On the Move: Work on Arrigoni, East Haddam swing bridges will have impact
Larry McHugh
MIDDLETOWN — Another busy week is on tap for the chamber
team as we come up on Labor Day here in Middlesex County.
On the chamber calendar front, this week features the return
of the chamber divisions after a brief summer hiatus. We will kick off the
division year on Wednesday morning with an important meeting of the Portland
and East Hampton division on Zoom.
The September meeting of the chamber’s Central Business
Bureau, which covers issues of importance to the business community in downtown
Middletown, will be held Thursday morning.
The Chester, Deep River and Essex Division will get together
Friday for the first time since June. These meetings will feature reports from
local and state officials, business leaders in each town, and other important
stakeholders.
While our staff plays a key role in these meetings, I want
to take a moment to thank our division chairs, and all members that support
these important meetings on a monthly basis. Our grassroots divisions help us
keep a close eye on the issues that directly impact or have the potential to
impact our members in each of our towns.
We look forward to a productive week of meetings.
On the infrastructure front, the chamber continues to do its
best to play a constructive role in the important river crossing projects
happening in Middlesex County.
Bridge construction
The rehabilitation of Arrigoni Bridge approach spans and
operational improvements at St. John’s Square / Main Street intersection in
Middletown and Portland are moving right along and expected to wrap up in the
early part of 2022.
The work group that we established in 2020 has been meeting
regularly, and has done a great job of ensuring access to the bridge for
emergency management and other critical vehicles, all while doing its best to
minimize the economic impact of the construction on local businesses.
This committee features municipal and state leaders from
both sides of the bridge, district and project leaders from the state
Department of Transportation, project manager from the contractor, Mohawk
Northeast, first responders from both sides, Middlesex Health, and of course,
businesspeople of all stripes.
After the project on the Arrigoni wraps up, our attention
will turn toward the East Haddam Swing Bridge Rehabilitation Project, scheduled
to begin in the spring. There is no way around the fact that this project will
have a major impact on the towns of Haddam and East Haddam, and the whole
central part of Middlesex County over the course of three construction seasons.
The bridge needs to be closed for significant stretches in
order for the work to get done. The chamber hosted a special meeting of our East
Haddam and Haddam Division Thursday, which featured a presentation from DOT on
the current plan for the project and over 50 of our member businesses.
The chamber will be launching a new committee that will work
to minimize the impact of this project as well, using the Arrigoni Bridge work
group as a model. We look forward to playing an important role throughout this
project, and I would like to thank DOT, our elected leaders, and everyone who
is working together to manage this in an effective and efficient way.
Business development
I look forward to joining Cromwell Mayor Enzo Faienza, Town
Manager Tony Salvatore, Chamber Cromwell Division Chairman Rodney Bitgood, and
other local leaders for the grand opening celebration for Café Fiore Cromwell
at 134 Berlin Road on Thursday afternoon.
Conveniently located off Interstate 91 and close to Route 9,
Cafe Fiore Cromwell offers an outstanding menu, a cocktail lounge, indoor and
outdoor dining, banquet rooms, and much more. We wish Executive Chef Rusty
Cecunjanin and the entire Café Fiore Cromwell team nothing but the best as they
embark on this delicious new venture.
Closing out the week on Friday, I look forward to joining
chamber Vice President Jeff Pugliese for a trip down to Essex to meet with the
new President and CEO of Essex Savings Bank, Diane Arnold. Diane recently took
over for longtime president Greg Shook, who did a great job in this important
role.
Essex Savings Bank is a very important member of our chamber
and lower county stakeholder here in our region. We look forward to a great
discussion, and to continuing a strong working relationship.
Tropical storm response
In closing, I want to take a moment to thank all of our
local and state leaders, Eversource President Joe Nolan and his team, and the
emergency management teams in Connecticut who were ready to respond in a big
way to Tropical Storm Henri. While the storm tracked east and spared
Connecticut a direct hit, the infrastructure for a strong response was in
place, and we here at the chamber are grateful for everyone’s efforts.
This will not be the last storm that will hit our state, and
every time we are faced with this situation, we learn a little bit more. The
chamber looks forward to supporting these efforts moving forward, and we will
continue to stress the importance of having an emergency plan and business
continuing plan in place and ready to go, because, as we have learned, it is
not if — but when — another storm will hit.
Despite this fact, the sun always shines in Middlesex
County!
Larry McHugh is president of the Middlesex County Chamber of
Commerce in Middletown.
Affordable units may be part of downtown Shelton development
Brian Gioiele
SHELTON - Affordable housing could be part of the proposed
development for land on Canal Street tucked between the railroad tracks and
Veterans Memorial Park.
Developer John Guedes, a Shelton resident and owner of
Primrose Companies, tweaked his plans for construction of a five-story
structure, dubbed Riverview Park Royal, with 11,000 square feet of retail or
commercial space and 92 apartments at property listed as 113-123 Canal St.
The modified plans, presented to the Planning and Zoning
Commission Tuesday in what was the second public hearing on this application,
call for eight studio units designated as affordable under state statute 8-30g,
the state’s affordable housing law. He also added five parking spaces, bringing
the total to 184 on site.
Overall, there would be 24 studio apartments, along with 20
one-bedrooms, 44 two-bedrooms and four three-bedroom apartments.
The commission continued the hearing, as Guedes awaits a
final decision from the Inland Wetlands Commission. He must also submit
building elevation renderings. No date has been set yet for the continued
public hearing.
Commissioners asked Guedes if the eight affordable units
needed to be studios, to which he replied that only the studios would be
available under that designation.
“I’m making an accommodation,” Guedes said. “All the
affordable units are the studios, or I will remove those (affordable units)
from the plans.”
Guedes increased the parking total, making it two spaces for
each unit after commissioners voiced concern about the amount of parking
allocated for 92 units.
The site, as proposed, would have outside parking and more
spots in a lower-level parking garage. Attorney Dominick Thomas, representing
Guedes, said there would be 92 spots designated for tenants - the remainder for
the general uses at the property. Thomas added that there are plenty of nearby
city parking areas to accommodate the commercial or retail uses too, if renters
are using more than one space.
The city has owned the 2.57-acre property for years after
seizing it following the previous owner’s failure to pay back taxes. Guedes and
his partner, Biaggio Barone, have a contract to purchase the land from the
city.
The deal also includes Guedes covering the cost of extending
the River Walk from Veterans Memorial Park, along the river and ending at Canal
Street East.
The application asks for a special exception for the
property, which sits on the Housatonic River in a River Front District.
Proposed $8.8 million Main Street project would be first to receive Norwich grant money
Norwich — An $8.8 million redevelopment of two
long-vacant Main Street buildings stands to become the first recipient of city
grant and loan money through a revived economic development program
if approved by the City Council.
Norwich Luxury Apartments LLC purchased the two-building
complex at 77-91 Main St. in early August for $1.8 million and is proposing an
$8.8 million makeover of the 19th century buildings into 42 market-rate
apartments and eight street-level commercial spaces. The buildings had been proposed
as a Norwich heritage museum in the 1990s, a project that eventually fell
through after it had received grant money from the state to stabilize the
decaying buildings.
The project on Thursday received unanimous support from the
Norwich Community Development Corp. board of directors for a $400,000 matching
grant for building code corrections and a separate $400,000 loan. But the
action is contingent upon the City Council’s approval of a plan to use $2
million of the city’s $14.4 million in American Rescue Plan grants to revive
the former downtown revitalization program and expand it citywide.
The council is scheduled to vote on City Manager John
Salomone’s spending plan for the ARP grant money on Sept. 7.
But NCDC President Kevin Brown said the board wanted to show
its support with a contingency vote Thursday to allow the developers to
continue their planning and design for the project.
“This project is an $8.8 million project in downtown
Norwich,” Brown said. “That’s a 10 to 1 return on the public dollars put into
this thing if we get the approval to move forward and use the ARP for this.”
Even if the council approves the ARP spending plan Monday,
NCDC has a few more steps to go through before it can allocate the proposed $2
million. The expanded economic development revitalization program must be
designed, and NCDC must sign an agreement with the city for use of the funds.
Brown said the former downtown program will be used as the basis, with funding
to be divided into a building code correction program, a lease rebate to assist
new businesses and a revolving loan, with the proceeds remaining in the program
to assist future developers.
The grant to the Main Street project would come under the
code correction and the revolving loan, Brown said.
Project attorney Stanley Schutzman said in an email to The
Day describing the project that the city’s funds would be vital in allowing the
project to move forward. But he said the city’s money would not be drawn down
until the project renovations receive a certificate of occupancy from city
inspectors.
“It is enabling the development to occur,” Schutzman said in
the email. “This development satisfies the criteria and intent of the funds
both in terms of spurring downtown redevelopment and economic activity as well
as bringing the properties to current code compliance.”
The proposed project calls for 42 loft-style apartments with
a fitness center for tenants, recreation room, “clean and green” appliances,
high-speed communications infrastructure and other amenities. The developers
hope to negotiate leased parking spaces in the city’s two nearby parking
garages for tenants.
The two buildings would undergo a full façade restoration to
their original historical appearance, retaining the “beautiful masonry
exterior, arches and fine architectural details,” Schutzman wrote. A glass
display case in the lobby will feature artifacts specific to the buildings’
history.
Schutzman said the developers expect to submit plans,
designed by local architect Stefan Nousiopoulos, to the city within the next
few weeks and would start construction following approval. The project is
expected to take 12 to 16 months to complete.
Brown said the Main Street project is exactly the type of
development NCDC hopes to support in downtown and other sections of the city.
He said bringing 42 market-rate apartments to Main Street would mean customers
for nearby restaurants and pubs, downtown shops and city functions.
He said NCDC staff, including former President Jason
Vincent, who died in December, and interim transition specialist Fawn Walker
had been working with the developers through the planning stages of the
project. Given the “high potential” that NCDC would receive the ARP
dollars, the agency staff brought it to the board for approval on Thursday.
“We would not be this committal if we weren’t confident that
project financing is imminent,” Brown said.