MERIDEN — Rapid progress is being made on Meriden Commons Phase I, with construction of the foundation, elevator shafts and first-floor underway on the housing and commercial development overlooking the Meriden Green.
“I swear, every time I drive around the corner it’s getting bigger,” said David Sunshine, Meriden Housing Authority resident services director. “It is going up at an amazing rate.”
Work on the $14.5 million mixed-income housing development began in May. The housing authority has partnered with Pennrose Properties on the project, which is funded through a mix of low-income housing tax credits, private investment and $5.7 million from the state Department of Housing.The 76-unit apartment complex will be a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units with 5,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor. Sixty-one units are considered Section 8, or affordable, with the remaining 15 units rented at market rate.
Pennrose Regional Vice President Charlie Adams said work on the four-story building is about 20 percent complete.
“They are moving fast,” Adams said. “They are pretty much on schedule.”
The work is being done by Haynes Construction. The project is expected to be completed in May 2018. Adams said they hope to have all of the units leased by December 2018.
Economic Development Director Juliet Burdelski has noticed the progress.
“They are going really fast,” Burdelski said. “It’s really neat to see the building coming up.”
Next door to the development, thirty-seven families still need to be relocated from the MHA’s Mills Memorial Apartments by Aug. 1, Sunshine said, a deadline the Meriden Housing Authority is still hoping to meet.
“There’s a series of procedures that have to be followed and people have to be properly housed and we need time to do that,” Sunshine said. “That being said, at the rate that we’re going I believe we should be able to make the Aug. 1 deadline. Can’t guarantee it, but that’s what we’re shooting for.”
The $2 million demolition of the Mills was slated to begin this fall, however if the tenants cannot be relocated within the next two months demolition will likely be pushed back to the spring, Burdelski said. The demolition of the Mills complex is an integral component in the development of Meriden Commons I and the city’s contract on the project includes a “complicated reverter clause,” where the city can take back the Meriden Commons property from the Meriden Housing Authority, Burdelski said.
“We can impose penalties on the housing authority if they don’t have the residents out by Dec. 31,” Burdelski said. “Hopefully we won’t have to do that... Nobody wants that scenario.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Simmons said Tuesday the town has not yet received the final paperwork for the funding. He said the $200,000 is among $1.4 million in promised state aid for road repairs, Town Dock improvements and the design of the Route 27 transportation improvements that the town still is awaiting.
He said the town is proceeding "very systematically" because of the many facets of the project, ranging from environmental cleanup to traffic.
"We have to do this right. It will take time," he said. "We're going to be careful with the people's money."
He said the Mystic River Boathouse Park Committee is scheduled to meet July 24 to approve a contract with Kent + Frost to design the master plan. On Sept. 9, Simmons said, the town will hold a public informational meeting to present the preliminary plans and get feedback from residents. Kent + Frost then will finalize its plan.
Meanwhile, Simmons said the environmental assessment work will be taking place and decisions will be made about the removal of a house on the site and what to do with a tunnel that runs under Route 27 from the property.
The town is expected to seek approval for the project from the Planning and Zoning Commission sometime next year. No date has yet been set for the start of construction.
Simmons said the park will be a “spectacular asset” that will provide permanent access to the river for residents and enhance the gateway to Mystic. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Federal Agency Withdraws Controversial Shoreline High-Speed Rail Plan
acing major local opposition, federal railroad officials are pulling back on their controversial plan to authorize construction of a high-speed inland rail line through southeastern Connecticut shoreline communities.
The withdrawal of the proposal for a 30-mile inland rail line from Old Saybrook to Kenyon, R.I., drew immediate praise Wednesday from Connecticut officials who vehemently opposed the plan.
Rep. Joe Courtney, whose 2nd Congressional District covers the communities most opposed to the project, welcomed the decision to cancel "the misguided and poorly conceived plan to realign railway tracks through communities across the southeastern Connecticut." Courtney gave credit to grassroots activists and town officials for blocking the controversial concept.
The federal proposal triggered immediate opposition when it was broached in 2015. The "Kenyon Bypass" was intended to provide straighter rail lines for high-speed trains, rather than the slower, curving rail line that now exists along the shoreline. The proposal was also intended to provide a rail route away from shoreline sections that are vulnerable to major storm surges and floodin Local officials and residents argued that a high-speed rail line with elevated tracks would ruin the character of shoreline communities and bypass existing rail station A federal proposal to run tracks for Amtrak high-speed trains through a new route in affluent Fairfield County drew fire Thursday from the mayor of the region's second-biggest city.Mayor David Martin said Thursday he likes the plan to expand capacity at Stamford's busy train station. But he's...Gov. Dannel P. Malloy also praised the Federal Railroad Administration action, saying the decision to focus on upgrading and repairing existing rail lines "provides a path forward for expanding capacity and improving performance" of rail service through the state.Courtney, Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, Malloy and a host of local officials voiced adamant opposition to the original rail plan.
"This final plan is a victory for common sense and for Connecticut," said Blumenthal, "rightly abandoning the half-baked and harebrained scheme to reroute Amtrak right through [Old Lyme's] historic downtown."
Lawmakers from the shoreline area were delighted with the federal decision. "This is fabulous news for the shoreline community in southeastern Connecticut," said Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme. Sens. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, Heather Somers, R-Groton, and Art Linares, R-Westbrook, and Reps. Devin Carney, R-Old Saybrook, and Kathy McCarty, R-Waterford, were also cheering the withdrawal of the proposal.
Environmentalists had also opposed the new inland rail project. Claudia Weicker, chairwoman of the Connecticut Audubon Society's Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center in Old Lyme, called the rail agency's decision "a considerable victory for conservation and environmental protection in southeastern Connecticut." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Newington Town Hall Renovation Moves Forward, Price Tag Expected To Drop
If all goes according to the town's plan, a proposed 72,960-square-foot town hall renovation could be sent to voters for approval in November.
At a Tuesday night town council meeting, Mayor Roy Zartarian said the council found extra money in architect Quisenberry and Arcari's plan and was able to reduce the project's estimated cost.
"Yes, I am tight with the dollars and wanted to squeeze everything out," Zartarian said.
According to Zartarian, the original $29.5 million price tag on the project is down to $28.8 million thanks to an extra bonding item that was mistakenly included in the total. The use of some capital improvement funds earmarked for the renovation project also brought down the cost. At a meeting last month, the town council heard preliminary plans for the new building design.
According to the plan, board of education offices will be on the third floor with government and human services offices on the second floor. Town council chambers, community television and the Transition Academy will occupy the first floor.
Architect Tom Arcari said plans for the community center space include two full-sized basketball courts, locker rooms, a kitchen, a multipurpose room and craft rooms. The plan also includes more storage spaces and a discrete entrance for human services.
"We anticipate the new building would be a 100-year building. We think it'll meet all the programmatic needs for a long time," Arcari said.
If approved by voters at a November referendum, the new building would be in the upper town hall parking lot. During construction no town offices would be moved, saving the town $2 million, and the old building would be demolished upon completion of the new facility.
Town councilors were receptive to the project at the time, but some expressed concern about the cost as they had asked for proposals to come in under $25 million.Town Hall Renovation Committee Chair Joe Harpie said he was pleased by the cost reduction.
"I am glad we're going down rather than up. In conjunction with the savings, the committee worked really hard to reduce swing space," he said, referring to the plans for staff to stay in the old building during renovations. "That in itself was a substantial cost reduction." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Upscale Wooster Square project clears hurdle
NEW HAVEN >> The last of multiple suits and appeals that have stymied construction of approved upscale apartments in Wooster Square for three years appear to be at an end.
Frank Caico, a principal in Spinnaker Residential LLC out of Norwalk, Tuesday said he was advised by his attorney, James Perito, that the most recent rejection by the Appellate Court halts 78 Olive Street Partners LLC’s legal options to stop the project.Spinnaker, in 2014, got site plan approval and a zone change to allow for the 232 apartments planned for the closed Comcast site at Chapel and Olive streets and a small portion of property across the street, which is adjacent to the former Strouse Adler building.Strouse Adler, at 78 Olive St. — the onetime home to the Smoothie undergarment factory — was one of the first industrial sites in New Haven converted to apartments and will be in direct competition with Spinnaker’s project, as well as 299 apartments planned for nearby 87 Union St. by developer Noel Petra. The Strouse Adler property is owned by the PCM Property Group out of Philadelphia, which has several apartment complexes downtown and has brought a separate ongoing federal suit against New Haven over its sewer system.
In it they asked the court to halt all New Haven development until the system is upgraded.The suits against Spinnaker and the subsequent appeals concerned a zone change, site plan approvals and stormwater discharge — challenges that 78 Olive Partners LLC lost at each attempt.“We are obviously pleased with the outcome. It has been a long road, but we always believed that we had a very strong case. We knew the courts would eventually rule in our favor,” Caico said.He said, however, it was “very challenging” to wait out the process. Not only was the legal cost “significant” to fight the suits, but the interim three years was time wasted.Caico said the company was surprised by the suits “given how hard we had worked with the neighbors and the city. We tried to be very responsive in our approach.”Matthew Nemerson, the city’s economic development administrator, said the Spinnaker plan, as well as Petra’s project, will open up an area that needs to be brought to life with retail and more residences.Close to the State Street train station, the project is the first transit-oriented development in the area and increased activity there is expected to make the two blocks on Chapel Street from State Street safer.The suit against the Petra’s proposal ended sooner as Judge Thomas Corradino found that 78 Olive Street did not have standing. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE