CT Construction Digest Wednesday August 31, 2022

Stamford-based SoundWaters blames supply chain issues for construction delays on new $8M Harbor Center

Ignacio Laguarda

STAMFORD — The staff at SoundWaters had hoped to open a new $8 million center this summer, but due to construction delays, the new marine education center will likely swing open its doors in late fall.

Supply chain issues are to blame for the delays, said Leigh Shemitz, president of SoundWaters, the Stamford-based nonprofit organization that focuses on protecting Long Island Sound through advocacy and education,

In particular, the elevator for the new building took longer than expected to acquire and deliver to the site. The project managers experienced delays in getting electricity to the building, and the elevator vendor they were using wouldn’t set up an order until the power was on, Shemitz said.

“Each delay builds on the other one,” she said.

But the delivery date is now set, and the elevator should be installed in September.

The rest of the building is complete, she said, and an array of solar panels have been fully installed.

“We’re at a really good place, save for the elevator,” Shemitz said.

The building, a new state-of-the-art harbor education hub called the Cohen SoundWaters Harbor Center, is one piece of a larger project meant to create public access to Stamford Harbor and the Sound.

As part of the larger project, the access road to the property will be replaced by one that lines up with Congress Street and will extend to the new center, where a parking lot will be built. Near the water, a crumbling parking lot and old chain-linked fence will be switched out for sand dunes and a small beach area with new wetland tree plantings.

Once complete, the revamped park and waterfront will create a rare access point to the Sound for residents of the Waterside neighborhood.

Once the elevator is installed, the building should qualify for a certificate of occupancy and could technically open. But construction of a new adjacent parking lot, a city project, has yet to begin.

The work on the lot will begin in two to three weeks, with a completion date in about December, according to Domenic Tramontozzi, senior construction manager for the city. While that lot under construction, the existing lot near the Sound will be available for parking.

Once the new 12,000-square-foot center opens, SoundWaters will be able to expand its offerings.

The center will house three programs: Young Mariners, which teaches young students life skills through sailing; Harbor Corps, which offers maritime job skills training for young adults; and Research Intensive, a college-level marine research program for high school students. The center will also include launch access for SoundWaters’ fleet of sailboats, and publicly available kayaks and paddleboards.

The organization also has a location at the historic Holly House on Cove Island, which will remain after the new center officially opens.

For more information on SoundWaters, visit soundwaters.org.

Connecticut new housing permits hit a 17-year high for July

Luther Turmelle

The number of new housing permits issued in Connecticut last month hit its highest July level in 17 years, officials with the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development said Tuesday.

There were 743 housing units approved last month in the state. That represents more new housing permits than were issued in May and June combined.

One factor for the surge in new housing permits came from multi-family residential construction, which includes both apartments and condominiums, said Bob Wiedenmann, owner of Sunwood Development in Wallingford, a new home builder.

Of the 743 new units issued permits, nearly 73 percent were for developments of five or more units.

Another factor was an unusually large number of new housing permits in Bridgeport.

More than half the new housing units that were approved overall came from the Park City, where officials approved 423. New Haven had the next largest amount of new housing activity, with 58 units approved.

“If you subtract the number of permits issued in Bridgeport, the July numbers would be the lowest amount of new housing activity this year,” Wiedenmann said.

Even with the surge in new housing permits, the total number of new housing permits issued during the first seven months of this year was 3,037 units, he said. That’s the lowest number of new housing units issued permits during the same period since 2011, according to Wiedenmann.

Donald Klepper-Smith, an economist with DataCore Partners, said housing is one of the few economic indicators “that has held up pretty well” this year in Connecticut.

“Transportation oriented housing along the Interstate 95 corridor has seen greater demand,” Klepper-Smith said. “That would explain the number of units approved in Bridgeport and New Haven.”

Going into the fourth quarter of this year, Klepper-Smith said he expects upward pressure on housing affordability in Connecticut because of a series of interest increases by the Federal Reserve.

“It takes a while for policy changes to be reflected in consumer behavior,” he said. “Higher housing prices are going to be baked into the cake for the next couple of years as a result.”

New housing permits are considered a key economic indicator because moving into a new house or apartment is usually accompanied by purchases of big ticket items like appliances or electronics.

Wilton receives over $8 million for bridge projects

J.D. Freda

WILTON — The town will receive more than $8 million in combined federal and state aid for the rehabilitate two bridges off of U.S. Route 7.

Those two bridges — on Honey Hill Road and Cannon Road — are part of a greater Wilton capital plan that is anticipated to cost an estimated $22.7 million in total to rehabilitate the town’s inventory of 29 bridges.

The process will take shape over a number of years, with the Honey Hill and Cannon Road bridges likely to start construction in 2025, according to the town. Preliminary design work began in June.

“Based on initial concepts when preparing the grant application, the value of work for Honey Hill Bridge is approximately $3,500,000,” said Frank Smeriglio, the chief in Wilton’s Department of Public Works. “The value of work for Cannon Road Bridge is $4,650,000.”

The Town of Wilton will receive at least 80 percent reimbursement from the federal government for all phases of each bridge project, Smeriglio said. Those phases include the design, rights-of-way and construction work.

Remaining funds will come from the state to cover the full cost of the projects, authorized under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act administered by the Federal Highway Administration and the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Based on initial concepts for both bridges, Smeriglio said Honey Hill Road’s bridge work includes replacing bridge beams, the bridge deck, asphalt, railings and guiderails.

“Cannon Road Bridge work consists of replacing the bridge,” Smeriglio said, adding this includes replacing the foundation and bridge beams, as well as the bridge deck and railings.

Nearby residents will be made aware of construction schedules and alternate routes to get to Route 7 leading up to the start of the project, officials said.

For now, consultants will continue to analyze what is needed at each site, and the estimate and concurrent grant total will be adjusted accordingly, Smeriglio said.

American School for the Deaf eyes multimillion-dollar W. Hartford campus expansion

Robert Storace

The American School for the Deaf is in preliminary discussions to build two new dormitories on its West Hartford campus that would cater to deaf and hard-of-hearing students, as well as those on the autistic spectrum and with emotional and behavioral issues.

The state Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority announced at its July 20 meeting that the 206-year-old school was planning to borrow $20 million to build the dormitories. M&T/People’s United Bank would be the purchaser of the $20 million direct placement offering. The school is a first-time borrower through the authority, which provides not-for-profit institutions access to low cost debt capital

Jeff Bravin, the school’s executive director since 2014, said the estimated $20 million construction of the two dormitories is part of a master plan that covers the next six years. Part of that plan also includes a brand new museum, Bravin said.

Bravin, who is deaf and spoke through a translator, told the Hartford Business Journal that the project is in the early stages and that the engineering and architectural discussions have yet to take place.

Bravin said the plans are for the new dormitories to meet the needs of the school’s population, including wide open spaces, a sensory room and a lot of visual items.

“Deaf and hard-of-hearing people rely heavily on the visual,” Bravin said. “We will have a lot of technology as part of these buildings. We are focused on the health and safety of our students.”

Bravin said he hopes to break ground in the spring or early summer of 2023 and for occupancy to start sometime in 2024.

 “The school has grown over the past several years and we are looking at more growth and enrollment and that would help pay off the debt,” Bravin said. 

The school currently enrolls about 150 students on campus; 85 students in its birth-to-three program; about 100 students through its online academy; and 200 students through its outreach services programs. It also has a brand new telehealth services program that caters to 12 students, Bravin said.

There are currently three larger and two smaller dormitories on campus. The campus also includes cottages, Bravin said.

The school has students from about 15 states, primarily in the Northeast and also caters to students from five countries, Bravin said.

Bravin said tuition costs range but begin at $35,000 annually. The state of Connecticut, he said, provides some funding for students.

The 25-members of the school’s Board of Directors still must sign off on the plan.

Construction Job Openings Up by 22,000 in July

The construction industry had 375,000 job openings in July, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

JOLTS defines a job opening as any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting. Industry job openings increased by 22,000 last month and are up 38,000 from the same time last year.

Construction workers quit their jobs at a faster rate than they were laid off or discharged for the 17th consecutive month in July.

"Though we may have collectively experienced peak inflation, it is poised to remain unusually elevated for months to come," said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu.

"Many factors will keep prices high, including energy crises in Europe and China as well as a dearth of available skilled workers. Today's JOLTS release is receiving considerable attention because many hoped that job openings would decrease for the second consecutive month in July.

"That did not come to pass," said Basu. "Economywide job openings bounced back in July and remain more than 60 percent above pre-pandemic levels. According to ABC's Construction Confidence Index, the share of contractors who expect to increase their staffing levels over the next half year remains elevated but has declined in recent months. As long as the supply of labor remains inadequate to meet the demand for workers, the industry will continue to experience upward wage pressures."

The Dotted Line: Recession fears spur uptick in terminations for convenience

Joe Bousquin

This feature is a part of “The Dotted Line” series, which takes an in-depth look at the complex legal landscape of the construction industry. To view the entire series, click here.

With talk of a pending recession growing louder by the day, owners have increasingly been pulling the plug on projects, attorneys say. While the uptick hasn’t been severe – yet – it has been noticeable by many.

“Right now, the termination trend is being driven by cost increases and volatility,” said Jade Davis, a construction attorney at law firm Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick.

“A lot of people thought stabilizing material costs would help with price volatility, but supply chain issues have continued,” Davis said. 

Higher interest rates, as the Federal Reserve has waged war against historically high inflation, have compounded the issue.

“The quick increase in interest rates has resulted in several owners putting their projects on hold,” said David González, general counsel at South Florida-based contractor ANF Group. While he says he hasn’t experienced stoppages among his firm’s clients, he has seen it happening elsewhere.

When owners pull the plug on projects, they typically do so via a termination for convenience clause, which is built into most construction contract templates, including those available from the American Institute of Architects. Termination for convenience clauses are overarching language that typically let owners, and in some cases contractors, walk for any reason they see fit.

“The case law provides that under termination for convenience, the contract can be terminated for any reason, or no reason at all,” said attorney Josh Spitalnik, owner of the Spitalnik & Spitalnik law firm in Roslyn, New York.

Shoring up projects

Attorneys say contractors should carefully navigate their contracts and take steps to prepare for unilateral terminations, should they become more prevalent.

“I suspect that as the labor shortages continue, construction material prices increase and bank lending tightens, more jobs will be stopped mid-stream,” said Carol Sigmond, a partner at New York City-based Greenspoon Marder. “Contractors should take the long view – have a strategy in place to work with owners to shut the jobs down in a safe and lawful manner, while also trying to obtain fair compensation for work performed.”

Doing so starts with knowing what’s in your contract. For example, while most contract templates include termination for convenience clauses, they also give contractors the ability to recoup “lost profits,” the gains the contractor would have had if it worked the job to completion.

But owners’ attorneys will often try to strike those terms upfront.

“As the attorney for a GC or sub, I always try to make sure they get lost profits on uncompleted work,” Spitalnik said. But, “it’s often difficult, especially when there’s an experienced construction attorney on the other side.”

What contractors can reasonably expect to recover, however, are costs that have already been incurred, as well as “demobilization” expenses they take on to stop work in midstream.

“You should have provisions that you’re paid for work performed, reasonable costs to demobilize and the cost of material and equipment already purchased for the job,” Spitalik said.

Who’s left holding the bag?

In the current supply chain environment, however, where many contractors have been ordering materials months in advance to ensure they have supplies when needed, that can introduce additional risk.

“Downstream contracts can be greatly impacted because many contractors and subs buy out the materials and cannot return them,” said Brad Shefrin, a partner in the Denver office of Hall Booth Smith.

For that reason, contractors should make sure they stay on top of invoicing and getting change orders approved before work gets done.

“The way to best protect yourself is to ensure the owner is up to date with all payments and consistently process change orders,” Spitalik said. “You do not want to be in a situation where you have done extra work, then the contract is terminated for convenience, and no one wants to pay.”

The cost to owners

As a GC, it’s also a good idea to put some language regarding termination fees into your contract, to make terminating for convenience less palatable for owners.
 
“For owners, a termination for convenience almost always comes during difficult financial times,” said Cleveland, Ohio-based Tucker Ellis partner Seth Wamelink. “Owners often underestimate what their termination for convenience costs will be.”
 
One way to make it less of an attractive option for owners who are already stressed about making their project pencil out is to ensure there are termination fees in a contract, as well as the lost profits component for contractors.
 
“That may disincentivize the owners from terminating in the first place,” said David Fine, a partner at Worcester, Massachusetts-based law firm Mirick O’Connell.

CT Construction Digest Tuesday August 30, 2022

Big Y would spend $22 million on new Middletown store, create 150 jobs

Cassandra Day

MIDDLETOWN — A traffic study, drainage and landscaping plans and other documents have been filed with the land use office to support a proposed $22 million, 51,892-square-foot Big Y World Class Market to be built in the south end of the city.

The grocery store would be located at 550 Highland Ave. on a combined 7.31 acres between 502 and 550 Highland Ave., and South Main Street/Route 17. The triangular plot is located on the east side of South Main Street/Route 17 and west side of Highland Avenue.

The request is to fill 983 square feet of wetlands and mitigate a 6,079 square-foot wetland area for the commercial development. It would be built on the former Frontier Communications and adjoining lot near the Durham line.

An Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency public hearing on the matter is set for Sept. 7.

The Springfield, Mass.-based chain would create about 150 new jobs (50 full-time and 100 part-time), and “substantially increase” the tax base in Middletown, according to the application.

If inland wetlands were to approve the plan, a special zoning exception would be considered by the Planning and Zoning Commission, according to Director of Land Use Marek Kozikowski.

The current building that would be demolished, formerly occupied by Frontier Communications, is 40,000 square feet in size. South Main Investors of Middletown owns the plot, and the developer is Mike Stone of Stone Point Properties.

The triangular plot is located on the east side of South Main Street/Route 17 and west side of Highland Avenue. A single-family home at 502 Highland is expected to be demolished to make way for construction, according to land use documents.

An application for a sanitary sewer easement on another area of the property was submitted to the land use department Aug. 22. The easement, obtained in 1959, was between the city and former Southern New England Telephone Co., the predecessor to Frontier Communications, documents show.

A large number of street trees would be planted on Highland and South Main, Kozikowski said. The Urban Forestry Commission will be making recommendations.

The state Department of Transportation concluded the projected site traffic volumes and analysis indicate there is “sufficient excess capacity” to accommodate the store. The agency recommended that Route 17 be widened at the Big Y driveway to provide a dedicated left-turn lane going southbound, and a traffic signal installed.

The traffic study, based on DOT records from December, indicates that Route 17 carries an average daily volume of 11,200 vehicles, with peak-hour volumes of 779 in the morning hours, and 1,002 during the late afternoon rush hour.

To gauge traffic, the DOT installed automatic traffic volume counters on Route 17 and Highland Avenue, as well as manual turning movement counts at Route 17 at Ward Street, Highland Avenue, Randolph Road/Route 155, Wesleyan Hills Road, Route 155 at Highland Avenue and Ridge Road.

Traffic incident data, collected by the University of Connecticut, between June 1, 2019, and May 31 of this year, shows there were 37 crashes involving 74 vehicles on Route 17, according to DOT data, the report said.

Of those, 13 occurred at the intersection of Route 115, and 15 at the intersection of Highland, with nine occurring at the Ward Street intersection.

The main access would be moved from Highland Avenue to South Main Street, documents show.

In all, 256 parking spaces would be created, including 16 accessible spaces, and 10 electric vehicle spaces with Volta fast-charging stations, according to the documents.

The issue of bringing the national grocery chain to Middletown has prompted conversations on social media for and against the proposal.

More than 100 people recently shared their opinions on the What’s Happening in Middletown (Connecticut) Facebook page.

Many brought up traffic issues. They range from traffic “nightmares” where Price Chopper is on Washington Street — compared to what the store might incur on Highland Avenue. One person said the plot is small considering a full-size grocery store plus parking would be put in “unless you pave every square inch.”

There also was a good deal of support and excitement for the Big Y, including one person who said the drive to a “decent” grocery store is more than 6 miles from their home, “and the folks in Durham have to go much further. A good grocery is needed on this end of town.”

Durham also is considering bringing a grocery market to town. The Economic Development Commission has created a survey asking respondents to identify what type of grocery store they want in town.

The list of options are Big Y, Whole Foods, Roberts, or a store similar in size to the Durham Market. Respondents also can select “none of the above” and input a separate choice.

For information, visit middletownct.gov

Darien Finds Safety Concerns with Hanson Road Bridge

Gregory Stroud, Emilia Otte

DARIEN – The town of Darien announced via Instagram on Monday.that they found deficiencies in the condition of a local bridge. 

According to a Darien Department of Public Works press release, the town detected defects on the Hanson Road Bridge during routine maintenance checks. The bridge sits across Stony Brook River, about 1.1 miles from Darien High School

The department said the town is in the process of determining repairs, but the concrete bridge is “safe to travel over and is being monitored on a regular basis.” 

Darien’s consultant recommended that the town place barricades along the north side of the bridge where the deficiency was noted, restricting the width from both sides. The department advises drivers to use caution and take alternate routes if possible.

According to the state Department of Transportation’s Eligible Bridge List, Hanson Road Bridge was last inspected in 1991. As of March, the structural deficiencies of the bridge were unknown, but it is eligible for state rehabilitation/replacement.

The Western Connecticut Council of Governments added an action to Darien’s 2021 Hazard Mitigation Plan to identify and upgrade bridges known to be having adverse impacts on drainage, flooding, navigation, safety and environmental quality. WestCOG assigned the action as a low priority. It is anticipated to cost more than $1 million and could take until 2026 to complete.

Darien town officials did not respond to queries by CT Examiner in time for publication of this story.

Federal Funding Rejected for Old Lyme Sewer Costs, New Meetings With Officials Raise Hope

Cate Hewitt

OLD LYME — The sewer project, estimated now in $55 million range, may be in jeopardy because an $11.2 million request for federal funding has been turned down.

At Saturday’s public presentation of the sewer project, Sen. Richard Blumenthal announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee did not approve the request. 

“Unfortunately the number of applications for earmarks doubled this year and this one was unsuccessful. The process begins again… and we’re prepared again to seek federal funding for this very worthwhile goal,” said Blumenthal via a zoom feed that was streamed to the middle school auditorium where more than 100 residents attended the sewer presentation. 

The three beach communities and the town had requested $14 million in federal funds toward shared infrastructure costs estimated at $16.5 million. The four communities have a total of 909 homes and the infrastructure costs will be paid proportionately by the number of homes in each community. 

One of the next steps is to “pursue additional grants and subsidies from state and federal programs” and to “investigate other opportunities for cost mitigation,” according to the presentation, which is available for download here. 

However, the project’s “interim funding obligations” to pay for project design are due January 31, 2023, the date to which the obligations have been deferred. Each beach “may hold a referendum to reauthorize projects with updated cost and funding information,” according to the presentation.

At the dais in the auditorium State Sen. Paul Formica told the audience that he spoken with Mark Boughton, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services, about using funds from the $5 billion in infrastructure money coming to the state of Connecticut. 

“We’ve outlined the project, we know that adding the sewers is a huge cost to each individual homeowner. We’re trying our best to provide some of those infrastructure dollars, should the decision be made to go with sewers, to offset the cost of accessibility to sewers, and any fees associated with that,” he said. 

Formica said Boughton “is a fan of the project moving forward, if that’s what the decision of the community is.”

The lengthy presentation emphasized objectives of complying with a longtime state consent order as well as remediating pollution in Long Island Sound. Officials from the town and the three beach associations — Miami Beach, Old Lyme Shores, and Old Colony Beach — updated residents on the estimated costs per household in each community.  

First Selectman Tim Griswold told the audience that there would not be a typical question and answer period after the presentation because questions were to be submitted in advance. 

“Some of the questions will be answered in the slides you will see and then some that were not [answered] will be addressed by the group at the end. Members of the panel will be available after the program if you wish to speak with them,” Griswold said. 

Frank Pappalardo, chair of the Sound View Sewer Coalition, told CT Examiner via email that the coalition “was not asked to participate in the meeting.”

Before the meeting, coalition members stood outside of the middle school and handed out a list of 10 questions that members wanted answered at the presentation. The group describes themselves as representing “a majority of homeowners in Sound View and Area B, who do not believe sewers are the most practical or cost-effective solution for this area.”

In his email, Pappalardo said he was “disappointed that not a single one of the questions [that the coalition] submitted were answered at today’s meeting… The only questions answered appeared to support the position that sewers were the answer.”

Among the coalition’s questions, which included a range of topics and concerns, was a request for current data proving that Old Lyme is polluting Long Island Sound. 

Pappalardo said the coalition supports updated testing and analysis, and pointed out that Hawk’s Nest Beach — which, so far, has been excluded from the project along with White Sands Beach — has had testing done. 

He said that much has changed since the original data — done in 2010 — was used to justify sewers.

“Old Lyme adopted a mandatory 7-year septic pump-out ordinance and animal waste mitigation. Many residents have also repaired failing systems or replaced them with new engineered systems. Why not see if these actions have had an impact before embarking on a 50+ million dollar project?” Pappalardo said. 

On Monday, Rich Prendergast, chair of the Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority, told CT Examiner that meetings with Senators Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro have been set up in the coming few weeks — and that the process has become easier than before. 

“There’s additional meetings. We don’t know when we don’t know the content… It could be that they’re just trying to understand the situation and or it could be that they’re trying to explain to us that you don’t get the money right away,” he said. “We don’t really know but before it was difficult getting meetings with the politicians.”

Scott Boulanger, chair of the Miami Beach Water Pollution Control Authority, said Monday that the beach association members understand the importance of the project and that it will minimize contributing to pollution in Long Island Sound. He said the issue is cost — per equivalent dwelling unit, the estimated yearly cost in Miami Beach is $3,600 a year for 20 years, but could be closer to $2,600 a year with grants from the federal government and from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. 

“I think the homeowners want to do the right thing but you’re asking somebody to spend quite a bit of money for something — they just can’t afford $3,000 or $4,000 a year for 20 years,” Boulanger said. “Maybe we made enough noise that now everybody is starting to focus… maybe there’ll be some work being done to try to minimize the impact.”

Doug Whalen, president of Old Colony Beach, said his beach association told residents 10 years ago that the project would cost them about $1,800 a year for 20 years. 

“We’re trying to keep that number there and the $11.2 million brings it there,” Whalen said.

Without the federal funding, the cost is estimated at $2,600 per equivalent dwelling unit per year for 20 years. 

“When we sent this through 10 years ago, the vote was 197 to 12 — the residents were very into this program. Unfortunately because of supply chain issues and COVID, the numbers came in 30 to 40 percent higher. We’re trying to recover that 30 to 40 percent.” 

He said Old Colony Beach was “very active” in pursuing other avenues of federal and state funding. 

“We want to be fiscally responsible to the residents but we also don’t want to stretch it out too far — this was supposed to be flowing back in 2019,” he said. “If we get those funds available, the shovel goes into the ground within the next six months.”

Housing Boom: Backed by employer support, Farmington sees wave of multifamily development

Andrew Larson

With a plethora of stately homes and modest dwellings, both new and old, Farmington’s housing stock includes options for people at different stages of life, at various price points — as long as they’re willing to take out a mortgage.

The dearth of multifamily construction in this town where business is booming has made it difficult for people seeking to relocate without the means or inclination to buy property, developers say.

That’s about to change.

Until recently, the town hadn’t approved a multifamily development since 2013, which developers believe created pent-up demand. Now, there are at least six multifamily proposals underway.

“I think the main issue is that Farmington has been underserved,” said Jacob Reiner, chief operating officer of CSRE, a real estate acquisition and management company based in Lakewood, New Jersey. “There hasn’t really been any new construction. The supply really hasn’t kept up with the demand.”

CSRE is one of the first companies to take advantage of Farmington’s special innovation floating zone. Following an update to the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development in 2018, the Planning and Zoning Commission established the innovation zone to allow higher-density multifamily and retail/commercial development on the same parcel in the UConn Health neighborhood.

CSRE bought the former Hartford Marriott Farmington hotel last year and is converting it into 225 apartments. The first units in the high-end apartment complex, called UpHouse, are expected to open in October.

The 381-room hotel at 15 Farm Springs Road closed early in 2021. Each apartment will comprise about two hotel rooms.

The mixed-use development will include indoor and outdoor pools, yoga rooms, a fitness club along with other resort-style amenities. Non-residents will be able to purchase passes to the amenitized areas.

“There’s very strong demand for Class A-type housing in Farmington and in the Greater Hartford area as well,” Reiner said. “We’re looking to deliver a unicorn type of product that really doesn’t exist.”

Prime real estate along the Route 4 corridor, near UConn Health and Jackson Laboratory, was not available for mixed-use development until recent changes approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission, which eased residential zoning restrictions.

Zoning change

Farmington Economic Development Director Rose Ponte said the new zoning laws give developers more flexibility and promote the type of housing the town needs — while leaving legislative authority to the commission.

As of 2017, 30.4% of Farmington’s land uses consisted of single-family homes, compared to 4.1% multifamily, according to the Plan of Conservation and Development. Also, more than 72% of Farmington’s housing stock was composed of single-family homes on large lots.

“The lack of smaller, modern and high-quality rental units in Farmington will exacerbate the disproportionately high percentage of persons over 65 when compared to the rest of the state,” the 2018 conservation plan said.

The plan also noted that younger people were opting not to make the long-term commitment of homeownership, sometimes because they didn’t qualify for a mortgage due to poor credit, lacked the ability to make a downpayment or had too much student loan debt.

“(The) aging population coupled with a lack of attractive rental options will become a very significant issue in Farmington,” the conservation plan said. “This will transpire as younger residents move to more urban areas with more rental options.”

Desirable location

Even so, Farmington is a popular place for local employees to live. Ponte said the town is desirable for families and younger people starting their careers, with its relatively low taxes, top-notch schools and thriving economy.

“We have one of the lowest tax rates (29.32 mills) in all the towns that surround us,” Ponte said. “We’re known to be very fiscally responsible, but at the same time, delivering excellent town services. We have wonderful schools, we have safe communities, we’re steeped in history and preservation. We value our open space.”

Those might be some of the reasons Farmington — which has a population of a little more than 25,000 — averages about 32,000 employees who work in town.

“That, in itself, gives demand, because everybody, I think, would rather live closer to their job rather than further away,” Ponte said.

The largest employer, UConn Health, has 4,660 regular payroll employees, with 397 living in Farmington — the town with the second-most UConn Health employees after West Hartford, a spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit biomedical research institution, employs more than 450 people at its Farmington office, most of whom also live in Farmington or West Hartford.

Employees are attracted to the area’s performing arts centers, museums, restaurants, parks and trails, according to LuAnn Ballesteros, Jackson Laboratory’s vice president of external and government affairs. Many are looking for short-term lodging.

“Currently, our most-pressing need in Connecticut is short-term, temporary housing to accommodate our postdoctoral associates, graduate students, visiting scientists, contract positions and other visitors to JAX,” Ballesteros said.

Jackson Laboratory has a globally competitive workforce and hires people from Connecticut, across the country and worldwide. Employees who relocate to the Farmington area are looking for proximity to the organization’s campus, along with “excellent schools, safe neighborhoods, and diverse, sustainable communities,” Ballesteros said.

As a whole, the town has more than 4 million square feet of office space, Ponte said. Along New Britain Avenue, there’s more than 2 million square feet of industrial space — with about zero vacancies, she noted. The manufacturers range from commercial laundry facilities to the German industrial machine manufacturer Trumpf to aerospace suppliers.

“We are very diversified, whether it’s manufacturing, whether it’s health care, we have financial advisers, we have bankers, we have all sorts of different industries,” Ponte said. “And then we also have very nice independent shop owners, and restaurant choices. So it’s really a nice mix.”

Multifamily projects

More developers are hoping to capitalize on Farmington’s development opportunities, and several multifamily projects are in the pipeline.

The town does not monetarily incentivize or abate any project, Ponte said. Instead, it focuses on keeping the tax rate low by adding to the grand list.

In addition to CSRE’s plan to add 225 rental units, another developer has proposed 199 apartments and more than 54,000 square feet of commercial space in new and rehabilitated buildings at 1371 Farmington Ave.

Located at the midpoint between Unionville and Farmington center, it’s on a 25-acre parcel along the Farmington River. The developer, JRF Management LLC, is also proposing upgrades to the adjacent Farmington Heritage Canal Trail.

Sager Development is proposing 62 mixed-income units, with 80% designated as affordable housing, at 80 South Road. The principal of Sager Development, Geoffrey Sager, is also principal of Metro Realty Group, which has received town approvals to build 146 units on a property near UConn Health at 402 Farmington Ave. Rock blasting for the project has begun.

Meanwhile, Pond LLC has proposed nearly 200 new apartments adjacent to two office buildings near Batterson Park.

In the short term, rising interest rates and inflation have made the rental market even more attractive, Reiner said. The “price-per-pound” of renovating an existing hotel and converting it into apartments is less than new construction, he said, and the turnaround is faster.

UpHouse will target workers who are looking for “a lifestyle-type-of-environment, empty nesters looking for amenities they won’t typically have in another community and obviously millennials who are making amenities their priority,” Reiner explained.

Multifamily projects have not been without controversy. Some residents have complained that large, high-density buildings are incompatible with the town’s quaint and quiet character.

In 2021, residents of Tunxis Village voiced strong opposition to the development at 402 Farmington Ave., calling it “out of scale.”

But Ponte said these projects will help Farmington catch up with other towns like Simsbury and Hartford.

“We’re trying to create these 24-hour communities where young talent may want to relocate — and they can live, work and play all in one area,” she said.

Kent sidewalk construction anything but smooth

LYNN MELLIS WORTHINGTON

KENT — The new sidewalk installation has been generating concerns about the quality and design of the materials being used. Town officials have also been criticized for their lack of communication with the building committee and the business community.

Streetscape Building Committee Chairman Mike Gawel raised concerns about the construction choices being made and the lack of inspection by the engineering firm in the initial weeks of the project. He emailed the selectmen but the issue was not addressed by the board until a special meeting Aug. 22, after the cancellation of the board’s regular meeting on Aug. 18.

Resident Justin Money, a 25-year stone mason working in Kent, shared his expertise by giving an eight-minute presentation to the selectmen with drawings on a whiteboard, explaining his concerns about the granite curbing being used with rough curving edges and a slippery top surface, as well as the lack of adequate packing of the gravel base under the concrete.

Mike Doherty, the project manager from SLR Engineering, acknowledged to the Streetscape Committee on Aug. 12 that work at the beginning of the project had progressed faster than expected and that the engineers had been informed, so as of that date no inspections had been done. Since then, the inspector has been on site multiple times.

Doherty explained at the Aug. 22 meeting that density testing had been done on the compaction of the base material and it met the standard, averaging to 95% density. However, he did say that the contractor has been told to alter the compaction method and he was open to having them soak the material with water due to the drought conditions.

Doherty acknowledged that the installation of small sections of granite curbing, instead of curved granite, would not be acceptable. Gawel and Money explained this is what is installed next to the Morning Star Nursing Home on Bridge Street.

“If there is curbing being put in on a radius that calls for a radius curving that curving will be ripped out,” Doherty said. “There is no chance that I’ll allow them to be putting in segments of curve to make up a radius, so if that has happened that will be corrected.”

Doherty explained that there were granite curbing supply issues that they became aware of during the bidding process and the bid documents were altered. In addition, Mather Corporation was unable to get suppliers in the northeast and had to get the granite from North Carolina. This was an additional $67,000 and the selectmen were aware of the change.

Gawel said his committee had not been informed.

“Nobody in months has contacted me concerning any of the changes,” Gawel said. “Not once was our committee consulted.”

He questioned whether the committee should continue or disband. First Selectman Jean Speck tried to reassure him that his opinion was valued.

Elissa Potts, owner of the Fife ‘n Drum restaurant, also criticized Speck’s lack of communication with the business owners regarding the project.

“…Your office needs to be sensitive to the retail community and keep them informed,” Potts wrote to Speck Aug. 12.

The first email on the sidewalk construction was sent at 3 p.m. Aug. 1 – the same day work had begun.

Speck has promised to get an email out weekly with details on the sidewalk progress and what was planned for the following week.

There is a construction meeting each Thursday. Those emails started Aug. 20 and have what is planned for the next two weeks and a listing of what has been done.

CT Construction Digest Monday August 29, 2022

Bridgeport: Developer lacks funds to finish East End project

Brian Lockhart

BRIDGEPORT — The city is seeking state financial aid to complete a long-awaited but financially troubled East End commercial project billed as transformative for that neighborhood.

Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration has applied to the new Community Investment Fund the legislature established last year for $4.4 million for developer Anthony Stewart’s Honey Locust Square. The plan includes a grocery store residents have for years requested, a restaurant and other retail space.

The East End-raised Stewart’s Ashlar Construction was selected in 2018 to transform the dilapidated commercial block on Stratford Avenue between Newfield and Central avenues.

Work has been progressing slowly. Stewart in prior interviews attributed the delays to the global coronavirus pandemic that arrived in Connecticut in early 2020 as well as the rising costs of construction materials.

At a recent public meeting with the City Council, William Coleman, Bridgeport’s deputy director of economic development, revealed that Stewart does not have the money to finish.

“He has enough funding in place to complete the shells of the buildings — to close them in,” Coleman said. “But there’s gap in retrospect to the fit out, most particular in respect to the grocery (store).”

Coleman said the city is seeking roughly $2.4 million from the Community Investment Fund to make sure the market is fully equipped for a future tenant and that the rest of the structures are completed.

Bridgeport has also applied for another $2 million from the fund that Coleman said the city will use to improve the public infrastructure around Honey Locust Square, including burying the utilities to “create better circulation on the sidewalks, better appearance” and making other streetscape improvements.

Stewart in an interview this week again blamed the pandemic for impacting his budget.

“All my prices shot through the roof,” he said. “Everything went up two times, some things even more. This was designed pre-COVID.”

East End Councilman Ernie Newton asked Coleman what happens if the city does not receive the state aid.

“This grant is very competitive,” Newton said of the Community Investment Fund — $875 million total, spread out over five years, available to municipalities and non-profits.

In fact Bridgeport is competing against itself. As previously reported, the Ganim administration is also seeking $100 million to help restore a pair of shuttered historic downtown theaters and $8.1 million to prepare the former AGI Rubber company on Stratford Avenue between the East Side and downtown for redevelopment. Stewart has said he is negotiating with the city to build apartments and a restaurant there.

Coleman told Newton there is another type of state grant the city can also seek for Honey Locust Square. And the last resort, Coleman said, would be to cut parts of the plan that might be “too rich” — like burying the utilities — or phasing things in.

“If they only give you so much money, you do what you can, now, keep moving and make incremental progress,” Coleman said.

Stewart agreed. He said if the state dollars are not available, “We have to modify things. We still have to build it.”

This is not the first time Stewart has faced issues with cost overruns. Ashlar was hired by the library board pre-pandemic to build a new East End branch adjacent to Honey Locust Square. That state-of-the-art building opened in the spring.

But behind-the-scenes Stewart and the board have been at odds over the bill, which grew from the $6.2 million Ashlar proposed when hired to $8.1 million. Of that $1.9 million overrun, the board begrudgingly paid $1.4 million Stewart said was owed his subcontractors.

Members complained he had not provided enough justification for the $1.4 million. And the board has refused to reimburse Ashlar for the additional $500,000 Stewart said his company is owed.

“We had a contract for a ‘guaranteed price,’” Jim O’Donnell, the library board’s chairman, said in April, referring to the initial $6.2 million. “We paid in excess of that price and we don’t believe any further amounts are due.”

Tom Errichetti, the library board’s treasurer, this week said that position has not changed.

“We paid $1.4 million over the contract price and we don’t feel that he’s justified any additional amounts,” Errichetti said.

Newton briefly raised that issue during the meeting with Coleman, implying that Stewart would have more money for Honey Locust Square if the library board made him whole.

“I don’t know what they’re gonna do (or) if he’s gonna go to court,” Newton said.

Stewart said he did not know what, if any, additional steps he might take to get paid. “The library board are all good people and I just hope they change their minds,” he said.

Stewart emphasized that his financial troubles at Honey Locust Square are “because of COVID,” not the library board, but added if he got that additional $500,000 he would sink it into the shopping plaza.

“This is my baby,” he said. “Everything I’ve got I’m putting into that until we get it done because it will be so impactful. Just watch me. I’ll get it built.”

Work begins on long-awaited Darien intersection redesign

Verónica Del Valle

DARIEN — Work has finally started a long-awaited infrastructure improvement project at West and Noroton avenues in Darien.

Town officials announced that preliminary layout and measurement work on the comprehensive intersection redesign was scheduled to begin this month. The early progress means that “some light construction work,” such as road painting and vegetation trimming, could obstruct drivers.

Heavier work — on the excavation and drainage — should begin in September, according to the announcement.

Darien officials have for years floated ideas to make changes to the intersection, which they say sits at a critical point in town. Documents provided to the town Planning and Zoning Commission in 2020 show the plans for creating new left turn lanes, installing new sidewalks and crosswalks, relocating curbs and adding traffic signaling.

Bid documents also show that the project must be completed within 195 days — nearly six and a half months — of the contract’s start date.

The $1.2 million project is funded by the Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program, and is just one of nearly 100 funded through that initiative by the State Bond Commission in 2021. The town in 2017 funded initial planning efforts for the redesign of the intersection.

Replacement plans panned after closure of Crystal Avenue high rises

Johana Vazquez

New London — City officials and members of the New London Housing Authority went back and forth for decades about what to do with the Thames River Apartments.

In the 1990s, some were in favor of demolishing the high-rise apartments, citing increased false fire alarms, crime and what some called “squalor,” even though that proposal lacked financial support from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Others considered such a move drastic and created a task force to instead improve life at the buildings. The task force eventually dissolved.

That same kind of indecisiveness stayed consistent to the buildings’ end. The three high-rise apartment buildings were demolished in early 2022 and all that remains on the spot where dozens of families lived is a vacant lot.

Redevelopment of the property, or relocation of its residents to a similar apartment complex, appeared to be within reach, but ultimately, it was not to be.

Slip and fall case led to class action lawsuit

In 2003, local personal injury attorney Robert I. Reardon Jr. met Nicole Majette, a young woman who had slipped on human waste in a hallway at the apartments. When Reardon visited her home, he said he found the conditions deplorable and felt compelled to do something more.

Reardon’s law firm started a lawsuit to get residents safe, habitable housing, attaining class-action status in 2007. Reardon, interviewed in the spring of 2022 as The Day began its investigation into the affordable housing crisis, said the protracted legal activity came at no cost to the residents, as he represented them pro bono and paid for things such as deposition fees.

Apart from representing the 280 residents of the class-action lawsuit, Reardon, who admittedly was uninitiated to the world of public housing, sought solutions as well.

Difference of opinions

Carabetta, a property management company based in Meriden, was the first option, Reardon said during an interview at his Hempstead Street law office. In 2011, the company was in the process of renovating the Briarcliff and Bates Wood properties, previously owned by the housing authority and now known as Progress Point and Pride Point. The company funded the project with private and public funds. Reardon asked them to come up with a plan to present to the housing authority for Crystal Avenue.

That same year, Carabetta presented a plan that included the rehabilitation and conversion of the C Building into elderly housing, creation of a river walk and family townhouses placed over the seven acres where the other buildings stood.

“We were fortunate that we could manage to do things for free. Carabetta never charged us,” Reardon said. “The city seemed to think everybody was in it for profit and really our experience had been the opposite.”

The housing authority regarded Carabetta’s plans as “too complicated and too expensive,” involving a lot of logistical issues.

Reardon said that during the legal proceedings, he also discussed alternative housing proposals with Jaime Bordenave, principal of the Washington, D.C.-based firm The Community Group International, who volunteered as an expert in housing financing and development.

By the time the class-action lawsuit neared trial in 2014, almost everyone listed as the defendants — members of the housing authority, city government and police department — no longer held their positions. The lead plaintiff, Cheryl Gregor, among others, no longer lived at the apartments.

Nonetheless, the institutions that Reardon claimed had caused the deplorable conditions on Crystal Avenue were still around, and the lawsuit sought to represent “all persons who have resided or will reside at the Thames River Apartments.”

The trial had barely began in August 2014 when the parties reached a stipulated-agreement. Superior Court Judge David M. Sheridan signed an agreement that provided a three year schedule to begin rehabilitation or redevelopment of the high-rise apartments.

According to the agreement, the development for the project was to begin by November 2017.

AHSC and Peabody Properties

In 2015, already behind schedule, the Housing Authority board of commissioners selected the Affordable Housing Services and Collaborative, a development company from Braintree, Mass., and their joint venture partner Peabody Properties, to redevelop the property.

Mike Mattos, CEO and president of the AHSC, said in a phone interview this summer that the company met with residents to inform them of possible redevelopment and held two focus groups, one with adults and another with kids, to see what they would like to stay the same or change about their home.

Mattos recalled the kids wanted a playground, gym, community garden, no elevators and more security cameras, among other things.

Later, Mattos said there was a lot of opposition locally to rebuilding the housing on the same location, especially as an election year brought in a new mayor.

Mayor Michael Passero was elected in November of 2015. Mattos said people from the new administration started talking and their feeling was they would rather see this site utilized for industrial or commercial use rather than housing.

Passero said during an interview this past June that people there were living in squalor. He said he always thought being able to relocate the families that were there was a good idea.

With that in mind, Mattos said AHSC started looking for an alternative site to build 124 family housing units in a city of 5.62 square miles.

Edgerton school site

“New London is a very dense city,” Mattos said. “Not a lot of open space to build 124 units, so we really started to look and evaluate several sites, and all of them had major site issues ... Then someone said to us, ’hey, the old Edgerton school property is going on auction.’”

The Edgerton Elementary School, a 3.3-acre site, had been vacant since it closed in 2009.

Mattos said Peabody thought it was a great location for affordable housing. Located right off Colman Street, a main artery of the city, the site at 120 Cedar Grove Ave. is close to public transportation, shops and employment opportunities and is within walking distance to the city’s high school and middle school.

The AHSC acquired the land for $600,000, and in a rush borrowed $150,000 from the housing authority to purchase it. The company paid the money back once it got a pre-development loan, said Mattos. The developers also ended up doing some “land assembly,” acquiring three adjacent parcels prior to applying for permits. By this point, Mattos said they had already spent close to $1 million.

“At that time, the housing authority was our partner; we had everyone’s support,” Mattos said. “So we said, ʽLet’s do it. This’ll work.ʻ ”

Lack of funding

But it didn’t work.

In May 2022, the AHSC sold the Edgerton site it had envisioned would house some, if not all, of the former residents of the Thames River Apartments.

The site, including the three adjacent parcels, was sold for $100,000.

Although the company faced major permitting challenges and vocal neighborhood opponents, Mattos said the biggest challenge was getting funding.

In 2017, following a zone change rejection, an appeal and an agreement to allow residential use at the site, the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved the site plan for a scaled-back version of the project, with a total of 72 units.

The developers then tried for three consecutive years to get low-income tax credits from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority. The process of getting funding is point-driven and highly competitive. Each time AHSC applied, Mattos said they fell short of receiving enough “points” based on different categories.

Mattos said the developers lost seven points right off the bat because the project is located in New London, a city with 22% of its housing deemed affordable. He said the point system doesn’t take into account the size and age of the housing stock.

Before applying in 2019, Mattos knew it would be the last attempt to get the project funded. By this point, too much money had gone into pre-development costs, quarterly taxes and the annual maintenance on the existing buildings.

The company by then had amended their plan from 72 units down to 51 to reduce some of the overall construction costs and make it more appealing to CHFA.

When, for the third time, they didn’t score high enough, Mattos made an unsuccessful appeal to CHFA.

“One of the things we found when doing our research, 89% of housing in New London was constructed before 1980 and 53% was constructed before 1940,” Mattos said. He added there was a minimal amount of new units constructed since 2000 within the city.

He said only 3.2% of the housing stock was built in the last 18 years prior to 2019.

Mattos said they also found that 31% of renters in New London were considered living in overcrowded conditions and there was a need for larger units not available.

“We’re providing three, four bedrooms. That’s what the families at Thames River Apartments needed. We were trying to make larger family units, not one- to two-bedroom, to give families more options but they don’t even consider that in their point system,“ he said.

It didn’t help that the housing authority had no longer prioritized the project.

Mattos said the momentum changed after the executive director that he originally worked with, Sue Shontell, left the authority in November 2016 and the board was replaced with mostly new members — all appointed by Passero.

Mattos got the impression they didn’t want to wait two to three years for the development. They wanted to move residents sooner because the conditions on Crystal Avenue were horrible, he said.

“Even though the housing authority had selected us to work with them, we felt like we lost our leverage in terms of going after the state resources,” Mattos said.

In 2017, the New London Housing Authority, alongside the city, applied for a demolition disposition to the U.S. Department of Urban Development to close and demolish the Thames River Apartments and receive tenant protection vouchers to relocate.

A housing authority document from Oct. 2, 2017 shows HUD’s approval justified the demolition because of the apartment’s location and “issues with the boiler system that the Housing Authority does not have adequate resources to address.” The estimated rehabilitation cost for the entire complex was $28,617,256.

Betsy Gibson, chairperson of the authority at the time, said in an interview at The Day offices in May that the authority never made rehabbing or relocating the apartments a priority.

“I didn’t think that kids should be living under a bridge next to a landfill. It was not an ideal place for families,” Gibson said. “It separated them from the rest of New London... Most people wanted out of there for a better quality of life for children.”

She said the housing authority wasn’t heavily involved in the Edgerton plans.

Commission member Kathleen Mitchell voted against the demolition. She was a proponent of rehabbing the buildings rather than tearing them down.

In an May interview at her home, Mitchell said the wealthier people in town think they know better about what needs to be done for low-income people.

“They didn’t want to move,” she said about the residents.

By mid-2018, those living at the Thames River Apartments had left and moved into private housing with their Section 8 vouchers, never to return again.

“I have mixed thoughts, feelings,” Mattos said. “At the end of the day, I think the project would’ve been a great project for the city and for CHFA. I’m disappointed we weren’t able to get the financing. Everything else, locally, not disappointed. I feel like New London is a great city and a lot of great people there.”

He said, “I wished the outcome would’ve been different, and we would’ve gotten the points.”

Torrington’s Keystone Place location approved for addition

BRUNO MATARAZZO JR

TORRINGTON — The Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday approved an addition to Keystone Place at Newbury Brook on Litchfield Street that would add 37 new apartments to the 102-unit senior living facility.

The commission approved a modification to the site plan by a unanimous vote.

Keystone Place co-owner Joe Roche said he hopes construction can start next spring once all the details are finalized, the project goes out to bid and they secure a construction loan.

“We’re very optimistic,” Roche said.

Roche said Keystone Place in Torrington has one of the highest occupancy rates out of all of the Keystone Senior Living properties in the country. The company’s website lists 11 sites in eight states.

The occupancy rate in Torrington was more than 95% in recent years and is now at 100%.

The average occupancy rate for independent living facilities is 88% and the average rate for assisted-living facilities is 82%, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care.

“The team in Torrington is leading the field. It’s very rare to hit 100%,” said Roche, who also co-owns the Keystone Place in Ludlow, Mass.

The plan includes an additional 12 independent apartments, 18 assisted-living units and seven for memory care. The units would be built in the rear of the building, extending both sides of the U-shaped structure.

The addition will be four stories, like the current structure, and the same exterior building material will be used. The building is being expanded 60 feet to the west.

In addition to the structure, the plans call for the addition of 33 new spaces, including 12 interior parking spaces in the southern wing of the building.

The city’s zoning regulations allow for no more than 40 beds per acre for congregate care facilities. The overall density of the project is 10.3 beds per acre. The site is located on 17 acres.

The PZC approved the project in 2010 and modified it a year later to reduce the number of units from 181 to 102.

The project’s footprint was reduced in 2016 before construction started.

Although the building’s footprint was reduced in 2016, the site of the property’s storm-water maintenance system wasn’t changed.

“We still fall under the total amount that the storm-water system was built for and therefore, by bringing this project together, we do not need to modify the storm-water system,” Ken Hrica, the engineer for the expansion, told the commission.

The site’s impervious area that was approved in 2010 was 20% and the altered plans in 2016 dropped that 13.5%. With the addition, it’s up to 17.4%.

The project plans call for additional retaining walls. The additional retaining walls will be similar to the ones already on site now. The two parallel retaining walls will be 12-feet high at the highest point.

CT Construction Digest Friday August 26, 2022

Middletown riverfront redevelopment project leader to be chosen

Cassandra Day

MIDDLETOWN — The city is close to announcing the individual or entity chosen to lead the redevelopment of the former arcade garage site and nearby properties downtown, a critical component of the ambitious riverfront revitalization project expected to be realized within the next decade.

After launching a request for proposals two years ago, the city in June was poised to examine five applications from developers with ideas for reusing three plots near the riverfront — an area considered a “cornerstone for redevelopment.”

The city received two applications from its initial RFP two years ago. However, one deal fell through and the other proposal was deemed unsuitable, former economic development coordinator Thomas Marano has said. One proposed a mixed-use complex with apartments, retail, offices and more, he said at the time.

The chosen developer would purchase/develop a combined 3.5-acre parcel at 60 Dingwall Drive, two adjacent sites, including the parking lot of 222 Main St. behind the police station; and 195 deKoven Drive, owned by Attention To Detail. The developer would have to negotiate with the latter on a purchase price.

“We’re very excited about the level of interest and talent that has come out from the development community,” Mayor Ben Florsheim said at this week’s Downtown Business District meeting.

The arcade’s lower level was closed in December 2013 due to crumbling concrete and other hazards. The 50-year-old garage had been experiencing damage from crumbling concrete for years, and posed a safety risk. Afterward, the entire structure was blocked off.

It finally was razed and temporarily replaced with a surface lot near the rear of the police station on Main Street.

Florsheim Wednesday said a meeting was set to occur with the developer later in the week.

The selection panel has interviewed and re-interviewed candidates whose proposals were considered, the mayor added.

He, Interim Director of Economic and Community Development Bobby Knoll Peterson, Acting Chief of Staff Alice Diaz, Director of Land Use Marek Kozikowski, Middlesex County Chamber of President Larry McHugh, Deputy Mayor Vincent Loffredo and Council Minority Leader Phil Pessina, who is on the Economic Development Commission, will make the recommendation.

“We want to establish working relationship guidelines with the developer we feel strongly about,” as well as ask some follow-up questions, Florsheim explained.

“We don’t want to make a final selection until we have made sure we’re all on the same page about what the time frames are going to be, what the working relationship is going to look like,” he added.

The city has set aside bonding money approved by voters in 2020, as well as federal funds. “That has been a long process, but I feel pretty good about the project,” Florsheim said.

Additional parking will soon be available in the North End. Some 40 parking spaces will be added downtown at a one-acre, combined lot owned by the city at 7 and 31 Rapallo Ave. A small building on the parcel is expected to be demolished.

Once that is gone, the lot would help alleviate what officials have described as a “severe” shortage of parking for shops, restaurants, recreation areas and other locations downtown.

“It will help to depressurize parking a little bit, especially as we move toward the construction of that garage,” Florsheim said.

He anticipated a public announcement would be made over the next two weeks or so, paving the way for work on the site to begin by late summer 2023.

Over budget State Pier project, under federal investigation, becomes focus of Stefanowski-Lamont dispute

Julia Bergman

Bob Stefanowski, the Republican candidate for governor, has spent months campaigning on issues that GOP candidates across the country see as weak spots for Democrats: inflation, crime, parental choice.

But as his campaign heads into the home stretch before the November election, with new faces and more aggressive tactics, Stefanowski is elevating another talking point that he brought up at his first press conference after receiving the GOP nomination: corruption in Connecticut. Stefanowski has claimed that major corruption has happened under Lamont’s watch, calling it as big of a burden, if not more, on taxpayers as any other tax — even coining the phrase” corruption tax.”

“You’re going to hear a lot about it between now and November: the corruption tax,” Stefanowski said. “Remember that name, Governor Lamont’s corruption tax.”

On Thursday, Stefanowski, flanked by Republican state lawmakers, including his running mate, Rep. Laura Devlin, of Fairfield, and Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, of Stratford, convened a press conference in downtown New London to highlight one of the poster childs for his claims: the costly overhaul of the State Pier happening just across the Thames River that is now under federal investigation. At times, the press conference was punctuated by the sounds of pile drivers in the distance — a sign of the active construction site at the pier.

“What better example of a corruption tax than this,” Stefanowski said as he walked toward two cardboard rectangle bars, one green and one red, next to the podium where he was speaking— the green bar showed an early estimate for the project, $93 million, and the red bar indicated the current cost projection: $242 million.

The project is the subject of a sprawling federal investigation that includes the Connecticut Port Authority, the quasi-public state agency the oversees the pier. The port authority has come under fire for financial mismanagement and lack of oversight. The Office of State Ethics announced last month that a New York-based maritime consultant and financier has agreed to pay a $10,000 penalty for gifts the company made to port authority employees and a board member in 2017 and 2019.

But no criminal charges have been filed in the probes of State Pier and other construction projects overseen by Lamont’s former deputy budget director, Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis, which were made public in February, unlike another case of corruption Stefanowski frequently underscores: the alleged fraud scheme by West Haven officials involving federal pandemic money. That probe has resulted in criminal charges and guilty pleas.

“Everybody sat down, they said it’s going to be $93 million. Now it’s $150 million higher. Anybody want to guess who picks up that over?” Stefanowski asked Thursday, eventually answering his own question: the state’s taxpayers. That $150 million would’ve been better spent on improving education or hiring more state troopers, he said.

At one point, Stefanowski, 60, suggested that the scandals plaguing the Lamont administration were worse than what occurred during the John G. Rowland administration. The former Republican governor served time in federal prison over a bid-rigging conspiracy.

“There's been more corruption allegations in this administration - I turned 60 this year - than I've ever seen,” Stefanowski said.

While Stefanowski was in New London, Lamont was in Hartford to announce that about 200,000 Connecticut families would soon be receiving a new state child tax rebate in the mail. Asked by reporters after the news conference to respond to Stefanowki’s claims of corruption and mismanagement in his administration, Lamont brushed off the attack.

“He’s a CFO who likes to make up numbers,” he said. “There’s no truth to that.”

The governor instead highlighted State Pier, which is being renovated to support the burgeoning offshore wind industry, as one of the most-important investments the state has made in recent history.

“I think you’re going to see New London, which was once one of the most-robust ports in the country, come back to its former glory and State Pier is a big part of that,” Lamont said. “So, if he’s negative on State Pier, I’m not.”

Stefanowski continues to paint Lamont as a governor “in over his head,” incapable of managing big deals, juxtaposing those claims with his corporate background. Asked how his approach to the cost overruns and other issues plaguing the project would’ve differed from Lamont’s, Stefanowski said: “I’d sit down with Ørsted and say we’ve got to fundamentally restructure. I did it all the time. In the corporate world.”

Danish energy company Ørsted has partnered with Eversource to bring offshore wind power to Connecticut and Rhode Island. If he was governor, Stefanowski said he would’ve sat down with representatives from the two companies and told them they would be responsible for picking up “100 percent of the mistake,” referring to the cost overruns, “because you gave us the estimate.”

“That’s the difference between a business leader and a guy who ran a small cable company who could care less about the taxpayers of Connecticut,” Stefanowski charged.

West Haven officials call for reality check on The Haven: ‘They are leaving’

Brian Zahn

WEST HAVEN — After years of false starts and delays, local officials have confirmed they believe what frustrated residents have speculated for a while: The Haven upscale outlet mall is not happening.

Following a May meeting with developer Simon Group, two members of the city’s delegation to the General Assembly told the Register that they believed the development — a $200 million, 347,826-square-foot, high-end mall on the waterfront — had no future.

Mayor Nancy Rossi said at the time that the city would be “aggressive” in nudging along the development, including threats of blight fines that were expected to cost the developer $3,600 per day. A month later, she presented a five-year plan to the Municipal Accountability Review Board that projected the city would see a $10 million increase to its grand list in the 2026 fiscal year because of The Haven development.

Simon Group did not respond to a request for comment.

Although state Reps. Dorinda Borer, D-West Haven, and Charles Ferraro, R-West Haven, have shared their belief that the mall project will not come to pass, Rossi said she has not reached that conclusion.

“I don’t know what’s going to go there. There are hypotheses, but I just want it knocked down,” Rossi said.

Rossi said her top priority is seeing forward movement instead of stagnation. Although developers filled out permit paperwork to demolish some of the buildings on the site, she said the fee has not been paid. Until then, she said, no structure will be demolished.

“I used to do collections. Do you know how many times I’ve heard the check is in the mail?” she said.

A number of rotted, blighted structures have sat behind a chain-link fence across from First Avenue for years now, leading to complaints from neighbors who say they live across from an eyesore. The presence of abandoned structures has made the site attractive to public safety agencies conducting drills — neighbors were startled by an unannounced FBI drill last month that created four loud explosions on a weekday morning.

Rossi said that blight fines are being issued and a letter was sent to the Board of Police Commissioners requesting a vote to reopen Water Street.

Rossi said she also is now unsure how much the property will add to the city’s grand list by 2026.

“If we get a viable project, whatever that project is, whether it’s a mall or a conference center or mixed-use or a ballfield, then we’ll be able to have a real assessment,” she said. “We can’t make any assumptions right now.”

Councilwoman Sarah Ackbarali, D-3, whose district includes the development, said she had been requesting updates and was frustrated to not receive them.

“I want to apologize to all of my constituents and to those that have been and continue to be affected by the area that we have long called ‘The Haven.’ This total lack of transparency regarding the status of the property and the investors current intentions is completely unacceptable,” Ackbarali said in a statement. “What is even more troublesome to me is that I was only made aware of this only hours before it’s press release despite months of requesting weekly updates with little to no response in return. I am here not only as your 3rd district Councilwoman, but as a disappointed resident as well. I am demanding full transparency from this point on. The people of West Haven deserve better and I intend to do everything in my power to continue to fight for them. Again, I extend my deepest apologies and hope that we can all move forward in a much more positive direction.”

Borer said she believes any denial that The Haven project has expired is an attempt to “sugarcoat” the reality.

“You can’t sugarcoat this: they are leaving. They’re not stalled. They’re not delayed. They’re not,” she said. “And I think we all need to move forward and put them in our rearview mirror aggressively.”

Other local officials, who also believe the promise of a mall has expired, said they anticipate the area’s future.

“I think this gives us a great opportunity to plan for something that would benefit everyone and include constituents in plans and proposals,” said state Rep. Trenee McGee, D-West Haven, in a statement.

City Council President Peter Massaro, D-6, said the parcel is privately owned and it will “probably” be placed on the market for sale.

Christine Gallo, chairwoman of the city’s Economic Development Commission, said she would want the city to “use every carrot and stick and every pot of honey and jar of vinegar at our disposal” to get Simon to list the property.

“I feel like the city is stalling until they have something else to show for it. But absolutely nothing is going to happen, period, case closed. The property has to be sold,” she said.

Gallo said her preference would be for a luxury hotel along the water. The city passed on an offer from a developer to purchase 6 Rock St. to develop a hotel, opting instead to lease the city-owned property to New England Brewing Co. for a brewery and taproom along the shoreline.

“This would fill a big niche,” she said. “I think it’s an idea and that’s the kind of thing that should go in there: it’s to me a perfect location for it. I think it would be one of a kind.”

Ed O’Brien, a former mayor whose four years in office were marked by efforts to advance the project, said he was “saddened” to learn that many local officials no longer believe the project will come to pass.

“I hope the administration and developers can work together to attract a larger development that will bring jobs, tax revenue, and beautify our city,” he said in a statement.

Roughly one year ago, members of the state delegation successfully advocated for the area to receive a special tax district designation — such a designation creates favorable borrowing conditions for the owner of the property. The city drafted an interlocal agreement months ago that the developer has not signed.

Borer said she was unclear as to whether the designation would transfer to a new owner, but built in to that legislative designation is that any new development on that land would be required to go through the city’s regulatory boards and commissions.

“There’s no opportunity for a bait and switch,” she said. “Whoever they sell it to will have to fit within our municipal development plan.”

The city offered roughly $1.3 million of a grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development to Simon to incentivize development, according to Corporation Counsel Lee Tiernan. Tiernan said the city would consider issuing a lien on the property and foreclosing if the grant is not refunded.

“It’s a pretty simple process to get the money back if we have to,” he said.

Rossi said the city would like to receive a refund, but her top priority is that The Haven pay to demolish buildings on the site.

“I’m not going to focus on any other plans until they prove they have some skin in the game,” she said.

$166M school project headed to referendum in Cheshire

Peter Prohaska

CHESHIRE — A long-awaited $166 million school project is headed to referendum this November.

At a special meeting of the Town Council Tuesday night, a resolution to send the $166.6 million school modernization project to the voters passed unanimously.

Now, it will be up to residents to decide whether the plan moves from concept to reality.

Cheshire public school officials in attendance clapped enthusiastically as the vote was made, signaling that the long grind toward the proposed project has finally reached an important milestone. If the referendum is approved by voters, two new schools are slated for construction: One will be an entirely new elementary school to be built on a town-owned parcel off Marion and Jarvis Roads. The other will be a redesigned and rebuilt Norton School at the current location off North Brooksvale Road. Darcey and Chapman schools will be closed and ownership will revert to the town. Costs to taxpayers will, however, be significant.

This is the first phase of what officials hope to be a multi-year effort that will address each school in the district. Future projects have yet to be finalized.

Just one citizen, Ray Ilnicki, spoke at the meeting. He commended the council for its hard work to better the schools, dating all the way back to 2010, but also questioned members about future costs and the quality of information available to voters.

“You ought to be transparent with the public,” he said, suggesting that many in town are not familiar with the issue. Council Chairman Tim Slocum replied at length, saying “every member of this council, everyone who’s worked on this project is trying to be as transparent as we possibly can.”

Because the referendum will appear on the ballot this November, public officials said they will no longer offer public advocacy for the project, per Connecticut state elections law and adhering to the advice of Town Attorney Jeffrey Donofrio. However, each member spoke passionately in favor of the project during the meeting.

Councilor Don Walsh pointed out that the proposed spending represents the largest expenditure in the town’s history, while tracing the origins of this process back 17 years.

“People have said, the council has kicked the can down the road so many times,” Walsh said. “We’re not kicking it down any more. We’re here. This is the opportunity for this town. We have vetted just about every scenario we possibly could.”

“We sat here in a candidate’s forum and to a person we all agreed that this referendum that we’re looking at tonight was the most important thing that we were facing as a Council, as a town, and certainly as a Board of Education,” Councilor Peter Talbot added. “We all supported it. We didn’t always agree on how we were going to get there but now that we’re here we are absolutely lock-step with this passing.”

“If we do not do this now, it will be too many years until we can address the issue again,” opined Councilor Sylvia Nichols.

Other proponents pointed to state funding as a key reason to support it in November.

“This is the right time to do this. We are receiving 50% reimbursement. If we don’t take advantage of this now, we’re not going to do it,” said Councilor Sandra Pavano. “We’re never going to get the opportunity for the finances that we have now. We do not want to see our students in trailers at the schools.”

Councilor John Milone mentioned that “it’s important for townspeople to understand that if they’re concerned about details of the project, the projects have not been fully designed yet. As with any development within the community, it will go through a regulatory process. There will be plenty of opportunity to consider things like traffic impact and architecture, and impact on wetlands, just like any other development. So don’t feel that if you vote for this you won’t have opportunity for input into the remainder of the project.”

Councilor David Veleber pointed out that given the “current state of our schools and potential enrollment projections, this is designed to address those issues in a way that we address the needs of the system, not necessarily the wants of the system. I know it’s expensive but this is a choice that we’re going to be faced with for both the improvement of our school system and the improvement of our town going forward.”

Councilor David Borowy made the economic argument that, not only have some capital items been deferred to make the plan more reasonable, but that he feels better schools will increase home values and resale values. He also made a more personal plea. “When my grandparents moved here in the 1930s, they were lucky that people had good schools before that. When my parents in the 1960s moved here, they also had good schools and the people before them had voted for them. And in the 1990s when I was on the council we voted on this. It seems every generation there’s an opportunity to do this and it’s time.”

Councilor Jim Jinks said “it’s been 50 years since we built a school, the newest one (was built in) 1971 and our other schools are much older. We need to continue to invest in our greatest resource which is our schools and our students and our families.”

Slocum finished out the council speeches, urging Cheshire residents to “seek out the information that’s going to make you better informed. Feel free to call any one of us. We want your questions, we want you to be engaged. It’s a heavy lift for every taxpayer in town, but it’s an uplifting lift. It’s going to upgrade and uplift our community.”

Frontier pays $5M fine for improper excavations

Andrew Larson

Stamford-based Frontier Communications has paid a $5 million fine and will not challenge a notice of violation issued by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority last month alleging that the company jeopardized public safety through “reckless and inappropriate underground installations” of fiber optic cable.

An attorney for Frontier, Timothy Jensen, sent a letter to PURA Wednesday that said the company would not request a hearing regarding the fine. He enclosed a $5 million check payable to the state treasurer.

Frontier said its payment was “not a waiver of its right to challenge any other decision.”

On July 27, PURA cited Frontier for safety violations and ordered it to cease and desist its practice of using improper trenchless excavation methods.

The authority accused Frontier and its contractors of laying fiber optic cables in the public right-of-way using inappropriate design and construction standards, causing damage to underground natural gas and electric distribution facilities. 

PURA’s examination found that Frontier failed to expose facilities being crossed in Ansonia, Enfield, Middletown, Wallingford, Meriden, Waterford and Stratford.

PURA has levied civil penalties ranging from thousands of dollars to as much as $30 million against Eversource — the maximum allowed by the state — in a decision last year. 

Bridgeport seeks $8.1M to redevelop blighted downtown property

BRIDGEPORT — As officials negotiate with a local developer to revive a key piece of blighted land on the border of downtown and the East End, adjacent to the Steelpointe peninsula, they need $8.1 million in state aid to prepare the site for new construction.

The property is the former AGI Rubber Co. at 141 Stratford Ave., in recent years the location of some large fires.

Last December developer Anthony Stewart, who rebuilt the Newfield library in the East End and is constructing a retail plaza nearby, confirmed he was in talks with Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration to build an IHOP restaurant and apartments on the municipally-owned AGI land.

But recently William Coleman, deputy director of economic development, told City Council members Bridgeport applied for significant financial assistance from the state’s newly-established Community Investment Fund to move the project forward. The legislature set aside that pot of money — $875 million spread out over five years — in 2021.

Coleman said that $8.1 million breaks down as follows: $1.5 million to complete the environmental cleanup; $3 million to raise the land, which borders the Pequonnock River, so it will not flood and to build a seawall there; and $3.6 million to construct a public access way along the water.

“All this is trying to do is give us a workable site,” Stewart said in an interview Wednesday.

Stewart said his proposal for the IHOP and a 10-story building with 200 market-rate and affordably-priced units has not changed over the last few months, though he declined to offer a cost estimate for construction.

“A lot of it depends on what the city is able to do to help make it a buildable site,” he said.

Asked what happens if the state dollars do not come through, or if only some of Bridgeport’s $8.1 million ask is granted, Stewart said he could still get something accomplished.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. We just have to modify our plans,” he said.

Meanwhile Coleman has declined to confirm Stewart is the developer his department is negotiating with. When that topic was broached during his meeting last week with council members, Coleman said, “There’s conversation in the community, generally, and I can’t stop that.”

But, he argued, such details will eventually be revealed to the council because that legislative body will ultimately have to approve any redevelopment deal for the AGI acreage.

“We think you will like it,” Coleman said.

He noted how some on the council have called for more affordable housing, particularly following members’ vote earlier this year to approve a 12-year tax break to build up to 1,500 high end apartments at the nearby Steelpointe site.

Located further along Stratford Avenue from the AGI land, Steelpointe over the last several years has been revitalized by Robert Christoph Sr. and Robert Christoph Jr. and is home to a Bass Pro Shops, a Starbucks coffee shop, a Chipotle Mexican restaurant, the Boca oyster bar and a new marina. Besides the housing the Christophs have also said they want to build a hotel.

With the recent closure of the downtown Holiday Inn, Stewart said some have urged him to also consider incorporating a hotel into his plans for the AGI property. But, he said, he wants to stick with housing and that is also what the Ganim administration wants.

“They like housing. Bridgeport needs more housing, especially nice housing,” Stewart said. “It’s right by the train station, the bus station. The (Long Island Sound) ferry’s down the street. That’s a great location. I love that site. I think it would be a good commuter site.”

City Councilwoman Maria Valle represents the East End and is also a co-chair of the legislative body’s economic development committee. In an interview Wednesday she emphasized the importance of improving the AGI location.

“It’s gonna bring more individuals to the area and it won’t be an eyesore,” she said. “You have the beautiful Steelpointe and, across the street, this site.”