Town officials will hold a public information meeting on Sept.18 for a construction project to change the I-84 entrance and exit ramp at Park Road.
The public information meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in room 314 at West Hartford Town Hall, 50 South Main St. and will include an overview of the project, the construction schedule, traffic impacts and alternate routes, according to the town. Construction is expected to start this month.
The project means the I-84 off ramp would be relocated so it is next to the existing on-ramp and will be re-graded and widened to include an additional left-turn lane. Park Road will also be widened on the south side to create an additional travel lane and left-turn lanes. According the town, pedestrian and bicyclist enhancements will be incorporated into the project.
"The Park Road at Interstate 84 interchange improvement project started as a means to address traffic congestion between Overbook Road and Trout Brook Drive," Town Engineer Duane J. Martin said in an email. "This project is a stand-alone project and is not combined with any other projects on Interstate 84. However, it includes the reconstruction of hundreds of feet of on and off ramp."
Martin said the town's engineering division applied for a grant in 2011, which the state backed "due to significant vehicular crash history on the off ramp."
Construction costs are estimated at about $6.8 million, 80 percent of which will be paid for through federal funding and the state and town each contributing 10-percent to the cost.
The improvements aim to address capacity, efficiency and safety, according to the town. Over a three-year period there were roughly 60 crashes at the exit ramp. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Part of Storrs Center Near UConn Campus Sells For $13 Million
Another chunk of the $220 million Storrs Center, a mixed-use development near the University of Connecticut’s main campus, has sold, brokers involved in the deal said Tuesday.
An affiliate of ACF Property Management of California has acquired 34,500 square feet of street-level and office space leased to such tenants as Amazon, Blaze Pizza, Dunkin’ Donuts and T-Mobile for $13.1 million from the project’s master developer LeylandAlliance.
“It is not often we find a high quality property in such an outstanding neighborhood location,” Alan C. Fox, ACF principal, said.
The purchase price is $379 a square foot, $13 a square foot higher than the price paid for another block of commercial space in the same development in 2014.
ACF, a commercial property management company founded in 1968, manages property in California and ten other states in the West, Midwest and the South. The company specializes in shopping areas that are anchored by grocery stores and drug stores.
This is ACF’s first foray into Connecticut.The sale, in what is known as the second phase of Storrs Center, does not include 205 apartments above the storefront space. The apartments are owned by Education Realty Trust.
Commercial real estate firm JLL brokered the sale.
In 2014, Hart Realty Advisers and institutional investor State of Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds acquired 125,000 square feet of commercial space in the first phase of Storrs Center for $45.8 million.
The first phase is anchored by a Price Chopper supermarket, a CVS pharmacy, UConn Health medical offices, the UConn Co-op Bookstore and such restaurants as Geno’s Grille and Dog Lane Cafe.LeylandAlliance, based in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., was chosen as the master developer of Storrs Center in 2004, and construction began in 2011. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Torrington holds public hearing on upgrades to sewer treatment plant; project could cost $72.26 million
TORRINGTON >> The City Council voted to borrow up to an additional $20.3 million for improvements and renovations to the Water Pollution Control Facility Monday evening, bringing the total price tag up to $72.26 million.
The project will bring the facility into compliance with regulatory requirements for flood protection and the filtration of phosphorus and nitrogen, according to a presentation from WPCA Administrator Ray Drew, Public Works Director Jerry Rollett and Middletown-based engineering firm Wright-Pierce, before the council’s vote.Aging equipment at the facility will be replaced as part of the project, as well, according to the presentation. The last significant upgrade to the plant took place in 1970, Drew said. The work will also improve energy efficiency at the facility, he said.Drew said the city’s National Pollutant Discharge Eliminate System permit will expire in April 2020, requiring a portion of the work. City residents approved borrowing $52 million for the project in a September 2014 referendum. The projected cost of the project has increased since then, in part due to changes to requirements for mitigating hazardous materials, such as PCBs, and flood protection standards.
Residents weighed in on borrowing the additional funding Monday, with resident Mike Banziruk prompting the greatest stir by suggesting contingency funding included in the current estimate was high and could be used to defray some of the potential cost.“When we have all these contingencies and government (costs), it’s unbelievable that it will all get used up,” said Banziruk. “I mean, we are not the cash cow here in Torrington.”The contingency funds included in the project were fine-tuned during the engineering process, decreasing them from the 2012 levels, Mayor Elinor Carbone said.Council member Paul Cavagnero, drawing on Banziruk’s comments, made a motion to table the project vote to allow for further review and consultation. This motion was rejected, with Cavagnero and council member Luisa Noujaim voting for it.Carbone said the $72.26 million figure represents the highest likely estimate for the work, with actual bids yet to be received. Approximately 22 percent of the work, or $15.9 million, is expected to be paid with grant funding, according to the presentation. “There’s a lot of unknowns as to what those final numbers will be,” Carbone said. All funding for the project will be borrowed from the Connecticut Clean Water Fund, Drew and Carbone said. This fund was established in 1986 to “provide financial assistance to municipalities for planning, design and construction of wastewater collection and treatment projects,” according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. If the $72.26 million projection holds true, this would lead to $56.36 million being borrowed at 2 percent interest, according to the presentation. This would lead to the loan being paid off in an annual installment of $3.4 million over 20 years, Drew said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE