To speed up construction, CRDA eyes project labor agreement for $100M XL Center upgrade
Taking a lesson from a year-long delay in the recently
completed sports-betting lounge at Hartford’s XL Center, the Capital Region
Development Authority plans to sign an agreement with local unions to ensure a
ready supply of trained labor for the venue’s broader $100 million renovation.
The sports lounge, part of a $20 million package of
upgrades, was originally intended to open for the fall 2022 football season,
creating another draw for downtown Hartford and adding an amenity to a building
that has struggled to bring in acts.
Instead, the betting lounge opened this past September, a
delay Freimuth blames on a snarled supply chain and difficulty accessing
adequate labor.
Now, as the CRDA prepares to launch a grander $100 million,
two-year XL Center reconfiguration and repair program, Freimuth is hoping to
avoid some of the same pitfalls. Material, especially electronic switchgear,
will be ordered well in advance and stored, he said.
A project labor agreement will mean paying a premium for
some trades, Freimuth conceded in a meeting with his board Monday morning. But
it will also guarantee access to trained pools of labor and ensure predictable
labor rates negotiated in advance, he said.
“The anxiety I have at this hour is we are on a very tight
two-year window,” Freimuth said. “We are going to disrupt the building’s
operations. We are going to shut the building down at periods. And we can’t
afford hiccups in bids. We can’t afford hiccups in the schedule.”
The CRDA board voted on Monday to allow Freimuth to
negotiate a project labor agreement with local unions.
The planned project will reconfigure the stage and some
seating, to create in-demand premium seating areas close to the stage. It will
also improve loading and unloading areas, a key component in attracting shows.
The plan will also address long-deferred maintenance.
Freimuth said Monday he expects bids for various portions of
the job to come in over the next six to eight weeks, allowing the agency to
know if the project will fall within the $100 million budget. The CRDA would
then approach the state Bond Commission to tap $80 million approved in Gov. Ned
Lamont’s two-year state budget for the XL Center renovation.
CRDA would also then be able to finalize an agreement
granting international entertainment company OVG a long-term contract to manage
the facility. In return, OVG would invest $20 million in the renovation.
Naugatuck seeks construction manager
ANDREAS YILMA
NAUGATUCK – The borough hopes to secure a construction
manager deal to pave the way for the development of a road network for a new
industrial park.
The Board of Mayor and Burgesses gave the goahead for Mayor
N. Warren “Pete” Hess to enter into an American Institute of Architects
document standard form agreement with O&G Industries, of Torrington, to
develop a road network at former Uniroyal Chemical/United States Rubber Co.
complex site for Industrial Park #3 at 280 Elm St. The agreement is subject to
final review by borough attorney Ned Fitzpatrick and will be for the
preconstruction services that will not exceed $275,000.
The contract is about 90% complete where borough officials
will need to make a few minor modifications.
Town officials previously reached a $1 purchase agreement
with Lanxess Corp., a successor to Uniroyal Chemical, to acquire roughly 86
acres off Elm Street between the Naugatuck River and Cherry Street Extension to
begin the Naugatuck Industrial Commons Redevelopment Project.
Hess said the funds will come from the Tax Incremental
Financing District, which is about $18 million. Last month, town officials
completed the bonding for the TIF District, he added.
The proposed development calls new roads and the division of
the property into about nine separate building lots for industrial sites.
Borough officials want to start the construction for the road network in this
current calendar year and are hopeful to finish one of the roads by this time
next year, Hess said.
“We have selected O&G and we’re all very comfortable
with O&G from past projects including the Naugatuck High School project,”
Hess said. “They’ve actually chosen Joe Vetro to be the project manager who was
the project manager for the high school and we’re very comfortable with Joe.”
Burgess Robert A. Neth agreed with Vetro being the project
manager.
“I think we’re in good hands with Joe Vetro,” Neth said.
“He’s the ace, a fantastic individual who’s extremely competent.”
Civil 1, an engineering firm in Woodbury, will design the
roads while O&G is the construction manager and will oversee the building
of the roads, Hess said.
“This is a complicated project, not so much because the
roads are hard to build but because we have to comply with the soil management
plan that’s mandated by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency),” Hess said.
“There are some nuances.”
Uniroyal paid for and had environmental remediation on the
site for the first two phases of the project.
The borough was successful to obtain a $3 million Community
Investment Fund 2020 grant which will be used to advance Phase III of the
Naugatuck Industrial Park project, specifically the construction of permanent
and temporary access roads into the property.
CT gives $800K transportation grants for Manchester sidewalk, South Windsor trail
Manchester and South Windsor are two of the 17 towns that
will receive transportation grants from the state of Connecticut.
Gov.
Ned Lamont announced last week $11.7 million in state grants to 17
towns and cities across Connecticut for projects designed to improve
transportation safety and accessibility, under the Community Connectivity Grant
Program.
Manchester officials plan to install additional sidewalks in
the area of Keeney Street with the $800,000 they received through the program.
The project would extend the existing sidewalk along Keeney Street on both
sides of the road, between the Garden Grove Road/Nutmeg Drive intersection and
the Bush Hill Road intersection.
John DiBiasi, Manchester's assistant town engineer, said the
money covers installation of the sidewalks and new ramps designed for Americans
with Disabilities Act compliance, alongside ancillary work including
restoration of lawns and traffic control.
Town staff have identified Keeney Street as a priority area
for sidewalk connectivity, in order to provide safe pedestrian walkways
from Keeney
Elementary School to nearby neighborhoods. The sidewalk would also
connect directly to the Charter Oak Greenway,
DiBiasi said town staff would perform design work for the
project over the winter, targeting construction in the summer or fall of 2024.
South Windsor will use its $800,000 to fund part of its
Crosstown Trail project, a 6.2-mile multi-use trail that will
help pedestrians and bicyclists travel safely around town.
The project includes installing a 10-foot-wide,
handicap-accessible paved walkway along the Eversource power lines corridor
that will connect neighborhoods to the town center, schools, parks, and
businesses.
Molly Keays, director of South Windsor Parks and Recreation,
said it is easy for pedestrians and cyclists to travel within neighborhoods,
but the lack of sidewalks and bike lanes on major roads make it difficult to
travel outside of them.
Keays said the full trail will also connect to the Charter
Oak Greenway, the East Coast Greenway, and the to-be-established Central
Connecticut Loop Trail, providing connectivity to areas outside of South
Windsor.
Keays said the town received $1.2 million last month from
the State Bond Commission for "Phase 1A" of the Crosstown Trail, and
the $800,000 from the Community Connectivity Grant Program will cover
"phase 1B." She said the first phase represents the "central
portion" of the town-wide trail, and will connect Wapping Park, Priest
Farm, and Nevers Park by bridging together existing trails.
Keays said South Windsor has three years to use the funds it
has received thus far, and Phase 1A is expected to begin construction in the
summer of 2024. She said the second and third phases of the project are still
under development and currently do not have a final estimate for their
timelines or costs, but town officials are looking into funding sources to
complete the trail.
Shelton's Daybreak Ridge condo expansion likely to be rejected
SHELTON — The sun appears to be setting on developers' hopes
to expand the Daybreak Ridge condominium development off River Road.
The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously voiced
its opposition
to approving a Planned Development District for the site in order to
allow construction of an additional 28 units.
The commission has asked staff to prepare an unfavorable
resolution on the application. Once complete, the commission will vote on the
resolution at a later date.
“I do not see this adding anything to the community,” said
commission Chair Virginia Harger.
Daybreak Ridge, LLC, is presently constructing 36
condominiums — dubbed Daybreak Ridge — at 84 River Road. The developers have
since filed an application seeking to change the zoning of the 12.39-acre
parcel to a Planned Development District in an effort to nearly double the size
of the project.
The commission, at its August meeting, was to simply vote to
accept and set up a public hearing on the application. That action is
considered a formality, but even
that vote met reluctance. After the reading of the legal notice on
the plan and a short discussion, Commissioner Elaine Matto made the
motion, but no other commissioners seconded it.
Commissioners were told they must hear this application
though.
The project then faced opposition from neighboring
residents, who raised concerns about excess blasting, increased traffic and the
detrimental impacts of the growing density on site.
The commission initially granted a special exception for the
project, allowing for 34 condo units in 2019. In September of 2021, after
initial excavation and regrading of the site, the developer found that
more usable space was created and returned to P&Z successfully seeking
approval of an additional two units — bringing the total to 36, which was the
maximum eligible number originally sought.
At the time of the approval in 2019, zoning consultant
Anthony Panico said he received “good cooperation” from the developers, who
agreed to several alterations to try and satisfy commissioners' concerns,
especially the proximity of units to the rock face.
Attorney Dominick Thomas, representing the developers, has
stated that his client can expand into the vacant upper area and get 28 more
units with a PDD. In all, the developer is hoping to construct 64 condominium
units, with the additional 28 located in four buildings at the rear of the
property. Two buildings would each have eight condo units, the other two would
have six units each.
In processing the request as required by statute, the
commissioners often noted the property’s constraints, specifically the steep
slopes, the rock, the watercourse and wetlands and negative impacts on
neighbors.