Orville H. Platt High School Additions and Renovations
Torrington, Conn.
Best Project
Owners: City of Meriden
Owners Representative: Arcadis
Design Firm: Antinozzi Associates
Construction Manager: O&G Industries Inc.
Civil Engineer: Stantec Consulting
Structural Engineer: Thomas A. Torrenti P.C.
MEP Engineer: Altieri Sebor Wieber Consulting Engineers
Architectural Design Consultant: ArchiChord LLC
Subcontractors: Construction Services of New England and DesignRI LLC (Pool); Eastern Energy Services (Plumbing)
This $110-million, four-year project built and renovated some 265,000 sq ft of a high school without disrupting school operations. The work was finished on time and under budget despite a three-month delay due to rebidding the project.
O&G Industries says the work was rebid in response to a mechanical, electrical and plumbing system redesign to bring the project cost in alignment with its budget. But O&G says using the Last Planner System for Lean schedule management helped the team achieve detailed preplanning with stakeholders. It also helped remove potential obstacles that could have delayed construction of the school, which has an enrollment of 1,100.
Building a rooftop chase—a 700-ft-long utility corridor for housing four miles of piping and wiring—was the first large technical challenge of the project’s first phase, the team says. Thanks to extensive coordination with the school, strategic scheduling and cooperation with contractors, it was completed without interruption and on time.
Construction of the two-story, 2,400-sq-ft media center, entirely cantilevered off the northwest corner of the building, created one of the school’s most striking features. It required some bridge construction strategies, including heavy structural foundations and fully welded trusses and bracing connected to oversize concrete foundations.
The project also improved the school’s energy performance by achieving 24.5% better energy efficiency than code, reducing potable water usage by 30% and recycling and salvaging 50% of construction and demolition debris. “It was pretty rigorous execution of the project,” one judge noted.
Renovation of the pool included converting its filtering system to a saltwater/UV light system to eliminate chlorine. By using returns from the school’s heating system to warm the water, the team says the school is able to conserve energy.
The 950-ft auditorium required high-level craftsmanship to achieve the designed aesthetic, including corrugated metal wall panels and custom architectural woodwork at multiple angles. The auditorium’s lighting and sound systems received upgrades too.
Students interested in learning about careers in construction benefited from an award-winning program that included education, site tours and demos. The educational program was conceived of by the project manager and developed jointly with faculty.
In coordinating mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection, the use of building information modeling linked to the Trimble BPS System provided extreme accuracy and reduced errors in placement to a fraction of a percent.
Trades were able to site and install anchors and components before concrete floors were cast. Traditional methods would have required crews to drill 9,000 holes overhead through decking and concrete in a time-consuming process. By using the BIM and GPS positioning, crews could walk the metal floor and roof decking to pinpoint where holes needed to be made. Despite the large scale of the project, the team says there were less than 100 minor close-out items on the punch list.
The road ahead: leaders discuss transportation progress, challenges
Skyler Frazer
NEW BRITAIN – Transit in the state has improved over the last decade, but the legislature and Governor-elect Ned Lamont have more work to do if Connecticut wants to continue making strides in transportation.
That was the sentiment at City Hall on Tuesday when transportation experts and other stakeholders in the state met to discuss the Connecticut’s transit system and the challenges ahead.
“The priority for the last decade has been expansion and really about significant investment and enlargement of the transit network,” said Richard Andreski, the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Bureau Chief of Public Transportation.
Andreski said the expansion of the Hartford and New Haven rail lines and CTfastrak are examples of this expansion.
“The dividends of those investments are just beginning to pay off. We’ve seen economic development popping up all across the Hartford line and also here in New Britain,” Andreski said.
Speaking specifically of New Britain, executive director of the New Britain Downtown District Gerry Amodio talked about the challenges with transit-oriented development. Amodio shared the story of New Britain being divided into sections in the 1970s with the construction of Route 72 and Route 9. Decades later, the city is still coming to terms with the facelift the downtown area has received. Amodio compared the city to a living organism, and living bodies can’t function the same after parts have been ripped from them.
“When you look at the area and you look at New Britain and you say ‘wow, why do we struggle,’ well, I think if you take out your liver and your gallbladder and you rearrange all your organs, you’d struggle too,” Amodio said.
CT DOT announced in August that CTfastrak carried its 10 millionth ride. As opposed to nationwide, where public transportation ridership has remained flat, Connecticut saw an increase in ridership last year.
Mayor Erin Stewart, who has been a big supporter of CTfastrak, said the bus system has faced some unfounded criticism and many people rely on it for commuting to work, for shopping or simply for easy access to Hartford. The downtown hub has also helped the city receive funding and support for several downtown projects, like the Beehive Bridge project and the recently finished rotary on Bank Street.
“We’ve got hundreds, thousands of people that use it on a daily basis, and our downtown is transforming because of it,” Stewart said. “To have this connector, to have mass-transit back in downtown really allowed us a lot of opportunities for business and housing.”
Going forward, there are challenges facing the state in regards to transportation. State funding and federal funding are always big topics of discussion around budget season, and 2019 is no exception.
Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association, said his group is constantly monitoring transportation-related bills at the federal level. Specifically, Shubert is monitoring President Donald Trump’s infrastructure plan and how it would affect transportation investments at a statewide level.
“We’re watching it all unfold,” Shubert said. “If we don’t see an infrastructure bill this year (2019), as far as transportation advocates are concerned, we’re going to have our hands full in Washington next year during an election year.”
Further, technology and new businesses are disrupting common forms of transit. CT DOT has already rolled out a few new ways to make payments and is working on ways to make it easier to plan trips using the rail or bus system. Andreski said that this year, for the first time ever, ridership on rideshare companies Uber and Lyft will exceed ridership on public buses nationally.
“As we look to the future it’s about partnerships, it’s about technology and it’s about really being flexible with how we provide service,” Andreski said.
Karen Burnaska from Transit for CT and Mary Tomolonius from the Connecticut Association for Community Transportation organized and moderated the event.
In near unanimous support, the state Bond Commission on Tuesday morning greenlit dozens of projects worth tens of millions of dollars, mainly geared toward transportation and economic-development initiatives.
The 50-minute special meeting was likely the last chaired by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who is nearing the end of his two-term governorship. Gov.-elect Ned Lamont will assume Malloy's seat Jan. 9.
Malloy thanked the 10-member commission for its service during his tenure, and lauded the group's ability to unanimously agree on what he estimated was 98 percent of the borrowing requests acted on by the commission over that time.
"The state has made significant investments in its future. Its infrastructure is in far better shape than it was, although it has a long way to go, partially in the area of transportation," Malloy said during the meeting held at the state legislative office building. "Our schools are stronger, our universities are in better shape than they were, our economic-development efforts have led to more private-sector jobs than in any time in our history."
The largest approval on Tuesday was a $91.6 million request from the Connecticut Department of Transportation for various projects. That includes $78 million for improvements along Interstate 84 and more than $13.6 million for urban bikeway, pedestrian connectivity, trails and other programs.
Other borrowing requests approved included $3.7 million in funding for improvements to New London's State Pier, more than $1 million for economic-development projects in Hartford overseen by quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) and nearly $515,000 for body cameras and storage devices for several local police departments.
The commission also approved $21.1 million, requested by the Office of Policy and Management, for urban development projects for economic development, transportation, public safety, social services and environmental protection reasons.
Also, the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection will receive $13.5 million to replace and upgrade its radio communication systems. The state Department of Education will also be alloted $3.8 million for improvements to buildings and grounds, and replacement of equipment and technology, at all regional vocational-technical schools.
Hartford-based kitchen cabinet and countertop retailer Express Kitchens will receive a $3 million loan from the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) to purchase new equipment and for leasehold improvements to support the company's expansion. With the funding, the company said it will retain 134 jobs and create up to 226 new jobs within seven years.
Other DECD approved requests include:
- $10 million to provide a loan to employment search giant Indeed for expansion operations in Stamford that will create 500 new jobs.
- $6 million to help Cromwell's GKN Aerospace Services Structures expand and retain and create 263 jobs over the next six years.
- $5 million to support grants and loans for the Connecticut Manufacturing Innovation Fund.
- $5 million for the state Department of Labor's new apprenticeship program.
- $5 million to provide a loan to Meriden manufacturer Accel International Holding Inc. for its expansion into a second location in Cheshire. The company has agreed to retain 108 jobs and create another 115 positions over three years.
- $2 million to provide a loan to aerospace manufacturer Habco Industries LLC for machinery and equipment purchases and expansion in Glastonbury. Hacbo will retain 55 jobs and and create 47 new positions within five years.
- $521,000 to finance housing and community development projects in Hartford, including the Downtown North redevelopment near Dunkin' Donuts Park and redeveloping two blighted buildings on Lawrence Street.
- $275,000 to support renovations and improvements of Hartford's Connecticut Convention Center and Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.
- $300,000 to support renovations and improvements at the Hartford Regional Market.
Click here to view all of the approved projects
Public hearing Tuesday night on proposed changes to MDC, DEEP Clean Water Project
Mikaela Porterhe
Metropolitan District will hold a public hearing Tuesday night before the agency submits four proposals to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection on Clean Water Project upgrades.
The Clean Water Project is a large-scale project intended to stop millions of gallons of polluted storm water and untreated sewage from being flushed into the Connecticut River and down to the Long Island Sound. During large storms, rainwater overwhelms Hartford’s drains and sewage treatment facilities, meaning contaminated water floods directly into streams and the river.
The MDC provides updates to the DEEP every five years.
Tuesday’s public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the MDC Training Center, 125 Maxim Road. The MDC is to submit it’s plans to the DEEP by Dec. 31, according to a MDC spokesperson.
The four proposals are:
Maintain the plan proposed and approved by DEEP in 2014.
The MDC continues work on the south Hartford conveyance tunnel and completes a north Hartford tunnel by 2032. The cost for the north Hartford conveyance tunnel is estimated at about $100 million, according to MDC CEO Scott Jellison.The MDC begins work on roughly $450 million in sewer system separation work around the district and complete it over the next 40 years. Under this proposal, MDC customers foot the bill.
Build the north tunnel and get the $450 million in upgrades completed by 2032.
The MDC completes the north Hartford conveyance tunnel project and $450 million in sewer system separation work throughout the district by 2032. Under this proposal, MDC customers foot the bill.
Jellison said this proposal would “cripple” MDC communities because of four intense years of construction.
Sewer separation projects and a smaller north tunnel.
The MDC would begin sewer separation projects immediately in the northern part of Hartford, costing about $350 million.
The MDC would do $450 million in sewer separation work around the district over the next 40 years and build a smaller north tunnel. The MDC would not begin working on the north tunnel until the south tunnel is paid off — which is expected in 2038, Jellison said. Under this proposal, MDC customers foot the bill.
Sewer separation projects, a smaller north tunnel, DEEP agrees to grant and loan eligibility.
The MDC would begin about $350 million in sewer separation work on the northern part of Hartford as well as $450 million for sewer separation work and a smaller northern tunnel.The MDC would not begin working on the north tunnel until the south tunnel is paid off — which is expected in 2038.Under the proposal, the MDC would look to receive state and federal grant funding to help offset about half of the costs associated with the project, Jellison said.
$60 million garage at Union Station in New Haven out of sync with city’s needs
Mary E. O’Leary
NEW HAVEN — Thanks, but no thanks.
That was the attitude of Development Commission members Tuesday, who said the $60 million second garage at Union Station is out of sync with the city’s real needs and transportation options.
The state Department of Transportation had a public hearing of sorts Tuesday, with state officials available in the waiting room of the station to talk to the commuting public about the proposed garage, but with no formal presentation.
It was designed to catch the early commuters starting at 6 to 9 a.m. and residents on the way home from 5 to 9 p.m.“The rationale for the garage is so outdated,” Pedro Soto, chairman of the Development Commission, said Monday morning.
Anstress Farwell, head of the New Haven Urban Design League, questioned the use of $60 million in state funds that could be put to better use in New Haven.
Soto said when the discussion for the second garage commenced two decades ago, the Veterans Memorial Coliseum was still standing, the Hartford rail line did not exist and the area was seen as undevelopable, all of which has changed.
The proposal is for a seven-level parking garage on a surface lot next to the current garage lot that now provides room for 260 vehicles. The new garage would be connected to the existing garage with a pedestrian lobby area, as well as a drive connection.It would have 1,015 spaces, for a net gain of 688 parking spaces, given that some spaces will be lost on the first level, as well as all of those on the surface lot.
Soto and Mayor Toni Harp questioned what the long-term need for a garage will be and the extent to which the West Haven train station parking lot is blunting the need for parking at Union Station.
Back at the train station, Henry Dynia stopped by to talk to the DOT officials.
“I’m really surprised. All the things that people complained about, didn’t get addressed,” he said, after looking at a summary of the changes.
More than 30 commuters had stopped to talk by 6:15 p.m., John Wyskiel, program engineer for the project, said, and their responses were different than those made at the Development Commission meeting.
“We’ve seen the majority of the commuters who came through here are happy to see more parking,” Chris Bonsignore, principal engineer for facility design at the DOT, said.
Wyskiel said one woman remarked that she had been looking at that surface parking lot for 25 years. “Finally a garage on that lot,” was her observation, he said.
Another commuter gave him a run down of his typical morning.“He said they come here early in the morning, the garage is full. They go to West Haven, that is full. They go to Stratford. They chase the train down the line,” Bonsignore said. “Several commuters say this is fantastic — that is the word they used — that we are providing additional parking here at this location.”Wyskiel said a cyclist was “excited” about the number of bicycle spaces planned for the new garage — 240 — which doubles the current number. They will also be protected from the elements.
Ryan O’Hara’s concerns were closer to the those expressed by the development officials.
“It is a lot of money to spend on a parking garage that might be needed today and may not be needed ten years from now. With floor to ceiling heights of only 8 feet, the structure can’t be retrofitted for any other purpose, at least it is not designed that way,” O’Hara said.
Harp wants to have a “refresher discussion” with state officials on the garage and on the lease which only extends the city’s management role for two more years. New Haven would like to purchase the current garage and get a 30-year lease to run the station as it previously had.
The mayor said the opening of the successful rail line to Hartford and Springfield and other stations has cut into the need for commuters to come to New Haven. She said the current garage is now 94 per cent used on a daily basis and seldom runs out of space.
“Travel patterns have changed. Fewer people will be driving in the future,” Harp said. She said the state should be looking ahead for the next 30 years and what the demand will be then.
Commuters now also can park on the site of the long-stalled development proposal for the former Coliseum site, which might get a new shot at actually happening with Spinnaker, a Norwalk developer interesting in becoming a partner with LiveWorkLearnPlay.
Soto said in the meantime, the parking needs of Union Station continue to be met.
“The garage is a throwback to when Union Station was the only option,” Soto said. He said if you planned as if the surface land didn’t exist, you would find a solution.
“I just think it is such backward thinking. No one wants it (the garage) in this form, except the one organization that has control over it and is not answerable to anyone,” Soto said of the DOT.
Acting Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli said the city didn’t get the full set of plans for the revised garage — which is 60 percent designed — until Friday. The updated plan was first announced at a Nov. 14 commuter council meeting.
Soto said unfortunately, “there is an institutional imperative that once a project gets going,” there is a push to complete it.
Farwell said when the state issued an environmental impact evaluation a year-and-a-half ago, it failed to consider several things it was obligated to.She said the revised design modified it slightly, but it does not address the traffic concerns that a new garage will generate on Union Avenue, something the police department pointed out.Farwell said the $60 million in public funds essentially will serve some 1,000 commuters. Given the traffic on Interstate 95 and Interstate 91, taking 1,000 cars off the road is “de minimous,” she said.She said Union Avenue is not safe for cyclists and needs an infrastructure upgrade because of flooding problems. It is also a site where more than 1,000 apartments are planned.
She said the $60 million could help with critical needs of New Haven such as converting one-way streets to two-way, while upgrading State Street to reclaim land for development. Farwell said the state should bring in someone to build an office building on the surface lot, something that would bring tax revenue.“We don’t have much land and every piece we have — if we are not putting it to productive use — we continue to be beggars to the state,” Farwell said.
Piscitelli said the economic development department is “heavily influenced by the reports that came out over the weekend on climate change and recognizing that we do need to change,” in terms of car dependency.He said it is getting more aggressive on lowering the need for parking for development projects. In addition to the increased use of the Hartford rail line, he pointed to the use of shared car services such as Uber and Lyft as part of the transportation mix.Harp agreed on the upswing in new transportation modalities. “It is really a different world we are now part of.” She said the automobile-driven economy might not exist in 15 years.
Groton voters approve updated plan to build new elementary schools
KimberlyDrelich
Groton — Voters at a referendum on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved an updated school plan that will allow the town to build two new elementary schools for the same amount as a plan to renovate buildings would have cost.
The vote came down to 1,092 in favor, 239 opposed.
"We're delighted," Superintendent Michael Graner said Tuesday evening after the results came in.
Graner said Groton now has the opportunity to have brand-new elementary schools, whereas in 2016 the town thought it would get renovated schools, which still would have been an improvement. But he said the excitement reached a whole new level last year when school officials realized that the town could build new buildings at the same price as a renovation project — and got approval from the state to proceed.
In 2016, voters endorsed the $184.5 million Groton 2020 plan that called for building a new consolidated middle school on the former Merritt Farm property by Fitch High School and renovating the existing middle schools into "as new" elementary schools, with $100 million in state reimbursement.
The state later changed its guidelines and said it would consider approving the same reimbursement for the construction of new elementary schools, if the town proved new construction was more cost efficient than renovations, Graner said in an interview last month.
The new construction of elementary schools ended up being more cost-efficient, so the state gave the town the go-ahead, he said. The town then needed approval from voters to revise the 2016 proposal to allow for the construction of new elementary schools. There was no change to the plan to build a new consolidated middle school.
Adrian Johnson was among the voters who supported the updated plan on Tuesday.
"I have three school-age children and I think that strong schools are going to support the town," Johnson said.
"I'm supporting the new buildings because by looking at the cost to renovate, I believe it's cheaper to go with new buildings and have energy-efficient technology," said another voter, Silvio Querido.
Architects now have the green light to continue work on designing brand-new elementary schools, Graner said. The new elementary schools are expected to be ready for the fall of 2021.
Waterbury businesses await return of customers as I-84 project nears finish
HARRISON CONNERY
WATERBURY – Construction crews, rows of bright orange traffic cones and colossal traffic jams aren’t all that disappeared when the majority of the I-84 widening project wrapped up in late October.
Businesses peppering Reidville Drive and Plank Road, who weathered years of road closures and congestion, report their missing customers have yet to return.
“We’re just trying to figure out how to get people out there to realize it’s not that bad, because most of the construction’s gone, but they’ve been avoiding the area for almost three years,” said Stewart Rosen, owner of Nardelli’s Grinder Shoppe at 540 Plank Road.
Nardelli’s has been hit particularly hard: Rosen said sales have been down 25 to 30 percent since construction started and the anticipated post-project boom he anticipated hasn’t materialized. It’s cost him over $100,000 in gross sales per year.
Rosen was joined by Marco and Anthony Nardelli, the store’s franchisers, at his restaurant on a recent Wednesday afternoon shortly before 1 p.m., where the dining room, which would have been packed for lunch once upon a time, was mostly empty. Depressed sales have forced Rosen to shrink his staff from 15 to 11.
“I don’t think there’s any complaints on how they handled the construction, because everything went very smoothly,” said Marco Nardelli. “It’s actually better than before they started.”
The $330 million I-84 construction project began in April 2015. It’s major objective was to add a third lane on either side of the highway to alleviate congestion on a 2.7-mile stretch of highway through the city that had become notorious for traffic jams. Construction crews also removed an S-curve and upgraded bridges. walls, utilities and local roads. Minor construction is expected to continue through August 2019. The Waterbury stretch of I-84 carries on average 130,000 vehicles on weekdays.
At Brooklyn Bakery, at 464 Reidville Drive, across the highway from Nardelli’s, it was a road paving the day before Thanksgiving that hurt their bottom line the most.
“That really cut us down,” said co-owner Sarah Velez. “We’re glad they’re going to be done by Christmas.”
She said she isn’t sure how the construction affected overall sales at her bakery since it opened shortly before construction began. She said her customer base has managed to grow over the years despite the road work.
Sal Ergin, co-owner of Sultan’s Turkish Cuisine at 586 Plank Road, said his sales have been down 15 percent.
“It’s going to take another six months, I’m thinking, until the business gets back to where it was,” he said.
Frankies Hot Dogs, where the smell of sauerkraut, mustard and boiling potatoes hangs heavy, appears to have been mostly spared.
“We have some really loyal customers from the general area,” said owner Tom Martelli. “But of course it’s hurting everyone. It’s not that we’re not feeling it.”
Mack Demac, chief of staff for Waterbury Mayor Neil M. O’Leary, said the city has already experienced grand list growth from the construction project.
“Since the start of construction we’ve seen great new development in the form of Texas Roadhouse, Ideal Fish, CarMax,” he said. “Now upon completion we’re excited for Hoffman Auto.”
Hoffman Auto, a BMW dealership, surprised the city of Watertown by announcing it was leaving its longtime home for the Reidville Drive area.
Demac said development projects have been proposed nearby, including a Holiday Inn Express on Chase Parkway overlooking the highway.