CT Construction Digest Friday October 24, 2025

Revised New Haven Harbor plan reduces dredging disposal sites in Long Island Sound

Austin Mirmina

NEW HAVEN — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has scrapped plans to build a salt marsh in West Haven that would have used enough material dredged from New Haven Harbor to fill 200 Olympic-size pools.

Instead, the more than 650,000 cubic yards of silt and clay originally slated for the salt marsh at West Haven's Sandy Point will be spread among three other sites — including two underwater "borrow pits" — as part of the Corps' $84 million effort to deepen and widen the harbor's shipping channel for larger vessels, according to a project official.

Craig Martin, a senior project manager with USACE, said in an email that the "level of containment" — or the barriers needed to form the salt marsh's perimeter and keep the soft, silty dredged material in place — "far exceeded" what engineers initially thought.

That stronger containment, he said, would have made the salt marsh more engineered and less natural, required more long-term maintenance and nearly tripled the construction cost, from $7.4 million to $20.6 million.

As a result, officials determined that building a salt marsh at Sandy Point was no longer possible and removed it from the project's scope, according to a public notice issued last month. 

More than 4.6 million cubic yards of material is slated to be dredged from the harbor.

That material will now be added to what's already being used to fill the Morris Cove and West River borrow pits, Martin said. Any excess material will be taken to the open-water Central Long Island Sound Disposal Site, where it will dumped on existing sediment piles from older dredging projects.

New Haven Harbor is the largest port in Connecticut and the second largest in New England, behind Boston Harbor. But it's not deep enough to accommodate larger cargo ships, forcing them to off-load outside the channel.

The dredging project aims to deepen the main shipping channel by 5 feet and widen the waterway basin so ships can more easily maneuver in and out. More than 4.6 million cubic yards of material is slated to be dredged from the harbor.

Project plans call for most of the dredged material to be taken to the open-water Central Long Island Sound Disposal site, where it will dumped on existing sediment piles from older dredging projects. Smaller portions will be used to fill the Morris Cove and West River borrow pits and create an oyster reef near the harbor's east breakwater. A rock reef north of the west breakwater will also be built using blasted stone.

Dredging is expected to begin in October 2026 and be completed in March 2029, Martin said. The project is in the design phase.

Deepening the harbor, city officials have said, will benefit the local economy by improving access for commercial ships. The harbor is a major entry point for petroleum products used by Connecticut and the rest of New England.

“It’s very important that that channel maintains significant depth in order to remain competitive,” Michael Piscitelli, the city’s economic development administrator, said in 2021. “By deepening the channel we’ll be able to maintain the market position of New Haven Harbor.”

The project could also bring environmental benefits. For years, shoreline residents have asked to fill the borrow pits, saying it would protect them from being used as a dumping ground for other dredging projects. A 2010 proposal to dump material from Bridgeport Harbor into the Morris Cove pit drew sharp pushback from city residents and then-gubernatorial candidate Dannel P. Malloy.

Martin said the pits are about 10 to 36 feet deeper than the surrounding seafloor, trapping organic matter and depleting oxygen levels. Filling the pits, he said, will restore habitats for bottom-dwelling marine life and expand breeding and nursery areas for several types of commercially valuable fish species, such as winter flounder.

PURA delays Aquarion sale decision amid leadership shakeup

Andrew Larson

The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has postponed its decision on the proposed sale of Aquarion Water Co. to a newly created nonprofit entity, delaying a pivotal moment in the closely watched utility deal.

A proposed final decision in the $2.4 billion sale from Eversource Energy to the Aquarion Water Authority was originally expected Oct. 22. However, on that same day, PURA quietly amended its docket schedule, pushing the date to Nov. 19.

The delay comes amid major leadership changes at the agency. On Tuesday, Gov. Ned Lamont appointed four new commissioners — effectively resetting the five-member panel — and named Ronald Wiehl, an engineer and longtime PURA staffer, as the new chair.

The appointments followed the resignation of former chair Marissa Gillett earlier this month after five years in the post.

The Aquarion case has become a flashpoint for state and local officials, utilities and consumer advocates. Eversource, which acquired Aquarion in 2017, announced in January that it would sell the Bridgeport-based water utility to the nonprofit, quasi-public Aquarion Water Authority.

The authority was created through legislative changes to the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority’s charter, allowing it to acquire Aquarion and operate alongside its parent organization.

Supporters of the sale, including Eversource and the South Central Regional Water Authority, argue the deal will lower financing costs and stabilize rates by converting Aquarion into a nonprofit structure.

Opponents — including more than two dozen municipalities, the state Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Public Health and environmental group Save the Sound — 

An evidentiary hearing concluded this summer, and a decision by PURA will determine whether the deal proceeds. Eversource has said it hopes to complete the deal by late 2025.

CT Construction Digest Thursday October 23, 2025

For CT city, fresh hope: New 142-room hotel as part of harborfront mega-development

Don Stacom 

Nearly four years after the only hotel in Connecticut’s biggest city shut down, developers broke ground on a 142-room Marriott Residence Inn as the latest phase of the ambitious Steelpointe Harbor project on Bridgeport’s waterfront.

As steelworkers and carpenters worked on part of the 420-unit apartment complex under construction nearby, business leaders gathered on a vacant lot where True North Hotel Group and RCI Group plan to build the six-story hotel over the 15 months.

“Bringing a brand like Marriott is fitting. Only the best for Bridgeport,” said Bobby Christoph Jr., the chief developer of Steelpointe Harbor and president of RCI Group.

The more than 1,000 apartments planned on the 2.8-million-square-foot Steelpointe peninsula are the heart of the mixed-use project, a decade-old initiative to revive a largely ignored stretch of the state’s poorest city. New restaurants, stores, a busy boatworks and a marina are also key components, but the hotel long seemed to most aspirational.

Downtown Bridgeport was home to several once-proud hotels from its industrial heyday, but they’d mostly been abandoned, razed or turned into low-income apartments between the 1950s and 1980s. The only new initiative was a nine-story Holiday Inn that was erected in the 1980s; officials at the time portrayed it as the key to an economic turnarouned for the city.

But its revenue slumped as the wider downtown revival never panned out, and the Holiday Inn was already marginal by the time the pandemic hit. The hotel shut down in early 2022 and has been remodeled as apartments.

“With the harbor and the marina here, it’s a natural fit to have a hotel. The low-hanging fruit for us is that the largest city in Connecticut didn’t have a hotel,” said Dan Onofrio, president of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council.

The hotel developers are expecting roughly 30% of guests will want extended stays, ranging from families of patients at the St. Vincent’s or Bridgeport hospitals, parents of students at Fairfield University or other colleges, and business travelers working with MT Bank or other prominent employers.

“With the ampitheater there are thousands of people coming every summer to music shows, you have the Klein Memorial theatre, the Downtown Cabaret. People don’t realize the breadth of the arts sector here. And don’t forget, we have the state’s only zoo, the Beardsley.”

The Residence Inn groundbreaking comes 10 years after the sprawling Steelpointe project kicked off with the opening of a 150,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shops outlet. It has added a Chipotle, Starbucks and T Mobile, and Mobil plans a large gas station with car wash.

More retail is expected as part of the influx of new apartments, which are chiefly billed as waterview units leasing at market rates. The August will open with about 420 studio, one- and two-bedroom units are expected in the first wave, with a small number of three-bedroom models. At least 600 more are planned in future stages.

Renderings show an outdoor pool, pickleball courts and a large landscaped deck, all overlooking the Long Island Sound. There will also be a fitness center and yoga studio, along with two outdoor courtyards.

The first apartments are expected to open in January, and the hotel completion is scheduled for early 2027.

Kosta Diamantis guilty on all charges

Andrew Brown and Dave Altimari

Konstantinos Diamantis, Connecticut’s former deputy budget director, was found guilty on Wednesday of using his position overseeing the state’s school construction office to enrich himself and his family.

After deliberating for about a day and a half, 12 federal jurors found Diamantis, 69, guilty of 21 counts of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and lying to federal investigators.

“It was a clean sweep. I thought it was going to go my way, but obviously it didn’t,” Diamantis said outside the courtroom. “The jury clearly believed them and not me.”

Norm Pattis, Diamantis’ attorney, told reporters outside the courthouse that his client could face more than a decade behind bars, based on the federal sentencing guidelines.

“He is facing a catastrophic sentence of 10 to 12 years,” Pattis said, adding that he could appeal the verdict.

Bottom of Form

Diamantis will remain free on bond until his sentencing hearing, which is set for Jan. 14.

Diamantis left the court building without further addressing reporters and drove off in a white pickup truck with his daughter.

Federal prosecutors told the judge that remaining out of prison would allow Diamantis to meet with his defense attorney in preparation for a second federal bribery trial, which is currently expected to start in February.

They also told U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill that they recently learned, by monitoring unspecified communications, that Diamantis was attempting to obtain a Greek passport.

Underhill asked Diamantis to explain if that was true, and he told the judge that he had recently obtained dual citizenship in Greece and a Greek passport. But he said he applied for the passport to claim a piece of property in Greece that his father had inherited.

He also told the judge that his passport was sent to Greece to facilitate that property transfer.

Prosecutors did not answer questions as they left the courthouse.

The verdict was returned almost four years to the day after the federal grand jury issued a subpoena for all emails, text messages and attachments involving Diamantis and a broad range of construction projects

Gov. Ned Lamont released a statement after the verdict.

“Public service is a public trust. The conviction of Mr. Diamantis is a stark reminder that when that trust is violated, there are consequences. Our state places a great deal of trust in our government and that trust is harmed by rogue, bad actors like this,” the statement reads. “After immediately firing Kosta in 2021, I ordered actionable steps be swiftly taken to ensure this can never happen again. After returning school construction oversight back to the Department of Administrative Services, several proactive steps were taken to ensure accountability and restore public trust in the administration of school construction grants.”

The jury delivered its verdict after a nine-day trial, during which federal prosecutors presented a mountain of evidence that showed Diamantis negotiated payments from Acranom Masonry and a $45-per-hour job for his daughter with Construction Advocacy Professionals.

Several witnesses told the jury that Diamantis used his influence at the state’s school building office to help those companies win lucrative construction contracts on several projects in Tolland, Hartford and New Britain.

Diamantis, who chose to testify in his own defense, admitted to the jury that he accepted tens of thousands of dollars from Acranom, and he acknowledged that his daughter, Anastasia, was hired by Construction Advocacy Professionals after consulting with him.

But Diamantis, who once held one of the highest-ranking positions in the state government, was adamant during the trial that he never used his public office to help the two companies gain an upper hand on school construction projects.

By Diamantis’ telling, the tens of thousands of dollars in cash that Acranom’s executives paid to him was for an introduction to another firm: D’Amato Construction. And the paychecks and bonuses that were paid to his daughter had nothing to do with his position overseeing the state’s school building program.

That testimony was contradicted during the trial, however, by three separate witnesses who have previously pleaded guilty to bribing Diamantis in return for work on school construction projects.

Sal Monarca and John Duffy, the president and vice president of Acranom Masonry, told the jury how they delivered envelopes of cash to Diamantis at his home, at a Dunkin’ Donuts and several times at the Capital Grille in Hartford.

Antonietta DiBenedetto Roy, the owner of Construction Advocacy Professionals, also explained to jurors how she chose to pay Diamantis’ daughter to keep him happy.

Federal prosecutors bolstered the testimony of those three witnesses with a large number of text messages, emails and one colorful voicemail, in which Diamantis discussed a bid that Acranom submitted for a school project and the $40,000 he was demanding from the company.

“I didn’t ask for the maximum. I asked for the minimum of what we bid,” Diamantis told Duffy in that voicemail. “So. That’s more than reasonable. I even asked for less than that. I asked for forty.”

The long list of text messages that jurors were shown included memorable details about how Duffy and Monarca referred to the bribes to Diamantis as “pints” and “birthday cards.” The texts also included several examples where Diamantis directly intervened in school projects on behalf of Acranom and Construction Advocacy Professionals.

“The defendant had his thumb on the scale for Acranom, because that is what Acranom paid for,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David Novick, told the jury during the closing arguments.

The federal prosecutors also featured text messages in which Diamantis threatened to remove the contractors from the local school projects if he didn’t receive the money they promised him.

“I will wait til Monday for him to give you 40. If not, then I think D’Amato needs a new mason for Tolland then he will see how real the job was,” Diamantis said, referring to the Birch Grove project where Acranom was working.

The evidence and testimony presented during the trial also highlighted for jurors how Diamantis forced the contractors to change how much they were bidding on the school contracts in order to factor his bribes.

“Doesn’t matter end of day you gone add 70,” Diamantis told Acranom.

There was far less documentary evidence presented at trial about the payments that Construction Advocacy Professionals paid to Diamantis and his daughter. But the records that did exist were highly damaging to the defense.

While he was on the witness stand, Diamantis claimed he did not have a hand in negotiating the compensation that his daughter received from the company.

But text messages between Diamantis and his daughter showed otherwise. In one exchange, Diamantis told his daughter that she would receive a percentage of the money that Construction Advocacy Professionals had been awarded for a school construction project.

“You happy,” Diamantis asked his daughter.

“Yes of course! I can pay my car taxes and a credit card!” she responded.

The three contractors who bribed Diamantis told the jury he demanded money on a monthly or weekly basis and made his situation seem desperate.

Diamantis complained in the texts and the voicemail about not having enough money to pay his mortgage or to afford his daughters’ wedding and private school tuition.

In one text exchange, Acranom officials said Diamantis wanted to collect an “annual fee” from the company for serving as a consultant.

Diamantis admitted that he told Acranom’s executives that. But he told jurors that it was a “tongue in cheek” comment. He said the same of several other texts that he couldn’t readily explain.

Massive CT office complex foreclosure lends no easy answers for future redevelopment.

The redevelopment challenge is seen as “really immense,”

The court-approved foreclosure 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.

“Constitution Plaza represents both great challenge in the present time but also potentially a great opportunity for the city,” Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said, ‘to be able to stitch together parts of the downtown that are disconnected, reaching from Front Street on one end to a block away from Pratt Street on the other end, but also connect the downtown to the riverfront, which is an exciting possibility.”

“But at the same time, getting there, the challenge is really immense,” Arulampalam said.

Building a cohesive, redevelopment plan for the 7-acre property is seen as essential, but won’t be easy given the multiple owners with interests in the plaza.

The foreclosure, approved Monday by Hartford Superior Court Judge Claudia A. Baio, involves six buildings of about 671,000 square feet — including the two office towers at One and 100 Constitution Plaza —  parking garages with 1,743 spaces and the pedestrian surface of the plaza. The foreclosure also included part ownership of the pedestrian bridge the connects the plaza to Nassau Financial Group’s iconic “Boat Building.”

In addition, there are separate owners for the Spectra Plaza apartments converted a decade ago from a former hotel; the former Travelers Education Center, also considered for apartments, but remains vacant, and the former site of demolished WFSB studios, now a vacant lot for sale.

Constitution Plaza, the first redevelopment in Hartford from the Urban Renewal push of the 1950s and 1960s, failed, some say, to reach its potential because initial plans for apartments were later dropped and a planned connection to Main Street was never constructed.

The Capital Region Development Authority said it also has been approached with preliminary plans to use some of the office space on Constitution Plaza for hotel rooms. The city lost hotel rooms in the pandemic when travel — especially business travel plummeted — and scores of rooms were converted to apartments. More hotel rooms are now needed in the rebuilding and further growth of the city’s convention, sports and concert businesses.

Public financing for such conversions is likely to be seen as essential, but competition for those dollars also is likely to be intense.

A recent study showed that an estimated $450 million in public financing would be needed over three years to convert prime office space for other uses across downtown Hartford to rein in vacancies, estimated to be at least 40%.

Constitution Plaza also has been mentioned as a location for a $100 million practice facility for the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, should the franchise move to Hartford from Mohegan Sun.

In addition, there is the potential for a temporary location for the applied artificial intelligence center that the Arulampalam administration hopes to establish in the city. A permanent location has been identified just east of Dunkin’ Park, the city’s minor league ballpark, where a vacant, decaying data center would be demolished.

Monday’s court ruling approved a strict foreclosure for the structures purchased by New York-based Constitution Plaza Holding LLC in 2015 for $71 million. A strict foreclosure means the lender or creditor takes control of the property without an auction to raise money to satisfy a debt.

The property — under the day-to-day control of a receiver for more than a year — is expected to be transferred to the new owner — a group of bondholders  — in late December, according to court documents.

The foreclosure was set into motion last year when Constitution Plaza Holding was unable to pay off, refinance or secure an extension on $51 million that was owed to lenders, court documents show. According to an appraisal filed with court documents, what was owed was nearly four times the $13 million the property is now worth. The loan matured in May, 2023, court documents show.

A shift to remote work in the pandemic and the resulting downsizing in the leases of major tenants pushed up vacancies not only in Hartford but across the country. Lenders are unwilling to take the risk to refinance commercial mortgages on office buildings, uncertain of the prospects for future leasing.

Other major office towers in Hartford — CityPlace I, Metro Center and 20 Church St., the “Stilts Building” — found themselves in a similar refinancing predicament, sliding into foreclosure and receivership.

Wilmington Trust National Association and its special servicer, LNR Partners LLC, filed for foreclosure on the Constitution Plaza properties in January, 2024. Wilmington Trust was the lead holder of $55 million in commercial mortgage-backed security loans issued to Constitution Plaza Holding in 2018.

According to the appraisal report, prepared by commercial real estate services firm CBRE, the office occupancy in the six buildings involved in the foreclosure at Constitution Plaza is about 70%.

But the report also warned at the major tenants such as law firm Shipman & Goodwin and insurer XL America were likely to downsize their space requirements — now about 100,000 square feet each — once their leases expire in 2026 and 2027.

CT Construction Digest Wednesday October 22, 2025

New CT Amazon building: 1,000 workers, 5-story building the size of two malls

Don Stacom

With a crew of more than 200 construction workers, Amazon is turning most of a 157-acre property on the Naugatuck-Waterbury line into what will be one of its biggest distribution centers in the state.

City and state leaders gathered at the sprawling, muddy construction site Tuesday to celebrate what they expect will be one of the region’s biggest employers when it opens sometime in 2027 or 2028.

“This marks the start of new opportunities and a much more vibrant regional economy,” Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski Jr. told an audience of business leaders, community officials and Amazon senior managers. “It’s going to be a true game-changer for our region. It’s going to bring 1,000 really good-paying jobs to the area, it’s going to strengthen our local families and businesses.”

The five-story behemoth will use automation to sort and ship as many as 800,000 packages a day, and will take up more square footage than the West Farms Mall and Danbury Fair Mall combined. Even so, Amazon projects that it will need 1,000 employees and said fulfillment and transportation workers will average $23 an hour.

To officials in the Naugatuck Valley, where brass mills and others powered a thriving middle-class economy through the mid-20th century, Amazon is one of the few big-scale job new sources amid the decades-long trickle of factory shutdowns.

“I’ve worked on construction projects my whole life, I’ve never seen anything like this − it’s unbelievable,” Naugatuck Mayor Pete Hess said over the engine noise of a small fleet of cranes and earth movers. “The steel we’re erecting today is going to hold up much more than a building. It’s going to hold up jobs, dreams and a shared prosperity that will bind Naugatuck and Waterbury forever.”

As enormous as the new center will be, it is still sized about 600,000 square feet smaller than its premier Connecticut facility, BDL4 in Windsor just beyond Bradley International Airport. The Waterbury center will be largely hidden from public view at the back of an industrial park, while BDL4 dominates the skyline for Bradley flyers who recall the property as sprawling shade tobacco fields.

The new center will perform essentially the same work as BDL4, but with a higher concentration of robotics to sort and move products along miles of conveyors stretching across acres of shelving and bins. The company anticipates contractors will complete the building shell by early 2027, but say the opening will come later because Amazon will need to install all of the moving parts inside.

The project didn’t get done without controversy: Some homeowners have complained about rock blasting as Bluewater Property Group and its subcontractors clear the land and erect enormous retaining walls around the building’s foundation. A few residents have complained about tax incentives for the retail giant and the relatively low price it paid for the municipally owned property.

But overall leaders in both communities have endorsed the project, anticipating tens of millions of dollars in new tax revenue along with a much-needed employment boost.

“Amazon I believe is the second-biggest employer in the state of Connecticut. This (project) is 3.2 million square feet, 60 football fields, 300 construction jobs,” Gov. Ned Lamont said, noting the company has other mega-centers in Wallingford and North Haven along with large operations in more than a dozen other towns.

Port Authority finalizes agreement with contractor for State Pier project

Greg Smith

The Connecticut Port Authority has settled a dispute over costs with the construction manager overseeing the reconstruction of State Pier and signed an agreement that finalizes an $11.3 million settlement, Port Authority Executive Director Michael O’Connor announced Tuesday.

The negotiated final cost is more than the $7.3 million expected payment to Kiewit Corp. to complete the project but will not come at any additional cost to the state. The port authority will cover the additional costs with its own funds, O'Connor said.

The port authority's board of directors previously authorized O'Connor to negotiate the settlement and end debate about the $24 million Kiewit said it needed to complete the $311 million project. Kiewit had claimed increased costs as the result of added work at State Pier. The port authority has said there were outstanding issues with the work: one related to soil quality and another with an improperly situated toe wall where vessels dock.

Connecticut Port Authority Board Chairman Paul Whitescarver said Tuesday that outstanding issues were worked out.

"The bottom line is it's a fully functional pier operating as it was designed," Whitescarver said.

In a statement, the port authority touted the agreement as a successful completion of "one of the East Coast’s most advanced heavy-lift port facilities."

State Pier is being leased and used as a launching spot for wind turbine parts in the construction of offshore wind farms. The State Pier reconstruction project, managed by the port authority, has been under scrutiny for years because of costs that have spiked since the early estimates of $93 million. The state has contributed $211 million to the cost of renovations while Danish offshore wind giant Ørsted, which is leasing State Pier, picked up the remainder of the cost of the renovations, the port authority said.

“State Pier stands today as a modern, heavy-lift port facility built to advance Connecticut’s maritime future,” O’Connor said in a statement. “We remain focused on ensuring operational excellence and long-term reliability. Our partnership with Kiewit has been essential in delivering this asset.”

Kiewit Infrastructure Co. Area Manager Pete Maglicic said in a statement that Kiewit was "proud to have partnered with the Connecticut Port Authority, local labor unions, subcontractors and suppliers on this transformative project.”

“The scope of work of taking an underutilized asset, stabilizing and reinforcing the pier’s structure and modernizing its cargo-handling capacity has resulted in a world class facility positioned to deliver long-term value for Connecticut and the region,” Maglicic said.

State Pier at the moment is serving as a staging area for Ørsted's 65-turbine Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island. O'Connor said there are 12 remaining turbines to assemble for that project. Ørsted has already started staging components for its next project, the 84-turbine Sunrise Wind in New York. That project is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2027.

A copy of the agreement is available here.

Jury in CT school construction corruption case deliberates on bribery, extortion, conspiracy charges

Ken Dixon

BRIDGEPORT — The 12-member jury in the trial of Konstantinos "Kosta" Diamantis,the state's former head of school construction accused of extortion, bribery and lying to federal agents, began its first full day of closed-door deliberations on Tuesday in a room adjacent to Judge Stefan Underhill's fourth-floor courtroom. 

Defense attorney Norman Pattis and Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Novick and Jonathan Francis are waiting for the verdicts in the complicated case. Prosecutors offered evidence of alleged contract steering, while the defense made the counter-argument that Diamantis was a disrupter whose goal was to save the state money and complete hundreds of millions of dollars worth of construction projects on time.

Diamantis said that the tens of thousands of dollars from two firms were for introductions among contractors as well as for legal advice and career counseling outside his public service duties. Novick and Francis said the three co-conspirators, who have already pleaded guilty, were threatened by Diamantis with the fear, in a series of electronic messages, of having their subcontracts taken away if they didn't pay up.

Underhill, after giving the jury an hourlong review of the charges and procedures on Monday, then supervised a random drawing in which the 14-member jury pool was reduced to the 12 who will decide on the charges. If something unforeseen occurs, an alternate or two will be called to serve on the jury.

The jury's deliberations began around 9 a.m. Tuesday, with Underhill promising free lunch to keep the jury on-task. By the end of the day, the jury had not reached a verdict. The jurors were dismissed just before 4 p.m. Tuesday for the day.

If convicted on the 21 federal charges, Diamantis could be facing 20 years in prison.  

During closing arguments on Monday, the lawyers, in hourlong recitations, had starkly different views of the case. "The defendant was a corrupt public official," Novick said. "He helped the contractors who gave him these bribes. He also used his official position to get bribes and instill fear."

Pattis said the government made allegations that were never proven by the evidence nor by the testimony. That included a requirement under the bribery law that interstate commerce was affected beyond the fact that one of the alleged co-conspirators, a former masonry executive whose company paid Diamantis tens of thousands of dollars, lives in Rhode Island and the firm did work in neighboring states.

"You are not to do the government's work for it," Pattis said. "What testimony was there about creating fear?" He said a female owner of a construction management firm, Antonietta Roy, had been encouraged by Diamantis to strike out on her own. "She was a woman-owned business in a male-dominated culture and he told her to go for it." Earlier in the trial, Roy said she felt compelled to hire Diamantis's daughter.

“A quid pro quo must be clear and unambiguous,” Pattis said, portraying Diamantis as a disrupter of a connected fraternity of nearly all-male construction contractors. Pattis also said that one of the co-conspirators who has already pleaded guilty, John Duffy, kept his boss in the dark about his own share of alleged payments to Diamantis.

In his closing arguments, Pattis did not address the nearly dozen charges of lying to federal investigators. He told the jury that he avoided the issues, which Diamantis denied on the witness stand, to keep the prosecutors from bringing the issues up again in their final remarks, after he finished.

Diamantis, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse at about 4:20 p.m. Monday, said he had been under orders from Gov. Ned Lamont to save money and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in annual school projects on schedule.

On the sidewalk in front of the courthouse, Diamantis said that school construction was second only to the state Department of Transportation in annual expenditures. In about 2019, the newly elected Lamont wanted to put the state on a “debt diet,” he said. 

CT Construction Digest Thursday October 16, 2025

Waterbury breaks ground on $35.2 million renovation of Union Station

Mary Ellen Godin

WATERBURY — State and local officials gathered Wednesday at the Metro-North platform on Meadow Street to break ground on a $35.2 million renovation to Union Station.

The renovation includes $7.5 million to transform a 1,600-square-foot former baggage area on the south end of the building into an indoor waiting room next to the former Republican-American building.

Construction on the new waiting room, which opens the station back up to the public after having been closed for decades, will begin next month. 

The upgrade also includes a new platform that with real-time arrival video displays, security features, and new ticket kiosks. That work will begin next summer. 

"Today's groundbreaking is more than a construction project, it's really is an important investment in Waterbury's future," said Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski. "The Waterbury Branch line is one of the fast growing in the state connecting our city to Fairfield County and New York."

Pernerewski added that while the project enhances opportunities for residents and commuters, the upgrade also fits in the city's plans for transit-oriented development and revitalizing its downtown. The federal government will pay 80% of the station's costs with the state assuming the other 20%.

Metro-North President Justin Vonashek said the state's investment adds to Metro-North's spending on signaling, and a nearly 50% increase in service since 2022.

The improvement will improve accessibility and comfort, and "doubling the platform length will mean faster safer bording for our customers."

State and local lawmakers shared memories of parents and grandparents using the rail line to commute back and forth to New York. Return to rail use increased during and after the pandemic.

“This is an investment in Waterbury’s long-term growth,” said Gov. Ned Lamont. “For too long, the city’s train station has lacked the basic amenities riders need. This redevelopment will build on the Waterbury Branch’s ridership success and help power downtown Waterbury’s continued revitalization.”

The renovations to Waterbury Union Station are part of a larger project the state Department of Transportation is undertaking to upgrade all six train stations along the 28.5-mile Waterbury branch of Metro-North's New Haven Line. Train stations in Derby-Shelton, Ansonia, Seymour, Beacon Falls and Naugatuck will be modernized to encourage local plans for economic development and transit-oriented growth, officials said.  

The Waterbury branch line carried 269,352 passengers last year, up from 257,076 in 2023, according to DOT figures.

Ridership had declined during the COVID-19 pandemic but has rebounded in recent years. It fell from 243,671 in 2019 to 108,199 in 2020, and then started climb back to 127,378 in 2021 and 197,392 in 2022.

“This project reopens Union Station to the public for the first time in decades, restoring access to a historic building while bringing the station into full ADA compliance,” Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said. “With modern amenities, we’re delivering the kind of 21st-century transit experience riders deserve.”

The redeveloped 350-foot platform will support four-car boarding with ADA standards and feature ticket vending machines, real-time train arrival displays, improved lighting, and expanded waiting space for passengers.

The station’s new indoor waiting room, inside the historic Union Station building, will include seating, restrooms, security cameras, and customer information displays, creating a modern and comfortable space for riders. Both CT DOT and Metro-North will maintain offices on a mezzanine level above, and a new elevator will connect all three floors of the facility.

During construction, CT DOT will provide substitute bus service to minimize disruption, with bus operations expected to begin in summer 2026. Construction of the indoor waiting area will start in November 2025, followed by platform work in early 2026. The new waiting area is expected to open to the public in fall 2026.

Built in 1909, Waterbury Union Station was designed by famed New York City architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. The Pape family, who took ownership of the Republican-American in 1901, bought the building in 1952 and converted it into the newspaper's headquarters.

The former newspaper building is contributing to the city's downtown revitalization. A developer plans to convert the building into a mixed use commercial development with 39 units on the second floor with retail and restaurants on the first floor.

Another residential project is planned for Freight Street and there are discussions about another residential project across the street.

"Hallelujah," said state Sen. Joan Hartley. "This is a project that has seen at least three DOT commissioners, and two governors. This is a pivotal project not just for Waterbury but for the region."

Meriden reviews $191M projects for Pulaski and Hooker schools; city share estimated at $23M

Crystal Elescano

MERIDEN — City and school officials are reviewing new design studies for a new Casimir Pulaski Elementary School and a renovated Thomas Hooker Elementary School, which would cost the city an estimated $23.27 million after state reimbursements. 

The district now has three projects under consideration as part of its long-term facilities plan: building a new Pulaski School at 1 King Place, renovating the existing Thomas Hooker building and repurposing the current Pulaski site. 

Board of Education President Robert Kosienski said the projects present an opportunity for the district — especially with a brand-new Pulaski School and a “renovate-as-new” Thomas Hooker. He said the designs will feature larger classrooms, more natural light and improved aesthetics that would benefit both students and the surrounding downtown area near Cook Avenue. 

The report outlining the proposed projects has been sent to Mayor Kevin Scarpati, City Manager Brian Daniels and City Council leadership for review. 

If the city and state approve the plans, the district can move forward with detailed design work. If the project remains on schedule, construction is projected to be completed by fall 2031.

At Pulaski, the new building would total 102,460 square feet, up from 58,562 square feet in the original facility. There would be 94,434 square feet of walkable space. 

Thomas Hooker would expand from 43,719 to 53,420 square feet, with 49,242 square feet of usable space. 

Projected enrollment at Thomas Hooker would rise from 340 to 389 students, while Pulaski would grow from 594 to 746 students. In the Pulaski attendance zone, there are about 686 kindergartners through fifth-grade students, though roughly 27% currently attend other Meriden elementary schools. About 30 to 40 students enrolled at Pulaski live outside its zone, according to Michael Grove, assistant superintendent at Meriden Public Schools. 

Building new Casimir Pulaski School would cost almost $130 million

All current Pulaski students would attend the new building once it is complete, as 1 King Place falls within the school’s existing attendance zone. 

The total cost for a new Pulaski Elementary School is estimated at $129.27 million, with the state expected to reimburse $116.8 million. The city would fund $16.06 million, which would cover the demolition of the old Meriden-Wallingford Hospital. 

“The recommendation is to knock down and take away the whole building,” Grove said. “That is a full knockdown of everything in remediation of the whole property and then build a new school and playgrounds.” 

According to Grove, roughly 90% of remediation has been completed at 1 King Place, though some additional work is needed before demolition. 

Renovating Thomas Hooker School 'as new' would cost almost $62 million

Renovations at Thomas Hooker are estimated to cost $61.96 million, with the state covering 90.36% and the city contributing $7.21 million. The project would add a new gymnasium, create a separate cafeteria, and build a new pre-kindergarten wing. 

Both schools are expected to include early childhood services. Pulaski would house the STARS special education program, and both schools would have pre-kindergarten classrooms. 

State reimbursement rates differ slightly — 75.36% for renovations and 74.53% for new construction — but Pulaski could qualify for an additional 15% if it houses early childhood or special education programs, bringing its potential reimbursement rate to 87.58%. 

Here's how Hartford is planning to redesign several of its major roadways, including Main Street

Michael Walsh

HARTFORD — Several projects are underway, or in the planning stages, to modernize and improve the safety of major roadways in Hartford.

Among them is the continued effort to overhaul Farmington Avenue, building on work that started last year near the border of West Hartford and Prospect Avenue. Right now, the city is working on improving the stretch of the roadway from Whitney Street to Dennis Street.

Owen Deutsch, the city's acting planning director, said the goal is to make the roadway safer for everyone, including pedestrians.

"It’s like you’ll see with a lot of these streetscape projects — new bus shelters, better lighting, a better pedestrian experience and changes to make the roadway safer," Deutsch said. 

Curb extensions have been put into place, he said, which both shortens the crossing distance for pedestrians and narrows the roadway, encouraging drivers to slow down.

Deutsch said the city is also implementing quick-build projects — which are cheaper and sometimes installed on a trial basis — to make the roadway safer.

"With quick build projects, we always try to get community input before, during and after on those," Deutsch said. "There’s a balance that’s needed between safety and the overall appearance of the neighborhood and the pride people take in the appearance. But it’s a need everywhere."

Similar enhancements are also coming to a portion of Main Street, Deutsch said, from Westland Street to the Windsor town line. Work will start on a smaller stretch of roadway up to Tower Avenue. Like on Farmington Avenue, Deutsch thinks the redesign will make the area safer.

"There are similar enhancements — median islands, new lighting, trees, bus shelters, limited bike lanes," Deutsch said. "The sidewalks have a lot of interruptions by driveways, so there are concrete blocks and other structures adjacent to the sidewalk design to protect pedestrians from the cars going in and out of these driveways of businesses."

The city is also eyeing installing roundabouts on New Britain Avenue, which would accompany a road diet as well — the process of reducing the number of travel lanes. A road diet is also planned on Asylum Avenue in 2026.

Deutsch said they're also thinking beyond streets when it comes to transportation planning, noting that they have plans to build upon an existing trail network, with one goal being to connect to various trials in Windsor, Newington and West Hartford, with plans to link up the city's South Branch trail with the town's Trout Brook Trail.

Most of these projects, Deutsch added, depend on grant funding — which can sometimes delay or change construction schedules. But he says the city likes to always have something ongoing and another project ready to move onto.

"With the scale of these projects, grant funding is always necessary," he said. "The timing of a lot of it depends on the grant funding cycles. The point is to always have something in progress so you have a cycle where you have planning, design and construction. As soon as you have a construction project completed, you have another one queued up to start after that."

How do you move a river? Waterbury Mixmaster overhaul could do just that

Brianna Gurciullo

Sometimes a highway construction project doesn’t go with the flow. 

After a years-long study, the state Department of Transportation has narrowed down the possible design options for a long-term overhaul of the congested, crash-prone interchange of Interstate 84 and Route 8 in Waterbury known as the Mixmaster.

Both alternatives, the Modern Crossover Interchange and the Naugatuck River Shift, would involve unstacking a series of highway bridges, reducing the number of ramps and opening access to the river, among other changes, said Jonathan Dean from DOT’s Bureau of Engineering and Construction. 

A key difference between the two options, which will now go through the environmental review process, is that one calls for the Naugatuck River to be moved eastward to create space for Route 8 to be unstacked and reconstructed on the river’s west bank.

It wouldn’t be the first adjustment of the river: DOT officials said it was moved when the Mixmaster was first built in the 1960s.

How do you move a river, brook or stream? It involves building a new channel and redirecting the existing watercourse to the new one, officials said. Kevin Carifa, the director of DOT’s Office of Environmental Planning, said it is more common than some may think.

“It is typical for a transportation project to relocate a watercourse,” he said.

Carifa had a recent example on hand: The realignment of sections of the Mad River and Beaver Pond Brook as part of a project several years ago to widen and straighten out a stretch of I-84 in Waterbury, not far from the Mixmaster. 

“We put this river system into some really crazy configurations,” Carifa said. “That had to be done with a lot of hydraulic review.”

Carifa acknowledged that the Naugatuck River Shift would be a much larger project, and DOT won’t be able to say whether it is the best option until it is vetted through the National Environmental Policy Act process, which is expected to take two to four years. Exactly how the river could be moved has yet to be determined.

Either the Naugatuck River Shift or Modern Crossover Interchange would cost an estimated $3 billion to $5 billion, in 2022 dollars. Dean said the river shift would be the “slightly more expensive” option.

Actual construction work to rebuild the interchange’s core isn’t expected to begin for at least a decade. 

During the environmental permitting process, DOT has to show federal and state regulators how it will mitigate impacts to a natural resource like a watercourse, Carifa said. 

For the I-84 widening project in Waterbury, crews used sandbag cofferdams — or barriers — to isolate construction areas and prevent pollution, he said. DOT also worked with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to install features for fish, including “root wads.”

“They’re literally a tree trunk that we cut, we salvage from construction, and we place them in the river system,” Carifa said. “And essentially what they do is they create habitat for the fish that can kind of go underneath, to have shading and have an area of refuge, to take breaks as they’re meandering up the streams or downstream.”

For another project — the replacement of a bridge over Strongs Brook in East Haddam — brook trout were physically moved from the brook.

“Before the contractor started work, (DEEP) came out and they did this technique called electrofishing,” Carifa said. “They shock the fish — it’s safe, it doesn’t kill the fish or anything like that. But basically what they do is they shock the fish and they collect (them) and they ... move those fish out of the way so they’re not impacted by the construction.”

“The success story afterwards is that the site is definitely seeing some migration of the native brook trout back into the stream,” he added.

The East Haddam project also involved a bypass pump system that took water from an area upstream of the construction site and discharged it downstream. 

Carifa said DOT will specify during the design process which materials a contractor will use when reconstructing a watercourse: Rounded stones, for example, may be preferred over crushed rocks because they look more natural.

The goal is to not just recreate a stream but add improvements, Carifa said. Invasive vegetation could be replaced with native plants. An old dam could be removed to allow more fish passage upstream. Boulders could be placed in a stream to help create pools for fish or shelves could be built into the riverbank to provide shade. 

“When it comes to relocating a river, we need to prove to the agencies that we’re going to make a betterment,” Carifa said.

Shelton close to $4M in state funds to remediate Canal Street site for apartment plan

Brian Gioiele

SHELTON — Focus is turning to the latest Canal Street redevelopment project. 

Shelton Economic Development Corp. President Sheila O’Malley said the city is hoping to be awarded roughly $4 million in state grant money to remediate 235 Canal St., former home to Apex Tool & Cutter Co. 

“We are pretty confident we will secure this funding,” said O’Malley. “Getting this money will help to move this project along more quickly.” 

The money will be used to remediate the property, which is owned by the Watts estate but under contract to developer John Guedes of Primrose Companies. 

While no plans have yet been filed for the site, O’Malley said Guedes is preparing plans for a 100-unit apartment complex with a two-level parking garage dubbed The Riverbank. O’Malley said this project will require some $25 million in private investment. 

“Mayor (Mark) Lauretti deserves a lot of credit for recognizing the city needs to step in and help with properties like this one that would be difficult to develop otherwise,” O’Malley said. 

This is Guedes’ latest development along Canal Street. He said the combined total of units built, units under construction and the soon-to-be filed new building brings his total to 697.  

Guedes’ projects are The Birmingham, 145 Canal St. (113 units); Avalon, 185 Canal St. (250); River Breeze, 223 Canal St. (68); Canal Bridge Lofts, 6 River Side (48); Riverside Center, 7 River Side (6);  Park Royal, 135 Canal St. (92); Chromium Commons, 113 Canal St. West (30); and Apex Tool site, 235 Canal St. (100). 

“We've spent 30 years getting to this point,” Lauretti said. “We have taken an area of the city that was void of any tax income and created a windfall. At some point, people need to acknowledge and credit success.” 

Adding the units built by others since Guedes created and initiated the Canal Street redevelopment plan, new units now exceed 1,000. 

In value, Guedes said the units average out at $250,000 per unit. That relates to $250,000,000 in value. 

“Aside from the transformation of the downtown, this has also added to the city’s tax revenues,” Guedes said. 

At present, Guedes has two projects underway across the street from each other along Canal Street: Riverview Park Royal, a five-story structure that would house 92 apartments and 11,000 square feet of retail at 113 to 123 Canal St., and Chromium Commons, a four-story structure with first-floor commercial space and 30 apartments on the top floors, at 113 Canal St., former site of the Chromium Process manufacturing building. 

These two projects presently under construction are close to $40 million. 

If the city obtains the $4 million in state funds, this would be the latest grant for the Canal Street area.  

Two years ago, the city received $1.1 million to be used for 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 St. to the Shelton Canal Locks.  

The work on Canal Street includes reconstruction of the roadway — including new sidewalks, 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.