Jean Falbo-Sosnovich
DERBY — The industrial land behind BJ’s Wholesale Club could be seeing some new development. George Schrade wants to expand his Water Street business, A Quick Pick Crane Co., and build a 40,000-square-foot warehouse for large vehicle storage on 14.2 acres off Division Street. Schrade bought the land from the city for approximately $375,000.
The proposal from Schrade Roosevelt LLC was presented at a virtual public hearing the Planning and Zoning Commission held May 19. Local attorney Dominick Thomas and Shelton engineer Alan Shepard, representing Schrade, spoke on behalf of the proposal. Thomas said the property already is zoned for industrial use, and is a “perfect fit” for Schrade’s contractor yard expansion, as well as the proposed warehouse that he said would provide storage for other construction businesses to use. Plus, the vacant property will go “back on the city’s tax rolls” providing some welcome revenue.
Shepard said plans call for upgrading the area between the dike and the cul-de-sac, bringing it up to grade to level the site, and prep it for the warehouse building. He said the location will provide for easy navigation of large construction vehicles to turn around.
Thomas said the proposal already has been presented to the Inland Wetlands Commission, and is awaiting a vote next month. The PZC continued its hearing until its next meeting June 16, at which Thomas said a landscaping plan for the site will be presented. Thomas said the site is rather unusual, and has many Army Corps of Engineer easements. He said an arborist is looking at what type of landscaping would be best suited for the parcel.
A few commissioners requested that the parcel be shielded as best it could from the nearby Greenway, and perhaps making the warehouse roof green in color to blend in better.
PZC Chairman Ted Estwan acknowledged the site is “tough,” and any sort of landscaping would be a welcome addition to the industrial parcel.
Carmen DiCenso, the city’s economic development liaison, said the crane company expansion and warehouse would be an ideal use for the property, which actually comprises 26 acres, of which only 14.2 acres is useable.
“We do think it’s an excellent use of the property. … It’s an industrial park, the soil is compromised and only certain vegetation will grow there, so there’s really not much else you can do there,” DiCenso said. “It’s a very narrow strip of land, and when the city put the parcel out to bid about a year ago, we only had one bidder for the full price.” The property previously housed Beard Sand and Gravel in the 1980s.
East Lyme working to allow public vote on additional $2.1 million needed for police building
Mary Biekert
East Lyme — After First Selectman Mark Nickerson said the town may not be required to hold a town meeting vote on an additional $2.1 million needed to complete the police building renovation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he told the selectmen last week that town officials are trying to find a way for residents to provide input.
Besides having only until the end of August to sign a contract with low bidder Noble Construction, Nickerson pointed out at last Wednesday’s meeting that officers are still working in less-than-ideal conditions. He has described the cramped building on Main Street being used now as “deplorable” and on Wednesday said the roof doesn't have more than a year left.
“While I’m rushing to get this (project) done, I’m also struggling with a police force that’s in a building now and is unsafe to the health of the men and women of the police force," he said. "But I don’t want to spend taxpayer money on (fixing) that (current) building.”
He said the renovations to complete the new police building would take nine months to complete.
"It's unfortunate that with COVID going on, the economy is going to tank, everyone is hurting, I get it," Nickerson said. "I'll say this, this should have been done 15 years ago. We shouldn't be here right now. We should have never put our police in this situation."
Nickerson also explained that while he and the town attorney are trying to find a way for the public to weigh in on the additional funding, either by town vote or referendum, he is worried delaying the project until it was safe to have residents vote could be detrimental to the police force.
"We are trying to work through the governor's executive order about what's allowed and what's not allowed," he said. "I'm of the belief that we really should allow the public to weigh in on this. We want to let the public weigh in on this, but in the middle of this (pandemic), technically they can't."
The Board of Selectmen had been set last week to hear a presentation about the renovation plans from the Public Safety Building Vision Committee and then possibly decide on whether to approve the additional $2.1 million. Nickerson said the presentation did not occur because the Vision Committee was not ready to make one.
Had the selectmen heard the committee's presentation and approved the $2.1 million allocation, the Vision Committee then would have had to get Board of Finance approval for the $2.1 million. If that occurred, the $2.1 million allocation would normally go to a town meeting vote or referendum.
Residents typically vote on allocations of more than $10,000 at a town meeting. The selectmen can schedule referendums but they are expensive, Nickerson said.
The Board of Finance agreed in early 2019 to spend $5 million to purchase and renovate the former 30,000-square-foot Honeywell office building at 277 West Main St. into a consolidated space that would host a new police facility, as well as the town’s dispatch center, fire marshal’s office and emergency operations center.
Having closed on the building in May 2019 for $2.7 million, the town’s vision committee, which consists of selectmen, Board of Finance members, Police Commission members, police Chief Mike Finkelstein and residents, was left with an approximately $2.23 million budget for renovations. Over the last eight months, it has worked with architects Silver/Petrucelli + Associates on how to renovate the building while not letting costs escalate.
After the lowest bid for the project came in at about $3 million, the Vision Committee then had to factor in a host of other costs to complete the renovations. Among these were $300,000 for a contingency account, up to $500,000 for communications equipment, about $200,000 to install an elevator cab in the building and $50,000 for a clerk of the works.
The cost to buy the building combined with the construction bid and the other renovation costs has now pushed the overall cost of the project to $7.17 million. This has left the town about $2.1 million short of what is needed to complete the project.
Finance Board Chairwoman Camille Alberti said she has heard from residents concerned they would not have a say about approving the additional funding as well as how the additional $2.1 million would affect the proposed 2020-21 budget of $76 million and its 0.17-mill tax-rate increase.
Alberti asked the Board of Selectmen last Wednesday to “suspend any and all (Public Safety Building) special appropriation requests unless, and until, there is a plan in place to conduct a safe and fair referendum.”
On Friday Alberti she said that if there is not an opportunity for the public to vote on the allocation, the request would be “dead on arrival” when it came to the Board of Finance.
“If we pass this police building, I want people to understand what they are voting for if they vote yes and if they vote no,” she said, explaining she plans to compile a list of how much the town will pay annually for bonding interest over the next 20 years, as well as for any short-term bonding costs and future repairs that might be needed to the building. “Right now, we are going into a period where we should be pulling back on everything and not spend anything.”
Renovation plan approved for downtown Norwich buidings
Claire Bessette
Norwich — The New York group that purchased two abutting historic downtown buildings once envisioned for a heritage museum received approval this past week to create 42 apartments in the upper stories and to renovate the Main and Water street storefront spaces in what city officials hope will bring new life to lower Main Street.
The two 1860s Bulletin and Richards buildings, with rich histories in the downtown’s post-Civil War economic heyday, have been mostly vacant for decades. The buildings were rescued from decay in the 1980s and ‘90s with structural preservation grants to create the Norwich Heritage Discovery Center. But the museum project never got off the ground.
Former Norwich developer Janny Lam purchased the buildings and brought in restaurants, a salon and boutique shops to the storefronts, but she eventually lost the complex to tax foreclosure in 2018.
The Rochelle, N.Y.-based principals in New England Rose LLC purchased the two buildings at 77-91 Main St. at a tax foreclosure auction in May 2018 with plans to renovate the complex for apartments and commercial space.
Their plan to create 42 market-rate apartments — 40 studio units and two one-bedroom apartments — storage and amenities for tenants and to renovate the commercial space on Main and Water streets received unanimous approval Tuesday by the Commission on the City Plan.
Project attorney William Sweeney said the developers plan to obtain federal historic preservation tax credits to maintain the historic brick exteriors, which include ornate, unique features, and do extensive interior renovations and renovate and maintain the commercial spaces on Main and Water streets.
During the museum planning, the interiors of the two buildings were gutted, including walls that once separated the two structures. An elevator shaft was created, but no elevator was installed.
Like many other Norwich buildings, the structural quirks are many. The buildings were constructed into a steep hill, so the Water Street side is five stories tall, while the Main Street side is three stories. The buildings are now combined into one, but their floors do not line up, Sweeney said. So, when an elevator is installed, it likely will have nine stops, with doors opening on either side.
The project needed zoning variances, because downtown zoning regulations prohibit residential space from being located beneath commercial space. But the Main Street storefronts are really on the third floor. The city Zoning Board of Appeals approved a variance to allow second-floor apartments on Water Street.
Another regulation for “mixed-use” projects requires at least 50% of the building to be reserved for commercial space. But Sweeney said that would not be viable for these buildings, which have a combined 21,552 square feet of space.
“The building is so huge, you can’t do half and half and make it viable,” Sweeney said.
The complex has no parking. Downtown regulations do not require parking, but Sweeney said the developers recognize they would need to provide parking for the project to be viable. About 30 spaces in the city-owned Main Street parking garage directly across the street, and more spaces in the garage are expected to become available by 2021, when the apartments project is slated to be completed.
Other nearby free parking is available at the Norwich Transportation Center near Norwich Harbor, Sweeney said.
Sweeney said with the planning and zoning approvals in place, some interior demolition can start this summer. The only current commercial tenant is the Ice & Fire Chinese restaurant on Main Street. Sweeney said the developers hope to work with the restaurant to renovate the space. He said new commercial entities have expressed interest in other commercial spaces in the complex.
The developers already are working with Norwich Public Utilities on utilities connections for the project.
NPU spokesman Chris Riley said utility services are in place already for the buildings, so NPU would work with the developers on interior renovations, service upgrades if needed and any possible energy efficiency rebate or incentive programs.
“The prospect of new residential and commercial activity in downtown is great news for Norwich,” Riley said, “so NPU was very excited to meet with the developer and the city’s Planning and Neighborhood Services Department earlier this year.”
City Historian Dale Plummer said the more ornate and slightly shorter building is the Charles Richards Building, with a unique “high Victorian gothic” yellow brick façade featuring varied arches, tall, narrow decorative windows and roofline designs. The red brick former Bulletin Building is more plain but has decorative roof features and large rectangular windows.
“The exterior (restoration) work done was very good,” Plummer said, praising noted historic preservation architect Fred Biebesheimer. “Unfortunately, the interior was completely gutted.”
Richards was a merchant who made his fortune in the Pacific, Plummer said. He returned to Norwich after the Civil War and invested in real estate. He built the Main Street building, which housed the Porteous, Hislop & Mitchell Department Store, a well-known store at the time. Downtown Norwich was humming as the commercial center for the surrounding towns. Ships arriving in the harbor and the trolley helped bring more people to Norwich, Plummer said.
The Bulletin Building housed the newspaper and, in the 1880s, the Norwich post office.
“Both buildings have a very rich history,” Plummer said. “It’s great to see the buildings coming back into use. Residential use is really one of the keys to downtown revitalization.”
Developer of $100 million plan says now is the best time to build
Mary E. O’Leary
NEW HAVEN — The city has moved one step closer to approval of a lab building, zoning text amendment and land deal that will bring a $100 million investment to fruition, something the developer says will make New Haven the leader in life sciences and biotech research in Connecticut.
Carter Winstanley, who has already developed over 1 million square feet of laboratory and office space at five city locations, wants to put up a 350,000 to 550,000-square-foot building at 101 College St. on the slowly disappearing Route 34 corridor for research companies that want to expand, as well those needing incubator space.
The City Plan Commission Wednesday recommended approval to the Board of Alders for a proposed text amendment that would give a developer a height bonus, an increase in floor to area ratio from 6 to 8, in the BD3 zone if they use Green Building practices to mitigate stormwater impacts or build a public urban plaza as part of the design, or do both.
Under this model, the larger building is not by right, but can grow with a point system.
The text amendment and land disposition agreement will go to the Community Development Committee of the Board of Alders on May 27 and later to the full board. The estimated start date for construction of the lab building is August with completion by August 2022.
The BD3 zone was created specifically to encourage the city’s commercial life science and biotech section which is mainly in the area being reclaimed along Route 34 and in the Medical District.
Winstanley, as part of his project, is proposing to build an outdoor plaza and interior public walkway with space for arts programming and a mix of quiet and active social spaces.
The parcel on which Winstanley would build is owned by the state, which will convey it to New Haven, which in turn will sell it to the developer.
Aicha Woods, director of City Plan, said this was an opportunity to amplify the city’s Green building ordinances and set standards for the design of a public space associated with these buildings.
She said New Haven looked at other cities who have already picked up this concept - Privately Owned Public Spaces and customized the standards to New Haven. There are some 590 POPS in more than 380 buildings in New York City.
Adam Marchand, vice chair of the City Plan Commission, said the “intention and the method seems very smart to me.”
The Development Land Disposition Agreement includes a framework of community benefits the city is calling, “Together, We Grow.” Winstanley will contribute between $400,000 and $500,000 to support jobs access and training, as well as academic opportunities for students in this framework.
Winstanley, who has worked on projects here for more than 20 years, also addressed the virtual meeting. He said his proposal is to house the “rising stars” among New Haven startups that need more space, as well as help those starting out.He said he has been asked over and over why get involved in a project in this time of market uncertainty.
“As we spent a lot of time sitting contemplating about the challenges our communities are facing of illness and closure, furloughs and job losses, we came to the conclusion that this may actually be the best time,” Winstanley said. He said the project can hire as many as 1,000 construction workers immediately.
He said they have been able to eliminate all above-ground parking and the 700-car garage after finding spaces in New Haven Parking Authority facilities. Instead he will invest that money into a sizable plaza. The plan also promotes bike usage and makes a commitment to “climate awareness construction.”