Matt Pilon
he developer of a $1 billion fuel-cell powered data center in New Britain, slated to begin first-phase construction this fall, has secured a state tax break worth up to $55.2 million.
The quasi-public Connecticut Innovations (CI) last week approved the 10-year sales-and-use tax exemption for EIP Investment LLC’s purchase of capital equipment for its data center, to be housed in redeveloped buildings on the historic Stanley Works manufacturing campus.
It’s the largest benefit of its kind ever granted under the CI-administered relief program, which dates back well over a decade.
The benefit will technically flow to EIP’s eventual tenant or tenants who would be purchasing the computer servers, though the exemption also benefits EIP by making its project more attractive to lessees.
The data center would be the second phase of the project, costing an estimated $300 million, according to EIP.
The $100 million first phase, to begin by early fall and wrap up next year, is the installation of 44 fuel cells manufactured by Doosan in South Windsor.
The state gave the project its first public boost when it selected EIP, after a competitive bidding process, for a 20-year contract to sell the fuel cell power to utilities.
“High performance computing centers fuel the 21st century economy and attract many other IT companies to their campuses,” Lamont said. “Given Connecticut’s proximity to major metropolitan areas and the needs of our municipal, state and private sector business clusters for these high performance computing services, we can now compete with other states and transform an underutilized industrial complex into a modern IT campus that will generate significant local and state tax revenues, and high paying IT and related service jobs.”
Since it proposed the project in early 2018, EIP has said it would generate more than $200 million in state tax revenue over a 20-year period, in addition to $45 million in local tax revenue. The company said Monday that those estimates were still accurate.
"There was always the expectation that the sales and use tax exemption would need to occur in order to get to a level playing field with other states and [sales and use] was never included in the state revenue number," Wick said.
He said the New Britain data center, along with a planned data center in eastern Connecticut's Montville (proposed by Verde Group, according to The Day), should help "bend the curve and put Connecticut into a much stronger competitive position."
New Bridgeport power plant officially turned on
Jordan Grice
With a flip of an oversized light switch, Bridgeport and state officials showcased the city’s newest industrial landmark.
“It’s not often where you’re able to gather a public-private partnership on multiple levels and as a result see so many positives come out of it,” said Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, commemorating the official opening of PSEG’s natural gas-powered Bridgeport Harbor Station 5 overlooking Long Island Sound.
The 485-megawatt plant went online roughly a month ago, providing energy to thousands of homes and businesses throughout the state. It also set in motion plans to retire PSEG’s longstanding coal plant next door, which officials say is scheduled for June 2021.
Monday was the official opening.
Several officials called the new plant an asset for Bridgeport and the state after only a month in service.
“The plant means clean burning fuel for the next 40 years, but it also means good paying jobs and people getting an opportunity,” said Gov. Ned Lamont.
That includes PSEG’s $600,000 Ready2Work program which helped train and place 47 residents a trades union or career where the certifications created by the program were required.Graduates of the program were also among the 700 construction workers that built the power plant.
“We are a company that keeps its commitments,” said PSEG president and COO Ralph LaRossa. “Here in Connecticut, we really saw a need to retrain some areas of the state and really focused here on Bridgeport.”
That’s been disputed by some community leaders, particularly the Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport, who are still trying to force PSEG to compensate for what they believed was a flawed apprenticeship program.
Development of Bridgeport Harbor Station 5 is the result of a longstanding public and private partnership that dates to the Bill Finch administration.
The former Bridgeport Mayor made a brief appearance during the opening ceremony. He said he was proud “to see that incredibly large facility opened there, knowing it’s not only helping to reduce our pollution but it’s also paying huge taxes to the city.”
The plant has already been credited for an increase in Bridgeport’s grand list earlier this year. Ganim attributed a sizable portion of a 5 percent growth to the plant in March.
Next on the city’s agenda is the future of the old coal plant next to the natural-gas facility.
The coal plant is supposed to be decommissioned in the next two years, according to LaRossa.“It’s an extremely valuable piece of property right on the water,” said Tom Gill, director of economic development in Bridgeport. “It complements what’s going on across the harbor.”Thus far, the city has been trying to develop an entertainment hub overlooking the water. That’s been apparent with ongoing development of the Harbor Yard Amphitheater and Steelepointe Harbor and legislative battles to bring a casino to Bridgeport. There is still plenty that needs to happen before the land is cleared, sold and developed, LaRossa said, including working with city and community leaders to find the best use for the site and the future of the 500-foot red and white smoke stack at the coal plant.
CT goes back to the future with transit-oriented development
Tom Condon
New Britain — The decades after World War II were unkind to many Connecticut cities, New Britain among them. The Hardware City lost jobs, was carved up by highways and saw residents depart for the suburbs. Its once bustling downtown began to look desolate, almost like an archeological site.
Not anymore.
Downtown New Britain is steadily coming back. Streets have been revamped and redesigned (with roundabouts and bike lanes), a downtown park has been spiffed up, and historic buildings are being refurbished for housing and other uses. A new development, two five-story buildings with about 160 residential units and 20,000 square feet of retail space, is under construction.
“More downtown buildings have been sold in the last two years than in the last 20 years,” said longtime city development director Bill Carroll, a New Britain native. “It’s a beautiful thing to see.”
What’s driving this revival? The bus.
New Britain officials, led by Republican Mayor Erin Stewart, have embraced the CTfastrak bus rapid transit system as an economic engine, and it seems to be working. The mayor said in a recent interview that she expects 200 new units of downtown housing in place by the end of this year, with another 100 coming next year.
CTfastrak “has driven nearly all of this. It’s my talking point,” said the ebullient 32-year-old Stewart, now in her third term.
Indeed, nearly all of the development in downtown New Britain is within easy walking distance of the downtown CTfastrak station, making it what planners call “transit-oriented development,” or TOD. Other communities along the state’s transit corridors — you can’t have TOD without the T — have embraced the concept as well, with support from the state.
But can TOD help revive all cities and towns, not just New Britain?
“Yes,” said David Elder, the state Department of Transportation planner and TOD coordinator, “but it doesn’t happen overnight. It happens over time.”
But it is happening. Since CTfastrak opened in 2015 and the Hartford Line commuter rail service from New Haven to Springfield followed in 2018, both corridors have seen a combined total of $700 million in investment, according to figures compiled by the Capital Region Council of Governments. Nearly every community — Windsor Locks, Windsor, West Hartford, Berlin, Wallingford and others — in both corridors has at least one TOD project finished or underway. Several shoreline communities — Clinton, Fairfield and others — have projects in the works as well.
“I think it is the single most important thing we can do” for city and state economic development, said David Kooris, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development.
New again
Transit-oriented development is a newish term for an old idea. For most of Connecticut’s history, virtually all development was connected to waterways or rail/trolley lines. That changed with the widespread middle-class migration to the suburbs, almost all by car, in the decades that followed World War II.
By the 1990s there came the belated realization that suburban sprawl had a downside: more traffic and congestion, more air and water pollution, higher cost of infrastructure, loss of forests and farms, and isolation of the poor in cities.
In response, many planners and urbanists promoted the ideas of “smart growth,” concentrating growth in transit corridors or town centers — thus, transit-oriented development.
The 2005 federal transportation funding bill made federal funds available for TOD, as did subsequent bills. Former Gov. Dannel Malloy earmarked more than $20 million in 2011 for TOD planning and infrastructure, augmenting many more millions dedicated through state housing, economic development and brownfield remediation grants.
In short, the state has made a major push for TOD, and the momentum continues.
This spring, Gov. Ned Lamont appointed Lisa Tepper Bates, a former foreign service officer, to the new post of senior coordinator housing and transit-oriented development, and the General Assembly created a Municipal Redevelopment Authority to spur development near transit and town centers of distressed cities.
The Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects held an all-day symposium on TOD at the Capitol, and the Capital Region Council of Governments formed a collaborative to support TOD and town center development.
“Governor Lamont places a high priority on improving Connecticut’s public transportation system and advancing community development around transit hubs to drive economic development and respond to the increased demand from residents,” said Tepper Bates in a recent interview. “This is what the workforce wants, that’s what employers are asking for, and that’s what Connecticut’s communities can offer.”
She said it is also central to Lamont’s goal of reducing the state’s carbon footprint.
Challenges
There are challenges and potential obstacles to TOD, however.
“It doesn’t just happen,” as Stewart put it.
First of all, the projects themselves are often daunting, involving such things as brownfield remediation, parcel assembly, road reconfiguration and complex financing. For example, Windsor Locks First Selectman Chris Cervick said his town’s conversion of the former Montgomery Mills complex into 160 mixed-income apartments drew funding from “five or six sources.”
A major TOD planned around a new parking garage at the Stamford railroad station fell apart three years ago over financing issues and unresolved differences between the city and state.
“It was a disaster,” said Joseph McGee, vice-president for public policy and programs of the Business Council of Fairfield County. “But we learned from it.”
Successful transit-oriented development also comes with some built-in requirements. The transit has to be frequent and reliable, there has to be a market for TOD to serve, and housing near transit stations must be built for people who use transit, as Massachusetts transportation commissioner Stephanie Pollock and others have observed.
Developers can encounter difficulties even after these conditions are met, experts say. Access to some stations is blocked by highways, rivers or industrial buildings, and some shoreline communities cannot create much density around stations because they don’t have sewers.
There can also be strong community opposition to TOD, especially when it involves building affordable housing or parking.And finally, the parking itself can be difficult to create. That’s because many people who ride commuter trains don’t live within walking distance of the stations, which means they need a place to park. But a station surrounded by a sea of asphalt isn’t TOD. Towns struggle to find the right balance between parking and development.
“It’s an ongoing question (in Stamford). What’s the proper ratio?” said McGee. Many Stamford companies have vans that bring workers to and from the station, he added.
Nonetheless, many communities are overcoming these challenges and getting projects done. The Montgomery Mills project in Windsor Locks is scheduled to be completed in three phases from Aug.1 to Oct. 1.
“We’re really excited about it,” said Cervick. He said the project has been a catalyst for more development in the town center.
That is one of several benefits of TOD, as several studies (see here and here) indicate.As is obvious, transit riders aren’t driving cars. This has the societal benefit of lowering traffic congestion and reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, about 40 percent of which come from the transportation sector in Connecticut. TOD creates healthier (read: walkable) neighborhoods, and develops the population density small businesses need to thrive. It reduces household transportation costs, freeing income to spend at those small businesses, or wherever else. It provides access to the jobs.
And, as Elder said, TOD creates more transit riders and thus more money in the fare box to pay for the buses and trains.
Solutions
Mayor Stewart embraced TOD because “we need to reinvent ourselves. We want to be a success story, a place where people live, work, play and thrive.” How does a community make it happen?Stewart said the first step is to work with residents to develop a vision. “Have public meetings even if nobody comes,” she said. “Eventually they will.”
Then, she said, reduce the vision to a plan.
Change the zoning, if necessary. Zoning doesn’t age well, and can be an obstacle to TOD. To take an example from another community, Windsor rezoned the area around its train station from industrial to a center design development district, which allows a mix of uses and up to 20 residential units per acre, said Windsor town planner Eric Barz. This resulted in a 50-unit condominium in a former mill and 130 apartments on a former public works garage site. Residents have a six-minute train ride to downtown Hartford.
Have a local TOD advisory group that meets regularly and keeps focus on the plan.
Finally, execute the plan, said Stewart. “Be organized, go step by step, block by block, have patience.”
Financing TOD will be a challenge going forward due to the state’s strained fiscal situation, but there are still tax credits and other programs available and officials hope to promote TOD by using the new Opportunity Zone legislation, which offers incentives for private investment in historically underserved areas, said Tepper Bates.
Most of the recent TOD projects have been subsidized and one goal is to make the projects attractive enough to draw private investment, as has happened in downtown New Haven.
Some, including Capital Region Council of Governments Executive Director Lyle Wray, think TOD could be more effective if it were planned on a corridor rather than town by town basis. Alas, a legislative effort in 2015 to create a corridor development authority foundered because some viewed it as a usurpation of local authority or creeping regionalism.For all of the issues surrounding TOD, however, there is apparently one not to worry about.
Windsor now has hundreds of people living near its train station, said Barz, and not a single person has complained to the town about train noise.
Connecticut Innovations helps secure financing for Energy Park Phase 2
Karla Santos
NEW BRITAIN - Although New Britain’s Energy & Innovation Park is still preparing to build its first phase, the park’s developers hailed a tax break from Connecticut Innovations that will secure financing for its second phase, which is the computing center.
The first phase of the $1 billion green-energy and high-speed data center complex is a $100 million, 20-megawatt fuel cell. Construction will begin in the fall and the project will take place at the Stanley Works campus.
“Last year, we launched this project to transform the historic home of Stanley Black & Decker into a first class center for high-tech jobs, high-speed data processing, and clean energy,” Mark Wick, a partner with EIP, LLC said in a press release. “Today’s action by Connecticut Innovations should be the final step in the development process.”
According to the announcement, the company will spend $300 million in Phase 2 to build and renovate the data center complex to “white space” configuration, which will include high-performing computers and servers to make a high performance computing center.
“CI just helped secure the data center’s competitive edge by approving a measure that will exempt the computing equipment from the state sales and use tax for 10 years,” Wick said in the release. “This will put us on par with 23 other states that are competing every day to attract national data center operators to their sites, and it will apply only to the computing equipment after nearly $400 million is spent on the bricks and mortar. This is the sign of a great public-private partnership, and we are very pleased.”
More than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be created by EIP in the next 20 years.
The project is also expected to generate $45 million in tax revenues for New Britain and more than $200 million for the state of Connecticut.
“High performance computing centers fuel the 21st century economy and attract many other IT companies to their campuses,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in the press release. “Given Connecticut’s proximity to major metropolitan areas and the needs of our municipal, state and private sector business clusters for these high performance computing services, we can now compete with other states and transform an underutilized industrial complex into a modern IT campus that will generate significant local and state tax revenues, and high paying IT and related service jobs.”
The Doosan fuel cell units are expected to arrive to the site in the first quarter of 2020 with full commercial operation by the third quarter of the same year.
“In addition to the data center component, the EIP will be a Center for Energy Innovation,” House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz said in the release. “I am encouraged that the EIP has pledged to work closely with the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, the universities and other Connecticut companies to develop new energy technologies to capture carbon from fuel cells, make electricity from waste heat, identify new ways to store energy and help Connecticut be at the cutting edge of technology development.”
The release said that EIP is expected to use waste heat from the fuel cells in a “heating and cooling loop” to serve surrounding businesses and help reduce the carbon footprint of the project.
“We have all worked very hard to make the New Britain site attractive and competitive,” Mayor Erin Stewart said in the release. “It has low cost space, on-site power generation, access to trained talent, predictable tax treatment and quality connectivity that we believe we will attract significant national interest and transform New Britain into the New Hardware City.”
State brightens up Merritt with new signs
Ignacio Laguarda
STAMFORD — For many signs along the Merritt Parkway, the glow is gone.
Years of standing outside exposed to the elements have rendered some overhead and side-mounted signs muted and barely legible at night.
That’s because the typical lifespan for many such roadside notices is 17 years, according to Kevin Nursick, spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation. That’s the age, generally, when a sign’s retroreflectivity, or ability to shine light back toward a source, has faded away. With less reflectivity, signs become hard to read or illegible at night, even if they are clear in daylight.
The state’s latest project to replace signs on the Merritt Parkway comes with a $4.25 million price tag and will focus on replacing signs that were last installed in 1997 using a different technique for fastening them to supports. On many signs, the supports have been failing for the last few years, according to information from the state.
The project encompasses roughly 40 miles of the Merritt, from the Connecticut/New York border all the way to Milford.
“The scope of the project involves the replacement of only those signs that have exceeded their useful service life,” reads the description of the project.
The work also includes the replacement of five existing “variable message signs,” digital boards in which text can be added and modified.
Concurrently, a sign-replacement project on Route 8 will accomplish the same thing, along a 30-mile stretch from Bridgeport to Waterbury, and will cost $10.6 million.
That project will replace signs last installed in the late 1980s.
Wes Haynes, executive director of the Merritt Parkway Conservancy, is happy to see the signs being replaced, especially since they will maintain the jagged-edge design characteristic of the roadway.
While many people have a love for the old wooden signs that used to adorn the highway in the past, Haynes said the newer models are much easier to maintain.
He isn’t a fan of the variable message signs, however, even if he understands that the state must use them in construction zones.
“When you go through a construction zone, you’re out of the parkway mood anyway,” said Haynes, describing why the signs aren’t as visually intrusive to him as they would be in other parts of the highway.
Once the new signs are up, Haynes said the parkway experience will be enhanced. “Everybody loves the finished product,” he said. “It puts you back in the magic of the parkway.”
State lawmakers to probe Connecticut Port Authority following exit of leaders
Stephen Singer
“Last year, we launched this project to transform the historic home of Stanley Black & Decker into a first class center for high-tech jobs, high-speed data processing, and clean energy,” Mark Wick, a partner with EIP, LLC said in a press release. “Today’s action by Connecticut Innovations should be the final step in the development process.”
According to the announcement, the company will spend $300 million in Phase 2 to build and renovate the data center complex to “white space” configuration, which will include high-performing computers and servers to make a high performance computing center.
“CI just helped secure the data center’s competitive edge by approving a measure that will exempt the computing equipment from the state sales and use tax for 10 years,” Wick said in the release. “This will put us on par with 23 other states that are competing every day to attract national data center operators to their sites, and it will apply only to the computing equipment after nearly $400 million is spent on the bricks and mortar. This is the sign of a great public-private partnership, and we are very pleased.”
More than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be created by EIP in the next 20 years.
The project is also expected to generate $45 million in tax revenues for New Britain and more than $200 million for the state of Connecticut.
“High performance computing centers fuel the 21st century economy and attract many other IT companies to their campuses,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in the press release. “Given Connecticut’s proximity to major metropolitan areas and the needs of our municipal, state and private sector business clusters for these high performance computing services, we can now compete with other states and transform an underutilized industrial complex into a modern IT campus that will generate significant local and state tax revenues, and high paying IT and related service jobs.”
The Doosan fuel cell units are expected to arrive to the site in the first quarter of 2020 with full commercial operation by the third quarter of the same year.
“In addition to the data center component, the EIP will be a Center for Energy Innovation,” House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz said in the release. “I am encouraged that the EIP has pledged to work closely with the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, the universities and other Connecticut companies to develop new energy technologies to capture carbon from fuel cells, make electricity from waste heat, identify new ways to store energy and help Connecticut be at the cutting edge of technology development.”
The release said that EIP is expected to use waste heat from the fuel cells in a “heating and cooling loop” to serve surrounding businesses and help reduce the carbon footprint of the project.
“We have all worked very hard to make the New Britain site attractive and competitive,” Mayor Erin Stewart said in the release. “It has low cost space, on-site power generation, access to trained talent, predictable tax treatment and quality connectivity that we believe we will attract significant national interest and transform New Britain into the New Hardware City.”
State brightens up Merritt with new signs
Ignacio Laguarda
STAMFORD — For many signs along the Merritt Parkway, the glow is gone.
Years of standing outside exposed to the elements have rendered some overhead and side-mounted signs muted and barely legible at night.
That’s because the typical lifespan for many such roadside notices is 17 years, according to Kevin Nursick, spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation. That’s the age, generally, when a sign’s retroreflectivity, or ability to shine light back toward a source, has faded away. With less reflectivity, signs become hard to read or illegible at night, even if they are clear in daylight.
The state’s latest project to replace signs on the Merritt Parkway comes with a $4.25 million price tag and will focus on replacing signs that were last installed in 1997 using a different technique for fastening them to supports. On many signs, the supports have been failing for the last few years, according to information from the state.
The project encompasses roughly 40 miles of the Merritt, from the Connecticut/New York border all the way to Milford.
“The scope of the project involves the replacement of only those signs that have exceeded their useful service life,” reads the description of the project.
The work also includes the replacement of five existing “variable message signs,” digital boards in which text can be added and modified.
Concurrently, a sign-replacement project on Route 8 will accomplish the same thing, along a 30-mile stretch from Bridgeport to Waterbury, and will cost $10.6 million.
That project will replace signs last installed in the late 1980s.
Wes Haynes, executive director of the Merritt Parkway Conservancy, is happy to see the signs being replaced, especially since they will maintain the jagged-edge design characteristic of the roadway.
While many people have a love for the old wooden signs that used to adorn the highway in the past, Haynes said the newer models are much easier to maintain.
He isn’t a fan of the variable message signs, however, even if he understands that the state must use them in construction zones.
“When you go through a construction zone, you’re out of the parkway mood anyway,” said Haynes, describing why the signs aren’t as visually intrusive to him as they would be in other parts of the highway.
Once the new signs are up, Haynes said the parkway experience will be enhanced. “Everybody loves the finished product,” he said. “It puts you back in the magic of the parkway.”
State lawmakers to probe Connecticut Port Authority following exit of leaders
Stephen Singer
State legislators are set to examine the operation of the Connecticut Port Authority next month following the departure of two top officials, one of whom resigned under fire by Gov. Ned Lamont.
The agency, which is responsible for the state’s three Long Island Sound ports at Bridgeport, New Haven and New London and inland river ports and harbors, has been the focus of unaccustomed criticism in recent weeks.
Its executive director was put on administrative leave following an exchange of emails with a critic of the port authority. Board Chairwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder soon after resigned over a $3,000 payment by the authority for six photos taken by her daughter that were displayed at the agency’s Old Saybrook office.
Its executive director was put on administrative leave following an exchange of emails with a critic of the port authority. Board Chairwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder soon after resigned over a $3,000 payment by the authority for six photos taken by her daughter that were displayed at the agency’s Old Saybrook office.
Lamont said the “recent events” were a "sideshow and distraction."
Rep. Roland Lemar, House chairman of the transportation committee, said Monday that lawmakers want to “get to the bottom of what’s been happening with the board of directors, hear from the governor’s office about ... potential direction for the port authority and try to see if there’s any necessary legislation to address some of the concerns that we’ve got.”
A public hearing is likely in August, said Lemar, D-New Haven.
David Kooris, vice chairman of port authority’s board, did not return a request for comment.
Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, and a member of the transportation committee, asked for a hearing, saying she’s “greatly concerned” about developments at the port authority.
Osten cited a $93 million public-private partnership with a wind energy producer on an upgrade plan for the State Pier in New London, a key economic development deal announced in May. A final agreement has not yet been reached and she said the delay is a focus of concern.
“It is imperative that we make sure nothing interferes with this critical project,” Osten said in a letter to Lemar and Sen. Carlo Leone, the transportation committee’s Senate chairman.
“It is imperative that we make sure nothing interferes with this critical project,” Osten said in a letter to Lemar and Sen. Carlo Leone, the transportation committee’s Senate chairman.
A Lamont spokesman said the governor supports a hearing and has instructed his chief of staff and chief operating officer to conduct an “in-depth review” of the Port Authority as part of an assessment of the state’s 10 quasi-public agencies — the Connecticut Airport Authority, Connecticut Lottery Corp. and others — “to ensure that future issues of similar magnitude do not arise.”
Osten said in an interview the State Pier and New London port are an “economic driver” for eastern Connecticut.
The leadership changes at the port authority are not the only issues that legislators should review, she said.
“There have been some rumblings in the last year, last year and a half,” Osten said. “It’s not just recent public outcries with the latest movement on the board and executive director. "
Residents and officials want to make sure that other businesses, not just wind power, have access to the State Pier and ports, Osten said. Shipments of road salt, which is critical for towns and cities during the winter, need ready access to the pier to avoid price spikes, she said.
“It’s time to have transparency,” Osten said.