NEW BRITAIN — Mayor Erin Stewart on Monday will host U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty on a tour of numerous projects underway or in the works in and around the central business district.
The walk will leave City Hall at 11:45 a.m. and will include a look at construction projects that have resulted from the Complete Streets Master Plan, begun six years ago.
Stewart is expected to detail for Murphy the planned redesign of Columbus Boulevard, the Columbus Commons housing-retail proposal on the former site of police headquarters and the Beehive Bridge planned for Main Street.
The Columbus Boulevard plan, slated to begin in the spring, will include, in part, the installation of a traffic circle and the relocation of the downtown bus hub from Bank Street to a locationcloser to the CTfastrak station.
The Beehive Bridge plan, with work scheduled to begin in early 2017, will include new landscaping, widened sidewalks, new traffic signals, crosswalks, pedestrian ramps, revised lane arrangements and two pocket parks on the north side of the bridge.
According to Murphy’s office, the four will discuss top transportation infrastructure priorities for the city, including projects to revitalize downtown and encourage public transportation.
“With investments in infrastructure potentially a top priority of Congress early next year, Blumenthal, Murphy, and Esty are visiting key transportation priorities in local communities to bring feedback back to Washington,” a release states.“The members are working with colleagues across the aisle to identify serious proposals to fix our nation’s failing infrastructure.”
$80 million project in works in Griswold
GRISWOLD – An $80 million mixed-use development on more than 60 acres on Route 164 is on its way to becoming a reality.
Heritage River Village, a mixed-use, mixed-income, live/work community is being proposed to be developed. The community will offer affordable, market rate rental apartments and condominiums along with 42,000 square feet of retail and service space. The single to double room apartments can be occupied by anyone of any age. Also offered will be homes and services for aging adults, with a specific focus on adults suffering from memory loss diseases.
The community will function as a self-contained setting, allowing residents walkable access to services such as the bank or a hairdresser along with restaurants and shopping. Health services, local farmer’s markets and exercise facilities will be available along with a high focus on arts and entertainment programming. This model hopes to eliminate social isolation and the stigmas of aging.
“This is an amazing opportunity for the economy of our town,” First Selectman Kevin Skulcyzck said. “We need development. If we don’t inspire our tax base to grow, then we will regress. The great thing about this project is that the developers are intending to hire people locally for construction and permanent jobs.”
The Heritage River Village is expected to bring 150 new permanent full time jobs to the area, 250 construction jobs and $2 million in annual tax revenue to the town of Griswold.
“It sounds like a great opportunity for Griswold. The town has felt dead to me for a long time,” welding/quality engineer Richard Bennardo, a former resident of Griswold, said. “Griswold needs these jobs and opportunities for people in the area.”
“Griswold has been misaligned over the years and this would add to the accomplishments going on in the town right now.” Said Ricky Bevis, a senior citizen who lives in town. “Griswold is really having a resurgence right now.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Work to restart on Spruce Meadow project this week
Stonington -- Work is slated to restart this week on the almost completed, $10 million Spruce Meadow apartment complex on Route 1 in Pawcatuck.
Work had stalled this fall on the project, which includes market rate and affordable units, because of financing issues that required its developer, New Haven-based nonprofit NeighborWorks/New Horizons, to modify the terms of its construction loan, according to Julie Savin, the organization’s director of real estate development.
She said the project which consists of two main buildings is between one and two months behind schedule. She said crews on the site will be "fully mobilized" this week.
She added that the group hopes tenants can begin to move into the 17-unit building around the Christmas holiday, the 25 units in the second building about a month later.
Savin said the firm has received about 180 applications for the units and those are being evaluated at this time. There is a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units with 75 percent of the units deemed affordable according to state guidelines. The project also includes a community building and playground.
Savin said NeighborWorks/New Horizons is set to break ground on the second $12 million, 43-unit project, called Spruce Ridge on the former Rutman’s furniture property in January.
The State Department of Housing contributed $5 million in funding for the project.
The two projects, combined with the just-opened Thread Mill project on Mechanic Street, are expected to provide needed affordable and workforce housing units in a community where home prices and rents are high.
Fuel-cell makers strike out on major CT deals
Connecticut over the years has nurtured its fuel-cell industry perhaps more than any other state, offering policies and financial perks that have made the miniature power plants more economical to manufacture and purchase. But two major state clean-energy procurements, which failed to select fuel-cell projects, have revealed the potential limits of that support and dealt a setback to the industry.
The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) last month notified winning bidders in the state-run energy programs, which are expected to lead to the purchase of nearly 800 megawatts of clean-power generation by utilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, helping each state reach toward their renewable-energy goals.
Solar developers that bid into the request for proposals (RFP) were the main winners in the selection process, while about a dozen proposed fuel-cell projects were left on the sidelines. That includes bids involving South Windsor's Doosan Fuel Cell, Danbury's FuelCell Energy and California's Bloom Energy — some of the largest manufacturers of stationary fuel cells in the world.
State officials said the fuel-cell bids were more expensive compared to other proposals, and could have led to higher energy prices for individual and business consumers at a time when the state's high energy prices are already a major concern.
The results represent a blow for an industry that has steadily gained traction, particularly in Connecticut, California and New York, but has struggled to turn a profit.
Connecticut fuel-cell manufacturers viewed the state procurements as unique opportunities to capture significant new business and revenues. The RFPs offered the rare chance to build large fuel-cell plants, whose power could be sold to utilities under long-term contracts. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Despite struggles, opportunities exist in CT’s construction industry
Connecticut's construction industry has recovered somewhat in recent years from the Great Recession of 2008-09, though the pace of that recovery remains slower than the national average.
As a result, according to a recent report from a leading national construction trade association, Connecticut has the eighth-highest rate of construction unemployment of the 50 states, with its rate of 6.9 percent far exceeding the national average of 5.2 percent.
Why hasn't Connecticut's construction industry recovered as well as so many other states in the nation? Much of it gets attributed to what has become a very familiar refrain for our state — the high cost of doing business in Connecticut. Taxes, fees, energy costs and state regulations all play a part in this, and the bottom line simply is it costs more to build in Connecticut than it does elsewhere.
But this does not have to just be bad news for the construction industry. Despite the sluggish recovery and relatively higher cost of operating here, opportunities do exist, particularly when we consider we live in the state with the highest median income and one of the best skilled workforces in the nation.
Where do these opportunities exist? They start at the local level, with cities and towns investing in economic development and working to bring more businesses into the community. State funds and grants exist for development projects, which create new, well-paying jobs, and those municipalities willing to make those investments can provide a boost to the state's construction industry.
Next is taking advantage of the state's renewed focus on transportation improvements, which not only lead to more direct construction jobs in the short term, but can also spur new development along improved routes and lead to more jobs in the long term. In addition to the completed CTfastrak bus route, there are a number of major highway projects either underway or in the planning stages right now, and all of them will require well-trained construction workers to complete them. As the state continues to invest in improving its roads and highways, more work will be there for the industry.
Given the level of competition that exists in the construction industry, companies should look inward to ensure they are giving themselves the best chance at success. This means making the right technological and equipment upgrades — a recent study our firm did with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) showed that this is the area where most businesses are currently making the most investments.
Operating a modern, state-of-the-art construction business means operating with more efficiency and innovation than ever before, and those companies that make these investments will have the best opportunities to succeed.
Finally, there is education, another key investment construction companies can and should make with their time and their resources. The state has made an increased effort in recent years to attract more students to technical high schools and trade schools, and this is where much of the future construction workforce can be found. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Parking Lot Owners Say Tax Plan Won’t Spur Development
As the iQuilt project works to make downtown more walkable, a new UConn campus takes shape and once-forlorn buildings now converted to apartments fill up, parking lots surrounding Bushnell Park stand out as prime locations for redevelopment.
A new taxing district clustered around the park proposed by city Councilman John Gale would charge the owners of undeveloped land higher taxes to spur new construction. The idea is to eliminate financial incentives that encourage parking lots instead of new construction.
But while owners of parking lots clustered around the park say the goal is a good one, they say creating a special taxing district to force them to develop or sell their downtown properties is misguided.
"Every single landowner would love to develop a building," said Alan Lazowski, chief executive of LAZ Parking. "There is no benefit to keeping it vacant. The only way they get built is with subsidies and incentives. With all due respect to the councilman, this does not achieve that result."
Lazowski said the city's office market has not fully recovered from the real estate collapse of the early 1990s. The focus, Lazowski said, should be on offering incentives to encourage companies to relocate to Hartford and create more jobs.
"We do have an important parcel," said Cheryl Chase, general counsel at Hartford-based Chase Enterprises. "We are developers. If we think there is a project to be built, we would build it."Chase, which developed downtown's Gold Building and two other downtown skyscrapers in the 1970s and 1980s, owns the parking lot where the Parkview Hilton stood until it was demolished in 1990.
It is one of a half dozen lots in a two-block radius of Bushnell Park that could fall into a new taxing district. Other areas of the city could also be considered for the taxing district but it isn't likely to be extended citywide.
"There is a future when a project will absolutely make sense," Chase said. "But to be asked to do it now and do something that is uneconomical, it is very shortsighted."
Incentive To Demolish Hartford — like many other cities — applies the same tax rate to land and buildings. But Hartford assesses commercial buildings at a rate that is generally four times higher than it assesses land. Thus, most of the owner's property tax is based on the building.
This creates an incentive, some say, to demolish buildings that are underused and either leave the properties as vacant land or convert them to surface parking.
If more of the tax is on the land, in theory, the incentive is reversed. An owner is more inclined to build on the land, or sell it to someone who will. It also discourages speculation and holding onto property for long periods of time. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Public to get information on Skiff bridge at hearing in Hamden
HAMDEN >> An information session will be held this week on a bridge project that will have a major impact on traffic for a while.
The bridge on Skiff Street that goes over the Mill River is in a busy area that connects Dixwell and Whitney avenues, so replacing that bridge is going to cause headaches for motorists for the length of the project. There’s been a lot of interest in the project, according to town officials, so a “public outreach program meeting” will be held Wednesday to answer those concerns. The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in Thornton Wilder Auditorium at the Miller Library Complex.The project will be done in phases, which will take several years to complete, which has raised concerns, especially among the businesses in that area. The businesses will remain open and signs will direct traffic to them, those involved in the project have said. Last week, the Legislative Council approved a contract for the inspection services related to the project with BL Companies Connecticut, an architectural and civil engineering firm out of Meriden. No one there was available for comment Friday. Councilman Harry Gagliardi said he wants to see the project assigned to the Town Building Committee, but council President James Pascarella said he isn’t sure a bridge project could legally fall under the auspices of the building committee. To assign it to the building committee may require an amendment to the ordinance that created the committee, Pascarella said.
The project has been in the works for several years and recently it was revealed that the cost is going to be much more than anticipated. Initially, the project was estimated to cost $5.5 million, but that price has rose to more than $8 million. The town’s share of the cost is $1.2 million. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Connecticut’s US senators call for major infrastructure funding
HARTFORD >> U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy are calling for major federal spending on roads, bridges, highways, rails, ports, and public transportation.
The Democrats are planning to join with construction workers and businesses Monday to highlight the kinds of jobs they say will help support families. The press conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the closed Route 2 off-ramp to downtown Hartford.Donald Trump has called infrastructure investment a priority for his administration, but Blumenthal and Murphy faulted the Republican president-elect, saying the plans he has proposed so far include corporate welfare tax breaks to private-sector investors without guaranteeing any public benefit. Earlier Monday, Blumenthal and Murphy plan to join local officials for a downtown walking tour of New Britain to discuss top transportation infrastructure priorities for the city.