleanup begins at West Haven’s ‘The Haven’ outlet mall project
WEST HAVEN >> With three pieces of heavy equipment moved onto the waterfront future site of The Haven high-end outlet mall and more on the way, work began Monday to clean up environmental contamination that remains from decades of oil storage and processing.
Two excavators and a skid steer brought in by environmental contractor Red Technologies LLC of Bloomfield began clearing weeds from the property, abandoning monitoring wells and digging and grading to install a silt fence to begin the work on 4.13 acres at 105 Water St., former home of Connecticut Refining.
Work also will take place on 1.45 acres at 16 Elm St., former home of waste oil processor National Oil, to remove contaminated soil under a $2 million contract with the city, funded by a brownfield grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development.
The work is the first visible sign of activity on the site since previous state-funded environmental cleanup took place a couple of years ago.
Work will begin on a larger scale next week, said Todd Mahler, senior project manager for Red Technologies, which was low bidder on the work with a bid of $1.34 million and was awarded the contract Feb. 11. “We’re very excited to see construction on the site,” said Mayor Ed O’Brien, calling it an important step forward for West Haven. He was joined at the site by Commissioner of Planning and Zoning Joseph Riccio Jr., among others. While the work is not to construct the project, which still requires Planning & Zoning Commission approval, “They’re doing this work to get the land ready to do The Haven,” O’Brien said. “The state gave us the money in advance of doing The Haven.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Construction Association Launches New Program to Connect Firms With Workers
Construction employment rose in April by 1,000 for the month and 261,000 for the year as mild winter weather and labor shortages impacted the early spring hiring season for many firms, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials noted that construction spending continues to grow and worker shortages are likely to get worse, which is why they are launching a new online career center to help connect firms with qualified workers.
"Some of the slowdown in hiring last month was due to mild winter weather that allowed contractors to hire or retain workers in the first quarter instead of waiting until spring," said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. "Yet reports from contractors and recent Census Bureau data on construction spending through March suggest industry demand for workers will remain robust, if firms can find employees with the right skills."
There was little discussion about the improvements that would be made in northeastern Connecticut, except for a widening of Route 395 and the creation of sidewalks and pedestrian-friendly town centers.
Nine hundred feet of sidewalk will soon be constructed in Brooklyn along the Route 6 corridor. The project has been two and a half years in the making. Five times, town officials submitted paperwork to the state only to be told five times the state needed more information. First Selectman Rick Ives called the project one of the slowest projects he's been involved in.Killingly is waiting for the state to okay a sidewalk construction project on the west side of Main Street from Academy Street to Hutchins Street. Sidewalks on the east side of Main Street, from Academy to Broad Street, might also be included.
Canterbury, Scotland, and Thompson have signed up for road safety audits as part of the "Let's Go, CT" package. In Thompson, the state will provide technical assistance to review the feasibility of putting in sidewalks on Riverside Drive. That project is slated to begin on May 16, according to First Selectman Ken Beausoleil. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Environmental cleanup begins at West Haven’s ‘The Haven’ outlet mall project
WEST HAVEN >> With three pieces of heavy equipment moved onto the waterfront future site of The Haven high-end outlet mall and more on the way, work began Monday to clean up environmental contamination that remains from decades of oil storage and processing.
Two excavators and a skid steer brought in by environmental contractor Red Technologies LLC of Bloomfield began clearing weeds from the property, abandoning monitoring wells and digging and grading to install a silt fence to begin the work on 4.13 acres at 105 Water St., former home of Connecticut Refining.
Work also will take place on 1.45 acres at 16 Elm St., former home of waste oil processor National Oil, to remove contaminated soil under a $2 million contract with the city, funded by a brownfield grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development.
The work is the first visible sign of activity on the site since previous state-funded environmental cleanup took place a couple of years ago.
Work will begin on a larger scale next week, said Todd Mahler, senior project manager for Red Technologies, which was low bidder on the work with a bid of $1.34 million and was awarded the contract Feb. 11. “We’re very excited to see construction on the site,” said Mayor Ed O’Brien, calling it an important step forward for West Haven. He was joined at the site by Commissioner of Planning and Zoning Joseph Riccio Jr., among others. While the work is not to construct the project, which still requires Planning & Zoning Commission approval, “They’re doing this work to get the land ready to do The Haven,” O’Brien said. “The state gave us the money in advance of doing The Haven.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Construction Association Launches New Program to Connect Firms With Workers
Construction employment rose in April by 1,000 for the month and 261,000 for the year as mild winter weather and labor shortages impacted the early spring hiring season for many firms, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials noted that construction spending continues to grow and worker shortages are likely to get worse, which is why they are launching a new online career center to help connect firms with qualified workers.
"Some of the slowdown in hiring last month was due to mild winter weather that allowed contractors to hire or retain workers in the first quarter instead of waiting until spring," said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. "Yet reports from contractors and recent Census Bureau data on construction spending through March suggest industry demand for workers will remain robust, if firms can find employees with the right skills."
Construction employment totaled 6,670,000 in April, the highest level since December 2008, and is up by 261,000 jobs compared to a year ago, a 4.1 percent increase. Residential construction—comprising residential building and specialty trade contractors—declined by 3,800 jobs in April but is up by 140,800, or 5.7 percent, compared to a year ago. Nonresidential construction—building, specialty trades, and heavy and civil engineering construction firms--added 4,400 jobs for the month and 120,100 jobs compared to April 2015, a 3.0 percent increase. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE