CT Construction Digest Thursday October 29, 2020

Meeting on rehabilitation plan for Memorial Boulevard Bridge set for Thursday 

Susan Corica  BRISTOL – The Public Works Board will hold a public information meeting on the rehabilitation plan for the Memorial Boulevard Bridge on Thursday, Oct. 29, at 6 p.m., in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

Bridge No. 04105 crosses the Pequabuck River on the boulevard. The meeting will cover the bridge’s existing conditions, preliminary design for rehabilitation and alternatives, the project schedule and cost, and permitting. There will be time for public comments.

The public can also view the meeting online via Webex, or by phone at 1-408-418-9388. Access code: 132 250 0232. Meeting number: 132 250 0232. Password: 123456.

Public Works encourages residents, business owners, commuters, and other interested individuals to take advantage of this opportunity to learn about and discuss the proposed project. 

Tomasso Brothers awarded Clean Campaign 'Tidy Town' award

Ciara Hooks  NEW BRITAIN – Tomasso Brothers Inc. was awarded the New Britain Downtown District Clean Campaign “Tidy Town” award Tuesday afternoon in recognition for its work on the new patio at One Liberty Square, which has been offered as a community resource for groups to gather and celebrate.

“The Tomassos have been so generous and so supportive in the city of New Britain,” said Justine Moriarty, chairwoman of NBDD. “The way that they have maintained their building and that beautiful patio just goes to show their dedication to the city.”

For three generations, and now into their fourth, Tomasso Brothers Inc. has been deeply rooted and has helped the city grow, improve and excel, continuing to achieve the district’s mission to support the city’s investments by creating a beautiful, safe and thriving downtown through improvements, marketing, advocacy and collaboration,

“We as the Downtown District wanted to recognize them for all that they do,” Moriarty said.

“On behalf of the entire Tomasso Group we appreciate being recognized for our efforts in providing a beautiful place for not only the tenants of our building, but for others to enjoy,” said Bill Tomasso, president of TBI Construction. “Our company will continue to invest in the city of New Britain. We are proud of this award and also proud to have called New Britain home since 1923.”

The Downtown District created its Clean Campaign to bring awareness to self-pride in keeping downtown clean and inviting.

“We also want to applaud Gerry Amodio and the Downtown District for their efforts in highlighting the good work that businesses are doing to make New Britain such a vibrant city, as well as Mayor Erin Stewart for her downtown investment plan, which is truly making a difference,” Tomasso said.

173-unit residential development pitched for Bank Street in New London

Greg Smith   New London — The developer of the Shaw’s Landing condominium complex on Bank Street is proposing to finish a project it started more than a decade ago and add 173 apartment units to the downtown.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Oaktree Development first broke ground on Shaw’s Landing in 2004 and had at the time envisioned a three-phase plan for 120 upscale condominium units — the first of its kind in downtown. The project ended in 2006 after construction of one building and 35 condo units.

A revised project, to be taken up by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission next month, calls for two five-story buildings with nearly double the number of units initially proposed. The plan would take advantage of an existing market for new, upscale apartments aimed at empty nesters and college, hospital and Electric Boat professionals, said Brandon Mitchell, a senior development manager with Oaktree Development.

“These are people that want to be closer to the downtown,” Mitchell said. “The plan is consistent with the city’s goal of creating a pedestrian friendly, walkable downtown.”

Together, the two proposed buildings will contain a total of 64 studio/micro units, 89 one-bedroom and 20 two-bedroom units on property located at 330-400 Bank St. They would be constructed to complement the existing building and share amenities that will include a landscaped courtyard, pool and a pool house with bathrooms and showers. Developers also plan improvements on the waterfront along Shaw’s Cove and are taking into consideration ideas brought forward by members of the Shaw’s Landing condominium association, Mitchell said.

One proposed 74-unit building would be built at the rear of the property facing Sparyard Street. The second building facing Bank Street will have 99 units. Mitchell said improvements to the site are likely to boost values at Shaw's Landing.

Along with surface lots, the developer has proposed 116 parking spaces in ground-level, under-building garages and is asking for approval from the city to use up to 50 spaces in the municipal parking lot off Tilley and Green streets.

The use of city-owned parking spaces is part of ongoing discussion as the city works to finalize a revised development agreement with Oaktree. That agreement would need approval by the City Council. Oaktree was selected as the preferred developer and bought the property from the city in the late 1990s as part of the Shaw’s Cove Urban Renewal Project.

While it is unclear whether the developer is seeking tax abatements for the project, the development is located in an Enterprise Zone that offers a seven-year graduated exemption of tax increases resulting from real property improvements.

The project, if approved and built, would add to a growing residential market in New London where there are multiple residential developments either under construction or in the planning stages. AR Building Co. has a 98-unit building under construction on a former city-owned parcel at the corner of Howard and Bank streets. RJ Development + Advisors is planning a 203-unit residential complex, also on city-owned property, on Howard Street. Both developers cited the growing EB workforce as fuel to the local apartment market.

Felix Reyes, director of the city’s Office of Development and Planning, said when taken together, the three housing developments on Bank and Howard streets will add critical mass to the downtown, providing more foot traffic and acting as a catalyst for new businesses and helping sustain existing ones.

Mitchell said Oaktree has evaluated its options through the years and is making a move now because of the market and willingness of the city to accommodate new development. He praised Mayor Michael Passero, Reyes and the city’s planning staff for their responsiveness, creativity and vision for the future of the city.

Shelton developer proposes 80 apartments, retail on Canal Street

Brian Gioiele  SHELTON — Howe Avenue has been the recent focus of downtown’s redevelopment, but developer John Guedes is looking to put the spotlight on Canal Street.

Guedes, Shelton resident and owner of Primrose Companies, has submitted plans for Riverview Park Royal, a five-story structure that would house 80 apartments and 11,000 square feet of retail, with 181 parking spaces, on Canal Street East land — listed as 113 to 123 Canal St.

The Planning and Zoning Commission, at its meeting Wednesday, voted to schedule a public hearing on Guedes’ application for a special exception for the 1.63-acre lot, which sits on the Housatonic River in a River Front District. No hearing date has yet been set.

The city received $400,000 in cleanup grants from the EPA Brownfields Program in 2008 for sites at 113 and 123 Canal St.

The property at 113 Canal St. is the former Axton Cross parcel, which was originally occupied by a bolts manufacturer and later by a chemical manufacturer that mixed powdered metals, cleaners and liquid acids. Contaminants on the site included metals and volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds.

At 123 Canal St. is the former Samarius parcel. From the late 1800s to 1985, the Samarius site was occupied by a variety of industrial enterprises, including brass, silver goods and textile manufacturers.

In addition to Canal Street, more retail development could be coming to a vacant lot on the corner of Todd Road and Platt Road.

Manuel Moutinho has applied for a Planned Development District on the 1.22-acre site at 6 Todd Road, which sits at the intersection of Platt Street just east of Bridgeport Avenue. Plans call for development of a 10,170-square-foot retail development.

The Planning and Zoning Commission voted to schedule a public hearing on the application at its meeting Wednesday. A specific public hearing date has yet to be determined.

CEO: Electric Boat could double in size in 6 years

Alexander Soule  As Groton’s Electric Boat began construction of the first submarine in the U.S. Navy’s new Columbia ballistic-missile class, the CEO of parent company General Dynamics said Wednesday she anticipates the subsidiary doubling in size over the next half decade, a faster expansion than previous projections.

Electric Boat operates Connecticut’s single largest employment site in Groton where about 9,000 people work at the shipyard, with another 3,000 at an engineering center across the Thames River in New London.

Entering October, Electric Boat workers began construction of the first of two initial Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, which the U.S. Navy has ordered to replace Ohio-class subs as they are retired from service. Electric Boat is the prime contractor for the program, with its Virginia rival Newport News Shipbuilding producing several sections of each sub to include bow, stern and sail superstructure assemblies. The Pentagon is paying $9.5 billion for the first two vessels in a fleet of a dozen.

During a Wednesday conference call, General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic addressed the magnitude of the Columbia program, without providing a jobs context for her growth projections.

“The fact that 50 percent of our growth this year has been in Columbia I think is a nice indicator of what this is going to mean to us in the future,” Novakovic said. “Electric Boat’s ... size will double in the next five-to-six years. It’s already quite a large business and it will continue to grow. This is — as we’ve been talking about for some time — an enormous program of critical national importance.”

A General Dynamics spokesperson did not respond immediately Wednesday to a query on projected employment levels and timelines in Connecticut and Electric Boat facilities in Rhode Island, where another 4,000 employees work. As of Wednesday, Electric Boat listed nearly 150 open jobs in Groton excluding internships and another 25 in New London, with 425 openings in Kingstown, R.I. The Groton shipyard is one of three operated by Reston, Va.-based General Dynamics, along with Bath Iron Works in Maine which builds destroyers, including the new Zumwalt class with a closer resemblance to a sub in profile; and NASSCO in San Diego, which focuses on cargo ships and tankers for the Military Sealift Command.

The Marine Systems division the three shipyards comprise has been the top performer for General Dynamics this year. In the third quarter, with revenue up 8 percent in the third quarter to $2.4 billion, amid disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Operating profits gained 7 percent to $223 million, despite Bath Iron Works’ production schedule stalling this summer after some 4,300 workers went on strike for two months.

In response to an analyst’s question Wednesday morning on “whispers” in the industry on Navy interest in a new raft of Virginia-class submarine orders, Novakovic did not dismiss the possibility while remaining vague on the implications for Electric Boat. Only last December, the Department of Defense announced a $22 billion order for nine new Virginia-class subs, with the possibility for a tenth that could tack on nearly $2 billion more. This month, the Navy announced an additional $328 million contract to modernize Virginia-class subs that are the Navy’s workhorse for a wide range of missions.

“We’ve been talking to our Navy customer about the ability ... of the supply chain and the facility to ramp up production,” Novakovic said Wednesday. “As you can imagine we are developing plans to do that. ... At the moment we are not planning for that increase — but if the nation needs it, we’ll accommodate it.”

At $41 billion, the Marine Systems unit’s backlog of orders exceeds that for General Dynamics’ four other major units combined, which focus on information technology and security; mission systems for the military; armored vehicles; and Gulfstream business jets.

During the quarter, General Dynamics reported receiving $155 million from the Navy for studies on advanced nuclear reactors for the submarine fleet; and $115 million to refit the USS Hartford attack submarine.

With construction continuing this year on a new riverside submarine assembly facility and yard in Groton, General Dynamics has placed an order for an adjacent dry dock that will serve as a floating cradle for Columbia subs during construction and later maintenance. Bollinger will build the dry dock in Louisiana for delivery to Groton in 2024, with the structure measuring 618 feet long and 140 feet wide.

Construction on East Liberty Street bridge begins

Michael Puffer  WATERBURY — Passersby on East Liberty Street will have seen construction crews beginning work on a $4 million replacement of the bridge carrying the street over the Mad River.

The bridge will close to pedestrians and motorists as work begins in earnest, an event expected to occur in the last week of November or the first week of December, Director of Public Works David Simpson said.

It will remain closed, with traffic diverted through local roadways, until the project is complete, Simpson said. Completion is expected in late spring or early summer.

Dayton Construction Co. has cleared trees and has begun moving utilities that had been supported by the shabby-looking bridge. They’ve also begun clearing trees and brush in preparation for the project.The concrete bridge has cracks in its exterior finish, broken rails on a pedestrian wall along its sidewalk. Its surface and sidewalks are also deeply cracked.

The Board of Aldermen voted in September 2017 to borrow $3.5 million for the project. They voted again in January 2019 to increase the budget to $4 million. The project is now anticipated to cost about $3 million, with a state local bridge replacement program reimbursing the city nearly 33% of costs.

City officials have approved a $2.8 million contract with Dayton, as well as a $323,829 contract with AECOM Technical Services to provide engineering and construction oversight.

That area of the South End has been the focus of a lot of city attention, with multimillion projects underway in recent years.

The city recently completed construction of a “food hub” for nonprofit Brass City Harvest at the corner of Mill and East Liberty streets. It provides a commercial outlet and processing center for regional farmers and growers. This is meant to provide revenue and a home base for the nonprofit, which aims to get produce into the hands of local low-income residents.

The city is also moving ahead on a project to redevelop the long-derelict, 17-acre Anamet industrial complex off nearby South Main Street. The city also has plans and funding to build a Little League baseball park at the former Nova Dye industrial site. It’s located across East Liberty Street from the food hub.

Massachusetts Bridges in Tough Shape, No Quick Fixes in Sight

The number of structurally deficient bridges in Massachusetts may stay at more than 460 without more money, according to state Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack.

In a meeting in late October, Pollack called for more funding to help the state repair the hundreds of bridges that are in tough shape.

Those Bay State bridges rated as being in "poor" condition numbers 462. Approximately 13 percent of the National Highway System's (NHS) bridge surface area in Massachusetts also is rated as poor, according to state figures, and about 9 percent of the state's more than 5,200 bridges are considered structurally deficient.

Among all states, Massachusetts had the fourth-highest percentage of poorly rated bridges by road surface area and the 16th highest percentage of overall bridges rated poor, according to an annual report by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).

"While they're not getting worse, we're sort of stuck," Pollack said. "[Funding is] quite flat from 2019 to 2020 because we are waiting on the authorization of additional resources."

The state's most-traveled structurally deficient bridge is in Randolph, according to the ARTBA report. The span carries traffic on Interstate 93 northbound over Massachusetts Route 24 northbound. The report noted almost 200,000 vehicles cross the bridge every day.

Built in 1958, the structure has been targeted for repair by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), with nearly 50 percent of the approximately $5.5 million project finished. The state agency expects the project to be finished in January 2022.

Gov. Charlie Baker proposed a $1.25 billion fund to spur additional bridge maintenance as part of a roughly $18 billion transportation bond bill filed in July 2019, but the legislation did not clear both branches for a year and has not moved since it went to a private conference committee last summer. Other cash to fix bridges has been used up, as the state had an accelerated bridge program that ended in 2016.

John Pourbaix, executive director of Construction Industries of Massachusetts, a transportation and public works construction trade association, said the state isn't doing the work it needs to on bridges.

"We're not keeping up and we're trending in the wrong direction," Pourbaix said. "It's not a good thing. It's a result of differed maintenance and not keeping up with regular maintenance and repair."

Pourbaix said for every bridge that's getting fixed, one or two is entering poor condition status.

"It's a simple factor of age. We have about 5,200 bridges in the state and most of them are more than 50 years old," he explained. "We're just not investing enough money in the bridges."

Because Massachusetts has more than 10 percent of its NHS bridge area in such substandard condition, it's limited in how it can use federal money for repairs. A portion of those funds must first go to those bridges, and Pourbaix said that has a huge impact on secondary and municipal bridges that aren't part of the highway system. Pourbaix said he predicted the state having that limited flexibility for at least five to 10 years.

The surface area of the state's NHS bridges in poor condition is equivalent to roughly 68 football fields, according to MassDOT. To get under that 10 percent threshold, it needs to get the surface area of national highway bridges in poor condition to less than 51 football fields. Currently, the state is fixing about 12 football fields worth of bridge area.

 

CT Construction Digest Wednesday October 28, 2020

Connecticut awarded $65 million to replace 113-year-old bridge in Old Lyme

Taylor Hartz  

Connecticut has been awarded $65 million in federal funding to begin the replacement of the 113-year-old Connecticut River Bridge that carries trains over the river between Old Lyme and Old Saybrook.

The bridge, built in 1907, carries at least 56 trains every day, bringing Amtrak passengers from Virginia to Boston, moving commuters on the Shore Line East service and giving passage to freight trains headed to Worcester and Providence.

The funding will kick-start the replacement, which is meant to streamline travel and reduce delays for rail and maritime traffic, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, announced Tuesday morning at the DEEP Marine Headquarters in Old Lyme.

Blumenthal and Courtney said the bridge, though historic, is subject to breakdowns that slow both rail traffic and boat traffic. When there are rail delays on the bridge, Blumenthal said, "traffic is paralyzed up and down the East Coast."

The senator noted that the Amtrak's Northeast Corridor is the busiest in the nation and the trains that run along the century-old bridge are a pivotal mode of transportation to southeastern Connecticut.

"There is tremendous potential for increasing the flow of rail traffic here if we have reliable speedy crossing of this river, which right now is simply not happening," Blumenthal said.

"It's time to move on to a new structure," Courtney said. He called the project a "really exciting development for the state of Connecticut and also for the crusade and cause of really improving and upgrading ground transportation."

The new bridge, which will be located just south of the current bridge, will be higher — 24 feet instead of 18 — allowing for larger boats to pass under. It will have the same two-track configuration and will allow trains to pass over at 60 mph, rather than the current 45 mph speed limit.

The funding will cover the first phase of replacing the bridge. The $65 million awarded is part of a $144 million grant from the Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair Grant Program, which also will allow for the replacement of the Walk Bridge in Norwalk.

Blumenthal said the funding is "great news but it's only a down payment." According to the grant proposal, the entire project is estimated to cost $432,470,000.

The grant proposal included a $40.45 million contribution and $14.46 million commitment from the state Department of Transportation.

Keith Brothers, business manager for the CT Laborers' District Council, said Tuesday that projects like this create hundreds of jobs.

Courtney called the project a "job multiplier" and Blumenthal said there would be a huge return on investment, not only with more jobs but with more economic growth and support for small businesses.

The bridge is the oldest of its kind between New Haven and Boston. At the time it was built, Courtney said, it was "a wonder of the world." Before its construction, he said, trains had to stop on the Old Saybrook side, moving passengers and freight to barges to get across the river.

"It's really done great service over the years," he said of the bridge, "but as you can see it's definitely showing its age and the need to repair and fix the bridge has reached a point where it really is time for the Amtrak system and the federal government to step in."

"As much as we love it, and we do love it, 113 years is a long time for a bridge to exist," Blumenthal said.

The environmental assessment for the new bridge has been completed and the design for the replacement is almost finished, Blumenthal said. Construction is expected to begin in 2024 and be completed by 2030.

North Branford aims to end lake flooding; says Tilcon to help

Meghan Friedmann   NORTH BRANFORD — With permit applications yet to come, there’s still a ways to go.

But the town has taken a step toward addressing a longstanding issue: the flooding at Cedar Lake.

The Town Council recently approved a motion that appoints the town as an applicant for permits related to work at the lake’s outlet, Town Planner Carey Duques said in an email.

Restricted flow near the outlet has been a factor in reported overflow issues at Cedar Lake, also called Cedar Pond, which receives large amounts of stormwater from the developed area to its north as well as permitted runoff that Tilcon pumps out of its nearby quarry.

“Cedar Lake has recently been experiencing a higher than normal water level due to the outlet being blocked with vegetation and debris,” a memorandum attached to a recent meeting agenda says. “This has had an adverse impact upon properties surrounding the lake.”

Tilcon has agreed to help the town improve the outlet from the lake, according to the memorandum, which is attributed to Duques and Town Engineer Kurt Weiss.

Chris Costello, Tilcon’s environmental compliance technician, did not return a request for comment.

The company “expressed a willingness to help by providing engineering documents related to the local wetlands permits and other potential permits ... They also expressed a willingness to perform the construction related activities, most likely through a third-party vendor,” the memorandum says.

The document also indicates that Tilcon suggested the town act as the applicant for the project — a move the Town Council approved.

The lake’s flooding has been an ongoing issue, with residents sharing concerns about signs of overflow late last year at a town Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Agency meeting. Tilcon helped clear a culvert of debris in 2018, which improved flow from the lake but still didn’t bring it to where it needed to be, Duques has said.

Plans to address issues at the lake’s outlet were still being finalized, Duques said Monday. She said she would share more information once the town has determined the scope of the work.

The council’s vote was unanimous, according to footage of the meeting available on Totoket TV’s Facebook page.

Shelton P&Z opposes plan to build 206 apartments

Brian Gioiele  SHELTON — Losing light industrial space and increasing traffic concerns have Planning and Zoning commissioners opposed to construction of 206 residential units at 1 Parrot Drive.

The commission unanimously agreed last week to have zoning consultant Anthony Panico prepare a resolution, denying Shelton Parrot Associates’ request for a Planned Development District at the Parrot Drive location — present home to structures suited for light industrial.

The resolution will be presented at a future commission meeting, when commissioners will formally vote on the proposal.

Commission Chairwoman Virginia Harger said the site is “the wrong place” for this proposed development.

Harger cited the potential traffic congestion that would be caused by adding this many apartments so close to Fountain Square, which sits at the corner of Bridgeport Avenue and Parrot Drive. She also said she did not want to “short-change” Shelton by removing what could be a perfect site for light industrial business opportunities.

"Shelton should be thinking strategically about our plan for development and future land uses that help the city and its residents,” commissioner Jimmy Tickey said in voicing his opposition.

“Other towns such as Trumbull, Stratford, North Haven, Middletown have led the way to develop their light industrial land with distribution centers, which have only become more in-demand during COVID-19,” Tickey added. “We should not rush to develop 200 apartments on Bridgeport Avenue when we can move forward on a development that creates jobs and better suits Shelton.”

Tickey said anyone who says there is no need for light industrial is “not paying attention to the current economic trends, highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Shelton Parrot Associates had sought to add 206 apartments to 1 Parrot Drive, an 8-acre property that now hosts a 101,500-square-foot industrial building and adjacent parking lot.

According to the application, the proposed residential development, called Elevate at Shelton, would sit in the existing parking area and a portion of the industrial building after about 51,000 square feet — about a third of the building — would be demolished.

Plans call for two residential buildings to be built in the space. The new development would consist of 47,100 square feet of existing industrial space, 206 new residential apartments and 411 total parking spaces.

The development could be performed in phases, according to the application, and the property divided into separate parcels “provided reciprocal easements for access and utilities and maintenance agreements for the entire parcel are in place.”

The proposed site is off Parrot Drive northwest of Bridgeport Avenue.

In place of the demolished industrial space, two multilevel residential buildings would be built with footprints of approximately 26,500 and 34,000 square feet, respectively. The two buildings would each contain four levels above grade.

Parking spaces would be placed on existing and new surface parking and new below-grade parking beneath each of the proposed residential buildings would be added. The surface spaces would be shared between the residential and industrial land uses.

Stonington Economic Development Commission supports proposed hotel in downtown Mystic

Joe Wojtas   Mystic — The Stonington Economic Development Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to endorse plans to build a six-room, three-story hotel with a rooftop pool on the site of the former Broadway Auto service station.

The commission now will send its recommendation that the special use permit for the project be approved to the Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission, which has scheduled a virtual public hearing on the project for Nov. 4.

EDC members on Tuesday complimented the design of the hotel done by local architect Mark Comeau as well as its close proximity to the Mystic train station, downtown and Mystic Seaport.

On Tuesday night, the EDC first heard from project engineer Sergio Cherenzia, who outlined the plans for the hotel that is being developed by G Development LLC of Waterford. According to Cherenzia, G Development, whose principals are Candice and Fotis Georgiadis, also currently are constructing an office building in front of the Naik Family Branch of the Ocean Community YMCA and renovating the former Windjammer liquor building at 44 Williams Ave. (Route 1).

G Development originally had planned to construct a three-story restaurant with a rooftop deck on the Broadway Auto site but scrapped those plans after learning that zoning regulations would not allow the off-site parking that was needed. The Board of Police Commissioners also expressed concerns about parking and traffic. All the parking for the proposed hotel would be accommodated on the property.

Architectural drawings show a ground floor with parking spots, a second and third floor with three guest rooms each and a rooftop deck that contains an open-air pool and hot tub. There would also be landscaping to improve the appearance of the streetscape.

Plans call for tearing down the garage, which is located on a 0.18-acre site at 32 Broadway. Records show G Development purchased the property for $375,000 last year.

Cherenzia told the EDC that G Development would invest $1.5 million to $2 million to develop the hotel.

The EDC also asked that Cherenzia provide information about the number of construction and permanent jobs expected to be created by the project, as well as an estimate of its economic impact, so that data can be included in the letter to the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Three new supermarkets coming to the Farmington Valley, including a new Whole Foods planned for the spring

Don Stacom  Two new supermarkets opened in the Farmington Valley this fall, and a third one is expected in the spring.

The newest grocery store in the region is the nearly 50,000-square-foot Big Y that opened last week in Simsbury.

Just a few weeks before that, the Aldi chain launched its new location in Canton just across Route 44 from the Shops at Farmington Valley.

And contractors are erecting a 44,000-square-foot Whole Foods store farther east on Route 44 in Avon, part of a significant commercial development in that town.

Despite upheaval caused by the coronavirus, both Aldi and Big Y continue planning to expand their markets in the United States this year. Unlike struggling restaurant and retail businesses, supermarket chains nationally have generally been building sales in 2020. A recent study by the Acosta research firm says 55% of shoppers are eating at home more often during the pandemic. That reverses a years-long trend where restaurants — including drive-throughs — were selling a steadily larger share of the country’s meals.

None of the three chains is citing the pandemic as a reason for their expansions in Connecticut, however, and plans for the Big Y and Whole Foods projects were in place well before COVID-19 struck. 

Aldi USA announced long-term plans three years ago to add 800 of its discount grocery stores by 2022, which would bring its total in the United States to 2,500. The Canton location is its 27th in Connecticut.

Big Y was planning its Simsbury store more than eight years ago, but held off starting development until late 2019. The location on Hopmeadow Street is next to the International Skating Center in the northern end of town.

Because of the pandemic, there will be no grand opening event, the chain said. Instead, the Simsbury location will have virtual tours as well as in-store contests through early November.

The Springfield, Mass.-based chain has hired 110 part- and full-time employees for the store, which is its 71st.

Shoppers in the Avon area will have to wait a bit longer for the new Whole Foods under construction on Route 44 near town hall. The shell of the building is largely complete, but Planning and Community Development Director Hiram Peck III said there’s still work ahead.

“They have a lot to do inside, and there’s a lot of roadwork. I think the developer is probably going to be ready in the spring," Peck said.

The Whole Foods location is part of Phase 1 of Avon’s village center development project.

“This will be the anchor store, but there are five buildings going up at the same time,” Peck said. “That includes two behind the supermarket and two across the street. The plan is for all to have small retailers.”

City of Hartford assumes ownership of properties near Dunkin’ Donuts Park where development could further strengthen connection between downtown and neighborhoods

Kenneth Gosselin  The city took ownership of vacant, overgrown properties just north of Dunkin' Donuts Park Monday as part of a property auction for unpaid taxes, envisioning redevelopment at a crucial gateway that would further link downtown and the city’s neighborhoods to the north.

The seven properties, at the intersection of Main Street and Albany Avenue and just beyond the $200 million Downtown North project, are in an area that was crossed daily by hundreds of commuters prior to the pandemic but where redevelopment has long proven elusive. 

“This area represents the eastern gateway to Albany Avenue and for far too long, these properties have sat uncared for, unkempt,” Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said Monday. “The opportunity to think in a strategic way about what these parcels can be is a significant opportunity for the city.”

Bronin said the properties, clustered beneath the historic Keney Memorial Clock Tower, would benefit from overall planning and the parcels should be looked at “holistically.” There is the potential for an even stronger connection between downtown and city neighborhoods in this area, he said.

The owners of the seven properties on Main and Ely streets and Albany Avenue owed a combined $532,000 in unpaid taxes. The city took title Monday following a tax deed sale that began Saturday.

The city did not pay for the parcels it took title to because taxes were owed. No other bidder went above the amount of taxes that were due for the properties where the city assumed ownership.

The properties were among 50 across the city that owed more than $6 million in unpaid taxes.

The city also picked other vacant properties around the city, but the full list of who acquired which properties in the auction was not immediately available late Monday.

At the intersection of Main Street and Albany Avenue, the properties now give the city control of nearly all the properties surrounding the intersection.

The city already owned the corner of Ann Uccello and Main streets. The property includes the building that once housed the Arrowhead Cafe, and could be part of apartments over storefront retail space on that corner.

“After Downtown North, it only makes sense to keep developing because that will stabilize the historical Clay-Arsenal community that has been neglected for more than 30 years, in my opinion,” said Fernando Betancourt, executive director of the San Juan Center, a Latino nonprofit headquartered nearby.

The first phase of apartments, storefronts and a parking garage started construction earlier this month, with an official groundbreaking two weeks ago.

Betancourt and others say it will be critical to respond to the rental needs of the surrounding area, building both market-rate and affordable housing, the latter filling the needs of low- and moderate-income households.

Neighborhood groups say development at the intersection must not stop there but continue to push deeper into the neighborhoods.

They also point to the potential catalyst of the renovation of historic, but rundown “Flat Iron” building across from the city property on Ann Uccello Street. Downtown’s largest landlord, Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC, purchased the building earlier this year and is now working on redevelopment plans.

For a property to land on a tax deed sale list, taxes must have gone unpaid for at least three years. A tax deed auction differs from a tax lien sale because ownership is transferred to the highest bidder.

In a tax lien sale, the lien is sold, giving the buyer the right to seek foreclosure and possession of the property in court.

CT Construction Digest Tuesday October 27, 2020

State DOT outlines $34M in renovations to Darien Train Station

Susan Shultz  DARIEN — The Darien Train Station is first on the list of stations that need improvements according to the state’s Department of Transportation.

A recent presentation from the state DOT showed those improvements are scheduled to begin in February 2022 and are estimated to cost $34 million.

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson introduced the presentation and question-and-answer session, which was held virtually and recorded for viewing on Darien TV 79’s Vimeo channel.

Stevenson pointed out the commuting amenities for Darien are vital, and though commuting has slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic, she expects a “robust” use of Metro-North in the future.

Tony Sardilli, project manager for Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. explained the project’s impact and timeline during the virtual meeting.

The purpose of the project is to address the “current structural deficiencies at the stations platforms and bring the rest of the station into a state of good repair,” according to the DOT.

The project will completely replace all platform sections with electric-heated, fiber-reinforced polymer transit panels. The new platform will be designed in conformance with building, Americans with Disabilities Act and all applicable standards and codes.

Lighting, handrails, recycling centers and others areas will be evaluated and replaced or upgraded as needed. The elevators located on the north and south side of the station will be rehabilitated. The station’s existing grounding and bonding system will be replaced using the state DOT’s newly developed standard as well, according to the presentation. In addition to the work on the platforms, the four catenary structures within the limits of the project will be demolished and replaced.

A new emergency generator will also be installed near what is currently used as a storage utility building near West Avenue.

The $34 million project is expected to be paid with state and federal funds.

In 2016, the DOT commissioned an assessment of 43 of Connecticut’s rail stations. In 2017, the final report concluded the Darien station was the station most needed of repairs, according to the DOT.

Deficiencies include deteriorated concrete platforms and other concrete elements, non-ADA compliant elements and historically problematic elements.

The project will be staged in the extreme west end of the Leroy West parking lot. Construction is expected to be conduced in five phases, each lasting between six and seven months.

Each stage will tackle a portion of the project and impact between 15 to 30 parking spots at the train station.

The design is expected to be completed by June 2021, with construction commencing in February 2022, and completed by July 2024.

In a subsequent question-and-answer session about the project, Selectman Kip Koons asked about the heated platforms and the lifespan they are expected to have.

“It is impressive how well they work and what they can withstand,” Sardilli said, noting the heated platforms have been used in New Jersey, New York and Chicago in the winters and harsh weather. “They have a 50-year lifespan and most of them have a warranty of 10 to 25 years and they will outperform the lifespan of a typical concrete with corrosion from salt and sand.”

Several virtual meeting viewers asked if the planned canopy replacement could be full coverage on the New York side, but the team said that the canopy is one of the most expensive parts of the project.

Stevenson also asked if there would be a plan to make the station ADA-complaint while the elevators were out of commission during the construction, and the team said the plans were in the works.

Meanwhile, Darien resident Jim Cameron, founder of the Commuter Action Group and a transportation columnist for Hearst Connecticut Media, questioned why the high cost of the project was so high.

Sardilli explained the $34 million price tag includes all aspects of the project, from the contractor bid to engineering, inspection, a security system, and inflation adjustments. He also said the elevators and the heated platforms are more expensive outright but “in the long run and in their service life, your true cost over time will be less than concrete.”

As far as the project timing, Cameron expressed concerns about contruction deadlines, pointing out that there were delays on the completion of recent improvements made to the Noroton Heights Train Station.

Sardilli said while he couldn’t speak to why Noroton Heights ran behind, he said the contractors have a financial motive to complete their work not only on time, but early.

“We develop a calendar day schedule the contractor has to complete the job, and if he doesn’t, he is penalized a monetary amount for every day they over,” he said.

Sardilli also said the contractors don’t want to be there any longer than they have to because “the earlier they get done, the more money they will make. They want to keep the schedule, if not beat the schedule.”

The team also commented on whether the project funding was already in place, saying some federal money was involved and that the costs are currently in the capital program.

While they said it was difficult to comment on budget cuts, DOT Assistant Rail Administrator John Bernick said “based on what we are expecting, funding will be available.”

CT awarded $144 million in federal funds for rail-bridge replacements

Staff Reports  Connecticut has been awarded more than $144 million in federal funding to support the replacement of the Walk Bridge in Norwalk and Connecticut River Bridge connecting Old Lyme and Old Saybrook, Gov. Ned Lamont and members of the state’s Congressional delegation announced Friday.

Those officials described the funds as crucial to upgrading two aging rail bridges that are among the most-used in the region and said those projects would also support economic growth.

“This $145 million grant will provide Connecticut with the urgently needed funding to replace both the Walk Bridge and Connecticut River Bridge — vital structures that have long outlived their intended lifespans,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said in a statement. “Rail passengers along the Northeast Corridor deserve speedy and reliable service on Amtrak, New Haven Line and Shoreline East.”

The state Department of Transportation, in partnership with Amtrak, was awarded nearly $80 million for the replacement of the Walk Bridge, which was built in 1896. The project involves the construction of two two-track vertical-lift rail bridges, supporting rehabilitation work on the bridge-approach embankments and retaining walls, installation of new catenary structures and signal-system upgrades.

“The Walk Bridge is a critical juncture for commerce traveling along the East Coast,” said Rep. Jim Himes, whose district covers most of Fairfield County. “But, for too long, we’ve been trying to accommodate a 21st-century economy with 19th-century technology. Securing these funds has been a top priority of ours because we need critical infrastructure investment to keep Connecticut thriving and competitive for years to come.”

Amtrak, in partnership with the state DOT, was awarded about $65 million for the replacement of the 113-year-old Connecticut River Bridge with a bridge immediately to the south of the existing structure. The new bridge will maintain the two-track configuration and existing channel location and include a moveable span, with additional vertical clearance for maritime traffic.

“The Walk Bridge and the Connecticut River Bridge are both over a century old, and they are major chokepoints on the northeast corridor — affecting travel within our state and well beyond our borders,” said Sen. Chris Murphy. “Connecticut’s economic competitiveness depends in large part on its connection to Boston and New York. This funding represents a big step toward modernizing the Northeast Corridor.”

Rep. Joe Courtney, whose district includes Old Lyme and Old Saybrook, said the project “will also provide a shot in the arm to the building trades, and I look forward to working with federal rail to target local contractors and skilled workers when the time comes to award this sizable contract.”

Lamont praised the legislators for helping to secure the funding and shared their enthusiasm about the projects.

“One of Connecticut’s many strengths is the state’s access to rail and the major cities to our east and south,” Lamont said. “Fixing our aging bridges is about public safety and speeding up our transportation system. Our Department of Transportation will do a great job in making these improvements for our rail passengers.”

Opinion: Show support for Torrington’s schools with ‘yes’ vote

On Nov. 3, it is our sincere hope that the voters of Torrington Vote Yes for a new high school/middle school, just as they have come together to support our school buildings in the past. We would like to remind the voters of why this is the most educationally and fiscally sound plan for our community.

While the referendum question is whether or not to approve a $159 million project, after state grants, the actual taxpayer cost is $74 million, an average of under $200 per household per year in Torrington.

First, let’s review why this needs to be done. The THS building was constructed beginning in 1961, and not much has changed since then. The mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection are at the end of their useful life. The windows and walls contain hazardous materials, and there are leaks throughout the building, causing moldy walls, falling ceiling panels and broken floors. The bathrooms are in such disrepair that many students refuse to use them for the entire day. The temperature inside can range from low 50s in the winter to low 90s in the spring, and many windows cannot be opened, limiting the flow of clean air. The gym is in such poor condition that the state has threatened to condemn it. Without these repairs, the school will not be re-accredited. You can see pictures of the conditions at thsbuildingproject.org.

The state will not reimburse the cost of most repairs, so the cost of these mandatory fixes without a single classroom improvement is $78 million. All repairs would be done inside the existing building, disrupting learning for several grades for several years.

Instead, imagine something better. Picture culinary students cooking in a real kitchen while business students manage the restaurant and art students design the menus. Envision preschool labs where future teachers meet their first students, and shop classrooms where potential engineers learn high tech manufacturing. Imagine a state-of-the-art theater where Torrington’s world-famous band and Halo Award-winning actors perform, and open floor plans that allow for drone and video production classes.

A new school will bring enhancements to the direct career pathways already being implemented at THS. Existing teachers will have the space and equipment to fully execute programs with the following focuses: business and entrepreneur, healthcare, public safety and criminal justice, health and wellness, education, STEM/High Tech Manufacturing, and applied arts.

We can build a safe, state-of-the-art building for all of Torrington’s grades 7-12, at the lowest per pupil cost of all recent statewide school building projects.

As a continuation of this project, our existing middle school will be used for all fourth through sixth graders, and this has educational and financial benefits of its own. We currently combine all of the city’s children in one building when they enter sixth grade, a time that is filled with pre-teen angst. Instead, we will now combine them when they are only nine years old, during a developmental moment in time when children are conditioned to all get along, and are not yet struggling with transitioning to being a young adult. Those same children will then have the opportunity to go through the next nine years together on the same two campuses, creating relationships to last a lifetime.

Advanced middle school students will only need to walk through a corridor to take high school courses. Economically speaking, having the seventh and eighth graders together means many of them will then choose to stay at THS for high school. We currently lose 30 percent of our city’s eighth-graders to area schools, which costs our district over two million a year in outplacement tuition costs. If even a third of those students remained in district, we could save over $700,000 a year.

Our district’s director of facilities, together with the Board of Education’s facilities committee, is actively creating long-term maintenance plans for all of the city’s school buildings. Combining our schools and our administration building will allow us to save over half a million dollars every year in energy and maintenance expenses.

By voting YES for the Torrington High School/middle school building project, you will be saving millions of dollars in construction costs, and millions more in ongoing energy, maintenance and outplacement tuition costs. You will also be saying that you have faith in Torrington, and in the potential of our students. We hope you will join us in believing in our community, believing in our kids and believing in Torrington.

For more information follow us on facebook at Vote Yes New School Bright Future, or at voteyesnewschool.org

Keri Hoehne, on behalf of the Vote Yes New School Bright Future Committee, Torrington

Letter: Torrington Democrats unanimously support school project

At a meeting of the Torrington Democratic Town Committee held virtually on October 22, the committee voted unanimously to support the ballot question in favor of the construction of a new high school and middle school. The committee strongly believes that project will benefit future high school and middle school students as they seek careers in a fast changing economy. Further, the committee stresses that the most effective solution to a deteriorating high school building is to build a new one rather than continuing to dump money into one that is long past its useful life. A vote in favor of this project is a vote for a bright future for Torrington and its students and teachers.

I had an extensive tour of the high school building over the summer with a member of the board of education and a custodian. I was shocked at the poor condition of the building. From widespread water damage to inefficient windows to mechanical systems way beyond their useful life, the building is unsuitable for our students and staff to work and learn in. Instead of continuing to dump money into a failing building, our city has an opportunity to build a new high school and middle school which will meet the educational needs of our students as they enter an ever changing economy and will also ensure that the health and safety of students and staff are met. And even better, the cost to build new is less than the cost to constantly fix an old one way beyond its useful. On Nov. 3, please support our students and teachers and instill pride in our community by voting yes on this ballot question.

Paul Summers, Torrington

 

CT Construction Digest Monday October 26, 2020

Governor Lamont, Senators Blumenthal and Murphy, Representatives Himes and Courtney Announce Over $144 Million in Federal Funding for Connecticut Rail Bridges

HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Senator Chris Murphy, Representative Jim Himes, and Representative Joe Courtney today announced that Connecticut has been awarded more than $144 million from the Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair Grant Program to help fund the replacement of the Walk Bridge in Norwalk and the Connecticut River Bridge between Old Lyme and Old Saybrook.

“One of Connecticut’s many strengths is the state’s access to rail and the major cities to our East and South,” Governor Lamont said. “Fixing our aging bridges is about public safety and speeding up our transportation system. Our Department of Transportation will do a great job in making these improvements for our rail passengers. Thank you to the Connecticut Congressional delegation for their support of the state’s applications.”

“This $145 million grant will provide Connecticut with the urgently needed funding to replace both the Walk Bridge and Connecticut River Bridge – vital structures that have long outlived their intended lifespans,” Senator Blumenthal said. “Rail passengers along the Northeast Corridor deserve speedy and reliable service on Amtrak, New Haven Line, and Shoreline East. I will continue to fight for every federal dollar for Connecticut’s rail and transportation infrastructure to help grow our state’s economy.”

“The U.S. Department of Transportation funding we secured today is big deal for Connecticut,” Senator Murphy said. “The Walk Bridge and the Connecticut River Bridge are both over a century old, and they are major chokepoints on the Northeast Corridor – affecting travel within our state and well beyond our borders. Connecticut’s economic competitiveness depends in large part on its connection to Boston and New York. This funding represents a big step towards modernizing the Northeast Corridor, and I will continue to work to protect and enhance Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure.”

“The Walk Bridge is a critical juncture for commerce traveling along the East Coast,” Representative Himes said. “But, for too long, we’ve been trying to accommodate a 21^st Century economy with 19^th Century technology. Securing these funds has been a top priority of ours because we need critical infrastructure investment to keep Connecticut thriving and competitive for years to come.”

“Today’s announcement of a long overdue modernization of the Old Saybrook bridge is critical to ensure passenger safety and faster transit of rail service.” Representative Courtney said. “As the region knows, the existing structure has long outlived its life span. The upgrade will also provide a shot in the arm to the building trades and I look forward to working with Federal Rail to target local contractors and skilled workers when the time comes to award this sizable contract.”

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT), in partnership with Amtrak, was awarded $79.7 million in federal funds to assist with replacing the existing movable Norwalk (Walk) River Bridge, built in 1896, with two independent two-track vertical lift rail bridges in Norwalk, including supporting rehabilitation work on the bridge approach embankments and retaining walls, installation of new catenary structures, and signal system upgrades.

Amtrak, in partnership with CTDOT, was awarded $65.2 million in federal funds to assist with replacing the existing, 113-year-old Connecticut River Bridge with a modern and resilient new moveable bridge immediately to the south of the existing structure. The replacement bridge will maintain the two-track configuration and existing channel location, and provide a bascule moveable span with additional vertical clearance for maritime traffic.

Bristol Hospital hoping to have Emergency Center entrance relocated back to Newell Road by Thanksgiving

Justin Muszynski  BRISTOL -- Bristol Hospital’s Emergency Center entrance is expected to be relocated back onto Newell Road by Thanksgiving.

The entrance in March was moved from its Newell location to the Cancer Care Center door, which sits off of Brewster Road. The move was part of a four-phase, $15 million project to the hospital’s EC.

Although the Emergency Center entrance will be moved back to Newell Road by late November, this entrance will serve as another temporary location before it will ultimately be moved again to a 12,500-square-foot addition.

Thomas Roche, director of facilities and construction at the hospital, said a crane should be at the site by Dec. 1 to erect the addition’s steel structure. That process is expected to run through February. With the exception of snowfall, crews should not be affected by the winter months during this phase, Roche said.

The addition is expected to be ready sometime in 2021 in alignment with the hospital’s 100 year anniversary. Following that, the Emergency Center operations will be moved into the addition while crews begin renovations on the current EC space -- which is slated for completion in summer 2022.

Newell Road, which is owned by Bristol Hospital and is currently closed, will likely reopen on Nov. 1, Roche said. Those who previously accessed the Medical Office Building using Goodwin Street should use Newell instead once it reopens.

Last week, the new entrance for ambulances opened at its permanent location. There are currently two bays in use, which will ultimately be expanded to three in use with an extra bay.

The covid-19 pandemic has created some struggles for hospital officials and construction crews, but the project has mostly been able to stay on schedule.

“We were fortunate that we’re outside,” Roche said, adding that interior projects in the state were shut down early on in the pandemic. He also said a second wave of the virus later this season or in the winter, if it were to come, would likely not have much of an impact on the outdoor construction.

“We struggled with staffing early,” he added, as some initially expressed concerns about working during the pandemic.

Materials were also a concern as many suppliers were shut down as well.

Hospital officials said moving all of the utility lines underground during construction was somewhat challenging, as Eversource needed to be involved and had to contend with a major storm over the summer, in addition to struggles with the coronavirus pandemic.

Through it all, Roche said, the nurses of the Emergency Center “have been nothing but the best to work with.” One nurse was even seen physically moving things to help with the projects and “got her hands dirty,” he continued.

Having the nurses involved in the planning of the endeavor was “priceless,” Roche said.

“No matter what an architect thinks, (the nurses) know,” Roche said. “They’re in there.”

Hospital officials said fundraising for the Emergency Center construction project has gone well thus far, with plans for a community campaign kicking into high gear in January.

“We have hit the $4 million mark and hope to raise another $500,000 in the next year,” said Mary Lynn Gagnon, executive director of the Bristol Hospital Development Foundation.

The ball has been cancelled, Gagnon said, “but we will supplement it with a Centennial Celebration auction to go live to the general public” on Nov. 21, “which would have been the same date as the Red Carpet Ball.”

The auction will run for two weeks, and winners will be notified on Dec. 4.

“Auction items will include a diamond necklace, an RV trip experience and approximately 20 baskets or items valued at $100 and higher,” Gagnon said.

“To date, all of our business partners have honored their contracts with the foundation to support special events, even though two of the three have been cancelled due to covid,” she continued. “We are very thankful for those businesses that support us year round and believe in the mission of Bristol Health and the Bristol Hospital Foundation.”

The hospital is planning a community mailing to towns of Plainville, Plymouth, Southington and Burlington in December to build awareness for the project and year-end giving.

“In January we will do an all-out blitz to the Bristol community with letters, social media posts, video messages and more,” Gagnon said. “All in conjunction with the Hospital’s 100th Anniversary. We will be promoting $100 for 100 years of Bristol Hospital in our community through our auction, our letter and our social media campaign.” 

Norwich agency considers buying large Occum tract for second business park

Claire Bessette  Norwich — The Norwich Community Development Corp. is considering purchasing a more than 400-acre site in Occum where a luxury golf and condominium resort had once been proposed, to develop the city's second business park.

The site includes the former Tarryk and DoLittle farms on Canterbury Turnpike and Lawler Lane that run along Interstate 395, and several properties off Route 97. It is considered the largest undeveloped tract in Norwich.

Two New York developers had acquired the land for the proposed luxury golf course and condominium project, owned by Byron Brook Country Club LLC. Additional land was acquired by developers Joseph Manzi and Robert Arnone under the ownership name M&A Holding for proposed commercial development off Route 97.

The NCDC Board of Directors on Sept. 24 voted to authorize signing a purchase and sale agreement with Byron Brook Country Club LLC for an undisclosed amount of the property. The board authorized two one-year options, the first expiring in December 2021 and the second in December 2022 to allow time for the city to investigate whether creating a second business park there is feasible, NCDC Attorney Mark Block said Thursday.

The purchase and sale agreement could be signed by early next week, Block said. The purchase price and the cost of the options was not disclosed.

“We are in the process of determining whether this property is fully developable, as we think it might be,” Block said. “If it is, we would exercise the agreement to purchase. If not, it will not be purchased. We believe it is an opportunity we need to take advantage of, because the city does not have another large tract of land similar to the Norwich business park.”

The country club project was scaled back and then withdrawn in the summer of 2010, with the developers citing the Great Recession that started in 2008 as the reason. The property was put on the market for $13.75 million in 2011.

In 2018, a Portland, Oregon firm secured an option to explore a possible solar array project on 271 acres of former farmland and woodland on the property, but that did not come to fruition.

The NCDC board, the Board of Public Utilities Commissioners and the City Council have discussed the issue in executive session at times since July of 2019, when NPU agreed to spend up to $250,000 to investigate the feasibility of extending utility services to an undisclosed area not fully served in the city.

On Jan. 28, the utilities commissioners added $250,000 to the investigation for a total of $500,000, with plans to update the City Council on the status of the project in the fall.

NPU spokesman Chris Riley said NPU made economic development the utility’s top priority in its strategic plan. He said NPU’s $500,000 investment is helping NCDC: “evaluate a potential opportunity that would create new jobs and tax revenues for the City as well as generate new revenues for NPU,” Riley said.

The City Council on Monday went into executive session to discuss “the acquisition of real estate or interests in real estate when adversely impact the price of the same; to discuss preliminary drafts of proposals concerning the development and use of the property; to discuss engineering or feasibility estimates and evaluations, including perspective public supply.”

Along with city leaders, NPU General Manager Chris LaRose, utilities commission chairman Robert Staley — both also NCDC board members —and NCDC attorney Block attended Monday’s executive session.

Mayor Peter Nystrom said Thursday the feasibility study “speaks to the city pursuing a possible development.” He said he frequently gets calls from prospective developers asking about land in the city available for development, of which there is very little, Nystrom said.

“In order to do that, you don’t just jump in,” Nystrom said. “You have to do the review, determine any costs. NPU decided to take a proactive role in that.”

How infrastructure improvements can aid inclusive revival

Tom Condon  The Brooklyn neighborhood in the south end of Waterbury once was a city within a city, a self-sufficient ethnic enclave, originally with a large Lithuanian population. But like many urban neighborhoods in the state, it was badly wounded by disinvestment and highway construction in the last century. It was left without a single park for neighborhood children.

Soon that will change. Though it is a poor and somewhat shopworn area, it has a very active neighborhood association. That group, led by a woman named Lisa Velez — until she passed away from cancer last year — pushed the city for several years to build a park.

Though it has been delayed by the coronavirus crisis, Brooklyn will get a small park. The city acquired the half-acre site of a former restaurant that had burned down, and completed environmental cleanup earlier this year. Officials are now selecting a designer, and they expect to begin construction in the spring, said Dan Pesce of the Waterbury Development Corporation.

Though it is a small park, it’s a start.

“At least kids won’t have to play basketball in the street,” said Frank Perella, a board member of the Brooklyn Neighborhood Association. 

As many cities try to include struggling neighborhoods in their downtown revivals — known as inclusive growth — the Brooklyn park offers two lessons. The first is that focused, well-led neighborhood activism can improve the built environment. The second, which perhaps should be the first, is that the built environment is important.

Inclusive growth is a multi-faceted challenge, made more so by the coronavirus crisis. The primary thrust must be the people — getting the residents of a distressed area the education and training to take some of the jobs coming to the city. But the physical neighborhood, the place where the people live, also is important. If an area can be made safer, functional and attractive, then residents’ lives will improve and, as Perella said, people with choices might choose to live there and even start businesses.

Renovating older urban neighborhoods is hardly a new idea; the post-World War II era has seen a plethora of programs aimed at urban revival. These have had mixed results; the problems persist. But recent years have brought new approaches in at least three areas: blighted properties, environmental justice and street design.
New tools to eliminate blight
Blighted or abandoned properties are millstones around the necks of neighborhoods. Run-down, litter-strewn, dilapidated structures invite crime and public health problems, depress property values and drain city dollars. Almost no one wants to buy a house next to one that is abandoned.

In the past, dealing with such properties has often been a long and frustrating process for city officials. But two companion pieces of legislation passed last year by Connecticut’s General Assembly should expedite things.

One of the new laws allows towns or groups of towns to create land banks: nonprofit entities that can acquire, hold and dispose of properties. The first such program in the state was created this year in Hartford and is headed by Laura Settlemyer, who formerly directed the city’s blight remediation effort.

Using $5 million in seed money from the state and other grants, the land bank will take foreclosed properties off the city’s hands — or buy properties — and do what it takes to get them into the hands of a responsible owner and back on the tax rolls. The work could be anything from clearing the title and back taxes to a full-scale rehab, depending on the situation.

The other new law concerns blighted properties that are still in private hands. Heretofore, neighbors had to wait for the lengthy foreclosure process and change of ownership before a property was cleaned up. Under the new legislation, interested parties – including neighbors, nonprofits, the city or even the land bank – can petition the Superior Court to appoint a receiver or conservator with the power to eradicate the blight, with ownership issues worked out later. Owners are also given the opportunity to repair their properties.

Neither of the new programs is mandatory; neither expands the powers of eminent domain. But both are tools that have worked in other states to eliminate cancerous blight from city neighborhoods.

Blighted or abandoned properties can be barriers in a neighborhood, places that discourage passage. Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said in an interview earlier this year that restoring a derelict building or building a new structure an empty lot can create a sense of connection to the broader city. That is one of the goals of inclusive revival.

Bridgeport strong
Struggling neighborhoods often face environmental issues as well as housing, transportation and historic preservation challenges. An innovative project in a Bridgeport neighborhood is tackling all of these issues at once.

The Park City’s low-lying South End neighborhood, subject to chronic flooding for years, was badly inundated by storms Irene and Sandy in 2011 and 2012, respectively. After Sandy, the state won two federal grants totaling more than $60 million for a project to better protect the South End from sea level rise and extreme weather, the inevitable results of climate change.

Instead of just building a seawall, the project’s planners went holistic. There will be a flood barrier, artfully tucked into new landscaping, and also a stormwater park to collect and drain excess water; elevated roads for dry access in case of severe flooding; upgraded sewers; a pump station and green infrastructure.

There also will be a “resilience center,” a place for community climate change education and other activities. It will be built as part of the restoration of the historic Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses — part of an early 19th century neighborhood of free Black people called “Little Liberia.”

Officials completed the environmental review last year and worked through the pandemic this year on design and site preparation, with the scheduled goal of completing construction by September 2022, said Shante Hanks, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Housing.

When completed, Resilient Bridgeport will protect 110 buildings, including two substations and a power plant, and will reduce the threat of flooding to the point where a 64-acre area will be removed from the federally-designated flood plain, a state official said earlier this year.

The resilience project is being built in conjunction with the city’s phased demolition and replacement of the decrepit, World War II-era Marina Village public housing project. The new housing will be mixed-income apartments within walking distance of the train station.

So there will be multiple benefits that work together — and that is the takeaway, said Alan J. Plattus, executive director of the Yale Urban Design Workshop, which is part of the design team for Resilient Bridgeport.

“As a principle, every project should have multiple goals,” he said.

Street smart

One area where the “multiple benefits” thinking would apply, Plattus said, was with roads. In the past, when a town wanted to build or repair a road, it would send in the traffic engineers and they’d, well, build a road.

Today, especially in light of the pandemic, many cities are beginning to take a broader view and use road construction projects to look at sidewalks, lighting, burying utilities and, increasingly, the design of the road itself. Poorly designed roads are both unsafe and unsightly; well-designed streets are safer, healthier and more attractive.

The countless thousands of people out walking and biking during the pandemic gave impetus to a growing sense that public rights-of-way should serve all members of the public, not just drivers. This does not come out of the blue. Growing interest in “active transportation” – walking and biking – over the past decade has given rise to the Complete Streets movement , which encourages street design for all users of all ages and abilities: pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users, as well as motorists.

A complete street should at minimum include sidewalks and safe crosswalks, and might also include bike lanes, bus lanes, accessible transit stops, curb extensions, median islands, roundabouts and other features.

Travelers to Vienna, Copenhagen and other European cities, as well as to a few U.S. cities, have seen streets safely shared by cars, trams, bicycles and pedestrians. The concept has been adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation, three dozen states including Connecticut and about 1,500 municipalities, including a dozen here.

New Haven and Hartford closed roads in parks during the pandemic, as did a few other communities. New Haven, which produced its own Complete Streets manual a decade ago, opened the state’s first protected on-road bike lane along Long Wharf Drive in 2017. But implementation has gone more slowly that many residents would have liked; one called the plan “incomplete” at a meeting last year.

Still, there is movement in New Haven and elsewhere. Hartford added about 100 speed humps in late 2018, doubling the existing number, to calm traffic on city streets.

The state Department of Transportation, for decades the de facto highway department, began to shift more attention to transit and active transportation a decade ago. Among other things, the department has awarded made 80 grants totaling $25 million in its Community Connectivity program to enhance walking and biking in community centers, and committed to closing the gaps in the state’s multi-use trail system.

The DOT formally adopted a Complete Streets policy in 2014 and now requires that complete street principles — accommodations for walkers, bikers and persons with disabilities — be incorporated into each project. Some recent projects include a traffic roundabout in Monroe, guardrails, fencing and sidewalks along Route 17 in Watertown and curb extensions on Main Street in Middletown, reducing the trek across that wide thoroughfare from 97 feet to 50 feet.

Such measures are important because the state, like the rest of the country, has seen an uptick in non-motorist deaths and serious injuries since 2015.

The pandemic was a help for complete street and other infrastructure projects. With car traffic way down some cities across the country striped new bike lanes, retooled traffic signals, suspended transit and bike-share fees, and closed streets to nonessential vehicles to ease social distancing for pedestrians. 

These are steps that complete street advocates have championed to increase safety and cut carbon emissions. Whether the measures will continue after the pandemic remains to be seen.

The post-pandemic period offers perhaps a greater opportunity. When the crisis abates, there will be a lot of people in need of work. A major national infrastructure program is being talked about by both parties in Washington. If properly planned and executed, it could bring new life to downtowns and struggling nearby neighborhoods.

I-84 Exit 40 ramp near Westfarms mall reopens as DOT works on $55 million highway widening

Don Stacom  WEST HARTFORD — The busy I-84 on-ramp near Westfarms mall has reopened to traffic after a months-long shutdown as part of a major reconstruction of the highway through West Hartford.

O & G Industries is in the first phases of a three-year-long widening of a stretch of I-84 that transportation planners say is plagued by accidents and near hits.

The state is spending $55 million to lengthen the short on- and off-ramps along a roughly 2-mile-long section of the highway between the Route 9 interchange and Exit 41.

“We’re putting in operational lanes where people can merge on and off. We can extend the on ramps and off ramps so you don’t have to accelerate so much — you’ll have more time to merge in an out of traffic,” said Mark St. Germain, a supervising engineer for the state transportation department.

Construction crews closed the on-ramp at Ridgewood Road last spring so they could rebuild one side of the highway bridge over the street. Westbound motorists were detoured to Route 9 to reach the highway.

The DOT reopened the ramp this week to keep traffic flowing during the holiday shopping season; the Ridgewood Road entrance is especially busy from now through late December because it’s so close to the mall and nearby retail plazas.

“We’re going to have to close that ramp one more time to finish the bridge. We still have to work on the other side," St. Germain said. “We’re debating whether to do that in 2021 or 2022. It will probably be the same schedule — early April to early October. But we’re opening it up now for the holiday traffic.”

Commuters all summer saw a fleet of heavy O & G rigs in the wide grass median, tearing down brush and digging up earth. They’re putting in a new base so the highway can be widened; there will still be a median, but it will be narrower, St. Germain said.

That will allow space for the longer exit and entrance ramps as well as wider shoulders, the DOT said.

That should help cut down the rate of crashes. The DOT engineered the project after studying accident date from 2012 to 2014: There were more than 360 crashes with 138 injuries and two deaths.

“These are primarily rear-end, sideswipe-same direction and fixed object-type crashes, which are indicative of issues with congestion and weaving maneuvers,” the DOT said when it announced the project.

St. Germain said full traffic should be maintained in both directions throughout construction, especially at peak times. There may be brief lane closures, but any prolonged closure will be scheduled for nighttime hours, he said.

The short bridges carrying I-84 over Ridgewood Road and Berkshire Road will be rebuilt, new traffic cameras will be installed, the sound barrier along the highway will be replaced and drainage will be improved.

For new tenants, old East Haven High School is now home, sweet home

Mark Zaretsky  EAST HAVEN — So far, The Tyler — the swanky new age-restricted, mixed-income apartment community that Massachusetts developer WinnCompanies carved out within the long-vacant former East Haven High School building, is getting rave reviews from some key folks within the community.

The residents who have moved in so far.

But all the officials who toured the new complex, including Mayor Joe Carfora — East Haven High class of 1980 — think it looks great, too.

“When I first walked in, I had memories and flashbacks of walking down the halls” as a student, said new resident Mark Tinari, who attended the old high school from 1973-77 and moved into the repurposed building a couple of weeks ago.

Photo: Mark Zaretsky / Hearst Connecticut Media /

“Awesome,” said Carfora as he walked through the building. “It came out beautiful. ... What a difference from what it was.”WinnCompanies said the $21.5 million project to convert the 1936 school building to housing is the first adaptive reuse project in the U.S. to pursue the industry’s strictest energy performance standards.

But residents said it’s also a pretty warm, comfortable and welcoming place to live.

“I'm very happy with it” so far, said Tinari, who sat on the entry steps in his motorized wheelchair and watched as town and company officials arrived for a walk-through Thursday. Tinari, a former Branford public schools custodian who also uses a walker, has used the wheelchair since being treated for leukemia, which he was diagnosed with in 2014.

Photo: WinnCompanies / Contributed / ©Gregg Shupe 2020 /ShupeStudios.

In the front entry hall a few minutes later, new residents Roberta Carrano and Celine Price also were pretty pleased.

“I love it,” said Carrano, who also uses an electric cart as a result of a childhood bout with polio.

Why?

“Space,” Carrano said. “Every place I have been, they were just not for me,” but The Tyler “is friendly; you’ve got a lot of nice neighbors.”Price, who graduated from East Haven High in 1972, said, “They’ve done a beautiful job! My apartment is absolutely gorgeous! Everything is brand new. It’s just a lovely place to live.”

The Tyler includes 70 apartments for individuals aged 55 and up, along with a fitness center, craft room, outdoor courtyard, resident lounge and community room, with an on-site management office. The 104,871-square-foot project is more than half leased, with 16 units currently occupied, said Senior Property Manager Angelina Maldonado.

“All of the affordable units are pretty much gone,” she said.

WinnCompanies Senior Vice President Adam Stein was proud to highlight that part of the project.“This is affordable housing ... and the people that are living here are people from the community,” Stein said, standing at the front door of the building. “We’re really proud to show off what we’ve done.”

Carfora, who was a member of the Town Council that approved the project and the sale of the building to WinnCompanies — but wasn’t mayor when former Mayor Joe Maturo Jr. signed the deal or when the work began — said he’s glad he was involved.

“When I went to school here, this corner here was known as “Jock Corner,” he jokingly said as he entered the building and took a right down the hallway.

Carfora was joined for the tour by Police Chief Chief Ed Lennon, Fire Chief Matt Marcarelli, Deputy Police Chief Pat Tracy and other police brass, Deputy Fire Chief Chuck Licata, Assistant Director of Administration and Management Michelle Benivegna and Public Works chief Charlie Coyle, among others.

Stein was joined by WinnCompanies Vice President Dave Ginsberg, Project Director Matt Robayna, Maldonado, Tyler Property Manager Mirian Guzman and Senior Maintenance Supervisor Sean Walsh, among others.

The project was named as the nation’s Best Overall Development and Green Building of the Year in Affordable Housing Finance magazine’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards, the company said in a release.

“This project is a grand slam for East Haven. It delivers high quality, critically needed senior housing; restores a beautiful, historic landmark; sets a high bar for energy efficiency and sustainability; and, returns a long-vacant property to the tax rolls,” said WinnDevelopment President and Managing Partner Larry Curtis.

leased, with 16 units currently occupied.

Photo: Mark Zaretsky / Hearst Connecticut Media /

“We’re pleased to deliver this ambitious project for the benefit of our public and private partners,” Curtis said.

The complex includes 67 one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units. Twenty apartments rent at market rates and 50 others are available at rents ranging from 25 percent to 80 percent of Area Median Income.

“The development of quality senior housing that seamlessly matches the community’s character is a goal that many towns look to achieve, and I’m thrilled to see that WinnDevelopment has accomplished that here,” said state Rep. Joe Zullo, R-East Haven. “They kept their promise to build a unique, first-class facility — not only restoring an iconic East Haven building, but also preserving it for future generations to appreciate.”

The high school building was built in 1936 under the Works Project Administration, part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal.” The main building, completed in 1936, was designed by prominent New Haven architect R. W. Foote in the Colonial Revival style.WinnResidential now operates 16 apartment properties in 10 Connecticut communities, providing 2,439 units across all income categories and 22,600 square feet of commercial space. The Architectural Team of Chelsea, MA, served as architect, and Keith Construction, of Canton, MA, was the general contractor for the project.