THE CONNECTICUT SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS HAS INVITED US TO
JOIN THEM
FOR THE RELEASE OF THEIR 2022 CONNECTICUT INFRASTRUCTURE
REPORT CARD
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2022
10AM
METRO-NORTH RAILROAD WATERBURY STATION
333 MEADOW STREET, WATERBURY CT.
SOUTH END OF THE OVERFLOW LOT – ADJACENT TO THE TRACKS
WITH THE RTE.8 / I-84 MIXMASTER REHABILITATION PROJECT IN
THE BACKGROUND
Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal
Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary
THIS WILL BE AN IMPORTANT DISCUSSION ON THE CONDITION OF
CONNECTICUT’S INFRASTRUCTURE
THE TIME TO INVEST IN INFRASTRUCTURE IS NOW!
Hartford firm tapped to partner with Middletown to develop prized lots near river
MIDDLETOWN — The city has chosen a firm to be part of a
public/private partnership to redevelop
three parcels at the site of the former municipal garage near the
Connecticut River.
These “opportunity zones” are located on a total of 3.5
acres at 60 Dingwall and 195 deKoven drives, and at the rear of 222 Main St.,
something officials
have described as prime real estate.
Mayor Ben Florsheim announced the city narrowed down
proposals to the application submitted by principles of Spectra, Wonder Works,
and Crosskey Architects of Hartford.
The project is called the “Village at Riverside,” Deputy Mayor Vincent Loffredo
said.
As part of the plan, a new parking arcade would be built to
replace the aging structure knocked down in 2018 due to dangerous conditions.
The original request
for qualifications sent out early this year solicited only two
applicants, Loffredo explained, so the city issued another, which drew three
developers. One of the original two firms modified its request and resubmitted
it during the second round, he said.
The final three went through a “vigorous review” by
selection committee members, the councilman said.
The plots have “scenic and panoramic views” of the
Connecticut River, according to the 26-page request for developer
qualifications created in March. Each parcel is in the “heart of Middletown’s
thriving downtown,” it said.
Florsheim said in a letter to the selection committee Sept.
1 that he viewed this time as an “engagement period that precedes the actual
wedding ceremony (so to speak), which will come later if the engagement goes
well.”
The proposal from Spectra, Wonder Works, and Crosskey
Architects stood out, Florsheim wrote.
“The biggest factors for me that elevated Spectra over the
other extremely competitive applicants were their innovative approach to
parking, their successful track record with projects in Connecticut (and strong
references from those projects), the diversity and local roots on their team,
and their very confidence-inspiring financial approach," he said.
Loffredo said the partnership hinges on an agreement being
reached with the firm. If that is successful, documents are expected to be
drawn up by the end of the year, at which point the matter will be reviewed by
the Common Council.
One of the conditions is the purchase of the Attention to
Detail property next door, Loffredo noted.
ADT Properties owns the 0.9-acre plot at 195 DeKoven Drive,
which faces the river, and opens up “vistas” to the main site, the RFQ
explained.
If conversations are successful over the next few weeks, the
agreement will be referred to the Economic Development Committee, Florsheim
said in the email.
Loffredo said he's optimistic a consensus will be reached.
“I’m hopeful, but there’s a lot of work yet to be done," he said.
"This is not going to happen immediately. Hopefully, we can come to some
reasonable terms and understandings.”
Florsheim explained that he shares concerns raised by some
people that quality of life downtown and in the business district could be
affected. “The site should not be overdeveloped to the point where any public
parking we recoup will only suffice for the increased traffic driven by new
retail and residential,” he wrote.
The city already has committed $20 million of bond funding
to construct a new public parking garage, the RFQ said.
The city also has invested “significant dollars” in the
Return to the Riverbend project, Loffredo said, where members of the public
were invited to jot down their ideas and points of concern at a pop-up shop at
Main Street Market.
The project would initially kick off efforts to reconnect
the city to the riverfront, which was cut off with the construction of
Route 9, the deputy mayor said.
A similar situation occurred in Hartford, he added, when
officials sought to reconnect “in a very meaningful way” to the riverfront near
Constitution Plaza, with pedestrian access over the highway, something
riverfront revitalization plans call for in Middletown at Riverview Center on
Main Street.
The vision has been around since former mayor Michael Cubeta
led the city in the late 1970s, Loffredo said.
According to the RFQ, the city is seeking to construct an
“iconic development which will bring people and business to downtown, provide
places for people to live and work, and become a regional attraction.
“The city’s opportunity zones offer developers a low-risk
project due to the city’s extremely economically vibrant … downtown,” it
continues. The site could become the “key connection” between the city’s urban
commercial center and future riverfront development,” it reads.
Applicants were difficult to choose, the mayor said.
“Today is a difficult day, because, as with the riverfront
master plan, I wish we could work with almost all these teams,” Florsheim wrote
in his email. “However, it is also — I hope — a turning point for this site and
for downtown, and that means it is also a very good day for Middletown."
A decade after Sandy, Bridgeport flooding project over budget and delayed
BRIDGEPORT — A decade after Hurricane Sandy flooded the
city's South End, a massive, federally funded project to fortify that
neighborhood from future severe weather is at risk of turning into its own
disaster if some major hurdles are not addressed.
What began as a $64 million total vision is, at the 90
percent design stage, going to instead cost another $30 million. And as of this
week it was unclear where those additional dollars, a figure that until now had
not been made public, will come from or when ground will be broken. The most
recent goal had been this winter.
Meanwhile a state official who has been managing the
project, dubbed Resilient
Bridgeport, insists that, once the network of new pumping stations,
flood walls, raised streets and other related improvements is complete, the
city needs to assume operating and maintenance costs — a responsibility that
has caught some local officials by surprise.
U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat representing Fairfield
County, including Bridgeport, has been doing his part to try and get
things back on track.
"I've been concerned with this project for a long
time," Himes said in an interview this week. "My job is to try to
deliver federal money, especially to places like Bridgeport that need it badly.
So it is really important to my ability to advocate that we use this money well
and quickly."
Himes was first elected to Congress in 2008. He
helped Connecticut's largest municipality post-Sandy obtain a pair of
federal grants totaling over $64 million from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2014 to stop flooding in the South End.
Situated along the harbor and Long Island Sound, the area is home to the
University of Bridgeport, Seaside Park, a new gas-fired power plant, the
now-retired coal-fired plant and lots of working class and low income housing.
Resilient Bridgeport is being planned by the state's housing
department, with help from Connecticut's departments of transportation and
energy/environmental protection. The progress, or lack thereof, made few to any
headlines until the last couple years when Mayor Joe Ganim's administration
decided to relocate Bassick High School from the West End to the South End.
Initially there was a debate over whether
construction of the new Bassick should wait until Resilient Bridgeport's
completion. But city officials, increasingly skeptical the latter will
happen, have instead
decided to alter Bassick's design to address potential flooding around the
campus.
"We were building it there thinking that (and Resilient
Bridgeport) would happen at the same time," City Councilman Marcus Brown,
chairman of the school building committee, said in a recent interview.
"Now we have to think about, 'What if it doesn't happen at all? How
do we protect the school?'"
As previously reported, in mid-March Dr. Shante Hanks, a
former Himes staffer and Bridgeport activist who inherited the flooding project
when hired in 2019 as a deputy state housing commissioner, during a public
teleconference acknowledged "the budget is growing." But
Hanks at that time declined to say by how much.
Himes this week said, “The last number I heard was there’s
as much as a $30 million gap.”
"That is the ballpark, yes," Hanks subsequently
confirmed, adding, "This (money) was awarded in 2014. If you start
building a house in 2014 but don't put a shovel in the ground until 2023
it's going to cost differently."
Hanks said "there are certain aspects of the budget
that were not taken into consideration" eight years ago, and the global
coronavirus pandemic slowed progress down and hiked prices.
The HUD money was set to expire next year. Himes said that
deadline has since been extended until 2025. As of earlier this year,
construction was going to begin this winter. But Hanks said that is now on
hold.
According to Himes, Gov. Ned Lamont's administration has
been working on a way to help cover the additional costs that would include
Bridgeport pitching in.
"Whether that's going to happen or not I don't
know," he said.
Hanks said there is no more money available from HUD, and
scaling back or phasing in the work will make the flood protection less
effective.
"I would love to hear Bridgeport would put some funding
toward the project," she said. "But I can't speak for
Bridgeport."
City Councilman Scott Burns, a budget committee co-chairman,
said he has been concerned about the lack of progress. Told Friday about the
$30 million issue and asked whether the city could help foot that bill, Burns
said, "We don’t have $30 million of capital lying around. (And) I wouldn't
be inclined to say we should go bond (borrow) for all that."
Lamont's office in a statement Friday said, "The State
of Connecticut is focused on mitigating the negative impacts of climate change
in our 169 towns and cities, each one with their own unique needs to protect
lives and livelihoods. We’re working with our federal and municipal partners to
actualize a variety of climate resiliency projects, and will continue to review
each individually to determine an equitable way to fund them.”
But whatever that may be, there are other issues. Hanks and
her team are in talks with the Ganim administration and the Bridgeport Water
Pollution Control Authority to assume the future costs of Resilient Bridgeport
once it is up and running.
Bridgeport Economic Development Director Thomas Gill could
not offer much insight into the overall state of Resilient Bridgeport or its
funding challenges and efforts to resolve those. Gill, however, was familiar
with the push to have Bridgeport take on operations and maintenance
expenses, and claimed the message from Resilient Bridgeport's team has been
"it's all or nothing" — meaning accept the burden or Resilient
Bridgeport will not move ahead.
He said the city has not been provided "concrete
numbers" in order to determine the budget impact. He noted any agreement
will also need City Council approval and "I wouldn't even be
comfortable" taking a proposal to that legislative body at this point
without more information from the state.
Hanks said estimates are in the works. She also urged
Bridgeport officials to "look at the big picture" of having received
significant federal dollars to address a problem which, due to climate change,
will only worsen over time.
"The area floods from heavy rains, constantly. That's
not going to get better. Sea level isn't going to suddenly stop," Hanks
said. "So I'd like it to move forward. But the only way it's possible is
if the state and city work together on this."
If and when those fiscal matters are settled, there is still
even more to do ahead of a ground-breaking. Hanks said the Resilient
Bridgeport project will also need to enter into negotiations with South End
private property owners to build some of the infrastructure on their land.
City Council President Aidee Nieves said this is all new
information.
"Nobody knows about the $30 million overrun,"
Nieves said. She wants representatives with Resilient Bridgeport to meet with
the council for a status update and to discuss what the state may expect in
terms of financial and other assistance.
"At this time I’m not knowledgeable and only hearing it
from word of mouth," Nieves said. "It is extremely
disappointing.”
"My concern is we're kind of dabbling in the dark in
terms of trying to figure out what's happening," Burns said.
"We are trying to get on the council's agenda for next
month," Hanks said.
State Rep. Antonio Felipe, whose district includes the South
End, said he respects the state housing agency's leadership but "the
communication within that office has been shoddy."
"It's been difficult trying to really pinpoint what the
actual hurdles are. All we want to do is help," Felipe said.
Hanks disputed the allegation that there has been poor
communication. And she also sought to address any skeptics who believe
Resilient Bridgeport is a failure and will never get finished.
"Let's be clear," she said. "It's beyond 'off
the ground' because we're at 90 percent design."
"However," she continued, "There's multiple
factors here. These are huge projects. It's not just about 'design it and go
build it.' There's other aspects that have to come into play."
Preston residents to vote on amendment to Norwich Hospital sales agreement with Mohegan tribe
Claire Bessette
Preston ― After two years of negotiations between town,
state and Mohegan tribal officials over terms of the final cleanup and property
transfer of the former Norwich Hospital property, the amended agreement is
ready for a town vote.
The Board of Selectmen Thursday endorsed the amendment to
the Property Disposition and Development Agreement between the town and Mohegan
tribe and scheduled a town meeting and vote for 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6 at
Preston Plains Middle School. The Preston Redevelopment Agency approved the
amendment Wednesday night.
Cleanup work has virtually halted at the 393-acre property
for the past two years as the parties wrangled over the terms of the final
cleanup, to be funded with a $7 million state grant approved in 2020 and a $2
million state loan to the town if necessary.
The amendment being put to voters calls for the town to use
$5 million of the $7 million state grant to continue the cleanup to the point
where the tribe would be able to take ownership of the property. Mohegan, which
is the name of tribe’s development entity, then will receive the remaining $2
million state grant money and use of the $2 million town loan money , if
necessary, to complete the cleanup based on Mohegan’s proposed uses for the
property.
While no specific development plans have been announced,
tribal officials have proposed a mixed-use, non-gaming development, possibly
including a sports complex, hotels, major sporting goods retail store, luxury
campground, marina and artificial snow ski facility.
Preston Redevelopment Agency Chairman Sean Nugent said
another substantial change eliminates the requirement for the town to clean up
the property to the point where it is suitable for residential development.
Instead, Nugent said, the language calls for getting the property clean enough
to mitigate contamination to the point were work can be done such as erosion
control and using clean fill in low-lying areas where water might pool up.
“Kudos to the tribe. They never said, ‘That’s it we’re
walking away,’” Nugent said of the change in cleanup standards. “Instead, they
said, ‘How can we find a way to move forward?’”
Mohegan Tribal Council Chairman James Gessner said the tribe
and the Preston Redevelopment Agency worked together on the amendment. He said
the amendment “allows for a more realistic timeline” after the parties reached
a better understanding of the environmental cleanup needed and the usage of
state funding.
“It is also the perfect example of our shared commitment to
this project, which will be an incredible asset to Preston, the Mohegan Tribe,
the state, and region,” Gessner said in an email statement. “We look forward to
its final approval.”
The amendment changes, and the original Property Disposition
and Development agreement is updated throughout the lengthy document, with
deletions in red and added language in blue. The documents will be available
for viewing at the town clerk’s office and selectmen’s office at Preston Town
Hall, at the Preston Public Library and will be posted on the town’s
website, www.preston-ct.org.
Nugent said once the amendments are approved by the town and
Mohegan Tribal Council, the parties will meet to iron out details on restarting
the cleanup. Nugent hopes some work can be done later in fall, but the big push
will be next spring.
The delay started in 2019, when testing showed more
extensive than expected coal ash contamination throughout the property. The
state approved a $7 million grant to be used along with a previous $2 million
loan the town had received from the state to finish the cleanup. Another delay
occurred when state officials initially required the town to use the loan money
first, before the $7 million grant. Legislative action in 2021 clarified that
the grant money would be used first.
Another part of the agreement covers terms between the state
and the tribe after the tribe takes ownership of the property, called a
pass-through agreement.
The amended agreement also changes terms to the $2 million
low-interest loan the town obtained several years ago. The original language
called for the loan to be forgivable if Mohegan development creates 200
permanent jobs, and the amendment allows loan forgiveness for either the 200
jobs or $200 million in construction value of new buildings.
Once approved, the town will have two years from the restart
of work to complete the cleanup and convey the property to Mohegan.
Changing Hands: Sons of developer, lawyer take control of major downtown Hartford developments
Before he was 10, Daniel Klaynberg was spending a portion of
his weekends answering phones in the Manhattan office of his father’s company,
Wonder Works Construction.
As a teen, Klaynberg began tidying up job sites as a
laborer. But Wonder Works founder Joseph Klaynberg quickly moved his son into
administration, working with financial records, record keeping and event
management at job sites.
By the time he was 23, Daniel Klaynberg was helping lead
construction of a 163-unit apartment development in Manhattan.
Now 36, Klaynberg is stepping into the forefront of a
company that has created more than 550 market-rate apartments in downtown
Hartford over the past decade, and many more in New York City.
Daniel Klaynberg has been the company’s face in Hartford for
about a year, meeting with city officials and putting his name to loans and
agreements on pending projects.
“It’s a little bit of a natural progression,” said the
younger Klaynberg, who has been CFO for Wonder Works since 2016. “I’ve been
working with Wonder Works and my father for a long time.”
The transition, Klaynberg concedes, may have been
accelerated by financial troubles that hit his father in the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic, as one New York condominium project failed. The building was
completed, but Wonder Works was unable to show units at the pandemic’s outset,
Klaynberg explained.
Joseph Klaynberg filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
in February in the Southern District of New York. According to Klaynberg’s
filing, he has $5.2 million in assets and $121 million in liabilities, which
includes his debt guarantees for prior Hartford projects.
“It sure has made changes in our lives and made us have to
go about securing deals differently,” Daniel Klaynberg said.
Klaynberg said he took on increasing responsibilities and
ownership of projects even before his father’s financial troubles.
“It’s possible I would have been at the forefront and the
guarantor anyway,” he said.
Klaynberg said operations at the four Hartford apartment
buildings his father helped develop have not been impacted by the bankruptcy
filing.
Hartford a good bet
Wonder Works got its Hartford start in 2012, when it
partnered with another New York developer — Girona Ventures — to buy a
long-vacant hotel on Constitution Plaza for $500,000. The 250,000-square-foot
building was remodeled into 193 apartments in a $23.6 million project that
wrapped in 2016.
Wonder Works and Girona subsequently remodeled two decaying
Pearl Street office buildings into modern apartments. They also purchased and
remodeled the former Trumbull on the Park apartment building.
The buildings — operating under the “Spectra” banner —
feature premium amenities including a theater, fitness center, rooftop deck and
more. Any amenity in the four buildings is open to all Spectra tenants.
These projects made Wonder Works one of the most prominent
players in the city’s ongoing efforts to grow its downtown residential
population and create a more thriving restaurant/retail culture.
That has become all the more crucial as the pandemic emptied
corporate office buildings and taught companies that much of their workforce
can effectively work from home.
Daniel Klaynberg said Hartford remains a great investment.
He praised city staff as responsive to everything from inspection requests to
road closures, which has saved considerable time and development expense.
Even so, the Spectra apartment buildings were shaken by the
pandemic. As occupancy declined in 2020, Girona sold its half-share in those
buildings to local parking mogul Alan Lazowski and prominent developer Martin
Kenny. Occupancy quickly bounced back into the 90s, Klaynberg said.
New projects, new partners
Now, Daniel Klaynberg is teamed up with new partners for
mixed-use redevelopments of a former fire station at 275 Pearl St., and a
former municipal building at 525 Main St.
In November, the Hartford City Council signed off on a
tentative deal to sell the buildings to Wonder Works for $785,000. Under the
terms, Wonder Works was to lease the parking lots adjacent to the municipal
building for $32,000 yearly, with an option to buy at any point for $162,000.
Klaynberg is partnered with Matthew, Evan and Dean Levy —
sons of prominent Hartford-area attorney Coleman Levy — on the redevelopment.
The plan is to build 40 apartments at 525 Main St., and 36
rental units inside the fire house, with retail on the first floors of both
buildings. Daniel Klaynberg said he has secured financing through
Massachusetts-based PeoplesBank.
Klaynberg said he plans to redevelop parking lots associated
with the municipal building into about 80 apartments with parking on lower
levels of a six- to eight-story building. That work could begin in a couple
years, he said.
Officials and Klaynberg say they are on the cusp of
finalizing legal agreements for the sale and redevelopment of the firehouse,
municipal building and associated lots.
The municipal building already hosts a deli and shoe repair
shop. Klaynberg said both are welcome to stay. A convenience shop operator has
signed a lease to move into a roughly 500-square-foot space as well, Klaynberg
said.
At the fire station, Hartford restaurant entrepreneur Gina
Luari plans to open a 4,500-square-foot pizzeria.
Coleman Levy had provided legal counsel to Joseph Klaynberg
since his arrival in Hartford. Daniel Klaynberg said Levy’s local knowledge and
banking connections proved crucial to prior efforts.
Matthew, Evan and Dean Levy, as well as their mother, Judie,
are principals in Levy Properties. The company is a legacy business from Judie
Levy’s side of the family. It has focused on redevelopment and leasing of
Greater Hartford retail centers of up to about 65,000 square feet.
Matthew Levy said it was “mutual respect” between his father
and Joseph Klaynberg that paved the way for the sons’ partnership. He said his
family’s expertise in retail will help keep the first floors of the redeveloped
buildings filled with quality tenants.
“Daniel and I have a very nice working relationship,”
Matthew Levy said. “They are good people. We have primarily been in retail
strip centers, so this is a nice opportunity to diversify into multifamily with
retail.”
As with virtually all market-rate apartment developments in
Hartford, the Capital Region Development Authority is lined up to provide a
portion of financing. CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth said Daniel
Klaynberg has represented the Wonder Works side throughout the latest deal.
Freimuth said all of the necessary finances and legal
agreements for the redevelopments are “pretty close” to being completed.
“It’s really been Dan, not Joe,” Freimuth said. “This is
really a whole new creature. We’ve been dealing with Dan and his banks and his
investors. The transition is relatively smooth.”