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Atlantic Station opening highlights downtown Stamford growth
STAMFORD — A new glass-sheathed peak punctuates the city’s skyline at the corner of Atlantic Street and Tresser Boulevard.
Standing 280 feet, the 325-unit Atlantic Station apartment tower in the downtown can be seen for miles. But the building’s developer, Cappelli Organization, and municipal and business leaders see the structure as much more than just an eye-catcher. They think the site — which encompasses a former post office under redevelopment and a planned second apartment tower — has the potential to help transform an area dominated by office complexes into a true neighborhood.
“I think that Atlantic Station will be a catalyst for creating more connectivity between the train station and downtown,” said Bruce Berg, CEO of the Fuller Development Co., the development arm of the White Plains, N.Y.-based Cappelli. “It also adds good-quality inventory of new multifamily product that should appeal to a fairly wide demographic.”
Transit-oriented development
Cappelli took over a site, at 355 Atlantic St., that had languished as empty for a number of years after a commercial strip center there had been torn down. But the developer saw significant potential in a site that stands not far from the downtown Metro-North train station and Stamford Town Center mall and a short walk from the city center’s restaurant rows.
The Cappelli team was familiar with the city having developed with Stamford-based F.D. Rich Co. the Trump Parc condominium tower that opened in 2009 at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Broad Street.
“With Atlantic Station, we saw a great location, with great visibility and proximity to the train station and the rest of the downtown,” Berg said.
Neighboring buildings include the 400 Atlantic St. office tower that houses Charter Communications’ headquarters; the Rich Forum where the Jerry Springer, Maury and Steve Wilkos talk shows are filmed; and the approximately 700,000-square-foot complex at 677 Washington Blvd., the city’s largest vacant office property and former home of UBS’ Stamford offices.
Development of Atlantic Station is costing “in excess of” $100 million, according to Berg.
Construction started in March 2016. At the peak of the building work, a few hundred workers were reporting daily.In addition to its stature, the 26-floor Atlantic Station stands out for its views. From the upper floors, residents can clearly see the Manhattan skyline and across Long Island Sound. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
CCM demands release of $30 million in road aid
HARTFORD — The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities is demanding that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy release $30 million in road aid owed to cities and towns across the state.
But in a telling sign of the state’s precarious financial condition, the Malloy administration said the check is not in the mail.
"We do not feel we can authorize that additional $30 million in bonds and obligate that debt at this time," said Chris McClure, a spokesman for the state Office of Planning and Management.
CCM maintains the money was promised to towns and cities last fall when a bipartisan budget was adopted. Malloy, faced with tens of millions in mandated cuts and an ongoing deficit, instead eliminated the second distribution of road aid.
For CCM, that’s not only a broken promise but a bad omen for the future.
"The ultimate cost of poor road conditions is significantly more over time than the cost to maintain those same roads in good condition," said Kevin Maloney, a spokesman for CCM.
"After 25 years the cost per lane mile for reconstruction can be more than three times the cost of preservation treatments over the same time period, which can lead to a longer overall life span for the infrastructure," Maloney said. CCM on Thursday demanded the money be authorized by the State Bond Commission on Friday. The item is currently not on the commission’s agenda.
The money includes $431,244 for Danbury, $695,389 for Bridgeport, $622,752 for New Haven and $614,393 for Stamford.
McClure said the Malloy administration agrees that repairing and maintaining roads is vital to the state.
"We are optimistic that we will be able to act on the additional funding later this spring once the legislature has taken needed steps to strengthen the Special Transportation Fund to provide a sustainable and predictable path forward for Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure," McClure said. McClure noted $30 million in road aid had already been forwarded to municipalities and the request for an additional $30 million comes when "we just canceled or delayed $4.3 billion worth of projects."
Malloy canceled hundreds of transportation projects due to a lack of money. The governor has proposed installing electronic highway tolls to raise revenue and wants to increase the gas tax by seven cents and place a three dollar fee on tires.
“With the imminent prospect of spring-thaw potholes and warm-weather paving season, city officials would prefer to know these budgeted state funds are in place,” said Laurence Grotheer, spokesman for New Haven Mayor Toni Harp. “Late-game revenue shortfalls make it difficult to complete scheduled work and keep the city budget balanced.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Developers have plans for Stratford’s Sidney Street
STRATFORD — This town has a few forlorn neighborhoods — and near the top of the pitiful list is Sidney Street.
Everyone in Stratford knows about Sidney Street, even if the name is unfamiliar. It’s the dead-ender that’s wedged between the parking lot of Stop and Shop and Interstate 95. It’s fronted on East Main Street by a long-abandoned gas station painted entirely in battleship gray to make it look even more melancholy than it needs to be.
Now, a developer hopes to bring some cheer to Sidney Street. Urstadt Biddle Properties, which owns The Dock shopping center nearby, is seeking the OK from Town Hall to build a five-story self-storage facility that would provide about 120,000 square feet — about 2.7 acres — of storage space and a retail building. The company is in negotiations with prospective upscale chain restaurants for the retail site.
The company is also in the process of purchasing the homes on the street.
The $14-million-plus idea also would mean relocating the huge two-sided billboard to another spot on the triangular plot to make more room for the self-storage building. That’s a major undertaking in itself; the billboard mast also serves as a cell phone tower, and that move alone will cost developers about $250,000.
“The street is disgraceful now,” said Barry Knott, the attorney representing Urstadt Biddle. “All of that awfulness in and around Sidney Street would be gone.”
Urstadt Biddle owns and operates about 80 small- to mid-sized shopping plazas in Fairfield County, New York and New Jersey. The company is listed as a REIT, or a real estate investment trust — a company that owns or finances income-producing real estate. The Dock is one of the company’s larger properties.
State’s older infrastructure at disadvantage in new transportation plan
By Dan Freedman
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s $1.5 trillion infrastructure package landed with something of a thud in Connecticut, a state deep in a fiscal rut and little hope of meeting the plan’s goal of using federal dollars to leverage state and private funds.
The Trump plan rolled out Monday was not a surprise, following the lines laid out by the president practically since he took office over a year ago: $200 billion in federal money, with about half of it aimed at spurring state, local and private dollars through an “incentives program.”
The remainder would go to projects that might not otherwise attract investment and other infrastructure financing needs, including $20 billion for existing infrastructure projects and $50 billion targeted at rural America.
“Washington will no longer be a roadblock to progress,” Trump said at a White House meeting of state and local officials. “Washington will now be your partner.”
Trump extolled the plan’s harnessing of private investment, noting how he himself rebuilt the Wollman skating rink in New York City “in a few months … for a tiny fraction of the cost.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, called the plan a “sham.”
“Want to buy the Brooklyn Bridge?” said Blumenthal. “You’ll love President Trump’s infrastructure plan. Blumenthal and other Democrats have long complained that any infrastructure plan that involves private dollars instead of direct federal spending implies costly tolls and other gimmicks so investors can get a return on their money.
In Hartford, Gov. Dannel Malloy has proposed electronic highway tolls — possibly involving express lanes — as a way to recoup the $4.3 billion in transportation projects he canceled because of the state’s budget woes. He also proposed a seven-cent increase in the state gas tax and a $3 tax on tires.
Connecticut Republicans have bitterly opposed any tolling option, with Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, calling it a “mileage tax.”
Malloy himself blasted the Trump proposal Monday for “relying on phantom private funding” and hidden cuts that “could actually make our problems worse.”
Sen. Chris Murphy said the Trump proposal “provides pennies to infrastructure projects while cash-strapped communities are forced to spend money they don’t have or else sell off highways and railroads to Wall Street.”
The Trump plan “amounts to a drop in the bucket in critically needed federal funding,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro Chief among the region’s needs are widening I-95 from Greenwich to Bridgeport and widening I-84 through Danbury.
The 2017 report card of the American Society of Civil Engineers shows Connecticut with 8 percent of its 4,214 bridges structurally deficient, 14 hazardous waste sites on the national priority list, 57 percent of 21,512 miles of roadway in poor condition and more than $8 billion in wastewater and drinking water infrastructure needs over the next 20 years.
Last year, the Congressionally appointed Northeast Corridor Commission placed two Connecticut railroad bridges on its top 10 priority list. One was the Devon Bridge, originally built in 1905 to connect Stratford and Milford. It is in need of reconstruction at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion.
The other is the 1907-vintage Connecticut River Bridge connecting Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. Total overall cost: $660-million.
Apart from natural antipathy to any Trump proposal no matter what, Connecticut Democrats viewed the Trump infrastructure plan as an odd fit for a state situated at the heart of the Northeast transportation corridor from Washington to Boston.
Rep. Elizabeth Esty, a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said that although Connecticut overall sends more money in taxes to Washington than it gets back in federal spending, it has over decades actually gotten more of a return from the federal government for transportation infrastructure.
Connecticut, Esty said, is in effect being punished for the age and disrepair of its infrastructure.
“It’s far easier to build new infrastructure faster cheaper than it is to fix older infrastructure already in place,” Esty said. “I would argue we should get more support, not less, in recognition of our place in the backbone of the Eastern seaboard.”
Some urban planners have looked askance at the self-storage industry because its buildings produce few jobs and they are not seen as businesses that attract economic development. Still, there are more than a dozen such operations on the stretch of I-95 between Fairfield and West Haven.
“They’re taking over everywhere,” said Lauren Sardi, a sociology professor at Quinnipiac University. “And it’s because we live in a consumer-driven society — we’re buying stuff that we don’t need and we didn’t even know existed, and it’s all piling up.” She said that another driver to the plethora of storage facilities dotting the area is the nomadic nature of society. Children, when they reach adulthood, find work in places far-flung from their parents’ homes. “So their collection of stuff can’t be stashed in their parents’ attics,” she said, noting that the storage business has even resulted in storage bin reality shows, in which junk dealers bid on stuff left behind in unpaid-for storage cubicles. “Often, people have to rent these units not because they have too much stuff, but because they’ve moved a number of times,” Sardi said.
Lingering concerns, questions hold up completion of Berlin school project
By Ashley Kus, The Citizen
BERLIN – A year after the official ribbon cutting and celebration of the newly renovated Berlin High School project, the Board of Education is looking to resolve roof leaks and other issues before signing off on completion.
“I’ve made it very clear that we would not sign off until we saw a final report to know what the complete status is and any and all issues that we have, and outstanding, would be addressed,” said Matthew Tencza, president of the education board, at a recent meeting.
One of the major issues is the wrapping of duct work that is currently exposed to the outside elements. Eva Gallupe, director of business operations for the district, said Wednesday that the ducts need to be resealed, as they are currently painted.
Superintendent Brian Benigni said quotes are being reviewed for the duct work and for other items the board requested be done before closing out the project.
“If we accept the project as done it becomes our problem,” he said of the financial implications.
According to a budget summary given to the Board of Finance by the Public Building Commission, which has authority over the project, a total of $1.7 million of the $83 million budget has not been spent. Costs incurred as of Jan. 31 were reported as $81.6 million for both phases of the project, architectural services, equipment, furnishing and other fees.
“It’s taxpayer money,” said Sam Lomaglio, chair of the finance board. “I don’t think the building commission is being transparent.”
He said according to the town Charter, the finance board is supposed to get monthly project reports from the building commission.
“I think we’re light on explanation,” said John Richard, member of the finance board and former building commission member.
Mayor Mark Kaczynski said it’s unknown what amount will actually be leftover in the approved project budget.
“It’s too early to plan,” he said. “The board of finance and the council has nothing to do with it right now.”
The school board submitted a list of requested items to the building commission earlier this month. The commissioners said they would resolve several concerns with the town, but most items were “never in the ‘scope of work’ for the project” and would need to be taken care of in alternate ways.
The chair of the commission was not available for comment.
“School projects are supposed to be a collaborative effort between the town and schools,” Gallupe said.
She said it is ultimately a question on what meets the original statement of need that was approved by the board in 2009.
The statement addressed facility deficiencies at the high school, as well as the on-site and off-site athletic facilities identified by the Office of Civil Rights in its compliance report and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges in its accreditation report.
The education board recently decided to hold off on the adoption of its site and building and capital project budgets until they have more information from the building commission on the high school items such as the roof ducts.
“We’re still hoping they will complete these items,” Benigni said. “Many of these items the board feels were part of the scope of the project.”
The education board will continue discussions at the next meeting Monday, Feb. 26.
Eversource upgrading New London’s natural gas system
New London — Eversource Energy on Thursday announced plans to invest more than $1.4 million in New London's natural gas system starting next week.
The project includes replacing more than 3,200 feet of cast iron and steel gas mains with safer plastic piping that Eversource says is more durable and better equipped to handle underground temperature swings.
Eversource said crews would work 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with construction planned along Montauk, Ocean and Blydenburg avenues, Linden and Orchard Streets, and Alger Place. Eversource expects the gas line improvements to be completed by mid-April.
Eversource said it has replaced about 140 miles of aging gas lines across Connecticut since 2012.
Drivers may experience delays due to alternating one-way traffic. Some customers may experience a short disruption to their natural gas service when the new line is being activated; Eversource will notify such customers in advance by letter, phone or in-person.
For more information, visit Eversource.com.
Energy company’s plant plan for Killingly delayed again
By John Penney
KILLINGLY — Plans for a proposed Killingly power plant are on hold for at least a year after the NTE energy company failed to make the cut at a recent electricity auction.
NTE, which hopes to build a 550-megawatt power-generating facility off Lake Road in Dayville, was not chosen this month to be an energy supplier at a forward capacity auction overseen by ISO New England.
“While we are disappointed with the results of the ISO Forward Capacity Auction, we are not deterred,” NTE Energy’s Tim Eves said. “The fact is, the Killingly Energy Center was in a much better position for FCA 12 than it was last year for FCA 11 and will be in an even stronger position to compete in next year’s FCA 13, which will be held in February 2019. We will continue to work on the development of this project to make it even better as we prepare for next year’s FCA.”
Town Manager Sean Hendricks said the company has since withdrawn its motion to re-file a pair of permit applications with the state Siting Council that, if approved, would allow them to start building.
The company’s initial environmental compatibility and public need permit applications were rejected by the state Siting Council last year without prejudice, meaning NTE had the right to re-submit the applications at a later date.
“But since the company was not chosen at the auction, they don’t hurdle that first bar of showing there’s a public need for the facility, just like last year,” Hendricks said. “It’s my understanding they still plan to re-apply next year.”
The Forward Capacity Auctions are held annually and allow bidders to compete to supply electricity three years in the future to the regional grid. In exchange for a market-priced capacity payment, companies commit to supply a certain amount of electricity.
“I was told (NTE’s) bid was 20 cents too high,” Town Council member David Griffiths said.
After months of negotiations, the town and NTE in January mutually approved two agreements that could net the town millions in tax revenue. A tax-stabilization agreement calls for the company to pay the town $91 million in tax revenue over a 20-year period, pending construction of the $500 million facility. A separate Community Environmental Benefit Agreement calls for NTE to pay the town $5 million in “unrestricted” funds for use on environmentally-oriented projects.
Griffiths said the council has done its due diligence by negotiating hard with NTE.
“But now it’s out of our hands,” he said. “The council was able to get an extra half-million out of the deal and ensure local unions are taken care of. Now, it’s up to the Siting Council and we wait and see.”
Griffin to break ground on Oxford medical building
John Stearns
The developer of an Oxford mixed-use development says it will break ground Friday on construction for a medical office building to be anchored by Griffin Health, parent of Derby-based Griffin Hospital.
The 50,000-square foot medical building will offer primary care, diagnostic imaging, blood draw and physical therapy services, Haynes Development Co. said.
Griffin and Valley Orthopedic Specialists plan to start operations at the 300 Oxford Road property this fall, while an urgent care center is slated to launch this summer, Haynes' Kathy Ekstrom wrote earlier this month in the New England Real Estate Journal. She also wrote that nearly half of the medical building is pre-leased. The building is part of the $70 million Quarry Walk residential, retail and healthcare development.
Haynes told WTNH News 8 last month that Quarry Walk will bring upwards of $1 million in tax revenue to the town.
Neither Ekstrom nor a Griffin spokesman could immediately be reached for comment.
Scoop: Trump endorses 25-cent gas tax hike
Jonathan Swan
President Trump endorsed a 25-cent gas tax hike to pay for infrastructure at a White House meeting this morning with senior administration officials and members of Congress from both parties, according to two sources with direct knowledge. Trump also said he was open to other ways to pay for infrastructure, according to a source with direct knowledge.
Reality check: Trump’s gas tax idea appears dead on arrival. Republicans aren’t about to hike taxes for the Trump voters driving their pickup trucks to work every day. It’s a regressive tax and in Republicans’ minds would undo some of working and middle class tax cuts they just passed.
About 55 two-lane mi. of the total was completed under the agency's pavement preservation program, which includes crack filling, surface patching, drainage repairs and other work to extend the life of existing roadways.
DOT is responsible for maintaining more than 4,100 mi. of roads and highways throughout Connecticut and typically resurfaces about 250 to 300 mi. each year. This year, the agency spent $69 million on road resurfacing.
The Democratic governor is warning that such routine maintenance is at risk if the state does not financially shore up its Special Transportation Fund, which is facing insolvency in 2019.
He said the account needs new revenue.