FedEx Corp.'s plan to open a second New England overnight package-document delivery hub in Connecticut reflects not only the company's growing need for more facilities like it, but also the availability of sufficient land and skilled talent, a FedEx executive says.
The Memphis, Tenn., company broke ground May 12 on a $220 million, 525,000-square-foot package-collection and distribution hub in Middletown that will have around 250 loading/unloading doors. The FedEx Ground facility, located on the former Aetna Inc. site on Country Club Road, will employ 500 workers and is set to open in Sept. 2018.
"Connecticut will have two major facilities operating here,'' said FedEx Northeast region manager Alex Kapinos, a Norwich native now living in Somers who has spent 28 years at the global express courier.
The company's other New England hub is in Willington, a 220,000-square-foot facility at 350 Ruby Road that opened in 1986. In all, FedEx has five distribution/package-sorting facilities in this state. The others are in South Windsor, Stratford, plus a pair in New Haven, Kapinos said. Worldwide, FedEx operates 500 distribution hubs.
"It was time to have a second one in New England,'' Kapinos said. In total, FedEx Ground operations in New England directly or indirectly support roughly 5,700 jobs, including about 1,200 in Connecticut, FedEx spokesman David Westrick said.
Among factors that FedEx weighs in reviewing hub sites are accessibility to key transportation nodes such as highways and airports, Kapinos said. Also, the company considers the availability of suitable land on which to build and the proximity to talent pools. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Hartford Yard Goats Release List Of Work Remaining At Dunkin' Donuts Park
HARTFORD — The owner of the Hartford Yard Goats on Wednesday released a list of work that remains to be finished at the minor league baseball team's future home, Dunkin' Donuts Park.
Josh Solomon said the report was designed to highlight the number of incomplete areas of the ballpark in light of the developer's saying that the stadium is now 95 percent complete.
"I wanted to point out that they have a lot of work to do and very few people working. That concerns me," he said.
The team said the report was prepared last week by Paul Bowie, head of construction for the DSF Group, on behalf of Connecticut Doubleplay. Jason Rudnick, president of Centerplan and principal with DoNo Hartford LLC, which is building the ballpark just north of downtown, said Tuesday that "every single day we are closer to finishing" and that the ballpark is more than 95 percent complete.
The team was to have had its home opener at Dunkin' Donuts Park on April 7, and then, because of construction delays, on May 31. Further delays have put off the opening date indefinitely while work continues. Meanwhile, the team, in its inaugural season, has had to play its "home" games at their opponents' stadiums or at Dodd Stadium in Norwich. Click here to view a PDF of the report detailing the work needed to be finished.
Meriden Firm To Complete Phase II Of Farmington Center Plan
FARMINGTON — A Meriden-based consulting firm will devise redevelopment recommendations for the Farmington gateway area.
The Farmington Gateways Committee last month awarded the bid to BL Companies to complete the next steps of studying the redevelopment of a 40-acre area, bisected by Route 4 adjacent to the Farmington Center historic district and bounded on the west by the Farmington River.
The planned project stems from a Department of Transportation initiative to improve Route 4 from Garden Street to Mountain Spring Road. The DOT project began in April and is expected to continue through June 2018.
The firm will complete the study for $46,000 and gather information, including community feedback, and compile results by the end of the year.The town council has budgeted $50,000 for the study, which will include a market analysis, a traffic and parking demand analysis, an environmental site assessment and site plan for the former Parsons Chevrolet dealership and design guidelines to accommodate potential uses.
Last year, Dodson & Flinker Inc. and Mullin Associates Inc. completed the first study evaluating the area. The study was paid for by the state Community Investment Act and was the result of a series of community workshops held in March 2015, during which close to 500 residents helped develop strategies and goals for the plan.
The study suggests design guidelines for the area, as well as four potential concepts: low density, moderate density, village density and a consultant-recommended concept. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Legislation Would Keep Rail Profits In Northeast
HARTFORD – Calling it a matter of fundamental fairness, the state's Congressional delegation is celebrating legislation that would ensure profits from Amtrak's popular Northeast Corridor line are not siphoned off to fund rail service in other regions.
"This is a win for justice,'' said Rep. Elizabeth Esty, a Democrat from the 5th District and a member of the House committee overseeing transportation.
Esty joined Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy at a press conference at the legislative office building Wednesday to highlight proposals that would bolster funding for Amtrak service along the busy Boston to Washington corridor.
Amtrak currently uses profits from its popular routes in the Northeast to subsidize money-losing, lightly used routes in rural sections of the country. Under a bill that cleared the Senate last month, the railroad would be required to spend those funds — about $300 million to $400 million a year — exclusively on infrastructure along the 457-mile Northeast Corridor. A similar bill is pending in the House."The Northeast cannot continue to bleed hundreds of millions of dollars to the rest of the system,'' Murphy said. He also noted that Congress appropriates roughly $1 billion annually for Amtrak but none of the funds are earmarked for the Northeast Corridor. "The profits earned in the Northeast rail corridor [need to] stay in the Northeast rail corridor."
Lawmakers from the Northeast, including the Connecticut delegation, have long pushed for such a provision. They said a series of serious accidents, including a deadly derailment in Philadelphia last year that killed eight people, has lent fresh urgency to their argument.
"These accidents are horrific,'' Esty said. "They happened because of a collective failure to reinvest in the most heavily traveled rail lines in the United States of America."
The tracks linking Washington, New York, and Boston carry more than 2,000 passenger trains a day from Amtrak and about eight commuter railroads, including Metro-North and Shore Line East in Connecticut. Ridership is more than 700,000 daily.
But the route includes an aging network of bridges, viaducts and tunnels, some of which date back to the Civil War, Blumenthal said. Amtrak estimated two years ago that it would need nearly $800 million a year for 15 years to bring the system to good condition.
It is "inane and insane" to ignore the decaying rail infrastructure in the Northeast, Blumenthal said. "From a purely economic perspective…failing to invest in the Northeast Corridor makes no sense,'' he said. "The Northeast Corridor is the only part of Amtrak that makes money...anybody who runs a business knows you invest in the product that is making money." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
With demolition nearing, New Haven’s Q-House to celebrate new beginning Saturday
NEW HAVEN >> Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison’s prayers were answered.
Morrison, D-22, said this weekend’s pre-demolition ceremony for the Q-House is the culmination of years of community work, and several answered prayers she and community members made. The ceremony marks the start of process that’s been brewing since 2003, when the Q-House closed its doors due to lack of financial support.
For years, the center stood as a fundamental anchor of its community. It will rise once more like a phoenix from the ashes once it’s rebuilt. Morrison has made sure of that; its redevelopment has been her top priority.
“That building is just a beloved building,” Morrison said. Despite budget woes in Hartford, Morrison made good on a promise she made to residents last fall, securing $14.5 million in state funding in January to complete the project. The State Bond Commission had previously approved $1 million in 2014 for planning and design work on the project. “I am a woman of strong faith in God, and I just knew, even though everything looked really bleak ... I just continued to have faith,” Morrison said. Morrison said she’s thankful for the community, Mayor Toni Harp and Gov. Dannel Malloy, who was invited to the ceremony but won’t be able to attend. She additionally thanked the building’s steering committee members and former aldermanic president and current state Banking Commissioner Jorge Perez. Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman is scheduled to attend the ceremony. “I am just so appreciative of everybody who has been involved since day one,” Morrison said. “It took a lot of people, community, local government, state government.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Construction Employment increases in 235 out of 358 Metro Areas
Construction employment rose between April 2015 and April 2016 in two-thirds of the nation's metro areas, while spending on most types of structures increased for the year despite a drop in the latest month, according to a new analysis of federal data on employment and construction spending released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said that many parts of the country continue to benefit from strong demand for construction services.
"Construction growth remains widely distributed by location and project type," said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. "However, job gains were uneven: many states included metros with large gains but also areas that lost jobs. Some of those metros might have added construction jobs if contractors had been able to find enough qualified workers. The dearth of skilled construction workers in many areas threatens to hold down the extent of job gains in the coming months."
There were construction employment gains in the past year in 235 out of 358 metro areas, losses in 67 areas, and no change in 56. Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, Calif. added the most construction jobs (14,900 jobs, 17 percent), followed by Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla. (8,800 jobs, 15 percent); New York City (7,800 jobs, 6 percent); and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (7,200 jobs, 7 percent). The largest percentage gains occurred in Monroe, Mich. (30 percent, 700 jobs); El Centro, Calif. (26 percent, 700 jobs); Urban Honolulu, Hawaii (20 percent, 5,000 jobs) and Haverhill-Newburyport-Amesbury Town, Mass.-N.H. (20 percent, 800 jobs).
The largest job losses from April 2015 to April 2016 were in Midland, Texas (-2,200 jobs, -8 percent), followed by Odessa, Texas (-1,900 jobs, -11 percent) and Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa (-1,800 jobs, -7 percent). The largest percentage declines were in Bloomington, Ill. (-31 percent, -1,100 jobs); Dothan, Ala. (-16 percent, -500 jobs) and Fairbanks, Alaska (-14 percent, -400 jobs). CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Morrison, D-22, said this weekend’s pre-demolition ceremony for the Q-House is the culmination of years of community work, and several answered prayers she and community members made. The ceremony marks the start of process that’s been brewing since 2003, when the Q-House closed its doors due to lack of financial support.
For years, the center stood as a fundamental anchor of its community. It will rise once more like a phoenix from the ashes once it’s rebuilt. Morrison has made sure of that; its redevelopment has been her top priority.
“That building is just a beloved building,” Morrison said. Despite budget woes in Hartford, Morrison made good on a promise she made to residents last fall, securing $14.5 million in state funding in January to complete the project. The State Bond Commission had previously approved $1 million in 2014 for planning and design work on the project. “I am a woman of strong faith in God, and I just knew, even though everything looked really bleak ... I just continued to have faith,” Morrison said. Morrison said she’s thankful for the community, Mayor Toni Harp and Gov. Dannel Malloy, who was invited to the ceremony but won’t be able to attend. She additionally thanked the building’s steering committee members and former aldermanic president and current state Banking Commissioner Jorge Perez. Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman is scheduled to attend the ceremony. “I am just so appreciative of everybody who has been involved since day one,” Morrison said. “It took a lot of people, community, local government, state government.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Construction Employment increases in 235 out of 358 Metro Areas
Construction employment rose between April 2015 and April 2016 in two-thirds of the nation's metro areas, while spending on most types of structures increased for the year despite a drop in the latest month, according to a new analysis of federal data on employment and construction spending released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said that many parts of the country continue to benefit from strong demand for construction services.
"Construction growth remains widely distributed by location and project type," said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. "However, job gains were uneven: many states included metros with large gains but also areas that lost jobs. Some of those metros might have added construction jobs if contractors had been able to find enough qualified workers. The dearth of skilled construction workers in many areas threatens to hold down the extent of job gains in the coming months."
There were construction employment gains in the past year in 235 out of 358 metro areas, losses in 67 areas, and no change in 56. Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, Calif. added the most construction jobs (14,900 jobs, 17 percent), followed by Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla. (8,800 jobs, 15 percent); New York City (7,800 jobs, 6 percent); and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (7,200 jobs, 7 percent). The largest percentage gains occurred in Monroe, Mich. (30 percent, 700 jobs); El Centro, Calif. (26 percent, 700 jobs); Urban Honolulu, Hawaii (20 percent, 5,000 jobs) and Haverhill-Newburyport-Amesbury Town, Mass.-N.H. (20 percent, 800 jobs).
The largest job losses from April 2015 to April 2016 were in Midland, Texas (-2,200 jobs, -8 percent), followed by Odessa, Texas (-1,900 jobs, -11 percent) and Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa (-1,800 jobs, -7 percent). The largest percentage declines were in Bloomington, Ill. (-31 percent, -1,100 jobs); Dothan, Ala. (-16 percent, -500 jobs) and Fairbanks, Alaska (-14 percent, -400 jobs). CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE