Costello Dismantles 12 Interconnected Brass Plant Structures in Waterbury
IRWIN RAPOPORT
Between March and April 2021 and an additional phase in 2022, the Costello Dismantling Company Inc. completed the demolition of the 400,000-sq.-ft. former Anaconda American Brass Company manufacturing plant in the city of Waterbury, Conn. The contractor also removed asbestos and contaminated soil and materials.
The plant — 12 interconnected structures, primarily manufacturing facilities, which closed many years ago — is owned by the city and overseen by the Waterbury Development Corporation. The majority of the buildings were single-story high bay foundry buildings — 40-ft. tall in many areas — and also included a multi-story office space.
Due to widespread contamination and deterioration of the entire complex, more than 10,000 tons of debris was handled and disposed of as PCB and asbestos waste.
Waterbury was known as "The Brass City" because it was home to several brass manufacturing plants.
The plant was located at 130 Freight St. and 000 West Main St. After the company vacated the site, it was utilized as a Connecticut regulated waste treatment and soil remediation facility by Environmental Waste Resources, which ceased operations in 2011.
The 130 Freight St. parcel, 10.56 acres, had eight buildings. The demolition for this portion was covered by a $1.5 million Urban Act State of CT grant. The 000 West Main Street parcel is a 3.28 acres.
Waterbury received $2.2 million — $2 million from the State of DECD and $200,000 from an NVCOG EPA RLF grant — to pay for the demolition, environmental assessment and remediation on both parcels, which are adjacent to each other.
"The two sites were tax delinquent and the city took them over in late 2020," said Tommy Hyde, the WDC's interim director. "The properties had been abandoned for quite some time and had become eyesores for the community. The sites were very contaminated and were subject to the Resource Conversation and Recovery Act. The remediation is still ongoing and it has to be cleaned up to EPA and Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection standards. The city just acquired an adjacent property at 170 Bridge St. and the plan is to convert both sites into a mixed-use transit-oriented development."
Costello Dismantling secured the $2,704,253 demolition and abatement contract in early 2021.
"The ravages of time, technology and the economy left the 400,000 sq.-ft. complex ‘worth more dead than alive,'" said Dan Costello, the company's owner and president. "We developed a plan to decontaminate and abate asbestos and PCB waste, which then allowed demolition and recovery of the massive steel structures that comprised the brass mill. The recovered value of the salvaged steel greatly contributed to the economic efficiency of the project. In the end, a clean, level land parcel in the middle of the city was returned to the development market for a new modern purpose.
"In the context of this project, creative traditional and non traditional asbestos abatement techniques were implemented to facilitate abatement and manage costs," he added. "The familiarity with similar structures allowed us to select equipment to execute the demolition safely and efficiently to recover the substantial scrap steel component of the structures. The scrap credit greatly reduced the overall project costs."
Costello noted that his firm had a month to prepare its bid for the project and a plan to go with it and after securing the contract, another month to tighten the plan before the work began.
"Once we started, it was pretty straight forward," he said. "We began at one end and worked systematically through the complex."
Having been closed for many years, all the water, electricity and gas utilities had been shut off. Also, there were no functioning underground utilities spanning the approximately 14-acre site.
"We had plenty of space to set up our operations," said Costello. "We had field offices via trailers, a site to wash the trucks and space to park our equipment."
The debris from the demolition was removed from the site on a regular basis.
"Much of the site had deteriorated and the debris was cross-contaminated with asbestos, which is why we had to do a bulk loading scenario," said Costello, who added that this was a day-shift operation that had approximately 15 employees on site — machinery operators, loader drivers and staff specializing in abatement operations.
To prevent asbestos and other contaminated materials from being blown by the wind, industrial misters were positioned around the work areas.
"There was always a shroud of water during the demolition process," said Costello. "We used firehoses and point watering to minimize dust and we had air monitors at the perimeter to verify that no dust was leaving the site. We met all the environmental regulations of the state and municipality."
Crew members also wore masks as part of site personal protective equipment requirements.
This was an equipment-driven project. A Volvo 750 high-reach excavator with a big shear brought down much of the structure. This was backed up by several Volvo 480 excavators with grapples and shears to process the downed materials. Debris loaded with two Volvo 180E loaders equipped with solid rubber tires for demolition work. Also on site were several Caterpillar 236 skid steers with solid tires and demolition grapple buckets.
"We were well equipped to handle any building structure we came across," said Costello.
Greg Geyer served as the onsite project manager.
"We always try to be collaborative," said Costello. "We have very experienced crews that have worked together for many years. Their concern for safety is paramount."
In addition to having vehicles washed at the entrance and exit points, vehicles remaining on site were sprayed at a specially set up decontamination pad.
The contaminated material was shipped by truck to specialized landfills in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The steel was thoroughly washed to remove any residue from the asbestos and other debris.
Costello Dismantling has recently purchased a fair amount of new equipment.
"I don't recall any issues with the equipment on this project," said Costello. "We have a fairly new fleet and we have a master mechanic with helpers and support services."
Much of the equipment is still under warranty and when required, the dealerships send technicians to various work sites.
The project site was approximately 150 mi. from the company's equipment yard.
The company purchases its Volvo equipment from Woodco Machinery in Woburn, Mass., and its Caterpillar equipment from Milton CAT in Milford, Mass.
The project had its challenges, but all went very well.
"You certainly learn something on every job to help you do the next one better," said Costello. "We do a lot of this type of work, so we're well equipped and well-trained to handle big industrial jobs and we do them well." CEG
Quinnipiac Univ. receives final approval for $293M South Quad project
Andrew Larson
Quinnipiac University has received final approval to construct three buildings – a new school of business, an academic building and a residence hall – at its Hamden campus, part of the school’s controversial South Quad project.
Construction is expected to begin this winter, with the new buildings opening during the 2024-25 academic year, the school announced Thursday,
The $293 million project includes an academic building, which will span about 142,000 square feet, along with an 80,000-square-foot business school and 417-bed residence hall for first-year students. They will be the first new standalone buildings constructed on campus since the early 1990s.
In November, the Hamden Planning and Zoning Commission approved a zone change designating the roughly 30-acre property as a Planned Development District, which gave the university more flexibility.
Some residents objected to the change, with some saying that the buildings should be more spaced out and others mentioning environmental concerns during a public hearing Nov. 21.
On Tuesday, the commission approved the final site development plan, the last step before work can begin.
“This is a great example of our community’s shared vision for the future,” said Bethany Zemba, vice president for strategy and community relations for the university. “So many people have participated in conversations — from the development of our master facilities plan to working with the Planning and Zoning Commission.”
The Quinnipiac Board of Trustees approved the project in January. Construction will be funded through a combination of the university’s endowment, philanthropic efforts and debt financing.
The school of business will include an innovation hub as an incubator to build and test new ideas; a financial technology center where students will use cutting-edge trading platforms, investment tools and data systems; faculty offices; and flexible lecture and event spaces that can seat up to 150 people for large and small gatherings, according to the school.
Quinnipiac said the buildings will be constructed with the environment in mind, and each will be LEED certified.
Construction backlog jumps to highest level since 2019
Construction backlog in November reached its highest level since the second quarter of 2019, as contractors with under $30 million in revenue landed new jobs faster than expected, according to Associated Builders and Contractors.
ABC’S Construction Backlog Indicator jumped in November to 9.2 months, a 0.4-month uptick from October and a 0.8-month increase from November 2021, according to the report.
“The rise in backlog is remarkable and unexpected,” said Anirban Basu, ABC’s chief economist. “A number of contractors have been reporting that their backlog has risen rapidly over the past three months, which is counterintuitive given the pervasive view that the broader economy is headed into recession.”
The move illustrates the whipsaw cadence of construction since the beginning of the pandemic, when new projects have stumbled to get out of the gate due to supply chain and labor challenges but the demand to build has remained high.
It also marks a U-turn from last month’s backlog report, when October numbers showed the largest monthly decline since July 2020 in the commercial and institutional category. At that time, Basu said October’s slump indicated an emerging weakness in the nonresidential construction sector.
However, in this month’s reading, the commercial and institutional category, along with healthcare-related construction, led the improvement in backlog, according to ABC.
Given those come-and-go indicators, questions remain whether that positive backlog growth can continue, said Basu.
“While it seems unlikely that backlog will hold up in the face of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to slow demand, many predicted that backlog would have dipped by now and that has yet to transpire,” said Basu. “What’s more, many contractors expect sales and staffing levels to climb over the next six months, while profit margins are projected to remain stable.”
ABC’s Construction Confidence Index reading for profit margins and staffing increased in November, while the reading for sales moved lower. All three readings remain above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations of growth over the next six months, according to the report.
Michael Walsh
WEST HARTFORD — After a public hearing that lasted just over six hours, the Town Council voted Tuesday to delay its decision on a proposed housing development in West Hartford Center.
The project, filed by development group The Arapahoe Group consisting of Jim Manafort, Marc Lewis, Harris Simons and Bruce Simons, considers constructing 58 condos and 25 apartments across two buildings on existing parking lots near the corner of Arapahoe Road and LaSalle Road.
The delay in voting came after Woodrow Street resident David Meehan filed a protest petition.
A valid protest petition, which requires signatures from 20 percent of landowners in the 500-foot radius impacted by the development, would trigger a supermajority voting requirement. The town's corporation counsel, Dallas Dodge, recommended the town council delay its vote until Dec. 21 to allow town staff time to validate the petition signatures.
Meehan said he and his neighbors who signed the petition share a concern about the size of the building housing the condos, which is set back from the roadway, and the impact on traffic the two buildings might bring to a neighborhood he said is already dealing with unsafe drivers.
"We already have a traffic issue," Meehan said. "We are already broken as far as traffic in our neighborhood."
Meehan, referencing a few recently approved housing developments in town on Park Road, Trout Brook Drive and Farmington Avenue, noted a difference between those projects and this one.
"Those developments all have their traffic flowing in and out of major roads," Meehan said. "That’s where we start to have some challenges here. This flows onto a residential road."
Maureen Chlebek, a traffic engineer with McMahon Associates, said her study showed that the new developments would create an additional 60 vehicle trips per hour to the area — or one per minute — and would not make an impact on the area's traffic that already exists.
Meehan said he and the other neighbors who signed the petition aren't totally against development in this area; they just don't think this is the right one.
"This is a group of people that realize this parking lot as it is now isn’t the best use of this property," Meehan said. "Most people think there should be some development there. We realize that there is a development that probably should take place here."
Drive who spoke alongside Meehan, said that in addition to traffic concerns, he's worried about the size of the condominium building being proposed. The apartment building will be five stories, while the condo building will max out at six stories, with part of the building being five stories.
"Our road is already very busy with cars using it as a high speed cut through to the center," Parker said. "When you place a 70-foot building on a hill surrounded by mostly one- and two-story buildings, it’s going to look out of place. It’s that simple. The developers don’t want you to see the full impact of this massive condo building that is the heart of this project."
Supporters of the project included Evan Berman, a Brookline Drive resident who is also a realtor. He said West Hartford needs the housing stock.
"There’s a strong need for condominiums right here in West Hartford Center," Berman said. "Without a doubt there’s a need for housing in the center and there’s a very strong market for housing in West Hartford Center. We have a very limited space for new home ownership here. Our center needs more properties for people to buy."
Austin Hersh, a Pelham Road resident, said he was in favor of the application since it makes use of space he says is underutilized and wasted.
"As a neighbor of the proposed development, I'm excited West Hartford will add the much-needed residential buildings in our awesome town center," Hersh said. "People are eager to live in West Hartford, specifically close to the center. It's a vibrant area with awesome shops and restaurants. Currently, the West Hartford real estate market doesn't have anything like the proposed development."
Restaurateur Billy Grant and Chris Conway, executive director of the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce, also supported the project, citing the economic boost it could bring to the center of town.
In the middle of the issue is Jay Stange, an Auburn Road resident and coordinator at the Transport Hartford Academy at the Center for Latino Progress in Hartford.
His concern is timing since the town is still undergoing its West Hartford Center Infrastructure Master Plan study, which has the potential to bring big changes to LaSalle Road and Farmington Avenue.
"This project does a lot of things that I want in our town," Stange said. "Our town is a place that has room for more people. My concern is that I don’t think West Hartford has room for more cars."
The development has plans to include a a three-story parking garage with two of its levels underground as well as surface parking. Stange referenced a recent report from the town's master plan consultant, Stantec, that said there are already approximately 5,000 parking spaces in the area impacted by the master plan.
"That’s something that the town and Town Council really needs to think about right now," Stange said. "Are we going to make room in this town for people or are we going to make room in this town for parking cars? I want to support this project. Not tonight. We can do better."
Town Manager Rick Ledwith said later in the meeting that its consultant had issued them a memo detailing traffic issues on the impacted roads.
"We have received a draft memo addressing the traffic issue on LaSalle, Woodrow, Arapahoe that we are reviewing right now," Ledwith said. "Without question, we are going to assist our neighbors on Woodrow and Arapahoe and help mitigate the issue. We need to review that memo in detail."
LaSalle Road, particularly, is the focus of much attention. The road, previously a two-way street, was turned into a one-way road going north during the COVID-19 pandemic to accommodate expanded outdoor dining. The study will leave the town contemplating the best usage of the road.
"As part of the study, we’re looking at LaSalle," Ledwith said. "Right now, it’s one-way going north. Do we leave it one-way going north? Do we leave it one-way going south? Do we convert it back to two-way or do we close it all together? Those are some of the options that are being considered."
The developer's attorney, Robin Pearson of Alter & Pearson, responded to traffic concerns by saying that the developer would be open to installing traffic calming measures to help impacted neighborhoods. Pearson also added that any development, whether it's theirs or another one, would add more traffic to the area.
"Any additional development on that site is going to generate more vehicles," Pearson said. "You can deny this, and it won’t get built, and you’ll still have a parking lot there, and you’ll still have the commercial traffic that will go in and out closer to the more residential neighborhoods to the west."
While the town's Planning and Zoning Commission voted four to one to recommend approving the project, the town's Design Review Advisory Committee voted four to one recommending the Town Council not approve the project.
Their letter to the Town Council, dated Dec. 5, said that while they support the apartment building on the corner of LaSalle Road and Arapahoe Road, they still found issue with the condo building despite changes the developers made to reduce the building's size in response to previous committee suggestions.
"Without further changes to that building, those efforts are not enough to change a majority of the committee's opinion that the building's size, scale and placement on the site remains incompatible with the abutting properties," reads the letter, which was signed by Town Planner Todd Dumais, who is the committee's secretary.
The committee went on to say that the condo building "is not compatible with the site or adjoining buildings and does not accomplish an appropriate transition with the streetscape" and that the "mass and placement [of the building] does not create a visually pleasing or coherent site design."
The committee also took issue with the building not being compatible with the neighborhood and that it doesn't foster a sense of place in West Hartford Center. The committee ended its letter by saying it encourages the developers to submit an alternative design that addresses their issues.
Pearson noted that the committee wasn't "upset with the height of that structure at all. They were concerned with the mass of the building on the site."
Turning the focus back to traffic, Council member Leon Davidoff pondered the idea that drivers exiting the development only be able to turn left onto Arapahoe Road, keeping the building's traffic away from homeowners on both Arapahoe and Woodrow Street.
"We need to be very cognizant," Davidoff said. "We don’t want to make life worse for those who are already there. We need to find workable solutions to say listen, we want to be in your neighborhood, we don't want to negatively impact your quality of life. So what can we do to make this happen? That's why I’ve been trying to think outside of the box."
Council member Mark Zydanowicz also said he had been thinking about the exit being left-turn only.
"What did we hear today, in my mind? We heard that there’s a traffic problem downtown previous to this," Zydanowicz said. "They didn’t come to complain so much about the building. They came to complain about the traffic there. We have to respond, and I think we are and have. We have a plan in place. These are some of the things that will help with that process."
The developers said they did offer the left-turn only idea to the town, but didn't fully vet the concept with them, and indicated it may be something that could be included in the plans.
Ledwith pledged that the town will address Woodrow Street's issues before any construction begins should the project gain approval.
"That will all be part of our decision-making process," Ledwith said, referencing street calming possibilities. "Before a shovel goes into the ground, if this project were to be approved, we will have addressed the traffic issue on Woodrow."
Pearson too said the developers would commit to working with the town to address any negative impacts the development could bring to the neighborhood.
"We appreciate the concerns that have been raised by the neighbors and we do commit to working with the town staff and the neighborhood on possible changes we can output with regard to the traffic issue," Pearson said.
The Town Council will consider approval of the development at a special meeting Dec. 21 at 6:30 p.m.
Ground Broken On 398 New Apartments
THOMAS BREEN
A dozen New York City-based developers, investors, and local city officials dug in and tossed ceremonial shovels full of dirt — as a team of hard-hatted construction workers behind them continued transforming a 13-acre former contaminated industrial site into 398 new places to live.
That was the scene Wednesday morning at the official groundbreaking for 201 Munson St.
The event marked the ceremonial start for a years-old development project at the old Olin Chemical Company site that in recent months has become a bustling hub of environmental remediation and early-stage construction.
In the next 18 months, the New York City-based construction firm Hudson Meridian plans to have built a new six-story, 377-unit apartment complex, 21 new townhouses along Munson Street, 474 surface and garage parking spaces, and a green expanse of lawn sloping up in the direction of Shelton Avenue.
The work on display Wednesday of the construction of the Munson Street townhouses, the building out of the apartment complex’s concrete foundation, and the prepping to cap the last of the site’s lead-contaminated soil all served as a backdrop for a celebration of a project that has been long delayed finally nearing fruition.
“In March 2020, we were ready to close a loan and the bank put it on hold for Covid,” Hudson Meridian Principal Bill Cote said. “There wasn’t a lot of lending going on for a couple years.” He thanked the project’s lead financers, ACORE Capital and Sculptor Real Estate, which provided the developer with a $78 million loan in May, for “believing in this project in New Haven.”
Cote also singled out for praise local construction contractor and Newhallville native Rodney Williams for helping make this project a reality.
“We’ve owned the property for over four years. We were introduced by the previous owners to a gentleman by the name of Rodney Williams,” Cote said. “Rodney helped our development team navigate New Haven and work with the community. … Rodney, thank you for everything you’ve done.”
Mayor Elicker.
Mayor Justin Elicker marveled at how “remarkable” it is that a site that has been “underutilized” for so long is now finally on the brink of providing 398 more apartments.
“We talk a lot about affordable housing and how affordable housing is so important,” Elicker said. “While technically there are no affordable units as a part of this project, I think that having many, many more units in the marketplace naturally will help alleviate some of the pressure of the prices around housing.” (After the press conference, Cote confirmed for the Independent that, while the developer is not legally required to set aside any of the 398 future apartments at below-market rents, his team has committed to making 10 percent of the new housing units affordable to renters making up to 80 percent of the area median income [AMI].)
Steve Winter, who now works as the city’s climate and sustainability director but who up until Friday was the alder for the ward that includes 201 Munson, described the “tremendous amount of remediation that had to be done with this project.”
“I hope that this and the other developments in the greater Winchester-Science Park area can really knit together the various neighborhoods around Science Park,” he added. And, he said, he’s excited “to see this huge, 13-acre underutilized tract being put to much better use.”
After the press conference had ended and the dirt had been ceremonially shoveled, local construction contractor Rodney Williams pulled this reporter aside to emphasize just how big of a deal this project is for the city — and just how much of a reminder it is that New Haven needs to invest in a skilled workforce.
He lamented that the city’s current laws around developers hiring local, minority- and women-owned businesses only go so far if New Haven doesn’t double down on making sure city residents have the skills and experience to work on huge projects like 201 Munson.
“The lack of skilled workers in this city is a problem,” he said.
Good jobs that New Haveners are ready to fill will allow city residents to live where they want to live, he said. “We’re creating affordable housing,” he said, “but we’re not training” people to be able to afford to live where they want. Williams told the Independent that his firm recently had four New Haveners working security on the 201 Munson St. site, and he’s in negotiations around doing some of the drywall work for the townhomes.
Steve Calicchio, who is Hudson Meridian’s project executive for 201 Munson, said that there are currently around 80 construction workers working at the development site. At the height of construction in the months ahead, he said, there should be between 200 and 300 construction workers on site at any given time.
Aaron Goode, who founded a group called the New Haven Friends of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, also provided the Independent on Wednesday with comments he had prepared to give as one of the scheduled speakers on the press conference lineup.
“Residents of 201 Munson will be able to literally roll out of bed, hop on a bike, get on the trail and be at Yale or downtown New Haven in less than 5 minutes; or in the other direction, ride 80 miles all the way to Massachusetts without ever having to go on a roadway or navigate a single block of traffic,” he wrote about the canal trail that runs directly adjacent to the construction site. “We think that is a pretty special amenity to offer residents that is unique to this particular place. It’s exactly the kind of amenity that millennials and many other people are looking for as they seek out opportunities for urban living.
“Revitalizing a brownfield site, hiring local workers, leveraging the trail as an asset, with projects like this the future is bright,” Goode continued. “The Farmington Canal Trail is already the crown jewel of the bicycle pedestrian network in Connecticut, it is already one of the greatest rail trails in the country, but with new businesses, new development springing up around the trail practically every day, with new neighbors and new users drawn from right here on Munson Street in historic Newhallville, we know the best is yet to come. Thank you for being here, thank you to everyone who has worked on this project and helped to fulfill our long term vision of the trail as an instrument of growth and opportunity.”