South Windsor approves warehouse on Rye Street with planned railroad connection

Joseph Villanova

SOUTH WINDSOR — Officials have approved plans for a 200,000-square-foot warehouse along a railroad in an industrial area.

The South Windsor Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved Tuesday night a special exception for a warehouse at a currently vacant 16-acre lot at 250 Rye St., including a rail spur to connect to the Connecticut Southern Railroad.

The land is located within an industrial area with a handful of warehousing neighbors, including the Aldi regional headquarters across the street with nearly 650,000 square feet of warehousing space and the adjacent 186,000-square-foot Strategic Materials recycling company facility.

Approval conditions placed on the project include prohibiting truck queuing on Rye Street, with an alternate truck queuing plan to be required if backups do occur, and requiring submission of a final plan for the rail spur prior to state approval.

Members of the PZC briefly discussed Tuesday potential issues that could later arise with the railroad access, including whether a particularly long train could block traffic on Sullivan Avenue.

Director of Planning Michele Lipe said the discussion is somewhat premature, as the PZC will have to approve plans for the rail spur prior to its construction. She also noted that the planned warehouse lacks a tenant and the occupant might not ultimately use the railroad.

New warehouses in South Windsor and across Connecticut are often constructed without a specific named tenant, with many developers referring to such projects as "speculative" builds.

A narrative included in the application, received by the PZC on Feb. 25, described the project as a "rare opportunity" for a tenant desiring both truck and rail access, and stated that the market has a high demand for "high-quality industrial zoned sites."

The rail spur, combined with other features and functions of the site plan, "will attract a quality tenant," the applicant said.

Beyond the warehouse and rail spur, the site plan includes 104 parking spaces for passenger vehicles, 40 parking spaces for trailers, 20 loading dock spaces for trailers and four docks for use with the rail line. An additional parking area of 96 stalls could be built if the 104 stalls are deemed insufficient.

How UConn athletics made a 'huge leap forward' with the renovation and construction of facilities

Mike Anthony

STORRS — UConn athletic director David Benedict on Wednesday afternoon walked away from another groundbreaking ceremony, the latest hard-hat-and-sledge-hammer ceremonial photo shoot for university donors and dignitaries.

Construction is officially open on the Bailey Student-Athletic Success Center, a complete makeover of the existing Greer Field House that includes the Nayden Center For Academic Excellence.

Benedict typically treats events like this as the completion of another breathless lap in the facilities arms race. One project to the next, one fundraising goal after another, transforming a campus means never really stopping just to appreciate the architecture.

Wednesday was a full-circle moment, though. UConn isn’t done improving its facilities because such work never ends on any campus, but there are no more major projects on the horizon that haven’t been announced, funded, started or completed.

Has Benedict run out of things to do on this front?

“No, because then we'll come back and start having to put some polish on everything else,” he said in the area of the Field House surrounded by track, where buckets were lined up to catch leaks as Geno Auriemma and Jim Calhoun were at the early stages of their own basketball projects in the building. “Like this facility. Part of the challenge of it is no one's really taken care of it over time. Now it's an old facility but you can't allow things you've invested in to start showing their age. It's just really important to have short- and long-term maintenance plan.”

Still, the heavy lifting, so to speak, is over. Massive buildings have been erected, some costing millions of dollars, some costing dozens of millions, all of them combining to give the UConn campus the capabilities and look befitting its athletic profile. Benedict, who had most recently worked at Auburn, remembers what campus looks like when he arrived in 2016.  

“It was eye-opening,” he said. “You didn’t have a picture of UConn's brand, what I envisioned and what it was. That's based not just on basketball, but a lot of other sports having success. You picture something in your mind because of the brand and its success, and it was not that way. I like to talk about the first time I went to a night soccer game. There was a huge crowd. You've got a Tuff Shed a concession stand, very high school-ish, and you've got like 50 [portable toilets] in the dark with people lined up.”

Moving forward, rowing will get a new, needed boathouse. A tennis project that provides locker rooms, offices and social space is ongoing. These are, comparatively, minor projects. 

“Every single student-athlete now will share in a similar experience,” Benedict said. “When I got here, just football and men's and women's basketball were. No one really complained because most of the student-athletes had a bad experience from a facilities standpoint. The majority of the 600 student-athletes were all in bad facilities, so no one was complaining. Once you start building nice facilities for portions of that group, everyone starts raising their hand saying, ‘When are you going to fix ours?'”

The Bailey and Nayden Centers will, at a price of $90 million, will open in 2027. Trisha Bailey, a Class of 1999 UConn graduate from Hartford, made the anchor donation in 2022, amount undisclosed but announced as the largest gift in UConn athletic history. Denis Nayden, Class of 1976, donated $15 million toward construction and services offered in the academic wing that will bear his name.

Both attended Wednesday’s ceremony. Bailey, who made her fortune in medical supply sales, spoke of a childhood in Jamaica and the words of her grandmother, who told her to have dreams so big that even she would consider them impossible, then be willing to go beyond to reach them. UConn, Bailey said, believed in her the way her grandmother believed in her. UConn student-athletes for decades to come, she said in a speech, can enter the new facility and go “into their beyond.”

Nayden, a Stamford native who has spent decades in asset management, spoke of his pride in UConn and UConn athletics in particular. He has donated approximately $25 million to the university over the years. In his own speech, he challenged alums to find something at UConn they are passionate about and get involved, donate if they’re in position to do so.

“Today UConn is well known, highly ranked with great accomplishments in academics, research and athletics,” Nayden said.  “The UConn picture just keeps getting better.”

The Bailey Center will house numerous UConn teams and offer services to every student-athlete on campus in areas of fitness, mental health, academics, social opportunities and much more.  

The major athletics facelift is just about complete. A $100 million renovation to Gampel Pavilion is well underway, with new scoreboards installed and new seating to be in place for 2025-26 seasons. There’s no specific timeline for completion but the building, which opened in 1990, has another national championship banner to hang and use for a wrecking ball over the coming months and years, improving basic functionality of the building and gameday experience.  

In recent years, UConn has opened new facilities for baseball (Elliot Ballpark), softball (Burrill Family Field), ice hockey (Toscano Family Ice Forum) and soccer (Morrone Stadium at Rizza Performance Center) and volleyball. The Rizza Center houses numerous programs and is the hub for a concentration of new construction along Jim Calhoun Way.

In short, campus looks nothing like it did 15 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago.

“We've made a huge leap forward with our facilities,” said Benedict, hired in 2016, in part for his reputation as a successful fundraiser. “It took a lot of time and a lot of people. I think when we get [Bailey] done, and a handful of other [ongoing] projects, in my mind — I'm not talking about size and scale — but if you compare our facility plan we would definitely be in the top 50 in the country, doesn't matter what conference.

“You have no appreciation unless you experience how much of an impact it has on the individuals who use the facilities. I'm sure there were kids thinking, 'This is never going to happen.' Things take time and we methodically worked through and almost addressed every single facility that a student-athlete touches.”

Traffic to be split on I-95 north in Westport for construction starting May 5, DOT says

Liz Hardaway

WESTPORT — Traffic will be split on Interstate 95 north in Westport starting May 5, according to the state Department of Transportation. 

The DOT said traffic restrictions will affect I-95 north between exits 17 and 18 in Westport from 8 p.m. on Monday, May 5, through 6 a.m. on Monday, May 26. 

There will be three lanes of traffic during the period, though it will be split with the work area in the middle, according to the DOT. The DOT noted that traffic will be split into two lanes on the left and a single lane on the right side. 

Drivers will be required to stay in their lanes while going through the traffic split, the DOT said. 

“This traffic restriction is necessary to remove the old and install the new expansion joint devices on the deck of the Bridge over Saugatuck River in Westport,” the DOT said.

UConn selects preferred developer, approves $750K for student housing project at Avery Point campus

Andrew Larson

UConn plans to build student housing at its Avery Point campus in Groton, which has about 450 full-time students but currently lacks a residential component.

Following an RFP process, UConn has selected a preferred developer to build the facility, which would include a 250-bed dorm, a 125-seat dining hall and a recreation field.

The new facility would total 83,400 square feet and be located on a 1.1-acre property near the center of campus.

The developer, which was not named, will design, construct
and develop the project on a “turn-key basis” under a development agreement with UConn. The university will be responsible for providing financing and long-term operation of the facility.

On Wednesday, UConn’s Board of Trustees approved $750,000 to advance the project. It will be used to prepare the cost, scope and feasibility of the development.

A university spokesperson said the proposal is at “an early stage of due diligence to assess site conditions and other factors that could influence the cost, scope and feasibility of the proposal.”

The project is part of an effort to improve UConn's Avery Point campus, including offering one of the school's most popular majors – a bachelor's degree in psychological sciences – there starting this fall, according to UConn.

The facility would be "substantially complete” by July 2028, or sooner, UConn said.

Also, UConn said the building will have a LEED green building certification.

Project supporters say adding student housing at Avery Point is “critical to meeting the goals of the UConn Strategic Plan, which includes a commitment to build on the unique attributes of each regional location to make them destination campuses,” the university said.

The local rental market is limited and expensive, often forcing students to commute long distances, according to UConn. Also, studies show that students are more successful when they have strong social networks in college, which living in a residence hall can help facilitate.

UConn’s Avery Point campus sits on 82 acres on Long Island Sound.

Connecticut starts $137M I-95 bridge replacements

Julie Strupp

Construction kicked off April 17 on a $136.5 million project to replace a pair of aging bridges in West Haven, Connecticut, according to a news release from Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont. The two bridges are each more than 70 years old and carry I-95 over 1st Avenue and the Metro-North Railroad train tracks.

The project’s design-build team is made of Littleton, Massachusetts-based contractor The Middlesex Corp. and New York City-headquartered design engineer H&H, Connecticut DOT said.

The goal of the project is to reduce congestion, improve safety in the region, boost stormwater management and lower future bridge maintenance costs, according to the agency. The new spans are designed to have a minimum service life of 75 years, which will significantly improve long-term safety and reliability.

Of the country’s 623,000 bridges, 49.1% are in “fair” condition and 6.8% are rated “poor,” according to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2025 Report Card. They are increasingly threatened by extreme weather, making strategic asset management planning and routine maintenance essential, per ASCE.

In addition to replacing the bridges, the Connecticut project includes extending the southbound lane from Exit 44 to create a continuous travel thoroughfare that will ultimately serve as an exit-only lane for Exit 43, per the release. There will also be drainage, shoulder, traffic signal and lighting improvements, according to Connecticut DOT.

“Replacing these aging bridges and revamping the interchange will ease the daily commute for more than 142,000 drivers on I-95,” Connecticut DOT Deputy Commissioner Laoise King said in the release. “By tackling this now, we’re avoiding future disruptions to highway and rail travel.  ”

This project will employ about 100 workers, per the release. It is funded through a mix of 90% federal dollars and 10% state money.

Construction is slated to be completed in phases by the end of 2027.