New Torrington High School to open in 2025
BRUNO MATARAZZO JR.
Groundbreaking on a new high school and middle school on the
31-acre school campus will begin this summer after the project received final
approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission last week.
The site will be prepared over the summer, which will
include relocating utilities. Construction is slated to begin in October with a
scheduled occupancy date of February 2025. The old building will then be
demolished, and construction of a new gymnasium and athletic fields will start
in March 2025 with a planned completion date in January 2026.
The state is paying for 85% of the $179.5 million project,
leaving city taxpayers to fund the remaining $26.9 million.
The building will feature a modern motif that also nods to
the city’s industrial past, including a brick facade. The new
310,000-square-foot school will have separate entrances and wings for a
three-story middle school and four-story high school connected by common
facilities at the main level. There will be an auditorium and performance
stage, two separate dining rooms, two gyms and support spaces for athletes.
The entry to the two schools begins at Besse Park. The new
building will be on the sloping southwest portion of the campus, allowing use
of the northern and eastern portions of the site for athletic fields to support
both middle and high school sports.
The entire building will be compliant with the American with
Disabilities Act.
Central office administration also will be located in the
building, on the fourth floor of the high school wing. The central office will
have its own entrance.
O&G Industries will be the construction manager for the
project, just as it was for the original Torrington High School when it was
built in the 1960s.
“We are very honored to be part of the team breathing new
life into this campus,” said David Cravanzola, assistant vice president of
O&G Building Group.
One notable aspect of the school will remain. The red T,
designed by architect Marcel Breuer, will remain a centerpiece of the new
school’s landscape.
In 2020, voters approved funding for the project at a cost
of $159.5 million. But after the pandemic, the cost of building materials and
school enrollment numbers increased. In January, residents approved an additional
$20 million for the project.
S/L/A/M Collaborative, the architectural firm that worked on
the building, adjusted the design to accommodate a larger enrollment than
originally planned. The new building accommodates 1,650 students, 629 in the
middle school and 1,021 in the high school.
Torrington saw a number of new residents from the New York
area during the pandemic and city schools felt the impact immediately. On the
first day of school this year, high school enrollment jumped 10% to 980. In
grades 7-12, 137 more students enrolled.
The new school will have space for STEM programming in the
middle school and career pathway programs for grades 9-12 to provide vocational
training in health and wellness, business, military/JROTC and STEM/high tech.
For example, in the health and wellness pathway, students
will be exposed to a modernized program with a culinary lab, health-focused
classrooms and a sports medicine/athletic trainer’s room.
“The industrial and performing arts culture of Torrington
was an inspiration for our design,” said Julija Singer, design principal at
SLAM. “We enjoyed working with the community and sharing their passion for
designing spaces for students where exploration, openness and creativity will
flourish.”
Hartford Healthcare planning to add a dozen new medical facilities in Fairfield County
Hartford Healthcare is making a major push into southwestern
Connecticut, adding a dozen new medical facilities in Fairfield County over the
next 18 months, according to an executive with the company that will be
handling the construction work.
Rich Lee, managing director for Branford-based for O,R &
L Commercial said most of the new medical facilities will be developed in
former retail spaces across Fairfield County. Lee made his remarks during a
recent panel discussion regarding commercial development trends at a meeting of
the Connecticut and western Massachusetts chapter of the Society of Industrial
and Office Realtors.
“You’re going to see Hartford Healthcare all over Fairfield
County in the coming months,” Lee said. He said converting retail space into
medical facilities makes the most sense “because of the ease of access and
availability of parking.”
Karen Goyette, vice president of strategic planning and
business development for Hartford Healthcare, said a pair of factors will
determine where expansion takes place.
“We’re trying to address the availability of lower cost
(health care) options,” Goyette said. “At the same time, as we’re developing
assets in the community, we’re trying to assess where there are gaps in
coverage and what the needs are.”
Hartford Healthcare officials have not yet identified the
specific locations.
Hartford Healthcare is no stranger to retail-to-medical
conversions. In the summer of 2020, Hartford Healthcare opened
a medical center in 40,700 square feet of space in the North Haven Pavilion
shopping center on Universal Drive that had been a Sports Authority
location that closed in 2016.
The decline of retail activity in brick-and-mortar locations
over the past decade has made vacant store space more widely available. The
arrival of the pandemic has only accelerated the number of vacancies.
Lee, who said health care projects account for 75 percent of
O,R&L’s overall business, added that the size of spaces that the company
normally deals with in terms of retail-to-medical conversions ranges from 2,500
square feet to 75,000 square feet.
Hartford Healthcare’s rival in the Connecticut hospital
marketplace, Yale New Haven Health System, is taking on a much larger
retail-to-medical conversion at the Meriden Mall.
Last October, Yale
New Haven Health bought the 179,285-square-foot, two-story former Macy’s spot
in the mall for what it is calling a “comprehensive ambulatory
center.”
Redevelopment of the former mall anchor space in Meriden
will take 18 to 24 months The services planned for the facility will begin
opening over a phased time frame, with completion of construction expected by
the end of 2023 or early 2024.
Angela Mattie, a professor of management and medical
sciences at Quinnipiac University, said bringing medical care closer to where
people live “is a way of increasing the value of our health care system.”
“It’s where we should always be focusing our discussions,”
Mattie said. “And adding accessibility to that equation is important. If you
have a 90-year old mother, it’s easier to park next to where you’re taking and
drop her off rather than taking her into Hartford or New Haven and using a
parking garage.”
Converting former retail spaces into medical facilities
makes sense, she said, because retail centers usually have easy access to
highways.
Norwich School Building Committee opts for four new elementary schools
Norwich — The School Building Committee on Tuesday
night endorsed a plan to build four new elementary schools to replace seven
schools, three on the grounds of existing schools and one on city-owned land
at the former Greeneville School site.
The committee voted 7-3 during a virtual meeting to ask
the architectural firm Drummey Rosane Anderson Inc., or DRA, which has offices
in Massachusetts and Connecticut, to provide a detailed report with
projected costs to build new schools on the grounds of the Moriarty
Environmental Sciences Magnet School, John B. Stanton School and Uncas School
and on the former Greeneville School site. Each 75,000-square-foot school
would house about 525 students in preschool through fifth grade.
Once the new schools are completed, the existing
buildings would be torn down, and new playgrounds and athletic
fields created in the spaces where buildings used to be.
Teachers’ Memorial Global Studies Middle School would be
renovated and retained, along with the recently renovated Kelly STEAM Magnet
Middle School. The Samuel Huntington School would be renovated to
house central offices and adult education. Wequonnoc School in Taftville
would become a virtual learning center.
Thomas Mahan, Veterans’ Memorial schools, Bishop Early
Learning Center and central offices in the former John Mason School would
be discontinued.
The three committee members who opposed the motion wanted a
second report for three elementary schools for 700 students each at the
Moriarty, Stanton and Greeneville sites.
Prior to the vote, DRA officials reviewed all options
for renovating existing schools, building new on existing school
grounds and three potential new sites. The committee agreed with the
firm’s analysis that renovating the existing buildings would be difficult and
cause logistical problems, needing up to two years of interim “swing” space, or
temporary space for displaced classes, during construction.
DRA will present its report to the Board of Education at its
5:30 p.m. meeting June 14 at Kelly Middle School. A public informational
meeting will be held June 21, and a presentation to the City Council
on July 5.
Committee members and the architects shared concern and
puzzlement at the lack of public input thus far in the monumental project to
reshape the city’s public school system. Only three parents attended
the last
public forum, despite notifications sent to all school parents.
“The first two meetings were too lightly attended for a city
this size and a project of this scope,” said Gregory Smolley, DRA senior
project manager. “It’s probably no one’s fault, but it hurts the project,
because now it’s trying to gain traction.”
City officials hope to receive approval by the school
board and City Council this summer and place a referendum question on the
Nov. 8 election ballot.
Cheryl Hancin-Preston, who attended the meeting held
on Zoom, suggested the committee publicize the upcoming meetings
at well-attended city recreation events.
The building committee formed a four-member public
outreach committee Tuesday to better publicize the project.
During Tuesday’s presentation, Smolley reviewed potential
new sites between Franklin and Chestnut streets downtown and on Ox Hill Road
across from Kelly Middle School and behind the Rose City Senior Center. Both
sites were ruled out. The city does not own the Ox Hill site, and the
downtown site is too small and hampered by potential flood hazards.
At the 14-acre Moriarty property on Lawler Lane, a new
two-story school could be built on and around the baseball field. A new
baseball field with a better geographical orientation would be created at the
current school site, Smolley said.
The 24-acre Stanton School site is hampered by wetlands
and a piped stream beneath the front of the existing building. Architects
proposed a two-story school, built into an existing slope, reserving flat
ground for athletic fields and playgrounds.
Uncas School's 11 acres is smaller than the desired 17
acres, Smolley said. DRA proposed a new school on the upper flat area behind
the school and straightening Elizabeth Street Extension for better traffic
flow.
The former Greeneville School site on Golden
Street, closest to the population center for school-aged children, is the
best new site, Smolley said. The city owns the parcel and
adjacent property that extends to Boswell Avenue for better access.
Architects proposed a two-story building with a road from Golden Street to
Boswell Avenue.
One difficulty is the steep slopes, greater than 5% on the
property.
“This is why they invented dynamite and big equipment,”
Smolley said.
This company crushes old roads—and rebuilds them to store carbon
About
a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions stem from
transportation—and around 72% of those come from road vehicles. Crucially, the
focus for reducing those road-based emissions has been electrifying vehicles,
such as America’s most popular auto, the Ford F-150, whose Lightning version launched April 26. Often overlooked are
the roads themselves, which are ripe for change.
“There hasn’t been much innovation in the road space since
the Roman ages,” says Haakon Brunell, founder and COO of Carbon Crusher, on
today’s episode of the World
Changing Ideas podcast. The Norwegian company repairs roads using a
carbon-negative method, vital when the age-old process is highly carbon
intensive; according to studies, constructing a lane-mile of road
releases between 1,400 and 2,300 tons of CO2, even before any maintenance or
reconstruction. That’s in part because road materials are bound together using
bitumen, a sticky, blackish substance that’s a byproduct of crude oil.
Carbon Crusher builds new roads as well as fixes old and
damaged ones, and it does so using lignin, an organic polymer found in trees
that becomes a waste byproduct of paper production (and which is often then
burned, generating more emissions). This “green carbon binder,” as the company
calls it, contains carbon from its natural life, and continues to sequester
carbon in the roads.
“All the carbon the trees sucked up over a lifetime, we’re
putting that to good use in roads,” Brunell says, noting, “The good—and
bad—thing about our industry is that there are terrible roads everywhere.
There’s a huge road infrastructure lag globally.”
The company’s literal carbon crusher, an 8-ton metal robot
perched atop a John Deere tractor, pulverizes the roads, breaking them into
fine gravel and then binding the particles with the lignin.
The crushing not only doesn’t require any new materials, but
it also makes the operation carbon-negative since the lignin sequesters carbon.
(The crusher vehicle is currently diesel, which Carbon Crusher plans to power
by hydrogen or electricity in the near future.)
According to the company, its method reduces emissions by
approximately 3.5 tons per 100 feet of road, compared to traditional methods.
“At the core of our vision is to move the planet from gray to green,” Brunell
says.
Carbon Crusher has already made a good start in its home
country of Norway; in 2021, it reported revenue of $1.5 million from its work
on stabilizing 27 million square feet of roads, which it says removed 8,605
tons of carbon. Plans are to expand to other European countries, and even to go
to the U.S., which offers plenty of opportunity from 6.6 million miles of roads
that are much in need of repair.
“Infrastructure improvement is top of the agenda almost
everywhere,” Brunell says.
Brunell is also optimistic that his company could provide
more affordable alternatives for budgeting woes. In addition to its climate
benefits, Carbon Crusher’s process is cheaper than traditional repair, can be
used immediately after construction, and is often more durable, because lignin
is less susceptible to cracking.
“We hope there will be more [customers] soon,” he says.
“Because the planet needs it.”
T & T Landscape and Masonry Grows From Lawn Care Roots to Hardscaping
T & T Landscape and Masonry Inc. was founded in 2005 by
Tim Kachnovich as a lawn care and soft landscaping service.
In 2021, Tim's son, Tyler, took over the company as
president and in the ensuing years, the company has grown from its lawn care
roots and expanded into hardscape: retaining walls, patios, walkways and other
masonry projects.
Tim oversees the landscape and maintenance operations, and
Tyler oversees masonry, hardscape, material sales and excavation projects.
Winter weather finds the crews busy with snow removal for their customers,
which are strictly commercial.
T & T Landscape and Masonry specializes in all phases of
masonry construction (brick, block and stone) and hardscape construction
(patios, walkways, retaining walls, fireplaces and outdoor living). The company
also provides chimney construction, repair and cleaning, and all phases of
excavation and trucking, including gas lines, drainage, loam and gravel work.
Over the past several years, T & T has made a
significant investment in JCB equipment
purchased from Alta
Equipment Company, including skid steers, compact tract loaders and wheel
loaders.
"We currently have four pieces of JCB equipment,"
said Tyler. "One of our most prized JCB machines is our JCB Teleskid. The
extending boom is ideal for unloading pallets. With the boom feature of the
Teleskid, reaching the last pallet is no longer a problem.
"The boom also gives us some grading flexibility that a
traditional skid steer does not offer. Safety is very important to us and the
visibility of the JCB is so dramatically better than any other machine we know
that our operators are in a much better position to operate safely."
T & T also owns a JCB 260T track loader, a JCB 215 skid
steer as well as a JCB 427 3-yd. 179 hp wheel loader. The wheel loader is used
primarily as a snow removal machine for 30-acres of property at a hospital,
which has zero tolerance for ice or snow areas. In the non-winter months, it is
used for loading mulch at T & T's material yard.
"We have made quite an investment in JCB equipment, but
when we invest in equipment, it's not really the brand name we are investing
in; it's the dealership that sells the equipment. We've had a very good
experience with Alta Equipment and that's why we stick with JCB.
"We are experts at what we do — hardscape and
landscape. We are not experts at servicing and maintaining construction
equipment, so we rely heavily on Alta Equipment to do that for us."
"With supply chain disruptions, getting almost
anything—parts in particular—has been a real nightmare for everyone. But we
have not really run into that with JCB and Alta Equipment. The people at Alta
Equipment are great to work with. Our sales rep, Richard Loabe, has been a real
asset. He is easy to get in touch with and keeps us well informed."
Another key part of T & T's relationship with Alta
Equipment is matching the right attachments to its equipment—in particular
the Arctic Sectional
Sno-Pushers.
"So far, we have invested in three Arctics and have
been very happy with them," Tyler said. "Because the Sno-Pushers are
built in sections, they adjust to the contour of the surface that is being
plowed. A traditional snow pusher will miss a lot of the surface and you have
to go back and use a lot of salt and sand to compensate for the areas where the
blade did not make contact with the asphalt or concrete surface. These are
really top-quality snow pushers, and I would recommend them to anyone."
"Yes, they definitely cost more money, but we got that
money back in the first year we used them. The fact that the snow pusher
releases in sections when it hits a foreign object such as a curb or manhole
can save us thousands of dollars in liability and property damages."
Accessibility and comfort are other key features T & T
looks for: getting in and out the machine from a side door just makes a lot
more sense than having to climb over a bucket in the front, Tyler added.
"What we appreciate the most about the JCB machines is
the innovation — a skid steer with a telescoping boom and a side entry door.
That's real innovation, and that's one of the reasons we started out with JCB
in the first place. Innovation was the reason we purchased Arctic snow pushers
from Alta Equipment. So, we appreciate that Alta Equipment represents companies
that bring innovative new ideas to us."
Tyler also has been impressed with the operator comfort of
the JCB machines, which he called "the most comfortable machines [he] has
ever been in."
"Obviously, there is a learning curve adjusting to the
controls of any new machine, but the learning curve was short.
"As a hardscape contractor we pay attention to quality.
We choose quality over quantity, meaning we don't take on too many jobs. Taking
care to know that we can handle the jobs that we do take. We go above and
beyond on every single project we do to make sure our bases are solid and that
our completed projects will last."
For more information visit www.tandtlawncare.org/ and www.altaequipment.com/.