An affiliate of a Windsor-based site-work contractor and a
West Hartford power-equipment retailer has purchased a former Mitsubishi
dealership property on Hartford’s New Park Avenue for $3.15 million.
According to a deed recorded Nov. 5, a limited liability
company tied to BCI Inc. — which operates as The Butler Co. — acquired the
3-acre parcel at 398-412 New Park Ave. from an LLC affiliated with the Crowley
Auto Group.
The site includes a 26,143-square-foot dealership building
constructed in 1988 and recently vacated by a Mitsubishi franchise that had
been leasing the property.
The deal was completed as part of a 1031 tax-deferred
exchange.
ADVERTISEMENT
Principals of the buying entity include Robert, Thomas and
Timothy Butler — the president, vice president and a project manager at BCI,
respectively.
The family also owns Butler Equipment, a power-equipment
retailer located a short distance down New Park Avenue in West Hartford. The
store sells landscaping and construction machinery ranging from lawn mowers and
leaf blowers to excavators and loaders.
BCI provides site-work services to public agencies,
developers, higher-education institutions and healthcare organizations.
The firm’s portfolio includes work on Lowe’s stores in
Cromwell and Bloomfield; a Home Depot in Bristol; Dick’s Sporting Goods in
Manchester; aerospace facilities in Windsor Locks and Bloomfield; the University of Connecticut in Storrs; and General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, according to
its website.
New Greenwich High School swimming pool could cost $57.4M, open in 2029
GREENWICH — A new swimming pool at Greenwich High
School could cost $57.4 million and be ready to open in late 2029.
The new facility, if constructed, would replace the current
1970s-era high school pool, which
has a number of limitations, including narrow decks and a ceiling too low
for diving or water polo.
“We understand there is a great urgency behind addressing
the issues with the pool," said Lisa Yates, design team architect for
Antinozzi Associates, during a meeting of the Greenwich Board of Education on
Nov. 20.
Back in February, Greenwich Public
Schools Facilities Director Dan Watson informed the Board of Education
that the current pool would
need renovations, including a new drain. The district then hired
Chester-based TLB Architecture to create a report outlining the pool's
deficiencies and ways to fix them. That report found that some parts of the
pool were not fully compliant with federal law and health code
regulations.
Ultimately, a feasibility committee — comprised of school
officials, one Board of Education member, the high school athletic director,
swimming coaches and community members, among others — was formed to come up
with recommendations.
That committee studied a number of alternatives and the most
popular option was constructing a brand new building to house a new pool only a
few feet south of the current pool structure. One benefit of the plan is
that it would allow for the current pool to remain in use while the new
building is being constructed, allowing for the swim program to continue
uninterrupted.
Yates said that was a major consideration, since members of
the swim program adamantly opposed closing the pool during any construction.
Another popular option among committee members was building
a new facility at the site of the current one, while relocating the swimming
program. However, that option would only be about $2.6 million cheaper than the
recommended choice.
The new building, if constructed, would be roughly four
times as big as the current pool structure. It would feature a 35-meter pool as
well as a shallow area required for swimming and lifeguard electives offered at
the high school. The ceiling height would allow for all types of aquatics
programming, including diving and water polo.
The height of the ceiling in the existing pool is too low to
allow for diving according to National Collegiate Athletic Association
regulations.
The new proposed building would also have a number of
amenities not currently available to swimmers and spectators, such as dedicated
locker rooms for both home and away teams, an alumni room, bathrooms, a lobby
with a ticket office and an entire mezzanine seating area for an overhead view
of the action.
The current pool only offers seating on the pool deck used
by swimmers, a violation of health code regulations. Further, the deck was
deemed insufficient in the TLB report because it is too narrow and fails to
meet accessibility and emergency access requirements.
The new structure would be built where the tennis courts are
south of the high school. That creates another issue, as the district would
have to find a new home for the courts and the school's tennis program. One
solution discussed at the meeting is constructing new courts at North Street
School, which is one-and-a-half miles away.
Board chair Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony said cost is a
major consideration with the project. At the meeting, many people who spoke
during the public comment section brought up the school budget and proposed
cuts to it.
"The irony is not lost on me that we’ve had an hour
worth of public comments about our operating budget and the cost of the
operating budget and cuts to the operating budget and we’re talking about a
significant capital expenditure that dwarfs any reductions we're making,"
he said.
Mercanti-Anthony said he would not support the project
without a "significant private donation" to help pay for the cost.
Yates recognized that the price of the project is a key
consideration.
“This is an expensive endeavor no matter how you look at
it," she said.
The Board of Education is set to vote on the educational
specifications of the proposed pool in December.
Vacant lot at prominent CT gateway acquired for $1.3M. ‘It’s a real eyesore.’
Even the governor has asked what’s going on at this site.
Now,
a vacant lot at a prominent gateway to downtown Hartford — created
nearly 15 years ago with the demolition of Broadcast House — has been sold for
$1.3 million after the previous owner failed to redevelop the site at the foot
of the Founders Bridge.
The buyer, Hartford Steam Boiler, is
headquartered just across Columbus Boulevard from the half-acre lot at 3
Constitution Plaza, which is now an eyesore surrounded by a chain link fence.
“HSB’s land acquisition was a strategic decision to preserve
the value of our headquarters at One State Street,” HSB spokesman Dennis
Milewski said, in a statement Monday. “We would entertain a higher use value
for the property but otherwise are looking to build additional street level
parking for employees. We look forward to improving the general conditions of
this corner in downtown Hartford.”
The property has long been considered a strong candidate for
a new hotel because it is a short walk from the convention center. The city
lost hundreds of hotel rooms in the pandemic, now hamstringing its ability to
attract large conventions and other big events. The city is looking to rebuild
its stock of hotel rooms.
In past year, the specialty insurer — owned by German
reinsurance giant Munich Re —
has taken an interest in the lot, commissioning a mural to spruce up the site.
The mural’s focal point is a powerful locomotive, evoking HSB’s roots in boiler
breakdown insurance, a train still part of HSB’s logo.
HSB also invested in the opening of a new, upscale
restaurant, The Foundry, atop its
headquarters building.
The sale was recorded in the Hartford town and city clerk’s
office late last week.
Hartford Mayor Arunan
Arulampalam said late Monday the city looks forward to a new chapter
for a property that the city has wanted very much to see redeveloped.
“For all Hartford residents, that’s felt like a real
eyesore, right as you get off the highway and entering into downtown,”
Arulampalam said. “In my first couple months being mayor, it’s something the
governor had mentioned to me and mentioned to me several other times. It’s a
property that we’ve been very interested in, trying to get under responsible
control and try to get a number of developers to look at.”
Earlier this year, Arulampalam said the
city had been approached about negotiations between the previous owner
of the long-vacant lot at the southeastern corner of Constitution Plaza — Abul
Islam, founder and chief executive of Middletown-based AI Engineers — and potential
developers of a new hotel. Those negotiations were in the earliest stages.
Islam could not be reached for comment late Monday.
The corporate investment in Constitution Plaza provides a
boost at a time when the future of a large chunk of the 1960s-era complex is
surrounded by uncertainty.
The
court-approved foreclosure last month of a majority of Hartford’s
Constitution Plaza is expected to open up options for the future, but just how
redevelopment unfolds — or over what period of time — is the next chapter in
the plaza’s long struggle to find a niche in the half century since it was
built.
Islam put
the property up for sale a little over two years ago, listed without
an asking price.
Islam purchased the property at 3 Constitution Plaza in 2008
and announced splashy plans for a 12-story, $40 million office tower.
But those plans were subsequently downsized and, at one
point, office space was combined with apartments. A hotel also was considered
for the site. Each of the plans went nowhere, financing and falling demand for
office space a constant obstacle.
Islam paid $700,000 for the property, $1 million below its
original listing price. In 2008, Islam told the Courant he was investing $2
million to buy the property and demolish Broadcast House, a distinctive sight
in the city with its scalloped roof.
The building had stood vacant and deteriorating since
WFSB/Channel 3 moved its broadcast studios to Rocky Hill in 2006.
Revolution Wind work goes on as Trump administration misses deadline
The Trump administration missed last week’s deadline to
appeal a federal judge’s decision ordering work to resume on the Revolution
Wind project, handing another victory to advocates and local officials who have
fought to keep the project afloat.
Construction of the of the 704-megawatt wind farm — which is
being staged from the State Pier in New London — was allowed
to resume on Sept. 22 after U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth
ruled that the federal government lacked justification when it halted work on
the project earlier this year.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which issued the
stop-work order, had 60 days to appeal the judge’s decision. That deadline
passed on Friday, Nov. 21 with no action taken by the federal government.
“The Trump administration is rightly choosing not to
continue to defend the indefensible,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong
said in a statement Monday. “Trump’s erratic actions were the height of
arbitrary and capricious government action, and their decision not to pursue
this defense is further confirmation of that. This is a major win for
Connecticut workers and Connecticut families.”
A BOEM spokesperson declined to comment Monday.
In response to a series of questions seeking clarity on
whether the administration was dropping its opposition to Revolution Wind,
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly provided a statement that included no
mention of the project or the court ruling.
“In just a few months, President Trump has ended Joe Biden’s
war on American energy and restored American energy dominance,” the statement
read. “This means prioritizing the most effective and reliable tools to power
our country, which includes following through on his promise to ‘Drill, Baby,
Drill’ and unleash domestic oil, gas, and nuclear power — supporting thousands
of good-paying energy jobs across the country.”
Revolution Wind was already 80% complete when the stop-work order was issued in
August. All the foundations for the project’s massive turbines had been driven
into the seafloor.
The Trump administration cited unspecified national security
concerns as its rationale for halting the project. The project’s proponents
said it had undergone extensive reviews during the years-long permitting
process, which included approvals from the federal Department of Defense.
Revolution Wind’s developers, which include Danish energy
company Ørsted, filed suit challenging the stop-work order in federal court in
Washington, D.C.
Lamberth, the judge in the case, was appointed to the bench
by former President Ronald Reagan. In remarks from the bench in September,
Lamberth chided the the government for failing to provide evidence to support
its order, which he called “the height of arbitrary and capricious action.”
“There is no question in my mind of irreparable harm,”
Lamberth said, adding that the developers were required to meet strict
deadlines to get the project up and running.
Since work resumed in September, the project has progressed
to around 85% completion, according to Ørsted’s most recent quarterly earnings report. Construction is currently slated to finish
in the second half of 2026.
A spokesperson for Revolution Wind declined to comment on
the government’s decision not to appeal Lamberth’s ruling.
A second
lawsuit challenging the federal government’s action against Revolution
Wind was filed in September by Tong and his counterpart in Rhode Island,
Democratic Attorney General Peter Neronha. That case remains pending as of
Monday.
The project employs nearly 1,200 workers across both states,
according to the lawsuit, including more than 100 jobs at the State Pier in New
London. The wind farm itself is located in federal waters off the coast of
Block Island.
Both Connecticut and Rhode Island also signed agreements to
purchase the power produced by Revolution Wind once it is online. Under the
terms of its contract, Connecticut’s utilities will purchase up to 304
megawatts for $99 per megawatt-hour.
Separately this week, another federal judge in Washington,
D.C. is considering whether the Trump administration erred
in its decision to halt all approvals for future offshore wind projects,
according to Reuters. Trump announced that order as part of a flurry of executive actions
upon his return to office on Jan. 20.