Julia Perkins
BROOKFIELD — Construction has yet to begin on the second phase of the downtown streetscape improvements, but the town is already seeking funding for the third phase of the town center revitalization project.
Project Manager Greg Dembowski applied recently for a state grant to cover the cost of adding sidewalks, parking, a bike trail and a “pocket park,” as well as to upgrade driveways, on Old Route 7 and Laurel Hill Road.
The design of the sidewalks, pavers and granite curbing will be the same as the ones installed last year at the intersection known as the Four Corners, he said.
“The design we chose is very popular and well accepted in town,” Dembowski said. “The hardest part is the funding.”
But he said the state grant, which requires a 20 percent match from the town, would cover the full cost.First Selectman Steve Dunn said Brookfield has a good chance of earning the funding.
“We’ve shown we’ve been able to do projects on time and under budget,” he said. “When you show it to people, they say, ‘Wow, that’s a good investment of funds.’”
The $3.5 million first phase was completed late last year and runs from the intersection of Federal and Station roads to the Brookfield Funeral Home to the south, north to Agora’s Restaurant, west to the edge of the Mobil station and east to the Brookfield Craft Center.
The work took about six months to complete, but the the second phase is less extensive and is expected to start and wrap up next summer.
“We know exactly what we want,” Dembowski said. “As we progress with each phase, it’s easier and easier to extend our design.”
The town has already secured a federal grant to pay for the second phase of the project, which will extend the streetscape from the first phase down Federal Road to the Still River Greenway. A bike path and crosswalk will also be added.
The third phase would begin in summer 2020 and include a “pocket park” with ornamental trees and benches. The park would be on town and state property near where The Hearth restaurant used to be.
The streetscape project is key to the town’s plan to attract new businesses, developers, shoppers and prospective residents to the Brookfield Town Center.
Several businesses, including Subway, Rich Farm Ice Cream and Traveling Chic Boutique, have already moved into Brookfield Village, at the heart of downtown. Two of Brookfield Village’s buildings have been completed, but two more are planned.
“We’re seeing a lot of activity in the area, I think, in part because of the investment the town is putting in,” Dembowski said.
Dunn said the design of phase four could begin next year. This would bring the streetscape improvements north of the Four Corners to Newbury Village, a 55 and older community. The Enclave, a 181-unit apartment complex, has also been approved for the area.
“We think there will be more development going north, so we want to be ready for it,” Dunn said. “And the people of Newbury would absolutely love to have sidewalk.”
New developer, plans for W. Hartford convent
Gregory Seay
The ambitious redevelopment proposal to convert The Sisters of St. Joseph convent in West Hartford into apartments has a new developer, who has renamed the project and scaled back its initial proportions.
Developer Martin J. Kenny, principal in multifamily developer-landlord Lexington Partners, submitted to West Hartford town planners a revised development schematic for Acadia Crossing, now called One Park Place, at 27 Park Road, at the corner of Prospect Street, bordering Hartford.
Kenny recently confirmed to Deal Watch Today that he had replaced Center Development Corp., of Port Chester, N.Y., as the Sisters' development partner and planned soon to file his own application to convert their century-old and 20-acre campus into apartments the nuns would share with market-rate tenants.
According to papers Kenny and Lexington submitted to the town, One Park Place would offer fewer living units and parking. Two existing campus buildings would be converted to about 230,000 square feet of living space vs. 261,000 proposed for Acadia.
Acadia Crossing originally was pitched as a potential $100 million development. But town papers do not list a development pricetag or construction timetable for One Park Place. Acadia at first was being called Chambery Estates.
In addition, two, five-story apartment buildings would be erected totaling 230,000 square feet vs. the 261,000 square feet originally planned.
In all, the revised development proposal counts 335,219 square feet of living space vs. Acadia's 370,000 square feet.
One Park Place will offer 294 studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments vs. 310 for Acadia. Also, parking would be shaved to 441 units of surface and covered spaces, down from Acadia's 509 spaces, town records show.
Under both plans, active and retired nuns would occupy apartments in a building in one part of the property, while living units located in a separate building would be leased to market-rate residents.
Design schematics prepared by Hartford's Amenta Emma Architects depict masonry-clad structures, with the newer buildings designed to compliment the historic look of the campus' chapel and older structures. Many of the apartments will have balconies.
Neither Kenny nor representatives for the Sisters immediately responded Friday to requests for comment.
West Hartford has yet to receive Kenny's formal application for One Park Place. Kenny recently submitted draft architectural and site plans to the town's Design Review Advisory Commission, a cursory step to filing a formal development application, a town official confirmed Friday. We-ha.com was first to report details of Kenny's design-review submission.
The Sisters and Center Development first emerged with their redevelopment proposal in 2013. However, drawn-out efforts to get their development plan through town review, and other unspecified factors, stalled the project's momentum.
Last February, representatives for the Sisters confirmed that Acadia Crossing had fallen back to square one, and was seeking a new development partner.
The Sisters' ownership of the 20-acre campus dates to 1898.
Downtown North Could Need $60 Million In State Taxpayer-Backed Financing
Kenneth R. Gosselin and Jenna Carlesso
The sweeping Downtown North development, which promises to transform parking lots around the city’s minor league ballpark, could require as much as $60 million in state taxpayer-backed loans, project documents show.
The State Bond Commission already has approved $12 million for the first phase of the mixed-use development that aspires to rebuild a barren stretch separating downtown from the city’s northern neighborhoods. As financing details emerge, the future of state funding for the project remains uncertain. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has been an ardent supporter of development initiatives in Hartford, but it is unclear how his successor will view such investments. The gubernatorial election is just weeks away, and Malloy is not seeking another term
Developer Randy Salvatore, owner of Stamford-based RMS Cos., hopes to manage the Downtown North project, but he needs approval from Hartford’s city council. A contract between RMS and city leaders is still being hammered out.
After a presentation Thursday to the Capital Region Development Authority’s board of directors, Salvatore said he is upbeat about the state remaining a partner for future phases should he win approval. CRDA would administer the state bond funding.
“I’m optimistic because, I think, hopefully the new governor will see the value of what this does for the city of Hartford, which is the capital of Connecticut,” Salvatore said. “These are not grants from CRDA. These are loans and they are getting repaid ... so it’s really an investment the state is making in the future.”The first phase of 200 apartments, 11,000 square feet of retail space and a 200-space parking garage could break ground this spring and be completed in about 18 months. In addition to the $12 million, the first phase would be financed with $6 million from RMS and $28 million in bank loans.
Salvatore has proposed building 800 apartments and 60,000 square feet of retail space — roughly the same size as the Front Street entertainment district — along with 2,000 parking spaces, many wrapped into tiered structures. The project would unfold in four stages over five or six years..
Financing would include $26 million from RMS and $130 million in bank loans, along with the $60 million in state subsidies.
The cost estimates could change, especially as the city concludes its closed-door negotiations with Salvatore. Salvatore has asked for a 99-year lease on all of the parcels.
Sticking points in the contract could include a tug-of-war over the balance of “affordable housing” — geared toward low- and moderate-income families — and market-rate units that bring in needed revenue. City officials are exploring state and federal funding options to support the addition of affordable units. Those units make the development more expensive because the rents are lower than market-rate rentals.
Parking is also a key issue. The project will remove vast expanses of surface lots needed for local corporations and ballpark patrons. Salvatore has suggested a large garage of nearly 1,300 spaces to the east of the ballpark. The property now contains a long-abandoned bank data processing center.
As negotiations move forward, there could be other obstacles in the way. The previous developers — DoNo Hartford LLC and Centerplan Construction Co. — have filed a lawsuit for wrongful termination. City officials fired Centerplan and DoNo after they missed two crucial deadlines to complete the baseball stadium, a centerpiece of the Downtown North development.
Months Later, DOT Commissioner’s Toll Revenue Numbers Remain a Mystery
Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker testified in July before the State Bond Commission that a 3.5 cent per mile toll on Connecticut highways would generate $1 billion in revenue.
However, DOT has yet to offer any figures to support Redeker's claim and refused a request for the data under Connecticut's Freedom of Information Act from Republican Vice Chairman of the Transportation Committee Len Suzio, R-Meriden.
An email dated October 15 from DOT Principle Attorney Alice Sexton to Suzio, says Redeker’s numbers were based on a report which has yet to be finalized nearly three months after Redeker offered testimony in support of Gov. Dannel Malloy’s executive order to bond $10 million for a new study on tolls.
“As of September 25, 2018, when the Department responded to your last request, we estimated the report would be complete within a month,” Sexton wrote. “We are still in deliberations about the policy assumptions to be included in the report. In light of the ongoing deliberations, it’s difficult to estimate when the report will be complete.”
The numbers offered by Redeker during the Bond Commission meeting differed substantially from previous estimates by engineering firm CDM Smith, which estimated the state would have to charge 10 cents per mile in order to generate $1.2 billion in revenue.
Suzio responded to Sexton saying he found it “incredible” the commissioner gave testimony using assumptions and data which had yet to be studied or finalized.
“In fact, it's amazing that the Commissioner hasn't even determined what the assumptions are for his definitive testimony which he hesitates to share now but had no hesitation to rely upon when giving his authoritative opinion nearly 3 months ago,” Suzio wrote.
Suzio questioned Redeker’s numbers the day after the Commission meeting and submitted a Freedom of Information request when DOT refused to respond.
DOT in September refused the FOI request, stating the figures were based on a preliminary draft report and meetings Redeker attended with consulting company CDM Smith.
Under state statute, preliminary draft reports are exempt from Freedom of Information requests.
DOT Spokesman Judd Everhart informed Suzio in an email dated September 25 – two months after the Bond Commission meeting – that “Commissioner Redeker’s representations regarding possible toll rates and net revenues were based on meetings he attended with Department consultant CDM Smith while it was conducting computer modeling regarding toll rate and discount options.”
“These kinds of pricing details have not been included in prior reports but will be included in a report the Department is working on and expects to issue within the next month,” Everhart wrote.
However, according to the most recent email from Sexton, the DOT is unsure when that report will be completed or available.
“If you had the data at the time to make such an unequivocal representation to the Commission the public has a right to know what that data was,” Suzio wrote in a September 19 response letter. “The exemption you claim under Connecticut FOIA does not apply since your remarks were not qualified as ‘preliminary’ in nature.”
The Bond Commission meeting in July was a contentious one, largely due to Malloy’s executive order which forced a study on tolls after the legislature declined several bills to authorize a new study.
Republican Senator Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich, and Republican Representative Chris Davis, R-Ellington, pushed back against Malloy’s proposal, putting forward a motion to have it removed from the transportation bond.
That motion was denied by the Commission, which is largely controlled by the governor.
But there was some dissent from those who traditionally side with Malloy on bonding issues: State Comptroller Kevin Lembo voted against bonding for the tolls study, saying it should be done legislatively rather than through executive order, and State Treasurer Denise Nappier abstained from the vote.