CRDA’s Freimuth: UConn dorm project would be transformative to downtown Hartford
The University of Connecticut’s effort
to create a dormitory for its downtown Hartford branch campus would
include nearly $28 million in financial support from the Capital Region
Development Authority and a private lender.
CRDA’s Housing & Neighborhood Committee convened
Thursday morning to discuss the proposal and unanimously approved sending it to
the full board for consideration.
According to CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth, the
plan would create a student dormitory at 64 Pratt St. The six-floor building is
an annex to 242 Trumbull St., which was
acquired last year by Shelbourne Global Solutions. Shelbourne, based
in Brooklyn, New York, is the central business district’s largest office
landlord.
Shelbourne has partnered with Hartford-based real estate
developer and investor Lexington Partners and Hartford-based LAZ Parking to
develop the project.
Freimuth said the proposal would require creating a “condo
structure” for the dormitory portion of the building on the upper floors,
separating them from the first two floors that have a mix of retail and back
office service space.
The dormitory space would be approximately 84,000 square
feet and accommodate 202 beds in approximately 75 to 80 single-, double-, and
four-bed suites.
The development deal would total $27.9 million, Freimuth
said, including a first loan of $10.06 million; $10 million in interim
financing provided by the CRDA; $3 million in equity; and approximately $4.9
million in city and state grants.
The CRDA interim financing would be a 20-year loan but would
be brought down to $7.5 million after three years, Freimuth said.
Freimuth said UConn hopes to open the dorm by the fall of
2025, which he admitted is an “aggressive” timetable given the approvals
required. In addition to needing approval from the CRDA board of directors and
the UConn Board of Trustees, the state Bond Commission also must approve the
financing plan. The project also is subject to approval by city land-use
boards.
“Failure to that will push it out to ‘26, since UConn does
not normally occupy (dorms) mid-term,” he said.
Freimuth told the committee that the building is ideally
situated for the project. “This building, in ways that no one really foresaw,
kind of jumped to the front real quick,” he said.
The annex on Pratt Street, which is closed to vehicle traffic, is about a
10-minute walk from the UConn Hartford campus, located in the former Hartford
Times building on Prospect Street. It is also a half-block from the XL Center,
where UConn is finalizing a five-year lease for space it will retrofit to host
a new agricultural and food science program, sports medicine center, mental
health clinic and two lecture halls.
The UConn School of Business is also nearby at 100
Constitution Plaza.
Freimuth described the project as transformative.
“It’s a reminder of the influence of the school and its
impact and contributions to the downtown core,” he said. “It would put 200-plus
kids on Pratt Street. It’s putting a talent pool on the street, helping to
reinforce businesses’ demand for labor. There’s a lot of elements in this that
are not in the numbers.”
Committee members generally agreed, though member Robert
Patricelli asked whether CRDA funds had ever previously been used for a project
with a public or quasi-public institution that could instead go directly to the
state Bond Commission for funding.
Freimuth said there had been previous instances, including
some projects with the state Department of Administrative Services. He added
that because UConn would be the tenant “it helps the underwriting.”
Patricelli also asked whether the reconfiguration of the
building for dorm rooms would make it difficult to convert to something else if
necessary in the future.
Jane Davey, director of asset management and acquisitions
for LAZ Investments, said there would be some difficulty if the building needed
to be converted to something else, but that it would be no more difficult than
converting a hotel to a residential space.
“If you did need to convert to something residential, that
infrastructure remains,” she said, adding, “it’s not at the magnitude as if we
had to convert it from office space.”
Freimuth said the design of the interior will be done to
UConn’s specifications, which was explained by UConn Provost Anne
D’Alleva.
“The way that this building will be configured is
suite-style housing, which is preferred by students today,” she said. “It will
look like small apartments with a central living space, a small kitchen and a
bathroom, and bedrooms that can be occupied by one student or they can share
bedrooms.”
D’Alleva said students can eat in their suites or dine in a
cafeteria being installed in the Hartford Times campus building. “For most
students it will be a hybrid arrangement, eating partly at home and partly on
campus and, we hope, partly in the community,” she said.
She added that a residence hall is not just an apartment building for students,
and noted that the annex building has a large atrium that makes it an ideal
gathering spot.
“You need to have a communal life,” she said. “That atrium
is really a spectacular space. We can hold events there, provide a computer
lab, soft seating, a game room. It’s a space that will really let us develop a
communal life for students.”
Committee Chair Joanne Berger-Sweeney, who is president of
Trinity College, praised the project as “a very positive thing,” but said she
was concerned that another building would be removed from the city’s tax
rolls.
Freimuth said that would not be the case. “There will be a
tax agreement between the city8 and the developer that will keep it a taxable
piece of real estate,” he said.
Committee member Randal Davis, interim director of
development services for the city, also praised the project.
“I think it’s an excellent addition to the downtown world
that we have here,” he said. “It is supported by the administration and,
long term, will be a continued benefit to the city.”
Waterford, East Lyme residents frustrated by failure of data center study bill
Daniel Drainville
Waterford ― Opponents of a proposed data center on the
grounds of the Millstone Power Station, who had rallied in support of a bill to
study the center’s impact on the electrical grid and their communities, were
frustrated Thursday to learn the legislation didn’t go forward.
Senate Bill 299 would have required ISO New England, the
grid manager for five states in New England, to study the potential impact to
the grid of the data center, which would receive power directly from Millstone.
It passed the state Senate on Saturday, but the House failed to vote on the
bill before the end of its legislative session at midnight Wednesday.
Members of Concerned Citizens of Waterford and East Lyme
said they spent the past four days placing hundreds of phone calls and sending
emails to the governor’s office and state representatives to lobby support for
the bill.
The group, which started as just Waterford residents last
summer, gathered information on data centers and shared numerous
quality of life, environmental and energy concerns about the project.
Among those concerns are that the project, which would consume around 15
percent of the station’s current output, would jeopardize the region’s energy
security. Officials from Millstone owner Dominion Energy Nuclear Connecticut deny
those claims.
Bryan Sayles, one of the leaders of the Concerned Citizens
of Waterford and East Lyme, said members are “not against technology.” But they
maintain it’s “not good to go meddling with power plants,” and believe the
impact of an on-site data center should be investigated.
“It’s been tough,” Sayles said. “You know we’ve worked so
hard. We’ve worked along democratic lines. We’ve been nonviolent. We’ve been
transparent with our information. We’ve posed credible information and reasons
why SB 299 should be adopted.”
So he and other members grew frustrated and confused as they
watched the bill, which he said passed the Senate “with flying colors,” die in
the twilight hours of Wednesday’s House session. He described it as a blow that
shook the group’s confidence in state government.
“I don’t know that there are many other grassroots efforts
in the state that would be able to do what we have so far,” he said.
State Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, who supported the
bill since it was first raised in the Energy and Technology Committee by
state Sen. Norm Needleman, D-Essex, said Thursday she shared the residents’
anger.
“This is too important a subject not to examine in-depth,”
she said, adding that she was “deeply disappointed” representatives could not
at least have an “open, honest debate on the merits of the bill, which was
simply a study.”
“And to be frank, you know, there were a number of barely
major bills that were voted on in the last three days, and we just ran out of
time,” she said. “Not for lack of trying, and it became clear as time went on
that bills that might generate more significant debate would fall by the
wayside, and this was one of them.”
Cheeseman and Needleman said there was nothing in the bill
that would have killed any data center deals currently on the table, including
the host fee agreement Waterford signed with New England Edge last year in which the
developer promised to pay a fee of $231 million over 30 years instead of
property taxes to construct two, two-story data center buildings on the
Millstone property.
The location would allow it to buy power directly from
Dominion, reducing the cost of power consumed by the data centers.
State Rep. Aundré Bumgardner, D-Groton, who was on the Town
Council when NE Edge proposed a similar data center in Groton, said concerns
over power consumption are valid.
“It’s an enormous amount of power,” he said, adding that
with electricity needs continuing to grow, he’s not sure the state’s best
interest to commit so much power to data centers.
“I would tell residents ― keep speaking up, because at the
end of the day when you advocate for your community, there’s an impact,” he
said, praising the efforts of fellow representatives Cheeseman and state Rep.
Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, for supporting the bill.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it over the finish line,” he
added.
The NE Edge project is in limbo after a January decision by the
state Siting Council to deny Dominion a boundary change it would need
to proceed with the project.
Needleman in 2021 introduced the bill that created tax
incentives for data centers to be built in Connecticut, which Gov. Ned Lamont
signed into law. It enabled the state Department of Economic and Community
Development to sign long-term agreements with developers that pledge to invest
millions of dollars in the state.
“Part of the reason we did the tax incentives was to offset
the high costs of energy in the state,” he had explained in a phone interview
Monday.
The thought of that law was that it would allow Connecticut
to become “a little bit more of a hub for technology,” he said.
But at the time, Needleman said neither he nor the
legislation’s other supporters contemplated the potential for
“behind-the-meter” data centers that would take power directly from a power
plant before it advances to the grid ― like the one proposed by NE Edge.
“So really, the issue is to determine if large data centers
collocated on power plants impact costs to ratepayers,” Needleman said.
Needleman added the bill that failed to get a house vote
would have examined the economic impact of building such a large data center
from a construction point of view, but also its impact on energy markets and
reliability. If it found negative impact, there was a chance the tax incentives
the state promised could have been revoked.
Cheeseman said Steinberg, the chair of the Energy and
Technology Committee, has already committed to proposing the bill again when
lawmakers convene next year. The legislative session begins in January and ends
in June.
In the meantime, Cheeseman said “technically, there’s no
reason that the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection couldn’t
conduct a study on its own, and I will advocate for that.”
Cannabis cultivator gets $16M investment for planned East Hartford grow facility
Aplanned cannabis cultivation facility in East Hartford has
received a big financial boost from a real estate trust that is investing $16
million into the project, the company announced this week.
C3 Industries Inc., a Michigan-based multi-state cannabis
company building a cultivation facility in East Hartford, recently took on a
$16 million investment from real estate capital provider NewLake Capital
Partners, which is based in New Canaan.
The funding includes $4 million for the acquisition of a
58,500 square-foot industrial property in East Hartford, and a $12 million
construction build out to repurpose the former cold-storage facility into a
cannabis grower. C3 and NewLake have entered into a “long-term triple net
lease” together for the facility, according to information from NewLake.
NewLake didn’t disclose the address of the building, but C3
won local approvals to establish a cultivator at a 120,617-square-foot
industrial building at 241 Park Ave., and roughly 15,000-square-foot adjacent
portion of the industrial complex at 217-221 Park Ave.
C3 and NewLake have previously partnered on a cannabis
cultivation facility in Missouri, so this is the second deal between the two
companies.
C3, founded by brothers Ankur and Vishal Rungta in 2018, was
awarded a “Section 149” cultivator license in late 2022, which allows
large-scale cultivation sites to locate in areas disproportionately affected by
the federal “war on drugs.” The allowable zones under Section 149 are clustered
in lower income and urban areas, including East Hartford.
C3 currently has cannabis operations in Illinois, Michigan,
Missouri, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
MANCHESTER — Town officials are applying for a federal
"Safe Streets" grant that would help pay for the proposed
overhaul of Main Street.
The Downtown
Manchester Improvements Project is billed as a comprehensive redesign
of the Main Street corridor that would enhance safety for drivers, cyclists,
and pedestrians while smoothing out the flow of traffic.
The plan dates
back to March 2022 but has been modified over the years after feedback
from residents and stakeholders, with some particularly concerned
about how
parking will change as a result of the streetscape, the
new Main Street library, and the
redevelopment of 942 Main St.
In addition to necessary infrastructure upgrades and
roundabouts at the Charter Oak and Center Street intersections, the plan
would see travel lanes reduced as part of a "road diet" that
would lend additional street space for dedicated bicycle lanes and wider
sidewalks.
As for how to pay for its new Main Street, estimated in February to cost between $10 million and $15 million, Manchester hopes that the state and federal governments will foot much of the bill.
The town received $7.5 million from the state Department of
Economic Development in January, and has also lined up $875,000 in federal
community project funding. On Tuesday night, the Board of Directors unanimously
approved an application to the U.S. Department of Transportation's "Safe
Streets and Roads for All" grant program that is expected to
cover the remainder if awarded.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law established the program in
2022 to provide $5 billion over five years to projects focused on preventing
deaths and serious injuries on roadways. The deadline for Manchester to
apply for the latest round of funding is May 16.
Officials plan to continue to gather feedback on
the town's streetscape plan throughout 2024, with the formal design
process scheduled to begin this summer. Town staff expect to finalize
the conceptual design and begin the permitting process in 2025, with
construction hopefully beginning in spring 2026 after funding is secured and
plans are complete.
In a presentation given to the Board of Directors on Tuesday
night, Manchester town staff cited data from the Federal Highway Administration
showing a "19 to 47 percent" reduction in total crashes on roads
converted from four travel lanes to two travel lanes with a center turn lane,
as is proposed for Main Street, and a 78-percent reduction in fatal and injury
crashes on intersections converted from traffic signals to a modern roundabout
design.
Town Engineer Tim Bockus said Tuesday that the Glastonbury
roundabout on Hebron Avenue often comes up in discussions about Manchester's
proposed roundabouts, but some residents are misinformed about the situation.
He said UConn crash data shows 51 total crashes and 19 crashes with injuries
occurred from January 2015 to Nov. 8, 2018, before the roundabout was built,
and only 15 total crashes and three crashes with injuries from Nov. 9, 2018,
through March 2024.
"That equates to a roughly 70 percent crash reduction
and 84 percent crash-related injury reduction," Bockus said. "It's
hard to get this message out when the data is being misrepresented."
Seventeen residents spoke in favor of the town's streetscape
plan and grant application on Tuesday night, with many expressing a need to
alleviate traffic congestion, accommodate cyclists, and reimagine Main Street
to match younger sensibilities. In contrast, two residents spoke against the
project, with one concerned about government spending and another suggesting
more policing would fix traffic problems.
Town Manager Steve Stephanou said Tuesday that Manchester's
streetscape plan is able to leverage external funds to conduct necessary
infrastructure work that would otherwise be paid for by local taxpayers, by
prioritizing features that the state is focused on.
"We're looking to make our greatest asset a safe,
walkable, vibrant community," Stephanou said.
Director of Planning and Economic Development Gary Anderson
said Tuesday that the streetscape plan was born from community input over the
years, with surveys showing support for many features that the plan would
enhance or highlight.
"This is not a plan that came out of nowhere,"
Anderson said.
Plans for major biotech park in Connecticut abandoned
Plans to develop a sprawling biotech park in Branford off of
Interstate 95, which was
announced last April with great fanfare, have been scrapped by the
Minnesota-based developer that was proposing the project.
A spokeswoman for Ryan Companies told Hearst
Connecticut Media on Wednesday that the developer "is no longer pursuing
the development." She declined to comment on the reasons for Ryan
Companies abandoning the project.
Perry Maresca, Branford's economic and business development
manager, said town officials were told that the reason Ryan scrapped the
project "was because of the length of time it was going to take to get the
project going." Another factor, according to Maresca, was an
inability to secure an anchor tenant for the project.
When plans for the project were unveiled in April 2023, Ryan
officials said it would be built in phases, with the first two involving the
development of buildings between 100,000 and 150,000 square feet, depending on
the needs of tenants the company is negotiating with. The plan at the time was
that both buildings would be three or four stories tall.
When announced last year, the HealthTech Park project
called for creating more than 500,000 square feet of laboratory space, research
and development facilities for life sciences companies and some high-tech
manufacturing related to the health care sector. The project was to have been
built on a 120-acre site off of the Exit 56 interchange.
Ryan Companies was working with Stamford-based Heinrich
Partners to develop the project on land that includes the former
Bittersweet Farm and is owned by Hamden-based Belfonti Companies LLC and A.
Secondino & Son of Branford.
Branford First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove was not immediately
available for comment on Thursday regarding Ryan's decision to abandon the
project. Representatives for Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont and the state's
Department of Economic and Community Development were also not available for
comment on the company's decision.