Hartford parking garage demolition could be delayed until next year
Matt Pilon Demolition of the aging 795-car parking garage at One Talcott Plaza owned by Hartford’s largest commercial landlord may not happen until next year, as talks with historic preservation officials continue.
Mayor Luke Bronin will ask city councilors at their meeting next week to approve an amendment to the city’s agreement with owner Shelbourne Global Solutions, which would extend the New York-based developer-landlord’s Dec. 31 demolition deadline set by the city back just over a year ago.The Historic Preservation Commission, according to Bronin, has raised questions and concerns about a two-story pedestrian footbridge attached to the garage and offices above it.
“There are ongoing discussions around the commission concerns, and therefore we are requesting an extension under the current amended tax settlement agreement with Shelbourne Properties,” Bronin wrote to councilors.
Under that tax settlement reached in 2018, the city agreed to fix property taxes on Shelbourne’s 20 Church St. and 100 Pearl St. downtown office towers for a period of five years. In exchange, Shelbourne agreed to demolish the parking garage, pay about $3 million in back taxes on One Talcott Plaza, and invest approximately $10 million downtown.
Under Bronin’s proposed demolition extension, Shelbourne would have 120 days to complete the work once it secures the necessary permits from the historic commission.
The pedestrian bridge, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1918 to connect the former G. Fox & Co. department store to its warehouse building on Talcott Street.
Shelbourne did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
The original 2018 tax settlement deal between Shelbourne called for demolition by the end of 2019, but the company received an extension late last year, to the end of 2020, giving it time to determine whether the garage could be salvaged rather than demolished and requiring it to increase its $10 million commitment.
Shelbourne announced over the summer that the structure was beyond repair and that it intends to build a new parking structure at the site after demolition is complete.
It has not yet revealed a construction timeline.
After Record Year, Modest Declines Expected in 2021 Transportation Construction Market
John Schneidawind The U.S. transportation construction market is expected to shrink 5.5 percent next year, driven primarily by the severe economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to ARTBA’s annual forecast. Overall, the value of work is expected to drop from $294.2 billion in 2020 to $278.1 billion in 2021.
“Not surprisingly, the 2021 market reflects the broader COVID-19 economic contraction that began in February 2020,” ARTBA Chief Economist Dr. Alison Premo Black’s said during the forecast’s Dec. 10 webinar rollout. “Congress and the president could help mitigate the economic downturn and put the nation on the road to a stronger recovery by approving a long-term, robustly funded transportation infrastructure investment package early in 2021.”
The expected market contraction follows a record year for most transportation sectors in 2020. While Pennsylvania and Washington state temporarily shut down projects in the spring, the rest of the country classified transportation construction as an essential industry.
Transportation improvements continued with enhanced safety protocols in place. As a result, total transportation construction activity—after project costs and inflation—is expected to increase by nearly 4 percent in 2020, with significant gains in highway and street construction (+8.3 percent), subway and light rail work (+8.8 percent), airport terminal and runway construction (+7.2 percent), and port and waterway spending (+12 percent). Bridge and tunnel construction was the exception, with activity falling 20 percent in 2020, reflecting several broader market trends including a focus on smaller structures.
The major drop-off in transportation user fees caused by COVID-19 stay-at-home orders initiated last spring, high national unemployment, and the decline in public transit use and demand for air travel are the key factors affecting the outlook, Black said. She added that market growth could resume in 2022, provided that economic conditions improve and travel demand in some sectors begins to return to pre-recession levels.
In her forecast, Black cautions that overall transportation construction activity will vary across the country as states deploy different strategies to balance their budgets and manage debt. States are expecting shortfalls in transportation revenues of anywhere from $35 billion to $40 billion through 2024.
Among the key findings in the ARTBA forecast:
Public & Private Highway, Street Construction
- The real value of public highway, street and related work by state DOTs and local governments—the largest market sector—is expected to decline $3.1 billion, or 4 percent, to $74.5 billion in 2021.
- Private highways, bridges, parking lots and driveways will decrease from $72.3 billion in 2020 to $66.4 billion in 2021.
- Based on recent contract award data, the market should experience growth in half of the states.
Bridges & Tunnels
- The pace of bridge and tunnel work is expected to decline 2 percent in 2021 after steep declines in 2020. The total value of work fell from $27.5 billion in 2019 to $22 billion in 2020, or 20 percent. The market is forecast to be $21.7 billion in 2021 and work is expected to be up in about half the states.
Light Rail, Subways, & Railroads
- Public transit and rail construction will decline one percent from $24.5 billion in 2020 to $24.2 billion in 2021. The activity reflects ongoing work for several major projects across the country.
- Investment by private Class 1 freight railroads is expected to remain flat at $13.3 billion.
- Subway and light rail investment is forecast to decline slightly from $11.2 billion in 2020 to $10.9 billion in 2021.
Airport Runways & Terminals
- The value of airport construction, including terminals, runways, and related work, is expected to decline from $24.6 million in 2020 to $20.5 billion in 2021, or 17 percent, before resuming growth in 2023 and beyond.
- After growing 4 percent in 2020, airport terminal and related work, including structures like parking garages, hangars, air freight terminals and traffic towers, is expected to decrease from $18.9 billion to $15.8 billion.
- Runway work is forecast to decline from $5.7 billion in 2020 to $4.8 billion in 2021.
Ports & Waterways
- The value of port and waterway investment is expected to increase slightly to $3.9 billion in 2020. Construction activity in 2020 was $3.8 billion, up from $3.4 billion in 2019.
ARTBA’s forecast is based on a series of proprietary econometric models for each mode and analysis of federal, state and local data and market intelligence.
One of the last beams is placed for the Bristol Hospital Emergency Center
Justin Muszynski BRISTOL -- One of the last beams being put into place on a steel structure that will serve as the framework to a 12,500-square-foot addition for Bristol Hospital’s Emergency Center brought hope to hospital officials on Thursday. Hope that in 2021 -- when the $15 million construction project to the center is expected to be completed -- hospital officials will be able to celebrate not just the project being done, but also the defeat of the covid-19 pandemic that has killed nearly 300,000 people around the country.
“And hope that in one year’s time we’re going to have a huge party inside without masks and with the heat on,” Dr. Andrew Lim, medical director of emergency medicine at Bristol Health, said Thursday at a beam topping off ceremony outside the hospital.
The event was attended by both city and hospital officials.
The addition is on budget and on time to be ready sometime in 2021 to coincide with the hospital’s 100 year anniversary. Once that is complete, the Emergency Center operations will be moved into the addition while crews begin renovations on the current EC space.
“This is just yet another new beginning for what Bristol Hospital is going to continue to be for the community,” said Bristol Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu.
The first phase of Bristol Hospital’s Emergency Center project was completed in 2019, when the hospital unveiled its new 10-bed Behavioral Health Unit. The 2,700-square-foot unit is designed to meet the mental health and substance abuse needs of the community in light of the nation’s opioid epidemic.
Phase two required a number of utility lines to be moved underground on Newell Road, which is now owned by the hospital. Newell, which leads to the Emergency Center entrance, will no longer be a one-way road and will now circle in a U-shape off of and back onto Goodwin Street.
After the addition is done and the current ER space is renovated, the fully-renovated Emergency Center will be about 23,000-square-feet. It will include 21 private exam rooms, one trauma room with two bays and five rooms dedicated to pediatric patients.
Glenn Heiser, chairman of the Bristol Hospital board of directors, called the Emergency Room a “vital touchpoint” because it serves as the front door to the hospital.
“There is probably no better example of caring today for your tomorrow than this Emergency Center,” Heiser said.
Kurt Barwis, president and CEO of Bristol Health, remarked about how amazing it is that the construction was able to be carried out and remain on schedule during the covid-19 pandemic, all while the staff in the current ER space conducted business as usual. He said the transformation that has taken place over the last eight months -- when construction broke ground -- has been extraordinary, adding that city officials worked together with the hospital and the two were in “lockstep” with one another.
According to Mary Lynn Gagnon, executive director of the Bristol Hospital Foundation, the foundation has raised about $4 million toward the renovation project. Although that falls just half a million dollars short of the hospital’s goal, Gagnon said she is hoping to raise another $1 million before all is said and done.
“I have to say Mary Lynn and her team have done an amazing job,” Barwis said.
Hearing on expanded $34M Killingly school project set for Saturday
John Penney KILLINGLY – Discussions on a proposal to lock-in a time-sensitive state grant reimbursement rate aimed at defraying the cost of expanded renovation work at a Killingly elementary school raced ahead this month and could conclude with a Saturday vote by the Town Council.
Days after the council on Dec. 2 voted to withdraw an application to the state Office of School Construction Grants & Review for a $16.5 million proposal to demolish portable classrooms and add a new wing to the Killingly Memorial School, the council set a Saturday public hearing on a new plan to conduct a comprehensive rehabilitation of the Main Street school's main building, a move made after state officials offered an attractive reimbursement package for the work.
In all, the amended $34 million deal would, in addition to the previously applied for work, include the replacement of an antiquated heating system at the Main Street school with a combination heating-cooling system; re-doing the facility’s electrical system; adding a fire-suppression system to the main building; renovating the cafeteria’s kitchen area; and conducting asbestos abatement throughout the structure.
The town’s share of the expanded project is pegged at $9.5 million with an estimated 72% state reimbursement rate, adding $2 million to the job on the town side in exchange for about $15 million in new upgrades.
The state’s stance is having workers concentrating on just one comprehensive renovation project is more efficient than doing piece-meal work over the course of several years.
Initially, the council was not expected to vote on whether to appropriate and borrow the additional money for months, but the prospect of getting on the state’s “priority” grant list this year led to the scheduling of Saturday’s public hearing in which residents are invited to comment – but not vote – on the proposal.
Instead of a town meeting, in which residents typically vote to approve such high-value issues, the council will decide the outcome of the proposal thanks to expanded powers instituted by Gov. Ned Lamont’s COVID-19-related executive orders. The original, smaller Memorial School upgrade project was also approved by the council without a public vote.
What's next
What: Killingly Town Council public hearing on expanded Killingly Memorial School project
When: 1 p.m., Saturday
Access: To view and comment during the hearing, go to https://www.killingly.org and click on the Facebook Live tab. More information on the project can be viewed at https://www.killingly.org/home/news/kms-expanded-renovation-project.
The Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously gave its backing for the council to move ahead with the expanded work.
Town Manager Mary Calorio said the accelerated nature of the proceedings is in an effort to lock-in the 72% state reimbursement rate – the highest the town can expect for such work – this funding cycle.
“If the council approves the plan, I’ll be emailing the minutes of the public hearing to the state on Saturday so they can amend the priority grant list that’s due to the governor by Tuesday,” she said.
During the council’s Dec. 5 meeting, Chairman Jason Anderson said he was concerned over the fast pace of the proceedings and the possibility that the cost estimates of the rehab might increase before shovels get into the ground.
“I have serious concerns we’re trying to rush this,” he said. “We haven’t, in a sense, vetted this expanded part of the project. In my experience, rushing things usually backfires and creates more issues in the long run.”
Councilor Ernest Lee countered that such projects nearly always come with risks, but the reimbursement “carrot” dangled by the state is too attractive to pass up.
“The state is taking almost all the risk,” he said. “The greater risk is pushing this out another year. Time tends not to be a friend to estimates.”
Councilor Ed Grandelski echoed Lee’s statements and urged residents to take part in Saturday’s public hearing.
“I think we have to take advantage of this,” Grandelski said. “Right now, we’re good for the 72% (reimbursement rate), but wait a year, we might not get as much.”
Seven of the eight council members present at the Dec. 5 meeting approved going ahead with Saturday’s public hearing with only Anderson voting against the move.
If the comprehensive project is approved, work could begin during the summer of 2022.