Cost increases at State Pier to be subject of Bond Commission vote
Greg Smith
Former Parkade developer files suit against town of ManchesterThe state Bond Commission on Thursday will vote on a $20
million infusion of funds to cover escalating costs for the reconstruction of
State Pier in New London into an offshore wind hub.
The Connecticut Port Authority, which is overseeing the
project, announced in March that additional money was needed to cover costs of
delays and to speed up work on the project.
That dollar figure turns out to be about $15 million.
The port authority last month approved $5.8 million to cover
the costs associated with delays, mostly blamed on challenges to the permitting
of the project. On Tuesday, it approved an additional $8.4 million, in part to
accelerate work at State Pier and ensure most of the work is completed by April
28.
What was a $235.5 million project is now a $255.5 million
project. The cost estimate in 2019 was $93 million and jumped to $235.5 million
after the project design was completed.
The $20 million that is up for approval this week by the
state Bond Commission would cover the estimated $15 million needed by the port
authority and provide an additional $5 million to cover other unanticipated
costs, port authority board Chairman David Kooris said Tuesday.
“That would bring our available funds to $255 (million)
which gives us some additional resources available to serve as an owner’s
contingency in case additional unforeseen conditions or costs arise, which is
possible,” Kooris said.
He said there is still $7 million of the original $11
million allotted for contingency costs incorporated into the overall project
budget.
Bond Commission approval on Thursday would bring the state’s
share of the project's cost to $180.5 million. Danish offshore wind
company Ørsted and its partner Eversource, which will be leasing State Pier,
are contributing $75 million, including a $22.5 million pledge by
Deepwater Wind. Ørsted acquired Deepwater Wind in 2018.
At a special meeting Tuesday, Kooris said the updated
project costs should not be a surprise and were consistent with what has been
discussed over the past few months. The port authority announced publicly on
March 22 that costs
would increase by between $12 million and $15 million, but had
not firmed up a figure at that time. Gov. Ned Lamont, during a tour of State
Pier in March, reiterated his commitment to the project in the face of rising
costs, calling the project “transformative for our state and our region.”
About $5.3 million of the $8.4 million approved on Tuesday
would cover costs associated with labor.
Marlin Peterson, a program coordinator with State Pier
construction administrator AECOM, said work crews will change from a 40-hour
work week to a 60-hour work week, with crews working 10-hour shifts six days
per week starting in June and continuing through September.
The port authority also is ordering more steel preemptively
to account for unanticipated depths at which the piles are being driven around
the pier. That cost is about $1.5 million and the steel, if unused, would
become an asset of the port authority, Kooris said.
The board, at its regular meeting next month, is prepared to
lock in the guaranteed maximum price, or GMP, for construction work at
$217 million — $13 million more than the target GMP of $204 million. The
additional money associated with the project pays for soft costs, such as
engineering fees and project management.
“None of this has anything to do with inflation,” Kooris
said of the cost increase. “None of this has anything to do with rising costs
for material or labor. All of our rates and material prices were baked in. This
is the cost of keeping our contractor working for longer than anticipated
because permits were delayed ... and the additional costs associated with
the additional work hours to make up for some of that delay.”
Acceleration of work on the project is essential in order to
achieve a substantial completion of the work no later than Feb. 28, port
authority interim Executive Director Ulysses Hammond said.
Hammond said it will be a “seminal milestone” when terminal
operations at State Pier begin in March 2023. He said offshore wind components
are scheduled to begin arriving at State Pier in April 2023, with subsequent
staging and pre-assembly services starting in May 2023. The initial handling
and transport of components for offshore wind is to begin a month later.
“Based on this schedule, State Pier will be the staging port
for the next three utility-scale offshore wind farms in the United States,
including South Fork, Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind, which collectively will
generate, according to publicly available data, enough wind power and clean
energy to power more than one million homes," Hammond said.
Commission vote dims prospects for proposed RV park in Preston
Preston — Members of the Planning and Zoning
Commission seemingly scuttled a proposed RV park on Mashantucket Pequot-owned
land at the junction of routes 2 and 164 on Tuesday night, voting 4-3 against a
motion that it be approved with certain modifications.
The vote, however, is not the final word on the project.
Further action on the developer’s special-exception and
site-plan applications for the project was unanimously tabled until the
commission’s June 28 meeting.
“People could change their minds,” said Richard Chalifoux,
the commission vice chairman, who chaired Tuesday night’s meeting in the
absence of Chairman Art Moran Jr.
Prior to the vote, commission member Denise Beale voiced
opposition to Blue Water Development’s proposed development, citing its
proximity to Preston Plains Middle School and residences near Avery Pond.
Joining her in voting against the motion for approval were members Charles
Raymond, Doreen Rankin and Terri Eickel, an alternate.
Voting in favor of the motion were Chalifoux, Mike Sinko,
who made the motion, and Fred Eddy, an alternate.
“While I feel the applicant has taken every effort in
addressing the concerns of townspeople, I still have my concerns,” Beale said
before the vote. “Though it complies with the regulations, it is a special
exception. It’s the town's responsibility to review whether it is in the best
interest of the town.”
“In the end, it’s really our responsibility to represent the
people’s wishes — that’s what a special exception is,” she said.
Following the vote, Sinko said the commission’s only role is
to determine whether an application conforms to the regulations.
Town Planner Kathy Warzecha recommended approval of
Blue Water’s applications, conditioned on a list of 23 modifications, including
the elimination of several proposed campsites, the addition of certain buffers,
restrictions on music festivals and the amplification of sound, and maintenance
of the stormwater system.
She said she must now prepare a recommendation that the
application be denied, based on the objections of those members who voted
against the motion.
Tuesday night's vote came after both the planning commission
and the town’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission held public hearings
that continued for several hours over multiple
sessions.
On April 19, the wetlands commission voted
3-2 in favor of issuing a permit for the project. One of the
seven-member commission’s members was absent and three recused themselves,
requiring two alternates to be seated prior to the vote.
The RV park and campground resort would be built
on three Route 2 parcels the tribe owns on Avery Pond. Much of the
65-acre site is in a resort commercial zone, while the rest is zoned for
residential development.
Residents of Avery Pond neighborhoods have opposed the
project. A petition bearing the signatures of 400 people opposed to
the project was submitted to the commission last month.
In the face of the opposition, Blue Water downsized the project to 280 campsites and eliminated a dock, a boardwalk, tent sites along the pond and one bathhouse.
Former Parkade developer files suit against town of Manchester
The former developers of the Parkade site redevelopment in
Manchester on Tuesday filed a suit against the town, alleging they were
wrongfully terminated from the project, according to court records.
Manchester Parkade 1 LLC, the company picked in 2019 to
redevelop the former Parkade site on Broad Street, filed the suit in Hartford
Superior Court alleging town officials breached a development agreement for the
project when the town announced in January it was nixing the partnership.
Harry Freeman, who is principal of Manchester Parkade 1 LLC
along with his business partner Michael Licamele, said in an interview they
believe they had been fulfilling the intent of the agreement when the town
announced it was moving on.
“We had an agreement with the town that we worked very hard
on, and we spent a lot of money, and the town just decided in January to just
change their mind. But that's not really allowed under the agreement,” Licamele
said.
Manchester officials announced in January they ceased their
partnership with Manchester Parkade 1, citing numerous delays and an unclear
timeline as reasons for moving on from the Easton-based developer.
Freeman and Licamele said the decision took them by
surprise at the time, and the two said the lawsuit was the last thing they
wanted to do regarding the project.
“You can't just unilaterally decide that you don't want to
do the agreement anymore,” Licamele said. “They are claiming that the agreement
expired — they keep using that phrase — but agreements like this don't expire.
If you feel that somebody is in default on an agreement, because they're not
meeting a deadline or time, you have to send them a notice, they have a chance
to fix it, then after that you have a chance to cancel the agreement.”
Freeman said they’ve already pumped more than $1.2 million
into the project. A Manchester town official didn't immediately respond to a
request for comment.
As for what they want out of the suit, Freeman and Licamele
hope to continue work on the former Parkade site. They want the town to honor
the previous agreement, which they say is still valid, and pay for any damages
associated with the suit and halting of the project back in January. The suit
also seeks an injunction preventing the town from entering into a development
agreement for the site with another entity.
“We remain committed to doing the project,” Freeman said.
“We worked tirelessly with the town and countless consultants to come up with a
project that we think even exceeded the town’s expectations in terms of quality
and the diversity of uses.”
The suit was filed by Hartford law firm Brown, Paindiris
& Scott LLP.
After moving on from Manchester Parkade 1 LLC, the town
issued another request-for-proposal for the 23.2-acre property in March. That
RFP closes Thursday.
In 2019 the town named Manchester Parkade I LLC as the
preferred developer for the site. The developer’s planned $140 million project,
called Silk City Green, would have converted the vacant Broad Street site into
a mixed-use development with housing, retail space and a hotel. The project was
expected to break ground on initial construction this spring.
The town and Manchester Parkade I signed a development
agreement in April 2021, which was subsequently twice extended as the developer
grappled with financing issues related to Department of Housing and Urban
Development funding. Those funding issues were resolved, the developer said.
The town first bought the multi-parcel property in 2011 after Manchester voters approved an $8 million bond to revitalize the Broad Street area. Since then, all buildings on the site have been removed and it's been prepped for development
New Britain Mayor Stewart smashes coconut to celebrate keystone apartment project for Myrtle Street revival
Westport developer Amit Lakhotia and New Britain Mayor Erin
Stewart each smashed a coconut outside of the former Stanley Black & Decker
headquarters in New Britain Tuesday, celebrating the launch of a $7.5 million
effort to transform the vacant building into apartments.
Lakhotia is Hindu, originally from India. It is his custom
to break open a coconut to mark special events, like the birth of a child or
the launch of a building project. Lakhotia opened his coconut with a single,
sharp, swing. Stewart took a couple swings, which wasn’t bad for her first
attempt.
For Stewart, Tuesday’s ceremony celebrated a milestone
project in a city that has seen a dramatic increase in development interest.
Lahkotia alone is on track to build or renovate about 285
apartments in various projects, with additional prospects under development.
“The city of new Britain is truly experiencing a renaissance
unlike anything that has been seen in decades,” Stewart said Tuesday in a
ceremony in the foyer of 480 Myrtle St.
Lakhotia plans to renovate the 135,000-square-foot building
into 106 market-rate apartments over the course of a little more than a
year. He's
become a prominent developer in the Hardware City.
New Britain Economic Development Director Jack Benjamin
credited the city administration’s foresight into developing a special district
for the Myrtle Street area that offers flexibility of use to help revive
buildings that have long been dormant or underused.
“The work here will truly bring more excitement and
investment to the city,” Benjamin said.
Stewart said the redevelopment of 480 Myrtle will compliment
other projects in the industrial corridor, including the $1 billion data center
development right next door, on another piece of the former Stanley Black &
Decker campus. Massachusetts-based EIP LLC has state approval for a 44-megawatt
“Energy & Innovation Park,” which will provide space to several
information-heavy tenant companies.
Stewart said demolition to prepare the site of the “Energy
& Innovation Park” will begin this summer. Fuel cells will start arriving
in about 18 months, she said.
“The developments we will see in the Myrtle Street corridor
in the next decade or so are really going to be monumental,” Stewart said.
Lakhotia, for his part, said he was attracted to New Britain
because city staff and officials are incredibly responsive and helpful. That
praise was echoed by the George Taweh, president of TLong Construction. Taweh
is outfitting several New Britain projects for Lakhotia, including 480 Myrtle
St. He is also an investor in each of the projects.
“This is probably the best town to work with from Boston to
(Washington) D.C.,” said Taweh, who has worked projects up and down the East
Coast.
Developer proposes adding warehouse and distribution center in Bloomfield
A Farmington-based developer is looking to build a
74,000-square-foot warehouse in Bloomfield, the latest in a recent series of
storage and logistics projects in central Connecticut.
Douglas Street Ventures LLC is seeking town approval to
build on a little under 9 acres along Douglas Street.
The company hasn’t specified what business or businesses
would use the facility, but it proposing three access points off of Douglas —
two for trucks and one for cars.
The company earlier this year notified owners of about two
dozen nearby properties that it is proposing the warehouse and distribution
center, which is in an industrial zone but only a couple of blocks from the
closest homes.
The town plan and zoning commission was scheduled to hear
Douglas Street Ventures’ presentation last month, but rescheduled the hearing
for June. The company needs a site plan approval as well as a special permit to
proceed.
The state has spent the past decade encouraging industrial
and warehouse development in central Connecticut, particularly in the region
around Bradley International Airport. Depending on traffic, the Bloomfield site
is roughly a 15- to 20-minute trip from the airport.
In its application for zoning approval, Douglas Street
Ventures notes that the town has also supported this kind of business.
“The Bloomfield Plan of Conservation and Development greatly
encourages the promotion of industrial development in town given its proximity
to Bradley International Airport and major highways,” the company wrote. “The
proposed site plan serves to increase industrial development in an area that is
already zoned for industrial uses.”
Nearby Windsor, South Windsor and Windsor Locks have been
adding major warehouses for more than a decade, including mega-centers for Coca
Cola, Amazon, Home Depot, Dollar Tree, Walgreen’s, FedEx and others.
Bloomfield’s share of that market has been a bit less than
its neighbors, but it nevertheless has several substantial logistics
facilities. Affiliated with TJC Companies, for instance, is the HomeGoods
distribution center that measures more than 350,000 square feet.
Douglas Street Ventures proposes a single-story,
74,520-square-foot building that would be no more than 44 feet high. The
property is just a block southwest of the intersection of routes 218 and 187.
It would have parking for more than 100 cars and 55
trailers, with 20 loading bays.
South Windsor-based Design Professionals, the engineer for
the project, told planners that a warehouse would benefit Bloomfield.
“The proposed development at 59 & 69 Douglas Street
provides a vital opportunity for this industrially zoned property to enhance
the value of these properties and meet a growing need from
warehouse/distribution centers in Bloomfield,” the company said in the
application.
“This will bring a new, growing company to the town or
provide ample expansion area for one of the town’s many existing, successful
companies,” it said.
Douglas Street Ventures is promising extensive landscaping
as a noise and light buffer for other properties.
The public hearing is expected to be held June 23 starting
at 7 p.m. As of now the commission is still meeting remotely; anyone interested
in joining the meeting online can get directions at bloomfieldct.gov/town-plan-and-zoning-commission.