Please
join us for a press conference as TRIP releases a new report on “Preserving
Connecticut’s Bridges – The condition and funding needs of CT’s aging bridge
system”.
Date:
Thursday, September 20,
2018
Time:
9:00AM (Please arrive early)
Location:
Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford
New Haven not worried about development of Coliseum site
Mary E. O’Leary
NEW HAVEN — Max? Are you out there?
Max Reim, founding principal at Live Work Learn Play, which has an agreement to develop the former Coliseum site, has missed another deadline as the city pushes him to justify why it should wait any longer for the Montreal-based developer to advance his five-year-old proposal.
Mayor Toni Harp this week said she is having Economic Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson check in with Reim one more time as the 5.5 acres of prime real estate at the edge of Ninth Square remains a parking lot“We are at the point now where we are waiting, waiting and waiting. It is really time for them to show us they can do this,” she said. If not, “it is time for us to move on,” Harp said.“We will have a project there. The question is whether they will be the developer,” Harp said. “There are many developers who are interested in that site.
Reim could not be reached for comment.
The complicated engineering has to also connect the lanes that go into the Air Rights Garage, as well as integrate the utilities. Traffic then has to be directed onto Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. In the end, Orange Street will connect downtown with the Hill.
He said planning is also advancing for the Downtown Crossing over Temple Street. The first crossing was extended at College Street where Alexion Pharmeceuticals built a $100 million headquarters.
Nemerson said there are multiple construction projects under way in New Haven with more expected in the near future, so a stalled Live Work Learn Play development has less significance than it did in 2013. “We have developers who are hunting through the city for every half-acre of land that they can find to put up buildings. So we know that there is no shortage of demand for land and no sense that we are anywhere near capacity of this region to absorb a few more thousand market-rate rental units in the center (of the) city,” Nemerson said.
He said there are some 60,000 housing units in New Haven and 300,000 in the region with millennials and baby boomers looking for housing. “Those two markets constitute tens of thousands ... of people looking for apartments in the Greater New Haven area and so we feel there is plenty of demand,” Nemerson said. Reim’s proposal for New Haven included some 1,000 mixed-income apartments, a public square, 40 new businesses and a high-end, 160-room hotel.
Similar to the demand for housing construction in New Haven, four hotels now are in the planning or under construction in New Haven with more developers showing an interest.
Ironically, the large former Coliseum lot that is full daily with downtown workers and commuters catching trains currently is playing an important function, Nemerson said. Construction there would force the city to find a new area for them to park until a new garage is built at Union Station.
While Reim’s New Haven development waits, Live Work Learn Play is part of a huge mixed-use project in Toronto known as Woodbine Districts.
Reim has partnered with the Woodbine Entertainment Group on the development for the past three years, according to Property Biz Canada.
The publication reported this spring that construction was advancing for the 684-acre Woodbine Racetrack property in northwest Toronto, a site that is bigger than that city’s central business area.
Property Biz Canada said the master plan leaves some 200 acres to horse racing, but the rest is new development with blocks devoted to retail, restaurants, as well as two 12-story hotels accommodating some 1,000 rooms. “We’re looking at very dense, mixed-use, mid-rise, interconnected districts, which is why the project is now called Woodbine Districts,” said Reim in the Property Biz Canada account. “The goal is to create an absolute model city within a city.”
Bridgeport ordinance encourages local and second-chance hiring
BRIDGEPORT — The City Council has passed an ordinance encouraging developers who receive subsidies — tax incentives, breaks on the purchase price of public property — to prioritize local hiring.But one prominent businessman urged the city to do a better job expanding the skilled labor pool, while a brand-new councilman denounced language in the ordinance that would give ex-felons first dibs on construction job openings.
“You want to be forgiven, go to church,” Councilman Michael DeFilippo, one of two “no” votes, said in a brief interview afterward.DeFilippo unsuccessfully tried Monday to table the vote and have the ordinance sent back to committee. Councilwoman AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia also voted no. The hiring proposal, spearheaded by Councilman Ernie Newton, asks developers partnering on projects with the city to try to give 20 percent of new construction jobs created to “qualified” city residents and another 5 percent to those with criminal records.
In drafting the ordinance, staff from the Economic Development and law departments made sure it was voluntary, so as not to scare away potential investment in a high-taxed city that needs to retain and attract business.
To do otherwise could also land the city in legal trouble, according to a 2013 study by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program of so-called local-hire statutes.
Crafting a message
Downtown developer Phil Kuchma, a former council member, addressing that legislative body prior to Monday’s vote, said he supported the ordinance, but that it must not be portrayed as a requirement.“This ordinance could have a negative impact on economic development projects in this city. ... Let’s do this well,” Kuchma said. “Let’s not let the wrong message be sent out.”
And, Kuchma said, the ordinance should be backed up by efforts to ensure residents are ready to work.“It’s a great opportunity for the people of city and the city to create a pool,” Kuchma said. “People have to be prepared.”
The assumption behind the ordinance is that developers currently pass over skilled locals.
“These contractors claim they can’t find anybody in Bridgeport to work on some of these jobs,” said Councilwoman the Rev. Mary McBride-Lee.
Newton said, “Out of (a population of) 147,000 we have to have people qualified for jobs.”
In the past, Newton and others have faulted deals between Bridgeport and developers that include project labor agreements (PLAs) requiring the hiring of unionized workers and payment of prevailing wages and benefits. Critics argue PLAs can shut out locals and minorities — something that has been strongly disputed by organized labor.
And PLAs can establish local hiring goals.
Aiding re-entry
A year ago Mayor Joe Ganim and the council, despite opposition from organized labor, struck a controversial deal to redevelop the downtown Poli Palace and Majestic theaters with Exact Capital out of New York, in an arrangement that did not include a PLA. “There are a lot of people — your constituents — that aren’t in a union that need jobs,” Newton, who was not a council member at the time, said during a 2017 public hearing on the agreement with Exact.
But the Ganim administration also helped establish a union apprenticeship training program as part of a deal allowing coal plant operator PSEG to build a new gas-fired power plant along the harbor.
Bridgeport-based The WorkPlace, a workforce development nonprofit, manages PSEG’s union apprenticeship initiative. Joe Carbone, The Workplace’s president, said Tuesday said he believes “there is already a substantial number of people in Bridgeport that are in fact ready and prepared when it comes to jobs in construction.”
Carbone said the council’s hiring ordinance sounded like a good, modest initiative, especially for ex-felons. Carbone credited Ganim, who, along with Newton has a criminal record, for prioritizing making Bridgeport friendly for citizens returning from prison.
“I’d like to see more developers — and hopefully this (ordinance) is a guide — offer to be accommodating and work with us on helping to ensure more folks (involved with) re-entry programs are hired.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
FedEx to host grand opening of Middletown hub
MIDDLETOWN — FedEx Group will host a ceremony Friday to celebrate the grand opening of its new distribution hub.
A small-package ground delivery subsidiary of FedEx Corp., the company celebrates its second hub in the Greater Hartford area, which will help meet growing demand for its services, according to a news release. The daily volume of packages that FedEx Ground handles has doubled in the past 10 years, company officials said.
The ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. at 1000 Middle St.
The new 600,000-square-foot facility is part of the company’s nationwide network expansion plan in which 17 major hubs have been added and 500 other facilities have expanded or relocated around the country since 2005, according to the release. nThe facility opened with more than 550 employees and will add positions in the future, officials saidelease
The building in Middletown took over the old Aetna property and has helped grow the city’s grand list. Aetna closed its doors in Middletown in 2010, after 30 years in the city. It demolished the buildings during the following years. FedEx Ground bought the site for $18 million in March 2016.
Millstone Power Station owner Dominion Energy and more than 100 other energy companies vying to deliver clean electricity to the state recently pitched their proposals to regulators, kicking off the state's much-debated zero-carbon auction that Millstone fought for years to join.
The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection paved the way for nuclear power to compete in the auction this summer, after fierce pushes from lawmakers and repeated warnings from Dominion that Millstone faced premature closure largely because the wholesale market is dominated by cheaper natural gas.
The auction also creates a second competition among offshore wind developers. Bay State Wind and Vineyard Wind, both joint efforts between wind companies and utilities, are taking another shot at supplying electricity to Connecticut after losing a renewable energy competition to Block Island Wind Farm developer Deepwater Wind earlier this year.
And Deepwater Wind offered two proposals in the zero-carbon auction as well, both on top of the 200 megawatts already approved by Connecticut earlier this year. Deepwater Wind, which has pledged to help revamp New London's State Pier into an offshore wind hub, offered to either expand its approved proposal by 100 megawatts or to construct a new 700-megawatt project in the same federal waters south of Martha's Vineyard.
Overall, DEEP received more than 100 submissions by Sept. 14 in response to its request for zero-carbon proposals, DEEP spokesman Chris Collibee said Tuesday. Many of the proposals are available for public viewing in the state's docket of energy filings. Because they remain under review by DEEP, the proposals redact many details, including pricing information.
Collibee said DEEP received proposals from "solar, onshore and offshore wind, hydropower and both nuclear facilities in New England that have not submitted a retirement bid," namely Millstone and Seabrook Station in New Hampshire, which injects electricity into the New England power grid.
"The agency will thoroughly review them over the next few weeks and months," Collibee said. "As this is an open RFP, it would be inappropriate to comment further."
After DEEP selects winning proposals, likely by the end of 2018, the winning energy producers will hammer out fixed-price contracts with the state's utility companies.
Millstone seeking to boost bid with at-risk status
Millstone spokesman Ken Holt said Dominion's proposal was "very competitive and will be extremely beneficial to Connecticut's electric customers."
"We are pleased with the bidding process and are grateful for the opportunity to submit bids for Millstone's carbon-free electricity," Holt said. "Compared to alternatives, customers will benefit from our bids between $670 million to $1.23 billion. Additionally, if selected, any of our bids will help to preserve the 1,500 Connecticut jobs at Millstone."
Millstone's bids also may receive a boost over competitors if the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority agrees with Dominion that the plant is at risk of closure before 2022. Proposals from at-risk energy producers will be scored on environmental and grid benefits along with price; other producers' bids will be scored on price alone.
Millstone remains considerably profitable, according to public data, but Dominion says it filed confidential financial data with PURA to prove the plant could not survive without the zero-carbon auction. Analysis by state regulators showed a premature Millstone closure would lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, heavy job losses and state and local economic impacts, and less reliability in the energy grid.
Millstone supplies the state with more than 2,000 megawatts of electricity. Millstone Unit 2's operating license with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expires in 2035. Unit 3's expires in 2045. Unit 1 was decommissioned in 1998.
Seabrook Station, owned by NextEra Energy, is a 1,250-megawatt nuclear power plant licensed to operate until 2030. Alex Rubio, vice president of NextEra Energy, said in a letter to DEEP that the company was "committed to the flawless execution" of its proposal, which "represents an excellent value to the ratepayers."
Offshore wind competition heats up again
All the offshore wind proposals are for wind farms in federal waters south of Martha's Vineyard.
New Bedford-based Vineyard Wind — which Massachusetts picked to deliver offshore wind in the coming years — submitted a proposal to inject up to 800 megawatts into Connecticut. Vineyard Wind says its proposal could create 1,000 jobs and would redevelop Bridgeport into an "offshore wind construction port, which, alongside New London, will put Connecticut in the center of the emerging U.S. offshore wind industry for years to come," according to the proposal. Vineyard Wind is owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables; Avangrid is United Illuminating's parent company.
Erich Stephens, chief development officer for Vineyard Wind, said the company is excited to bring "billions in economic benefits to the state with this proposal, and we are equally thrilled to be working with our partners in Bridgeport — McAllister Towing (which operates the Port Jefferson-Bridgeport Ferry) and Bridgeport and Port Jefferson Steamboat Company to transform the port into a world-class shipping operation."
The offshore wind proposal from Bay State Wind — a joint venture between Denmark-based Orsted and Eversource — would inject enough electricity to power 450,000 Connecticut homes, Orsted said Tuesday afternoon. Bay State Wind says its project would include a $25 million fund to spur growth in the local economy and to support skills training and environmental stewardship programs.
"Together, Orsted and Eversource's long-term operational history, extensive project management experience, and financial capabilities are brought to bear with Constitution Wind in helping Connecticut meet its renewable energy goals while spurring significant economic growth and job creation within the state," Orsted said in a statement.
Demolition begins on former Risdon Manufacturing complex in Waterbury
WATERBURY – Contractor Manafort Bros. began demolition of the former Risdon Manufacturing complex at 2100 South Main St. this week.
The 3.3-acre site has long been empty. The city claimed it from South Main Renovators in 2015 for unpaid taxes. Then, this past New Year’s Eve, much of the industrial site burned in a massive fire.
The Waterbury Development Corp. secured a $1 million state grant and has agreed to pay Manafort $992,500 to demolish the site and cart away most, if not all, of the wreckage.
The WDC originally sought a $2 million grant to knock down the building and begin dealing with subsurface pollution. With only half that amount granted, the city has signed a contract to get as much work as possible done with available funds.
City officials believe that will clear the site down to the foundations. Those foundations and any subsurface pollutants will have to be addressed in subsequent efforts on the site.WDC Interim Executive Director James Nardozzi said Manafort’s work is expected to take one month. He intends to apply for additional state grant money for additional work on the site.
The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection paved the way for nuclear power to compete in the auction this summer, after fierce pushes from lawmakers and repeated warnings from Dominion that Millstone faced premature closure largely because the wholesale market is dominated by cheaper natural gas.
The auction also creates a second competition among offshore wind developers. Bay State Wind and Vineyard Wind, both joint efforts between wind companies and utilities, are taking another shot at supplying electricity to Connecticut after losing a renewable energy competition to Block Island Wind Farm developer Deepwater Wind earlier this year.
And Deepwater Wind offered two proposals in the zero-carbon auction as well, both on top of the 200 megawatts already approved by Connecticut earlier this year. Deepwater Wind, which has pledged to help revamp New London's State Pier into an offshore wind hub, offered to either expand its approved proposal by 100 megawatts or to construct a new 700-megawatt project in the same federal waters south of Martha's Vineyard.
Overall, DEEP received more than 100 submissions by Sept. 14 in response to its request for zero-carbon proposals, DEEP spokesman Chris Collibee said Tuesday. Many of the proposals are available for public viewing in the state's docket of energy filings. Because they remain under review by DEEP, the proposals redact many details, including pricing information.
Collibee said DEEP received proposals from "solar, onshore and offshore wind, hydropower and both nuclear facilities in New England that have not submitted a retirement bid," namely Millstone and Seabrook Station in New Hampshire, which injects electricity into the New England power grid.
"The agency will thoroughly review them over the next few weeks and months," Collibee said. "As this is an open RFP, it would be inappropriate to comment further."
After DEEP selects winning proposals, likely by the end of 2018, the winning energy producers will hammer out fixed-price contracts with the state's utility companies.
Millstone seeking to boost bid with at-risk status
Millstone spokesman Ken Holt said Dominion's proposal was "very competitive and will be extremely beneficial to Connecticut's electric customers."
Millstone's bids also may receive a boost over competitors if the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority agrees with Dominion that the plant is at risk of closure before 2022. Proposals from at-risk energy producers will be scored on environmental and grid benefits along with price; other producers' bids will be scored on price alone.
Millstone remains considerably profitable, according to public data, but Dominion says it filed confidential financial data with PURA to prove the plant could not survive without the zero-carbon auction. Analysis by state regulators showed a premature Millstone closure would lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, heavy job losses and state and local economic impacts, and less reliability in the energy grid.
Millstone supplies the state with more than 2,000 megawatts of electricity. Millstone Unit 2's operating license with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expires in 2035. Unit 3's expires in 2045. Unit 1 was decommissioned in 1998.
Seabrook Station, owned by NextEra Energy, is a 1,250-megawatt nuclear power plant licensed to operate until 2030. Alex Rubio, vice president of NextEra Energy, said in a letter to DEEP that the company was "committed to the flawless execution" of its proposal, which "represents an excellent value to the ratepayers."
Offshore wind competition heats up again
All the offshore wind proposals are for wind farms in federal waters south of Martha's Vineyard.
New Bedford-based Vineyard Wind — which Massachusetts picked to deliver offshore wind in the coming years — submitted a proposal to inject up to 800 megawatts into Connecticut. Vineyard Wind says its proposal could create 1,000 jobs and would redevelop Bridgeport into an "offshore wind construction port, which, alongside New London, will put Connecticut in the center of the emerging U.S. offshore wind industry for years to come," according to the proposal. Vineyard Wind is owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables; Avangrid is United Illuminating's parent company.
Erich Stephens, chief development officer for Vineyard Wind, said the company is excited to bring "billions in economic benefits to the state with this proposal, and we are equally thrilled to be working with our partners in Bridgeport — McAllister Towing (which operates the Port Jefferson-Bridgeport Ferry) and Bridgeport and Port Jefferson Steamboat Company to transform the port into a world-class shipping operation."
The offshore wind proposal from Bay State Wind — a joint venture between Denmark-based Orsted and Eversource — would inject enough electricity to power 450,000 Connecticut homes, Orsted said Tuesday afternoon. Bay State Wind says its project would include a $25 million fund to spur growth in the local economy and to support skills training and environmental stewardship programs.
"Together, Orsted and Eversource's long-term operational history, extensive project management experience, and financial capabilities are brought to bear with Constitution Wind in helping Connecticut meet its renewable energy goals while spurring significant economic growth and job creation within the state," Orsted said in a statement.
Demolition begins on former Risdon Manufacturing complex in Waterbury
WATERBURY – Contractor Manafort Bros. began demolition of the former Risdon Manufacturing complex at 2100 South Main St. this week.
The 3.3-acre site has long been empty. The city claimed it from South Main Renovators in 2015 for unpaid taxes. Then, this past New Year’s Eve, much of the industrial site burned in a massive fire.
The Waterbury Development Corp. secured a $1 million state grant and has agreed to pay Manafort $992,500 to demolish the site and cart away most, if not all, of the wreckage.
The WDC originally sought a $2 million grant to knock down the building and begin dealing with subsurface pollution. With only half that amount granted, the city has signed a contract to get as much work as possible done with available funds.
City officials believe that will clear the site down to the foundations. Those foundations and any subsurface pollutants will have to be addressed in subsequent efforts on the site.WDC Interim Executive Director James Nardozzi said Manafort’s work is expected to take one month. He intends to apply for additional state grant money for additional work on the site.