Memorial Boulevard Intradistrict Arts Magnet School project coming in under budget
Susan Corica BRISTOL – The Memorial Boulevard Intradistrict Arts Magnet School project is coming in at about $2 million under budget, according to Deputy Superintendent Michael Dietter, chairman of the project’s building committee.
Dietter said the committee has reviewed documents from the various vendors and contractors, and added up various soft costs, such as consultation fees and FFE (fixtures, finishes, and equipment).
“It brings the total of the project to $61,336,336,” he told the Board of Education at its November meeting. “We are including an expanded window replacement package, and we are still under our $63 million budget. So we are on time and currently under budget.”
The city and the school board are collaborating on the project to transform the nearly century-old school an arts magnet school for grades six through 12. The state has committed to paying 60% of the cost.
Recently, the ongoing work to modernize the building has meant some trees have had to be cut down on the campus, Dietter noted. “If you’ve driven by there you’re likely to have seen that. We want everybody to rest assured that we will be putting trees back.”
Some of the old trees were diseased and some had root damage due to the construction equipment moving around on the site, he said. “So the trees that needed to be removed have been removed, and we will be replacing them. We currently have provisions for planting 39 trees, which is 10 more than were in that space.”
Dietter said he drives by the building when he comes into town every day and it was hard to see the trees being cut down. “I think with new plantings and the new design it’s just going to accentuate its location at the entrance to the city.”
He said the committee has also been grappling with the issue of what to do with some of the artifacts inside the building, such as the city clock seal that sits on the proscenium wall in the theater. Renovating the theater for modern audio fixtures means the seal will have to be moved.
“Our current thinking has been to develop some display cases along with story boards about where these items originated in town - the folks that were integral in securing the items, building them, and then ultimately placing them in the theater. Telling the story of some of the historical fixtures is another important aspect of the job that we’re currently working on,” he said.
Dietter said the workers are now preparing to button up the building site for the winter. He also showed the board members some photos of the hazardous material mitigation process that has been going on inside the building.
The committee members have been able to gain access to the building again in the areas were the mitigation work is finished, but it is still going on some floors, he said.
The school is on track to open for the 2022-23 school year. Dietter has said the building should be ready for occupancy by July or August of that year.
Memorial Boulevard first opened as a school 1922, and was closed at the end of the 2011-12 school year, as part of a major redistricting in which the district closed five aged schools and opened two large new ones.
For more information on the project, on the school district website, www.bristolk12.ct.us , click on the green Board of Education tab, scroll down and choose School Building Committees.
On the City Hall website, www.bristolct.gov , the link is located by clicking “I Want to…” on the blue navigation bar, and then moving down to Find Info On… Boards, Committees & Task Forces section.
Ahead of Parkade revival, Manchester officials look to next area of redevelopment focus
Jesse Leavenworth MANCHESTER — With construction due to start soon on the Broad Street side of the Manchester Parkade, town officials are considering the next focus of redevelopment.
Areas on officials' radar include Spencer Street, where the former Kmart site remains vacant; the Spruce Street business district, where the former Nathan Hale School has been a longtime concern; Manchester Business Park, where some buildings are outdated and the former Dean Machine property lingers vacant; the Buckland Hills retail area, affected by a changing market; and the Thrall property, a former mill site off Spring Street.
“These are not necessarily areas the redevelopment agency may work on,” planning and economic development Director Gary Anderson said Wednesday, “but just an overview of what we as town staff may be focused on in the coming years.”
The town’s approved developer for the former “dark side” of the Manchester Parkade is targeting a spring start for a mixed-use revival of the once blighted site. The planned $140 million commercial project calls for 480 apartments, a 120-room hotel, 98,000 square feet of office space and 63,00 square feet of retail space.
Other remaining work on Broad Street includes redevelopment of the town-owned Nichols properties, former automotive businesses that the town foreclosed on after the owners failed to pay taxes. The town bought the approximately 1.5 acres at auction in 2013 and demolished the buildings.
Environmental monitoring shows contaminant levels have not fallen below required standards, so the site cannot be declared officially clean, according to minutes of the redevelopment agency’s Sept. 3 meeting. The site still could be developed under land use restrictions, Anderson said. The redevelopment agency is to hear a consultant’s report this week to learn more about what can be done, he said.
As for the agency’s next focus, that charge must come from the board of directors, and an area “has to be in pretty bad shape, over 20% vacancies, I believe, to qualify as a redevelopment area," Anderson said. Also, state law defines a redevelopment area, in part, as “deteriorated, deteriorating, substandard or detrimental to the safety, health, morals or welfare of the community.”
Agency members asked Anderson at the September meeting about possible redevelopment areas, but he said he could not think of many that would meet requirements. Anderson noted at that meeting that a proposal to the board of directors to designate the former Nathan Hale School and neighborhood as a redevelopment area had failed — in part because the area did not meet statutory requirements.
The Progress Drive area could be a focus of general economic development because some of the buildings were not built to accommodate modern industrial business needs, Anderson said.
The Buckland Hills area could be a focus in the future because of an ongoing shift away from brick and mortar retail, he said.
“We do see the market changing and we do foresee some turnover and new uses,” Anderson said.