Stamford Wrecking Eyes Brass Factory Demolition Completion By December
The city of Waterbury, Conn., once known as America's
"Brass City" due to the many brass manufacturing plants located
within it, is now, via its Waterbury Development Corporation (WDC), demolishing
many of the factories and taking steps to clean up the contaminated sites to
allow for future development.
The WDC has hired Stamford Wrecking Company to complete the
second phase of the demolition of the former Anamet site located at 698 South
Main Street, which is currently owned by 698 South Main Street Inc., a
single-purpose entity created to redevelop the property.
The site was used for manufacturing purposes from 1812 to
1977 by Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company, American Brass, Anaconda American
Brass and ARCO. The majority of the site is currently vacant.
To cover the cost of the demolition and clean up, the city
was recently awarded $2 million in USRAP funding, as authorized by the State
Bond Commission, to use toward Phase II of the Anamet project. It also was
awarded $2 million in DECD Brownfield Municipal Grant Program funding and
$200,000 in NVCOG EPA RLF funding to use at the site.
"Both funding sources will further demolition,
remediation and eventual redevelopment on the site," according to the WDC.
"The 1-acre site sits just outside downtown Waterbury
with close proximity to highway, rails and phase 2 of the Waterbury greenway
project," said Thomas Hyde, the WDC's interim director. "[The 698
company] was created in 2017 to acquire the site and has been working to
remediate and redevelop it."
Phase 1 demolition was completed by Manafort Brothers and
six buildings were demolished.
"The site was recently advertised for
redevelopment," said Hyde. "Decisions on the end user will be made in
the coming months."
For the second phase, which began in early August, Stamford
is demolishing three large buildings. The project should wrap up the end of the
year.
The first building, which is 80 percent demolished, is
Building 33/33A, a 16,000-sq.-ft. single story high-bay storage structure that
is 25 ft. tall.
"The demolition is being performed under a State of
Connecticut Department of Health Alternative Work Practice [AWP] due to the
poor condition of the structure," said Bryan Terlizzi, Stamford's senior
project manager. "At this time, the building is down and we are working on
cleaning up all the debris and should be done within 1.5 to two weeks. For all
the buildings that we are demolishing, we're only doing the above grade
portions. All of the concrete foundations are staying in place."
The second structure (15,000 sq. ft.), referred to as
Building 27/27A/27B, is based on three interconnected high-bay sections that
are two stories and 40 ft. tall.
"This is the former powerhouse that housed all the
boilers and mechanical equipment that ran all the various former buildings on
the site," said Terlizzi. "It is also in poor structural condition
and will be demolished under an AWP process. We started the demolition on
August 18, and we expect it to be ongoing for the next four to five
weeks."
The third building, located along South Main Street, is an
11,000-sq.-ft., four-story former office building.
"We're going to perform a traditional asbestos
abatement prior to demolition, where we'll remove all the contaminated
materials," said Terlizzi. "Once it is cleared by the environmental
company, we will do the demolition in a standard manner where the materials are
going off site as clean demolition debris."
All the utilities were disconnected for the first phase and
there are no active utilities beneath the site.
Building 33/33A has had its share of difficulties.
"It was a challenge because it was constructed along
the Naugatuck River and we had to implement what is called a turbidity barrier,
a device that is installed in the river so that in the event any debris falls
into the river, it doesn't float away," said Terlizzi. "The curtain
keeps the debris along the shoreline. The building is down. Due to its location
by the river, we had to start from the north end, which was not along the
river, and work down to the section that was by the water. Everything was
methodical — we just pulled everything in toward the slab so that no materials
ended up in the river and we did that successfully.
"The second building has a couple of challenges, one
being that there are various basement and tunnels underneath the slab, which is
not strong enough to hold up our heavy equipment that we are using," he
added. "We've overcome that by using our Volvo 460 high reach excavator,
which has 92 feet of reach and allows us to perform the demolition outside the
building footprint. The other challenge that we are going to be faced with is
the approximately160-foot-tall smokestack, which is in poor condition — there
is severe cracking through all the bricks. Once the building is down, we are
going to approach that structure. We will remove the first 100 feet or so with
a man in a bucket lifted by a crane and once we get it down to a reasonable
height, we can manage it with excavators to bring it down to the sub
elevation."
Bringing down the office building won't be easy as it is
directly adjacent to the sidewalk along South Main Street.
"When we get to the front of the building, we're going
to implement certain traffic control patterns to make sure no pedestrians or
cars are endangered by our work," said Terlizzi. "We are going to use
the Volvo high reach excavator to reach up to mechanically demolish the face of
the building so that we can control all of the debris so that nothing gets
outside of the controlled work area along the street."
To ensure that no asbestos flakes and other contaminated and
non-contaminated debris is blown away by the wind, water is being sprayed via a
HDK water misting machine that has a range of up to 300 ft. to shoot mist and
water.
"It is run throughout the day and is basically placed
along the site based on the wind conditions," said Terlizzi. "We are
moving it from place-to-place and we are keeping the material wet. We have
captured dust particulates that may become airborne."
Equipment-wise, crews are using the Volvo 460 high reach
excavator, a 165,000-lb. Volvo 700 excavator, Bobcat 220 skid steers, a
Caterpillar 973 track loader and several Cat 320 excavators.
Planning is essential for dealing with dilapidated buildings
that contain contaminated materials.
"It is especially so when you have the environmental
challenges that we have with these buildings that have failed
structurally," said Terlizzi.
The safety and health of the workers and the public also is
paramount for Stamford. All the crew members have been trained and licensed to
work with hazardous materials, and they are wearing half-faced respirators and
coveralls when inside the regulated work area.
"We have them go through a shower system when they
leave the work site," said Terlizzi. "They take off the coveralls
that may have come in contact with asbestos contaminated materials. Waterbury
hired an environmental consultant that does perimeter air monitoring around the
work area throughout the day to confirm that there are no emissions of asbestos
particulates that leave the work area. They are testing air samples to make
sure we are in compliance with the state regulations. Safety is paramount; it
is the number-one concern. We want to make sure our guys show up to work every
day and get home safely to see their families every night."
Currently there are 12 Stamford personnel on site, which
will increase when the asbestos abatement crews arrive.
Terlizzi is supported by Superintendent Wallace Hitchcock.
"Wally has been with the company for over 25 years, and
I've been here for 13 years," said Terlizzi. "We have been working on
projects ever since I joined the company. He is one of our most experienced
superintendents and has a long track record of handling these large-scale
environmental demolition projects from start to finish with successful
completions — on time and under budget. Stamford wrecking has been in business
for almost 100 years and most of our operating engineers have been with the
company for more than 20 years. The operators that we have working on this site
are specific to this type of work because of their asbestos contaminated
materials training and are all experienced in dealing with different demolition
projects."
Terlizzi anticipates crews will handle more than 6,000 tons
of materials.
"About 50 to 60 percent of the debris is going to be
handled as asbestos containing and it is going to a landfill in New Hampshire
that is permitted to receive this material," he said. "The remainder
is going to be handled and dispersed as non-contaminated material."
The contaminated material is being transported to New
Hampshire by truck.
So far, no major equipment issues have arisen.
"This isn't going to create any novel wear and tear on
the equipment," said Terlizzi. "All of our excavators have various attachments,
whether they be grapples, concrete processors, hydraulic hammers or standard
buckets. We're equipped with attachments to handle different types of
materials. If we're dealing with a lot of steel, we'll put the shears on and if
we're dealing with concrete and brick, we'll put the processors to bring
everything down to manageable pieces to dispose of.
"It's standard maintenance so far and most of it is
done either before the start of the day or at the end of the shift," he
added. "It has not resulted in any down time during the day. The typical
greasing and maintenance are done during off-hours. Our senior mechanic for the
company oversees the maintenance and repairs of the equipment on site."
Stamford purchases and rents equipment from dealerships such
as H.O.
Penn Machinery in Newington, Conn., and Tyler
Equipment Corporation in Berlin, Conn.
"It's really about handling maintenance
internally," said Terlizzi. "We have our mechanics at our yard and in
the field. We just source the parts we need from the dealerships.
"The interesting thing about demolition is that every
building is different," he added. "When you have a lot of experience
and understanding of being prepared, you know what to do. But since every
project is different, we put in a good amount of time in the planning phase to
evaluate the building and understand how it was structurally constructed, which
allows us to come up with the game plan to demolish a structure."
Stamford has done a lot of work for Waterbury.
"We always praise them [Waterbury] for their forward
thinking and efforts to clear up a lot of these old, worn-down manufacturing
sites," said Terlizzi. "They do a great job to get these buildings
rehabilitated or removed to keep the image of the city as good as it can
be." CEG
Torrington officials fire school oversight firm
BRUNO MATARAZZO JR
TORRINGTON – A firm hired to provide oversight of the $179.5
million Torrington Middle/High School project is out of a job after the City
Council and Board of Education voted to terminate its contract.
The move follows a series of votes by the boards in recent
weeks over a nearly $1 million contract with Construction Solutions Group, or
CSG, of West Hartford.
The company was hired last year to serve as an owner’s
representative on the middle/high school building project starting to get
underway at the site of the current high school on Major Besse Drive.
City and school officials are not saying what deficiencies
prompted the move.
“We can do it, so we did it,” said Ed Arum, co-chairman of
the building committee. “It’s a matter that was in executive session and
everybody agreed and so forth. That’s it.”
An owner’s representative is someone hired by the owner of a
project to manage and execute a construction contract project on their behalf.
CSG’s original agreement to perform owner’s representation
services to Torrington was based upon a total anticipated project duration of
48 months for a total fee of $926,084.
Arum wouldn’t comment whether any contract deficiencies
prompted the cancellation of the contract with CSG.
Arum pointed to language in the contract with CSG that the
city could cancel the agreement “at any time and for any or no reason.”
Voters approved two referendums for the construction of a
new middle and high school that will have separate entrances and wings for a
three-story middle school and four-story high school connected by common
facilities at the main level, including an auditorium and performance stage,
two separate dining rooms and two gyms.
The new 310,000-square-foot building is on the current high
school’s 31-acre site and the existing high school will remain operational
during construction, then will be demolished once the new building is occupied.
The high school will be occupied by December 2024 and the
middle school will be occupied by June 2025.
The school project building committee voted to remove CSG as
the owner’s representative on Sept. 30 following an executive session.
The City Council followed with a similar vote on Monday. The
City Council didn’t go into executive session but offered no reasoning behind
the vote.
City Council member Keri Hoehne said the city should cut its
loses at quickly as possible “so we don’t spend money and not get services for
it.”
City Council member Armand Maniccia, who sits on the
building committee, told the council the committee has been talking about this
issue for the past three months.
“There have been efforts to come to an agreement to meet
what CSG was supposed to do in their contract and there is no remedy,” Maniccia
said.
A review of the building committee minutes for the past
three months don’t found no mention of CSG except approval of payments of their
invoices.
Following the meeting, Mayor Elinor C. Carbone said when the
building committee and the Board of Education came to the city and explained
there were deficiencies in the fulfillment of the contract obligations and they
did not believe they could correct those deficiencies, that’s when they decided
to terminate this contract.
CSG owner Jim Giuliano declined to comment on the council
and building committee’s action.
“Given that this is a developing situation, I am not at
liberty to discuss the details of this matter with you at this time,” Giuliano
said.
Giuliano attended the City Council meeting on Monday urging
the council to table the vote to terminate the contract, which was a late
addition to the agenda. At the City Council meeting on Monday, Giuliano asked
the council to table the vote to terminate the contract.
Arum said it’s up for discussion whether there will be a new
owner’s representative hired to replace CSG.
Carbone said the city needs owner representation on the
project despite the fact that O&G is doing the work and has been involved
in numerous school building projects across the state.
“We still, I think, need representation to make sure “t”s
are crossed and “i’s are dotted,” Carbone said.
Waterbury vote focuses on upgrading water infrastructure
LANCE REYNOLDS
WATERBURY – The city is seeking approval of a $25 million
bond authorization request to fund five projects crucial to improving its water
supply and distribution infrastructure.
Aldermen will be voting on the request during their meeting
at 7 tonight in Aldermanic Chambers at City Hall.
The projects would be completed over the next three years,
Rob Langenauer, superintendent of water, wrote in an email last month to Mayor
Neil M. O’Leary. The $25 million bonding request follows a $17.7 million bond
authorization in 2015 that upgraded some of the city’s water infrastructure.
Costs for each of the five projects were not included in
Langenauer’s memo to the mayor.
Replacing five pumps and motors at the water treatment
plant, which supplies 11.2 million gallons of water per day, or 80% of the
city’s daily water supply, is the most significant project, Langenauer said.
The plant has relied on its original pumps and motors since opening in 1987,
and “obsolete parts” have caused one of the pumps not to work anymore, he said.
Pumps and motors provide drinking water, fire flow, storage
capacity and pressures needed to meet “elevation challenges” throughout the
city, Langenauer said. They carry electricity costs of at least $44,000 per
month, he said.
A 1.5-million-gallon water tower on Hitchcock Road also
needs to be replaced as its’ steel panel walls continue to thin. The 125-foot
tall tower, built in 1968, is only operating at 75 feet as a hole has left
about 50 feet unusable, Langenauer said. The entire tower would become unusable
after the next leak since there wouldn’t be enough height to support fire flows
and pressures, he said.
The city is consulting with the state Department of Energy
and Environmental Protection to determine the extent of a remediation of
polychlorinated biphenyls, a carcinogenic chemcal, in the soil surrounding the
tower, adjacent to the Country Hills condominium complex.
A third project calls for replacement of a pump station at
North Main Street which Langenauer called the “most important structure to the
water distribution system.” Three pumps are needed to rotate equipment and
provide stability to the station, which supplies to a storage tank on Blackman
Road.
If the bond authorization request is approved, an existing
1.5-million-gallon tank on Blackman Road, suffering from “significant
corrosion,” would be demolished to make way for two 1-million-gallon tanks,
Langenauer said.
“If a failure were to occur, a major portion of the city
would be without water or have discolored water with very limited options for
improvement,” he said.
The final project would be the slip lining of a 42-foot pipe
for a transmission water main on Thomaston Avenue, extending the pipeline’s
usable life.
In his memo to O’Leary, Langenauer mentioned the water
crisis in Jackson, Miss., which began in August after a river near that state’s
capital city flooded due to severe storms.
The flooding caused the city’s largest water treatment
facility to stop treating drinking water, leaving roughly 150,000 residents
without safe drinking water, according to national news reports. The facility
had been running on backup pumps due to failures earlier in the summer.
“This event highlights that an unknown can cause adverse
conditions at any time if we aren’t prepared,” Langenauer said. “While similar
in some ways, Waterbury has the opportunity to invest in its infrastructure
while learning from other communities who didn’t or wouldn’t.”
Shelton seeks $3.6M in CT grants for downtown projects, road extension
SHELTON — The city is seeking state grants that, if
obtained, would provide millions of dollars for major construction work
downtown and for the Constitution Boulevard extension.
The Board of Aldermen, at its meeting Thursday, voted to
allow the city to apply for two Connecticut Community Challenge grants — the
first for $2.2 million for Canal Street reconstruction projects, the second,
$2.4 million for extension
of Constitution Boulevard.
As part of the grant, the city must put up 50 percent of the
requested amount, meaning Shelton would provide $1.1 million for the Canal
Street reconstruction work, bringing the total to $3.3 million for all the
planned projects.
The city would also put $1.2 million into the Constitution
Boulevard extension work, bringing the total amount available for the project
to $3.6 million.
Shelton Economic Development Corp. President Paul Grimmer
told the aldermen that, once submitted, a response from the state could come
within 45 to 90 days.
The Canal Street work focuses on reconstruction of Canal and
Wooster streets; the engineering, design and construction costs for reopening
the Wooster Street railroad crossing; and design and construction of the final
phase of the Housatonic Riverwalk, from 235 Canal Street to the Shelton Canal
Locks.
“This is the culmination of nearly three decades of
efforts,” Grimmer said about the proposed work along Canal Street.
The work on Canal Street includes reconstruction of the
roadway — including new sidewalks, handicapped ramps, lighting and brick pavers
— from 235 Canal St. North along the road to the Shelton canal locks.
Wooster Street reconstruction would include the same
improvements from Canal Street to Howe Avenue.
The city is also setting aside funds for engineering, design
and construction of the Wooster Street railroad crossing, which has been closed
for the past several years. All work on the reopening of the crossing would be
done by the railroad company and paid for by the city.
Grimmer said the city will initiate discussions with the
state Department of Transportation about reopening the crossing. Shelton fire
officials have stated in the past that the railroad
crossing closure created a hazardous situation.
The crossing was first
closed during the construction of Avalon Shelton on Canal Street. The city
originally requested the crossing be closed, and after a hearing, the state DOT
granted the request. It has remained closed off since.
The Constitution Boulevard extension grant is for phase two
of the road work.
The city received $5 million from the state for construction
of the roadway from Bridgeport Avenue into the Moss property to serve the
Bigelow Tea development.
“This latest grant would be for the second section … about
1,400 linear feet to take (the road) past the Bigelow development and which
would allow the road to access six additional lots that the city had up for
private development,” Grimmer added.
Southington High School relies on referendum for major improvements
Christian Metzger
SOUTHINGTON — A combined $23.7 million in improvements to
Southington High School facilities will be on the Nov. 8 ballot for approval by
voters.
The two separate projects, a $17 million overhaul to sports
facilities and a $6.7 million partial replacement of the school’s roof,
are long overdue, according to school officials.
Many of the school’s sports facilities have not received a
significant upgrade in 40 years, while the portion of the roof that would
be replaced dates back to 1995.
School Superintendent Steve Madancy said both projects had
unanimous support from the Town Council, Board of Education, and Board of
Finance. Voters will ultimately decide if plans proceed since spending for both
projects would be well above the threshold for referendum under the Town
Charter.
The current proposal for the athletics facilities is a
prospective three-year plan rolled out over the course of 2023-2026, with three
main construction phases. In time, all the sports facilities will be completely
renovated. The baseball fields, tennis courts, and the central stadium
multi-sport turf field are of primary concern.
Much of the current infrastructure on the fields does not
comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and is unable to suit the needs
of spectators and students.
The home bleachers on the main stadium need to be inspected
yearly by a structural engineer to ensure they’re still able to maintain
support, and almost entirely lack handrails for people to safely get up and
down.
The track surrounding the main field has not been
significantly redone since the 1980s, aside from spot repairs. The starting
line had been worn all the way down to the concrete until being repaired
recently, but the entire track still is in need of replacement.
“There hasn’t been a significant [change], other than a few
things here or there done since the high school opened in ‘74,” Athletics
Director Steve Risser said. “So I think there’s an understanding that we have
to upgrade our facilities both for safety and for the experience that we have.”
Other areas like the baseball and soccer fields are also in
poor condition, with dugouts that are inadequate to support the teams, light
fixtures that are beginning to lean and are in constant need of replacement,
and poor drainage.
“Our softball field, for example, there were times when it
would rain and we couldn’t be on the field for three or four days because of
the nature of how the field had sort of been worn over 40 years since that was
started,” Risser said.
The $17 million would be put toward an overhaul of the
entirety of the school’s athletic space. That includes new scoreboards,
bleachers, resurfaced fields, new courts, along with improved lighting and
drainage systems. There will also be the addition of an entirely new turf field
that would allow the school to host multiple athletic events at the same time.
School district officials had planned to address the town’s
three oldest elementary schools this year and send that plan to voters instead.
But delays at the state level pushed the timeline for the elementary schools
back. The high school projects, originally planned for 2023, were moved up to
this year.
Community benefit
Officials noted that the repairs and additions to the
facilities would do more than benefit the high school students, but everyone in
the community. Residents often come to walk the track recreationally and other
organizations use the fields for activities and events.
“This complex in general is not just used for the high
school,” said Peter Romano, director of operations for the Southington schools.
“It really is the heartbeat of Southington.”
The hope from officials is that, with passage of the funding
at referendum, Southington High School will be able to provide a robust
community space for years to come which residents can take pride in.
“Athletics is a huge source of pride in the community,” said
Madancy. “Between the youth leagues, the arts, and the athletics, I think this
is a hub of activity for the youth and the students in the community.”
Roof project
While a portion of the school’s roof was redone in 2019,
there remains an 89,000-square-foot portion that still needs to be replaced.
The roof was last replaced 27 years ago in 1995, which is seven years over the
original 20-year warranty given for the roof.
With the roof being that old, it has begun to leak. Workers
have been called periodically to perform the repairs, but school officials note
that this is only a patchwork solution. The entire top of the structure remains
in need of replacement.
“We’ve nursed it along and done a good job to get additional
years out of it, but it’s time,” Romano said.
If the funding passes at referendum, repairs will be
underway and completed through the summer of next year. The repair project will
also help modernize the school’s infrastructure, with the addition of solar
panels to improve the building’s energy efficiency.
School officials stress the importance of the referendum
passing in November. If they’re unable to secure the funding they need, the
condition of the current facilities is going to continue to degrade.
“The unfortunate thing is if for some reason the referendum
doesn’t pass, we still have all these issues we have to address. They don’t go
away,” Romano said.
“Those are the types of things that long term you can’t just
ignore because you either have an accident or you just have a facility that
you’re limited with its use,” Madancy added.
The school plans to make the full scope of the project
available online. Plans can also be viewed by scanning the QR codes posted
on-site at the high school grounds.
Developer seeks changes to ongoing 400-plus unit mixed-use development in Hartford’s North End
With 200 housing units completed and more under
construction, Philadelphia-based Pennrose is asking Hartford officials for
permission to modify plans for its “Village at Park River” development in the
city’s North End.
The development is rising on nearly 40 acres at 1550 Albany
Avenue that had housed the Westbrook Village public housing complex. The
Hartford Housing Authority demolished the faltering complex to make way for
redevelopment.
Pennrose, through its Boston office, is spearheading an
ongoing mixed-use and mixed-income redevelopment.
Since ground was broken in 2019, Pennrose and its local
development partner – Hartford-based The Cloud Co. – have completed three
phases, finishing 200 units in 18 buildings. A fourth phase – of 60 units – is
under construction. Construction of 58 units under phase five is slated to
begin next year.
The changes Pennrose is seeking will accommodate the sixth
phase of development, which includes 76 units in two buildings on 3.2 acres.
Once those are accepted, the company will submit site plans for this phase.
The request to modify the master development plan is on the
Hartford Planning and Zoning Commission’s Oct. 11 agenda.
Under the requested changes, the development will ultimately
yield 412 housing units instead of 431. Other changes include trimming 19
parking spaces, a change in landscaping plans and dropping a requirement that
one building be restricted to senior residents.
Charlie Adams, a regional vice president with Pennrose, said
the reduction in scale is needed to accommodate boundaries of a flood plain.
While Pennrose is asking to drop age restrictions on one
building, the company still plans to build it with features catering to senior
tenants, Adams said. This change is needed to make phase six more competitive
for federal and state tax credit equity and loan programs, he said.
Ultimately, the seven-phase plan will result in 31
multifamily residential buildings, with a mix of rental units and
owner-occupied condominiums, as well as a community building on 30 acres. Plans
include a mix of affordable and market-rate units.
The remaining 10 acres will host an 80,000-square-foot
commercial development, Adams said. The plan is for it to be predominantly
retail with some office and, potentially, residential upper floors, Adams said.
Pennrose and The Cloud Co. will work with Blue Back Square developer JDA
Development on this phase, he said.
The site is being developed through long-term land leases
between the housing authority and limited liability companies tied to Pennrose.
According to documents included with the special permit
request, a Pennrose-backed LLC would lease the 3.2 acres needed for phase six,
making an initial payment of $100,000 to the housing authority, followed by
annual rents of $10,000 after the project is 96% occupied. That lease will run
for 65 to 96 years unless a longer term is required for financing.
300 apartment units planned in Cheshire’s special development district
The 300-unit Eastpointe at Stone Bridge Crossing project, if
approved by town land use boards, would be the largest apartment development in
Cheshire.
Plans for the project are currently before the Town
Beautification Committee. Planning and Zoning Commission members will host a
public hearing on the development before their next regular meeting Oct. 24.
Set on 30 acres in the town’s new special development district near 691, the
project includes one-, two-, and three-bedroom market-rate apartments over nine
buildings, plus a clubhouse, saltwater pool, patio, barbeque area, garage
parking, dog park and other amenities.
The development would sit on property adjacent to 1963
Highland Ave., on a new town road, a cul-de-sac called Stone Bridge Court, with
the entrance directly across from the 691 on/off ramp.
Eastpointe is part of the special development district for
more than 100 acres near 691. A master plan for the area was adopted in 2019 to
allow the mix of residential, retail and commercial projects. The vacant land
had been the site of numerous failed development attempts.
The Reserve at Stone Bridge Crossing, another 140-unit
development, is also under construction in the district.
Also planned for the area are restaurants, a retail plaza,
hotel and senior housing units, projects that have not yet begun, town
officials said.
Eastpointe and other projects in that area need special
permit approval since they are part of the development district.
The property is owned by applicants Miller, Napolitano,
Wolff, LLC and Tri-Star Development LLC.
Nonresidential Construction Employment Increases by 13,000 in September
The construction industry added 19,000 jobs on net in
September, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis
of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has risen by
292,000 jobs, or 3.9 percent.
Nonresidential construction employment increased by 13,100
positions on net, with growth in two of the three subcategories. Nonresidential
specialty trade added 11,200 net new jobs, while nonresidential building added
an additional 2,400. The number of heavy and civil engineering jobs decreased
by 500 positions.
The construction unemployment rate decreased to 3.4 percent
in September. Unemployment across all industries fell from 3.7 percent in
August to 3.5 percent in September.
"Today's employment report was terrific, which in this
upside-down, inside-out economic environment means that it was truly
terrible," said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. "Stock, bond and
other investors are hunting for signs of slowing economic activity,
particularly with respect to the labor market. Those signs did not emerge
today. Despite elevated compensation costs, employers continue to hire
aggressively. Not only does that help support additional inflationary pressure,
but it also sends a signal to Federal Reserve policymakers that further
aggressive rate tightening is necessary. If rates rise too dramatically, and
they have already expanded substantially, the recovery in nonresidential
activity would likely buckle.
"Despite rising borrowing costs and elevated risk of recession, most contractors remain upbeat regarding near-term prospects, according to ABC's Construction Confidence Index," said Basu. "Backlog remains stable, and many contractors expect rising sales, employment and profit margins over the next six months. Many contractors also continue to report operating at capacity. Their primary issue is not insufficient demand for construction services, but rather a lack of access to skilled craft professionals."
Why September’s hot jobs report is ‘terrible’ for construction
Construction added a total of 19,000 jobs in September, with
the bulk of those gains coming on the nonresidential side, signaling that the
Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes have yet to quell demand for
hard-to-find workers in the sector.
Overall construction unemployment dropped to 3.4%, below the
national rate of 3.5% for all industries, as nonresidential builders added
13,100 positions for the month and 181,500 for the year, a 4.2% gain from 12
months prior, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data conducted
by Associated Builders and Contractors.
But the gains in the overall job market worried Wall Street
on Friday, since they indicate the Fed may need to get even more hawkish in its
campaign to reign in runaway inflation. “Today’s employment report was
terrific, which in this upside-down, inside-out economic environment means that
it was truly terrible,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu on Friday.
The still hot job market is fuel for even more inflation,
since workers can bargain for higher wages.
“Not only does that help support additional inflationary
pressure, but it also sends a signal to Federal Reserve policymakers that
further aggressive rate tightening is necessary,” Basu said. “If rates rise too
dramatically, and they have already expanded substantially, the recovery in
nonresidential activity would likely buckle.”
Yet, the current outlook from nonresidential contractors is
still largely optimistic.
“Despite rising borrowing costs and elevated risk of recession, most contractors remain upbeat,” said Basu. “Backlog remains stable, and many contractors expect rising sales, employment and profit margins over the next six months. Many contractors also continue to report operating at capacity. Their primary issue is not insufficient demand for construction services, but rather a lack of access to skilled craft professionals.
That confidence could start to wane, however, if the impacts of the Fed’s rate tightening become back-end loaded. The true effects of rising rates may only be felt months down the road. That possibility worries some market watchers that the Fed has already tightened too much, and that additional hikes could send the economy spiraling.
An additional report that came out this week indicates that
cooling is already underway in the architecture, engineering and construction
space. The latest quarterly market forecast from Newton, Massachusetts-based
AEC consultant PSMJ Resources indicates proposal activity is already slipping.
With any value above 0 indicating increased proposal activity,
PSMJ’s latest proposal activity index for the third quarter came in at 25,
marking a steep decline from its 60.2 value in Q1, when the benchmark hit its
second highest value ever. Most noticeable was the impact on public markets,
which have fared surprisingly well thus far.
“This latest data continues to show cooling from
record-setting levels of activity in key private-sector markets such as
housing,” said PSMJ Director Gregory Hart in a statement emailed to
Construction Dive. “But what is more concerning is some of the cooling that we
are also starting to see in public-sector markets.”
Crowley Wraps Salem Harbor Acreage Buy to Create Offshore Wind Port Terminal
Crowley has completed the purchase of 42 acres in Salem,
Massachusetts, the latest milestone toward the development of the state’s
second major offshore wind port terminal.
The Salem Harbor Wind Terminal is a public-private
partnership between Crowley and the City of Salem, with AVANGRID serving as the
port’s anchor tenant through its Commonwealth Wind and Park City Wind projects.
The terminal will be a logistics and operations center for
turbine pre-assembly, transportation, staging activities and storage of
assembly components. Crowley Wind Services, the company’s business unit
dedicated to helping develop clean wind energy resources, will operate the
terminal.
“By closing on the property, Crowley, the City of Salem, and
AVANGRID as the port’s anchor tenant, have moved one step closer to creating a
dedicated port terminal to support the U.S. offshore wind industry’s growth,”
said Bob Karl, senior vice president and general manager, Crowley
Wind Services. “We will continue to focus on delivering a high-performing
terminal that the community can take pride in, providing economic opportunity
and environmental sustainability.”
The terminal site project will result in the redevelopment
of the former Salem Harbor Station, a decommissioned coal-fired energy
plant creating more than 800 jobs (FTE job years) in the support of the
construction and staging of wind projects and daily operations.
“Crowley’s acquisition of this site in Salem marks an
important step forward for Massachusetts’ offshore wind industry and the
development of the critical port infrastructure needed to build a clean energy
future in the United States,” said AVANGRID CEO Pedro Azagra. “The
Commonwealth Wind project is a transformational opportunity that will bring
substantial jobs, investment, and clean reliable energy to Massachusetts, and
we are pleased to work with Crowley and the City of Salem as this important
port project moves forward.”
“Crowley’s acquisition of this property represents a major
milestone in our shared efforts to transform Salem Harbor into a world class
offshore wind port,” said Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll. “I am
grateful to both Crowley and Avangrid for their commitment to our partnership
and to our community. This critical project will bring hundreds of good paying
jobs and millions in direct investment to Salem and is critical to the
Commonwealth’s ability to achieve our clean energy targets.”
The Commonwealth Wind project represents the largest
offshore wind project in New England and will create 11,000 full time
equivalent jobs over the project’s lifetime while generating enough energy to
power 750,000 homes annually. Park City Wind, named after the City of
Bridgeport, is an offshore wind project that will power 400,000 homes per year
for Connecticut.
Construction of the wind terminal is expected to start in
summer 2023, with the terminal complete in 2025.