Julia Perkins
BETHEL — The new police station is still not done, but it should not be long before the building is open. Jon Menti, chairman of the Public Site and Building Committee, said the $14.4 million station will be finished “soon,” but that he did not have a completion date. At one point, officials hoped the building would be done in August and then September.
“The building is beautiful on the inside,” Menti said. “It’s something that will last the town the next 50 to 70 years. It’s well made, well constructed.”
Menti said landscaping and small work, such as touching up paint, needs to completed. The building department and fire marshal also must inspect the building, while the police department is coordinating with state 911 services to set up the 911 system.
Contractors are teaching police administrators how to use the mechanical and electronic systems in the building this week “That is a very involved process,” Menti said. About $120,000 is left in the contingency fund.
North Haven police station project facing delays
Bailey Wright
NORTH HAVEN — The timeline for completing renovations and a 10,000-square-foot addition to the police station has been extended by at least two months.
“Essentially, we have been pushed back from an anticipated completion date of late February 2019 to late April or early May,” Police Chief Tom McLoughlin said in an email.
McLoughlin said the work has fallen behind because of a delay in the delivery of steel needed for the new west wing. He said that delivery is now expected by the end of the month.
The completion date may be pushed again if “we have a tough winter,” McLoughlin said. Downes Construction Co. project manager Brad Percival said the delay is also due to unforeseen obstacles on-site.
Construction on the Linsley Avenue station started early this year, with a formal groundbreaking held in March.
The $18 million renovation is expected to add 40 years to the 53-year-old building’s life. The project includes a 10,000-square-foot addition on the building’s west side for new sally ports, lockup and garage.
Percival said the building’s interior mechanical work, interior framing and underground utilities are ongoing. He said once the steel arrives, they will begin putting it up and then work on exterior framing.
Other work yet to be started includes masonry, new windows and a new roof.
McLoughlin said he is not concerned about the delays leading to additional costs because a guaranteed maximum price was secured with the construction management company.
“I’m more concerned with the daily disruption of our organization and the longer term effects of having the department be decentralized,” McLoughlin said.
Police operations, including dispatch and records, have been relocated to the Town Hall Annex basement, at 5 Linsley St., for the time being.
UConn Approves Plans For New 2,500-Seat Ice Hockey Arena
Kelli Stacy
The UConn Board of Trustees took a step toward the construction of a new ice hockey arena on campus Wednesday, approving plans for the facility.
The arena will seat 2,500 and be located adjacent to and connected to the Freitas Ice Forum. Hockey East requires that schools have an arena to play in on campus. The trustees authorized UConn to “execute agreements necessary for any portion or all of the design, construction, financing, and operation of a new ice hockey arena on the Storrs campus, provided that the arena meets the minimum requirements of the Hockey East Association.”School officials have until Oct. 31 to submit a financing plan for the project. The plan would also require an anticipated date for completion for the project and needs committee approval. According to an athletics department spokesperson, the project is anticipated to have a “4-year window” after construction begins.
The Huskies will continue to play a majority of their games at the XL Center, according to a team spokesperson, but the new arena will allow for roughly six to seven games to be played on campus. The new arena will also help UConn avoid scheduling conflicts with bookings at the XL Center.
UConn was originally scheduled to begin construction on the Freitas Ice Forum in 2017 to meet minimum Hockey East requirements, per their agreement with the Hockey East when the Huskies joined the conference in 2013. The conference gave UConn time to meet the requirements, but university officials agreed a Freitas renovation to include additional seating would prove difficult.
The locker rooms, coaches’ offices and equipment room at Freitas will be renovated in an attempt to keep costs of the new project low. The renovation will include more strength and training space.
With the construction of an entirely new arena in the works, UConn’s start date was pushed back and the conference was informed. UConn also submitted a request to the conference to allow for 2,500 seats instead of 4,000, which was approved in September.
After the meeting, Scott Jordan, UConn’s chief financial officer, said the next step for the development will be finding a development partner and coming back to the board with a developed proposal.
“We wanted to more or less get a commitment from the Board of Trustees today to this smaller scope,” Jordan said. “We wanted to be on the record. Hockey East was accommodating to us. This vote is us saying back to Hockey East, thank you. We will proceed.”