Crews work to remove barge grounded near Guilford yacht club
GUILFORD — A marine construction company is working to remove its 250-foot-long, 6,000-ton barge that ran aground on the breakwater near Sachem’s Head last week.
The company hoped to have the vessel in the water Wednesday,
according to a company spokesman.
But first, workers have to make sure the vessel is seaworthy
and check the tanks on board to make sure they were not breached.
The barge, owned by Weeks Marine based in New Jersey, was en
route from Electric Boat in Groton, carrying salvage steel from a job there, to
its yard in Jersey City when it broke off from a tugboat moving through Long
Island Sound during a storm March 31 and crashed into the breakwater near a
local yacht club. Weeks was building a pier at Electric Boat for a nuclear
submarine, according to the spokesperson.
The vessel has been jammed up against the rocks since then.
“It’s going to be tomorrow before we get everything we need
done to move it safely,” Jacob Hobson, a spokesperson for Weeks, said Tuesday.
Before the vessel is removed, workers must make sure it
won’t sink.
“There’s some testing that has to be done on the tanks to
make sure they are good,” Hobson said.
“Based on visual inspection we’re assuming nine of 11 tanks
on board are good. We have to test them as well. We have to press them up with
air to test them and that takes a little bit of time.”
“We’re making sure we’ve got it in place now, so we don’t
take it off the jetty and end up with another problem — the potential of it
sinking,” Hobson said.
“So we want to do it once, do it right make sure we’ve got
everything in place,” such as Coast Guard approval on their salvage plan, he said.
The tanks are “empty air voids spaces” that allows the barge
to float. “So when those voids get breached they get water in them.” Hobson
explained.
The barge was jammed along the rocks over the weekend. And
moving the barge is not as simple an endeavor as towing it away.
“It took us a day or two to get proper salvage equipment
onsite,” Hobson said. Three tugs and a crane were onsite Monday and salvers are
waiting for fittings that will help them test and/or repair the “voids”
(tanks), he said.
“We have a salvage plan that has to be approved by the Coast
Guard and that has been submitted and we’re waiting to hear back on that right
now,” he said.
“We’re also continuing to move forward with the plan — we
anticipate approval — they just have to do what they have to do for due
diligence,” he said.
Weeks is a dock and dredge company that does maritime
construction and beach building. The company does not do that much salvage, but
it working removing the barge because, Hobson said, “That’s our barge.”
When the barge is ready to be moved, two large ocean-going
tugs will push the barge off the rocks during high tide, he said.
Norwalk officials favor constructing new high school on football field
NORWALK — The Common Council’s Land Use and Building
Management committee appears to be poised to follow
the Board of Education’s lead and recommend the design option to build
the new high school on the existing football field at its meeting on Wednesday.
The committee deferred its recommendation until BOE members
voiced their preference last month. Committee members in favor of option B, the
recommended design, believe it will be less disruptive to the daily learning
environment compared with option A’s phased approach.
“Despite some inconveniences during construction, Option B
will allow for learning to go on without disruption over a shorter period of
time, and I am very much in support of the option that is best for our
students,” Councilwoman Barbara Smyth said. “Our kids and our city are worth
the investment.”
Option B also presents less risk financially, said Council
Chairman Tom Livingston, but the city is still preparing to request
additional funds form the state to complete the $225 million project.
The need for more funds was realized in December when the schematic design and
cost estimates for option A were completed, according to Alan Lo, Norwalk
Building and Facilities Manager.
Schematic designs for option B began last month and are
expected to be completed in early July, according to Construction Solutions
Group.
Livingston and Councilman Greg Burnett expressed concerns if
the city is unable to obtain those state funds, and the council would have to
determine whether to borrow more money to move forward with the project.
Burnett doesn’t want to pass up the “unique opportunity” to receive an 80
percent reimbursement that the state has already granted for the project.
“We have to be innovative and agile as we approach this
project so we can really make this investment in the city which will have an
impact for decades to come,” Burnett said.
The state has already approved the new high school building
for $189 million, and the city approved another $50 million in its 2020 capital
budget. The city plans to request an additional $36 million from the state.
Councilman Tom Keegan has opposed the project since it
was first
announced in 2019, and he pointed out the “most compelling argument” for
those in favor of the new building was the high reimbursement rate and not that
the project “was the best thing for the children.” The outgoing councilman believes
the project will cost the city too much money in the long run.
“Our very confident Construction Solution Group and Alan
(Lo) have indicated they’ve planned for 5 percent for contingencies and
overruns, but is inflation more than that? Would 5 percent cover that?” Keegan
asked.
The hard cost of construction for option B is $193 million.
The estimate does not include the $8 million cost of the pool. It does include
the $7 million to $8 million cost to rebuild the athletic facilities that will
be displaced during construction.
“We know there will be logistical modifications for
athletics,” Councilman Greg Burnett said. “I’m very confident we’ll work
through those items and address them in the best manner so students can
continue to compete even though it won’t be at Norwalk High School. We’re not
taking that experience away from them as we construct.”
Councilman David Heuvelman is excited to see the designs
“more fleshed out” as the project enters the next phase. The latest renderings
only show how the building will sit on the property and a blueprint of the
building layout, which includes classroom placements and the location of the
gymnasium, theater and indoor pool.
“My concerns have more to do with making sure that we have
schools that are ready for our students here in the 21st century. This project
will bring us well along that road,” Heuvelman said.
Inside the building, teachers hope to see more classroom and
office space, reliable Wi-Fi service, a less “finicky” HVAC system, and more
wall outlets, according to Mary Yordon, president of the Norwalk Federation of
Teacher. Yordon believes a new building will also help the district’s efforts
to recruit and retain qualified teachers.
“We celebrate the prospect of the new shared campus. We
expect most of our concerns will be addressed in the new facility and are
working on adjustments that might be needed,” Yordon said. “If teachers
concerns are addressed in the new facility, it will dramatically improve the
teaching experience.”
The one-time Crowne Plaza in Cromwell that hosted hundreds
of statewide conferences and conventions should be demolished to make way for a
large apartment complex, according to a developer who will present his plan
Tuesday night to zoning officials.
M360 Berlin Land Holdings LLC is proposing 260 apartments
along with a 31,000-square-foot commercial building.
The shuttered hotel would be leveled, but the two-story
parking garage would be kept, the developer said in requesting zoning
permission for the project. The company requires a zone change to proceed; the
Planning and Zoning Commission will hear its case Tuesday at 7 p.m. at town
hall.
The company paid a little over $2.55 million for the vacant,
deteriorating building last October, according to Cromwell’s land records. Just
six years earlier, 100 Berlin Holdings LLC acquired it for $7.5 million —
roughly three times as much.
The proposed development plan includes several buildings,
with most of the retail and commercial uses in a new one-story building
fronting Berlin Road.
Behind that will be a four-story building above a new
one-story parking garage; there will be retail or commercial space on the main
floor, with three floors of apartments above.
Two more four-story apartment buildings will be built, one
over a new parking garage and the other above half of the hotel’s existing
garage. The other half of that garage will also be used for parking, with the
entire structure reinforced, the developer said.
The final component of the plan is 20 townhouses.
The project encompasses nearly 13 acres, including the
former hotel’s property along with undeveloped land just east of the large
surface parking lot behind it. Because of wetlands and grades, only part of the
land will be used, the developers said.
For the rental housing, M360 Berlin Land Holdings proposes
50 studios, 135 one-bedroom units, 65 two-bedroom apartments and 10 units with
three bedrooms. There also would be an amenity building, an outdoor pool with a
deck and courtyards, the company said.
The 20 townhouses would be built for sale and include a mix
of two- and three-bedroom units. The developer plans an amenity area, but most
of the land to the east of the townhouses would remain undeveloped, according
to the plan.
The combined parking for all of the buildings would accommodate
487 vehicles. About half of the space would be under buildings and screened
from view, the company said.
M360 Berlin Land Holdings maintains rezoning the property as
Mixed Use District would benefit the town. Its application says the project
“creates not only a destination for Cromwell, but also is directly on-point
with the intent of the Mixed Use District to create a community that offers
‘live, work and play opportunities within convenient walking distance of each
other.’ ”
The hotel was in decline for years, was downgraded from
Crowne Plaza to a Radisson and later to a Red Lion before abruptly closing in
January 2020.
The 214-room hotel was once among Connecticut’s most popular
convention spots, and advertised a 10,000-square-foot banquet room and another
20,000 square feet of flexible meeting spaces.
Its central location near I-91 and Route 9 were a major
draw, offering a relatively short drive to conference attendees from all
corners of the state.
In its best years, the hotel hosted wedding receptions,
school reunions, sales conferences, job fairs, award dinners and conventions
for scores of statewide and regional organizations
Bob Woodward spoke about his then-new book “The Last of the
President’s Men” at one gathering, and former Gov. Lowell Weicker drew a tiny
group of anti-tax protestors when he addressed a conference of newly elected
municipal officials in 2010 — 15 years after he had left office.
The hotel, known for its indoor pool and hot tub beneath a
giant transparent dome, got a $5 million renovation in 2007, but within a
decade was showing serious signs of wear. Yelp and TripAdvisor reviews grew
increasingly bleak, and by late 2019 the parking lot looked nearly deserted on
some nights.
State tax inspectors showed up at the hotel on the night of
Jan. 10, 2020 and ordered it closed immediately. Staffers had to awaken the
handful of guests and direct them to leave immediately, and the building has
been closed since.
Last year, urban explorers posted videos on YouTube showing
water damage, dangling electrical wires, collapsed ceiling tiles, graffiti in
the empty pool, long-dead plants in the lobby, layers of dust and other decay.
Middletown firm leading effort to bring offshore wind energy to CT
Adam Hushin
MIDDLETOWN — Compared with other countries around the globe,
the United States has not yet fully tapped into the potential of offshore wind
energy, but one city-based company is trying to change that.
Geo SubSea moved
to its location on Middletown’s Main Street in 2018. Since then, the firm has
been making strides in bringing wind energy to the state, and the country as a
whole.
Owner and President Jeff Gardner said that the city has been
great so far. “I really like the atmosphere,” he said.
He has made sure the company collaborates with, and
contributes to, the community as well. This includes helping with local
nonprofits such as the Rockfall
Foundation and Connecticut
River Conservancy, participating in environmental clean-up events, and
visiting local schools for informational programs and seminars.
“It’s very important because it’s a way to give back,”
Gardner said.
Geo Subsea is also in the process of creating an internship
program with Wesleyan University, and is actively looking to hire local people
to help achieve one of its goals — growing the offshore wind energy industry.
Geo SubSea supervises and manages everything that goes into
such development, including environmental surveying, data collection and
construction preparation. It was first company in the state to get involved in
this industry, the president said.
“We’re helping move these renewable energy projects
forward,” Gardner explained.
Wind turbines built on the coast and offshore can harvest
more wind than turbines set up on land, Gardner said. The industry, which began
in the late 1990s, has finally started to see some growth, but the United
States is still far behind, he said.
“We’re about 30 years behind Europe,” he explained.
While there are thousands of offshore wind farms along the
coasts in Europe, there are only a handful on the East coast. There are a few
south of Block Island, and two located off the coast of Virginia Beach.
Through the work Geo SubSea has done, in collaboration with
other like-minded companies in and around the state, the nation’s first
commercial scale offshore wind farm will soon open on Martha’s Vineyard.
Staff are also heavily involved in another project known
as Park City Wind, which
entails building Connecticut’s first offshore wind farm south of Bridgeport. It
would deliver renewable energy to the Connecticut power grid.
This could make energy both cheaper and greener for
Connecticut residents.
Gardner explained why this work is important, saying it is
necessary to both develop enough energy for the world’s population and fight
climate change.
“Eventually, fossil fuels may not be available, so we need
to transition energy sources toward renewable options,” Gardner said. “People
need to think globally and act locally to improve and conserve the earth’s
natural resources.”
It’s a mission he and his staff are very passionate about.
“I personally collected rocks, crystals and minerals as a
kid and I loved the water, so I combined the two and went to college to become
a marine geologist,” Gardner said.
“The GSS staff have similar background stories and we all
love science, and know how important renewable energy is to society,” he added.
“We enjoy our jobs, and it gives us a larger purpose to our the work to try and
leave the planet in better condition when we depart.”
More information about Geo SubSea and the work it does is
available at geosubseaconsulting.com.
New Haven alders advance Dixwell, State Street affordable housing projects
NEW HAVEN — Two closely-watched affordable housing projects
— one
in the heart of Dixwell and one
on the State Street seam between downtown and Wooster Square — will
move forward following approval this week by the Board of Alders.
The alders unanimously approved changes to sweeten the deal
for developers the
city approved two years ago to build 69 units of housing — including
55 affordable units — on the triangular former “Joe Grates” property off
Dixwell Avenue and Orchard Street in the Dixwell neighborhood.
Developers from Beulah Land Development
Corp., New York City-based nonprofit developer HELP USA and Spiritos Properties previously
told a Board of Alders joint committee that the project at 340 Dixwell Ave.,
316 Dixwell Ave. and 783 Orchard St. ran into supply chain issues during the
COVID pandemic that raised construction material prices and drove bids $2.7
million higher than anticipated.
If it moves forward, it would be the first environmentally
friendly “mass timber” affordable housing project in the nation, one of the
development partners told alders.
The alders also approved by a 24-1 vote a zone change to
allow denser development than would otherwise be allowed at 78
Olive Street, where another developer, Philadelphia-based PMC Property
Group, wants
to build a 13-story building with 136 apartments, including 14 affordable
units, on what is now a parking lot next to the Strouse Adler
“Smoothie” building.
The Olive Street development would be the tallest building
on the Wooster Square side of State Street and the railroad tracks — nearly
twice the height of other apartment buildings approved in recent years and
months. The 2.48-acre site is bounded by Olive, Chapel and Court streets and
the railroad tracks that run behind the State Street Rail Station.
Alders Eli Sabin, D-7, Charles Decker, D-9, Jeanette
Morrison, D-22, and Steven Winter, D-21, all spoke in favor of the zone change
while East Rock Alder Anna Festa, D-10 — the lone no vote — spoke against it.
Festa said she was against it in part because “this
developer has no consideration for the city — only for their own profit.” She
said PMC could build “the original design for 44 apartments” but she was
against the zone change.
East Rock alder Decker, chairman of the alders’ Legislation
Committee, which recommended approval March 1, called it “a much better deal”
than the original design because of the additional affordable housing it would
provide.
Sabin, who represents the neighborhood in which the building
would be located, said he supported it because he believed that allowing
development that was “a little bit denser” than normally allowed would help
better address rising rents in the city by providing twice as much affordable
housing as the plan allowed without a zone change.
Morrison, who represents Dixwell, said she supported 78
Olive St. because “we need this type of housing,” which would be affordable and
suitable for people without a car.
Winter, who represents Newhallville and Prospect Hill, said
he supported the project because it was transit-oriented and located near the
State Street railroad station.
On the Dixwell proposal, which would be on the property once
home to Joe Grate’s Barbecue, those speaking in favor included Fair Haven Alder
Jose Crespo, D-16, chairman of the alders’ Tax Abatement Committee, Winter,
Decker, Morrison and Festa.
“This is a strategic investment” and “we are granting a
significant tax abatement,” but the city also will gain a significant amount of
affordable housing, said Winter.
Decker said the “greatest need in our city is for deeply
affordable units” and the Dixwell proposal would provide them.
“I feel like these are exactly the types of investment that
we should support,” he said.
“This is actually an item I can stand behind,” said Festa.
“This is true affordable housing, as opposed to the previous project that I
opposed.”
The developers told a joint meeting of the alders’ Community
Development and Tax Abatement committees that they achieved cost savings with
more than $1.4 million in “value engineering” and obtaining a permanent
financing solution through Community Preservation Corp. and Freddie Mac.
In addition to asking the alders to sell one of the
properties they need, 316 Dixwell, for $200,000 rather than the originally
agreeed $280,000, the developers asked the city to double the length of a
previously granted Payment In Lieu Of Taxes abatement from 15 years to 30.
The PILOT amendment “enables the project to leverage more
permanent financing by extending the amortization period,” the developers said
in a handout.
The joint committee, in a time-saving move, took no action,
opting instead to send the matter straight to the full Board of Alders Monday
night.
Darrell Brooks, chief operating officer of Beulah Land
Development Corp., and David Cleghorn, chief housing officer for HELP USA, both
said they were confident they could move the project forward despite expected
increases in interest rates if they could pull a workable deal together in time
to make a May 11 closing.
Third high-rise comes down on Crystal Avenue in New London
Greg Smith
New London — There was no ceremony and no speeches early Monday morning to mark a key moment in the ongoing demolition of the Thames River Apartments.
Crews from Stamford Wrecking Co. used an excavator to topple Building C, the last of three nine-story apartment buildings that had been home to countless families since 1967.
The work to demolish the former 124-unit apartment complex for low-income families started on Feb. 9 and is expected to last several more weeks. The entire Crystal Avenue site is now covered in debris, a mix of concrete and metal. Once it's cleared, the city intends to find a tax-paying entity and a use better suited to the commercial industrial zone.
“It’s part of our past,” City Council President Efrain Dominguez, who lived with his family at the apartment complex for 19 years, said on Monday.
While the apartment complex had its share of problems through the years, Dominguez said the people who lived there will remember it as their home.
“It was a community in itself. I enjoyed my time there,” Dominguez said.
But as much as he has fond memories of playing ball in the field or the playground at the nearby Fulton Park, Dominguez said he can’t get over the location — “a residential area underneath a bridge next to a waste center.”
Mayor Michael Passero called the construction of the complex an example of failed government policy during an era of urban renewal.
Passero began work with the New London Housing Authority board of commissioners in 2016 to start the process of finding new homes for the families that lived there. Complaints about the lack of maintenance and hot water, as well as the presence of mold, cockroaches and bed bugs had reached a crescendo by the time U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development accepted the Housing Authority’s application for demolition and issued vouchers for the families to move.
The last families moved out in 2018.
Passero credits work of former Housing Authority board chairwoman Betsy Gibson and the passionate work of Crystal Avenue tenants who advocated on behalf of all the residents. Passero said the demolition was long overdue.
“When I got involved and started working with HUD to relocate the people, it seemed to me that HUD was already very frustrated with the city of New London. They could not have made it clearer they no longer supported that kind of development,” Passero said. “The project we started in 2016 should have been started a decade earlier.”
The idea of demolishing the high rises was first talked about by city officials in the 1990s. A request for proposals for the property was issued in 2001, and in 2002 tenants at Thames River Apartment petitioned the city to raze the complex. One idea at the time was to pursue funding from HUD to build a series of single family homes at Bates Woods Park.
By 2006, local attorney Robert Reardon had pursued a class action lawsuit against the city and Housing Authority. By 2014, Reardon had secured a court order forcing the New London Housing Authority to rehab the complex or move the people out. Mobile housing vouchers were obtained for the residents after a failed attempt to build a more modern replacement housing complex at the site of the former Edgerton School off Colman Street.
Cleanup of the Crystal Avenue property is expected to wrap up in May.
Old Greenwich braces for detour on Sound Beach Avenue for bridge project: It’s ‘going to be a mess’
Ken Borsuk
GREENWICH — A detour will be set up soon along the main access to Old Greenwich — and to the beach — as construction begins to replace a bridge on Sound Beach Avenue near Binney Park.
The area will be closed to thru traffic from April 11 to July 1, with vehicles detoured to Harding Road and Forest Avenue, according to the Department of Public Works.
“This is going to be a mess, and I think it’s going to create a ton of traffic looking at the detour,” said Old Greenwich resident Marc Ducret, a board member of the Old Greenwich Association.
Ducret said he is bracing for problems with the closure and the detour.
“This is going to go from April to July, so it’s not like this is going to be one week. This is going to be for quite a bit,” he said. Ducret said he wished the bridge project could be done in August, when there is less traffic. But he said he knows the project has been delayed and needs to be finished.
The project is one in a long list of construction work planned for the village of Old Greenwich.
“With a community that was established in 1640, much of the infrastructure has reached a point where there is a need for replacement,” DPW senior civil engineer Gabriella Circosta Cohee said. “Many of these projects have to be planned to minimize the overall impact to the community. Many projects cannot be done concurrently or they may have a significant impact on emergency access to and from Old Greenwich.”
Residents should know that “the results of the work is that their community is gaining significant improvements that benefit everyone,” she said.
The heavily used bridge, which crosses over Laddins Brook, was constructed in 1925 and rehabilitated in 1977, but it is now in poor condition, DPW said.
In Old Greenwich, the DPW is also replacing curbs and sidewalks on Sound Beach Avenue between Wesskum Wood Road and the railroad bridge.
Work has also begun on an apartment building at 143 Sound Beach Ave. Neighbors had objected to the project and the Planning & Zoning Commission initially turned it down. But it was approved as part of a court settlement in 2019 because it will include three apartments designated as affordable. The three-story building, going up on the site of a now-demolished office complex, will have 34 apartment, down from the 60 originally planned.
Bridge plans
The Planning & Zoning Commission turned down the initial design in 2018 for the bridge replacement after neighborhood opposition to increasing the size of the traffic circle by the Perrot Memorial Library and raising Sound Beach Avenue.
But the revised plan, which was approved, calls for only minimal raising of Sound Beach Avenue and did not touch the traffic circle.
The curb and sidewalk work should be completed by the end of the week, Circosta Cohee said, if the weather cooperates. Additional curb and sidewalk work will be coordinated with the bridge project and the detour to ensure it does not cause additional traffic delays, she said.
Busy season
All of this work comes at a time when traffic through Old Greenwich is about to spike as the beach season opens, with many residents heading to Greenwich Point via Sound Beach Avenue.
Old Greenwich “seems like the vortex of construction in Greenwich,” said Richard Fulton, a member of the executive committee of the Old Greenwich Merchants Association.
Many of the projects are “long overdue,” Fulton said, and will make for long-term improvements. But the “piled in” schedule, he said, will be challenging.
“Some of this stuff has to be done, and others are privately done so there’s nothing we can do about it,” Fulton said. “People love Old Greenwich and they’ll work their way around — even if they have to come from a different route.”
He added, “We want to have as much of a normal summer as possible this year.”
Other projects are on the horizon, including demolition of the Eastern Greenwich Civic Center and construction of a new one; construction of a new clubhouse at the Innis Arden Golf Club; and, if approved as part of the new municipal budget, installation of sidewalks along Shore Road.
These projects come after the completion of the new rail bridge over Sound Beach Avenue and installation of new underground storm drain pipes that are designed to improve drainage, a major concern in the low-lying area.
“We had a nice respite in Old Greenwich after they finished the railway bridge, but it’s back now,” Ducret said with a laugh about the ongoing construction.
Project updates will be posted on the DPW’s social media accounts, Circosta Cohee said.
150-unit apartment building approved for Bloomfield center
Richard Chumney
BLOOMFIELD — The developer behind Heirloom Flats apartments has been given the green light to build a new 150-unit residential building in Bloomfield’s town center.
The Bloomfield Town Plan and Zoning Commission voted unanimously last month to approve plans from Paul Butler, a Hartford County-based developer, to build the four-story structure at 25 Jerome Avenue.
“We’re looking forward to sticking a shovel in the ground and starting this next phase of construction,” Tom Daly, an engineer working on the project, told the commission.
The building will mostly be made up of one-and-two-bedroom apartments, but will also include a handful of studio and three-bedroom units. Butler has said the units will be rented at market rate.
Jack Kemper, an architect who designed the complex, said the centerpiece of the building will be a 10,000-square-feet courtyard featuring a swimming pool, fire pit and a putting green.
The luxury building will also include a lobby, two-story community room with a cafe, fitness center with yoga space, dog washing station, golfing simulator and business center for residents.
“The building has a lot of amenities,” Kemper said.
Five single-family houses will be razed on the seven-acre site to make way for the new building, according to plans filed with the town.
The property will include 214 parking spaces, but will not feature any on-street parking. The aging sidewalk running along Jerome Avenue will also be rebuilt as part of the project. It is unclear when work at the site will begin. Representatives for the company did not provide a timeline for the construction.
The project is the latest phase of a larger initiative by Butler to construct a series of apartment buildings in Bloomfield’s sparsely populated town center.
The yet-to-be named building will sit directly across the street from Heirloom Flats, a 215-unit building which opened in 2017. It will also be located near a 42-unit building that Butler is currently building on Bloomfield Avenue.
Town Planner José Giner said the Heirloom building’s residents have already helped breathe new life into the area by patronizing local businesses and restaurants.
“It certainly has done what I think the town set out to do, which is to transform the town center and densify it,” he said.