CT’s highway system ranks 5th in national study, as per-mile spending rises

Andrew Larson

Connecticut's highway system was recently ranked fifth in the United States in terms of its cost-effectiveness and condition, rising 26 spots from last year's rankings, according to the 27th Annual Highway Report released by the Reason Foundation.

While Connecticut's improvement is due partly to a change in the methodology, it also rose in the rankings due to infrastructure upgrades, including smoother highway pavement, and lower fatality rates.

The report uses 2020 data; last year's report uses data from 2019.

State spending on highway construction projects also contributed to Connecticut’s upswing. The state ranked 12th in capital and bridge costs per mile, and 16th in maintenance spending per mile.

Connecticut’s best rankings were in urban interstate pavement condition (8th), and other disbursements per lane-mile (9th). Connecticut’s worst rankings were in urbanized area congestion (42nd) and urban arterial pavement condition (28th), according to the study.

Connecticut’s drivers waste 30.2 hours a year in traffic congestion, the study found, ranking it 42nd in the nation. 

Connecticut is one of nine states where automobile commuters spend more than 30 hours annually stuck in peak-hour traffic congestion, the report says. The others are New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Texas, Rhode Island, Illinois, California and Delaware.

While impaired and wrong-way crashes have been a focus of the state legislature this year,  Connecticut’s fatality rates were lower than in many states. According to the study, Connecticut ranked 25th in terms of its rural fatality rate, 11th in its urban fatality rate and 17th in the “other” fatality rate category.

According to last year’s report, using 2019 data, Connecticut had the ninth-highest fatality rate in the nation, and the third-highest rural fatality rate.  

In this year’s study, Connecticut’s overall highway performance ranked higher than nearby states New York (49th), Massachusetts (20th) and New Hampshire (14th). It also scored higher than New Jersey (44th) and Rhode Island (42nd).

The study’s methodology uses highway spending, conditions, fatality rates and urbanized congestion data submitted to the Federal Highway Administration.

17 major development projects set to transform Danbury's landscape for years to come

ROB RYSER

DANBURY — The city’s post-pandemic landscape is busy with development activity, from new car dealerships opening and proposals for hundreds of new apartments on the booming west side to commercial and residential projects slated for the downtown’s Main Street.

“The city is doing amazingly well — people are coming in from all over the planet it seems to do business in Danbury,” said Paul Rotello, the City Council’s minority leader and a member of a task force that recently completed work on a master plan for the next 10 years.

The city’s top planner agrees.

“The diversity of these projects and the variety of uses is an indication of Danbury’s attractiveness as a place to live and work and expand your business,” said Sharon Calitro, Danbury’s planning director. “It shows that our economy is diverse and robust; people want to be here."

The approved building projects and proposed developments — 17 of which are highlighted here, coincide with a growth spurt in Danbury that demographers project could put the city of 86,000 at 95,000 by 2040.

The surge of development activity is healthy for the city’s bottom line, leaders say, so long as commercial and residential development is “managed responsibly.”

“We have to do it in a focused way,” Rotello said. “The plan is working.”

Here is a snapshot of 17 high-profile construction projects and proposals that have been in the headlines over the past year.

1. Danbury Career Academy, 40 Apple Ridge Road (approved/not built)

 

The city’s much-anticipated campus for 1,400 students will not only alleviate overcrowded classrooms when it opens for the 2025-2026 school year but will mark a new era in Danbury and the rest of the state. High school education will be reorganized into a freshman academy and six career academies, where every student is on an individualized track for college or a job after graduation. The $164 million project, which involves retrofitting the former Cartus Corp. building and 24-acre campus into a new west side high school and middle school, broke ground in February.

2. Hundreds of apartments at The Summit, 100 Reserve Road (approved/not built)

The short version of this project is when the sprawling 1.2-million-square-foot office park known as The Summit was negotiating with the city to locate its career academy in a section of the office park, The Summit wanted a contingency deal that if the career academy fell through The Summit would be able to retrofit the office space reserved for the school into 400 apartments. The city agreed. Shortly afterword, when negotiations about the career academy broke down, The Summit went back to its plan to build 400 apartments. As of late April, The Summit was yet to submit formal plans to the city for the apartments. Developers envision offering a "city within a city" and have already begun to fill commercial and retail space. 

3. WestConn Park commercial and residential development at 3 Mill Plain Road (proposed)

This large-scale 31-acre development near Western Connecticut State University’s west side campus on Mill Plain Road has been out of the headlines recently as the developer negotiates with the state transportation department to improve the sight lines for the proposed project. Plans call for an 11-building campus of apartments, offices, stores and an assisted-living facility. The project, which would include a bank, a restaurant, a coffee house and retail shops would attract 650 more vehicles during rush hour on the already congested stretch between the Stop & Shop and Amity Lane. The developer calls the project “a lifestyle center where people can live, work, shop and play in one area.”

4. Savings Bank of Danbury building at Main and White streets (proposed)

This $14 million office building project includes the demolition of the defunct night club Tuxedo Junction, which the city sold to the bank as part of the deal to provide better access for the new building. The proposed red brick building with white trim and an octangular tower shown on the plans would be used as the bank’s headquarters.  

5. Old Courthouse renovation and 100 units of workforce housing at 71 Main St. (proposed)

This complex, multi-party deal would transform a downtown corner with 100 apartments and restore the empty 1899 old state courthouse for new city uses. The plan, which has been approved by the City Council, authorizes Mayor Dean Esposito to apply with a nonprofit for a $9.9 million in state economic development money to buy the courthouse and four other properties on Main Street and Park Place. Blueprints call for a restored courthouse and a new parking lot for city use, such as the Danbury Museum. The nonprofit would seek the rest of the project’s $70 million cost to build the workforce apartments.

6. Conversion of office building into apartments and construction of apartment building at 30 Main St. (proposed) 

The project, known as The Legacy on Main has already been through the land use wringer once, gaining permission from the city’s wetlands commission. The city’s Planning Commission is reviewing blueprints for the 208-apartment project, which call for the conversion of the existing five-story office building into studio and one-bedroom units, and the construction of a 70-foot apartment building in the parking lot with more studios and one-bedroom apartments. A small percentage of two-bedroom apartments would be distributed between the two buildings.

7. Affordable housing project for seniors behind headquarters of Connecticut Institute for Communities at 70 Main St. (proposed)

A $2 million federal grant secured by U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, will help pay for a parking garage upon which a three-story apartment building would be built behind the headquarters of the nonprofit Connecticut Institute for Communities. The congresswoman’s grant brought the nonprofit’s fundraising to $4.7 million toward the $8 million cost of project. The apartment would have 79 units of affordable housing for seniors.

8. Apartment building at former headquarters of The News-Times, 333 Main St. (nearly complete)

 

A second-story pool overlooking downtown Danbury and retail shops that open onto Main Street are among the finishing touches to be completed at the 149-apartment house known as Brookview Commons II, across the street from the Kennedy Flats apartment complex. Other features of the six-story apartment building include a car bridge over Padanaram Brook in the back of the property and a pedestrian bridge connecting the new complex to developer Dan Bertram’s existing apartment building on Crosby Street called Brookfield Commons.

9. Panera Café at 5 Sugar Hollow Road (approved/not built)

Panera Bread is moving from leased space on the city’s west side and will build a free-standing drive-thru café nearby. Plans call for Panera to move out of leased space at The Shops at Marcus Dairy and build a 5,000-square-foot single story drive-thru building in the parking lot.  

10. Chipotle restaurant and medical office at 1 Sugar Hollow Road (underway)

Demolition and ground clearing has begun at the former Pier 1 Imports store near the Danbury Fair mall to make way for a new drive-thru Chipotle restaurant and medical office space. The new Chipotle will be across Backus Avenue from the free-standing Shake Shack and Texas LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants on the Danbury Fair mall property.

11. Mercedes Benz dealership near Danbury Municipal Airport (under construction)

Work is underway to transform a vacant 2.5-acre storage lot into a $7 million Mercedes-Benz dealership at the gateway of an emerging high-end auto corridor. Plans for the property at Miry Brook and Sugar Hollow roads call for Curry Automotive to move its dealership from Federal Road on the city’s east end to the new gateway location. The stretch is already home to North American Motor Car, a custom garage and luxury vehicle storage facility that bills itself as the largest of its kind in Fairfield County, and a film director’s company that produces $450,000 sports cars.

12. Nissan-Infinity dealership at 13 Sugar Hollow Road (completed) 

The new dealership, which occupies a 78,000-square-foot building on 8 acres, was approved one year ago.

13. Renovation of former Meeker’s Hardware building 88-90 White St. (proposed)

An entrepreneur who wants to convert the distinctive red-brick Meeker’s Hardware building in the shadows of the Uncle Sam statue at the downtown train station into a dance hall will have to work around restraints on the building, because it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The entrepreneur, who owns the Billy Beans Café next door, wants to build a 92-seat dance hall and sit-down bar in the front half of the first floor of the Meeker’s building. If the entrepreneur has his way, the Meeker building will not only be the only former hardware store in the country listed on the national register, but it will be the only dance hall located in a former hardware store on the national register.

14. Renovation of a former rental shop into a retail cannabis store at 108 Federal Road (approved/not built)

Look for the city’s second retail cannabis location to open at the end of summer on the busy east end. Unlike the hybrid medicinal cannabis and retail location known as The Botanist on the west side that serves both medical patients and adults buying cannabis for recreation, the Federal Road shop known as BUD-R will sell recreational cannabis only. Danbury is the only location in the 10-town region where retail cannabis sales are allowed, under city regulations passed in August. State law provides the cannabis businesses will generate a special 3 percent tax for Danbury.  

15. Renovation of former Sears anchor store at Danbury Fair mall into a Target store (approved/not built)

Target is planning a new entrance plaza and a redesigned parking lot for its new two-level store at the Danbury Fair mall. Target’s new 126,000-square-foot store in the former Sears location  could open as soon as a year from June. 

16. Conversion of the former Crowne Plaza hotel into 'innovation studios’ at 18 Old Ridgebury Road (proposed)

Developer Dan Bertram wants to convert the 240 hotel rooms at the former west side hotel into 195 “innovation studios” with three floors of “maker space” for artists and entrepreneurs. What will that look like? The nonprofit Danbury Hackerspace will manage the three floors as creative workspace for entrepreneurs, inventors, artists and start-ups as part of a larger plan to convert upper-level hotel rooms into apartments and micro-studios. Plans for the new venture, called Bright Ravens Innovation Studios, include a machine shop, a wood shop, a computer lab, and fine art studios for photography, video and sound recording, for use by artists, do-it-yourselfers, and prototype builders.

17. Clancy warehouse, 100 Reserve Road (status unclear)

A New York moving company in late April withdrew its controversial plans to locate a 210,000-square-foot warehouse on part of the Summit’s 100-acre campus. This was the second time the company has pulled its proposal off the table in response to neighbors' objections to its size and potential for truck traffic to degrade the neighborhood. Clancy Moving System's future plans were unclear on Thursday, but a valid wetlands permit the company was awarded last year is still in effect. The company aimed to a build a warehouse, an office-maintenance building, and a 28-foot-wide road crossing a wetland. 

West Hartford's first transit-oriented housing development is coming. Here's what that means.

Michael Walsh

WEST HARTFORD — A five-story 150-unit mixed-use housing development could be coming to the former Puritan Furniture site on New Britain Avenue in Elmwood.

If approved, the project — which has been called Elmwood Lofts in filing documents — would be the first to make use of the town's new ordinance establishing a transit-oriented district in that part of town.

Todd Dumais, West Hartford's town planner, said the ordinance was designed using the four D's of "distance, density, diversity and design" to encourage housing developments that take advantage of non-vehicle modes of transportation, like the nearby Elmwood and Flatbush CTfastrak bus stations.

"As we’ve defined it locally, it revolves around distance," Dumais said. "We in West Hartford are focused on a five to 10 minute walk to a fixed transit station. We’re looking to support and encourage relatively high populations or employment densities. There’s also a diversity of mixes of land uses. We want to encourage live, work, play opportunities."

The district encompasses areas near those stations that have frontage or access to Darcy Street, Flatbush Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, New Britain Avenue, New Park Avenue, Prospect Avenue and South Street.

In exchange for building there, the town gives developers the opportunity for higher density occupancy, reduces the amount of required parking spaces and provides incentives for affordable housing. The project also doesn't need public hearings or Town Council approval, just the authorization of town administrators. 

Its a package of benefits that the developer of the Puritan site, Sami Abunasra, said was appealing to him.

"It helps tremendously," Abunasra said. "We don’t have to go through loops and hoops of meetings and special design district types of things. It gives you a higher density as of right. Once you rezone an entire section, it just helps property values and brings in more investors. Even you as a developer, you feel more confident about the area because there will be more interest in the long term. It’s an investable type of neighborhood."

Abunasra bought the property in 2020, and noticing the nearby CTfastrak station, realized the site could be prime for housing. An early meeting with the town gave validation to his vision and a nearly $1 million grant from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development’s Brownfield Remediation Program helped clean up the blighted site, which also operates an Ashley HomeStore Outlet.

"When I met the town officials, which I have to commend tremendously, it gave us a really good feeling about what the town wants and what their direction is," he said. "They're looking to revitalize the area. That’s what actually pushed us."

Initially pitched as a 131-unit housing development, the plan has grown to include 150 units of housing, with a spread of 15 studio apartments, 84 one-bedroom units, 47 two-bedroom units and four three-bedroom units. Abunasra said 20 percent of those units — 30 in total — would be marked as "affordable" at 80 percent of the area median income. The site plan also makes room for five ground-floor commercial spaces, which could be used by a mix of restaurants and other retail.

"Really, we are trying to make it as special as it can be but without going overboard with costs," Abunasra said. "We’re trying to design every dwelling with a working den to help with a work from home type of environment. We’ll have conference rooms in the lobby to work in. We’ll have a roof deck. We’ll have a community room, a fitness center. It was done to appeal to young professionals. That’s the theme. That’s the long term demographics we should be shooting for which will make the project more viable."

Restaurants and retail are already a major part of New Britain Avenue's character, with popular eateries like The Corner Pug across the street, and others like Frank Pepe's Pizza, Frida and Beachland Tavern just down the road. The GastroPark and other eateries are also a quick walk down New Park Avenue, which is slated to receive a roadway overhaul that could include some form of protected bike lanes. 

Abunasra said he hopes the small-city urban style the area carries appeals to prospective tenants.

"New Britain Avenue has a very high occupancy rate when it comes to commercial," Abunasra said. "If you look at our design, the endcap restaurants, one has a patio and one has a roof deck, so we’re cognizant of the outdoor part. That became a pillar of COVID and post-COVID and everybody likes it. It’s also good for the economy of the town. You keep these young people (in West Hartford) — and in the state overall — these college students want the urban lifestyle, but maybe not a big city."

Dumais said that part of the transit-oriented district's requirements include a building  being right up on the street, working to activate the streetscape. Restaurants and retail on the front floor, with parking either tucked away to the side, rear or underground, can make this happen.

"It did require that those buildings be placed up next to the street and activate street fronts," Dumais said. "If the building is not up on the street, and there aren’t windows or doors, then you don’t have an opportunity to engage. Traditionally, it’s been a parking lot, and the building behind the parking lot. If you walk in West Hartford Center or on Park Road you get that interaction and interplay."

Abunasra's plans currently call for 209 parking spaces to be included on site, with 69 of those as ground level spaces to be utilized by retail and restaurants. The other 140 spaces are for the residential units, meaning there's a fewer than one parking space per unit. Plans say that 128 of those spaces will be basement level parking, while the other 12 will be ground level.

Abunasra recently had plans reviewed by the town's Design Review Advisory Committee, which Dumais said responded favorably. Once the project meets the standards of the town's zoning ordinance, staff can give the project an automatic approval.

If approved, the housing development would bring West Hartford close to having 1,000 new units of housing become available across town at several sites across town, with some having opened recently, others currently being built and a few more approved but not yet under construction. About 25 percent of those units — some of which are set aside for adults with disabilities and senior citizens — will be "affordable" units for people at varying income levels.

"The Town Council is certainly excited and staff is excited that we have the first development looking to use this new ordinance," Dumais said. "It’s exciting for the community and Elmwood with this being the first of its kind to come through."

Chick-fil-A in, Trader Joe's & DQ out as Shelton development seeks fresh start

Brian Gioiele

SHELTON — Fountain Square will be complete and occupied by this time next year, the owner’s top representative said. 

The development, located at 801 Bridgeport Ave., has shored up its finances and is looking forward to moving forward, according to Dave Gunia, senior vice president of development with Highview Commercial.

“This is a fresh start for the project,” said Gunia. 

Gunia said John Abene, part of Highview's ownership group, is now sole owner and has paid all subcontractors and suppliers that were owed money as well as all the financial institutions with notes on the site, including Bob Scinto.

“We have committed significant resources to the project and will be seeing it through as quickly as possible,” said Gunia, adding that GreenLake Asset Management, the property's sole mortgage holder, “believes in Shelton, as do we. Overall, by this time next year, we expect that Fountain Square will be 100 percent built out and occupied.” 

Panera and Metro Mattress are already in place, and, according to Gunia, construction on Chick-fil-A, long a centerpiece of the development, began Monday.

The Fountain Square project was first presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission in 2017. The project was split into six phases, and final development plans for all phases were approved separately between 2018 and 2020.   

Overall, Gunia said the site has 85,000 square feet of retail space. In the larger buildings, he said there is 50,000 square feet, with only 6,000 square feet remaining. There are also two slab areas — one at 2,500 square feet with no drive thru, the other at 2,600 square feet with a drive thru. 

Gunia also confirmed that Trader Joe’s — long rumored to be eyeing space on the site — has chosen not to come to Shelton. Also out is DQ Grill & Chill — which was to sit on the slab area approved for a drive thru, he said. 

A planned hotel, which had been a significant piece of the original approval, is also being reevaluated.

"We no longer believe a hotel is the best fit," said Gunia, adding that the owner is “still exploring the highest and best uses for the undeveloped upper portion of the property" where the hotel was to stand. 

Tenants in the larger building include a Mercato restaurant, The Tech Team mobile and tech repair services, a national haircut chain, an upscale nail salon, Crumbl Cookies and Fountain Square Wine and Spirits. 

The smaller building will include Physician One Urgent Care, StretchLab, Pokemoto, Jersey Mike’s, MyEyeDr. and Consumer Cellular. 

Gunia also confirmed that the Goddard School will still be coming to the property, with construction expected to begin soon. 

“We are happy to say a number of subcontractors have remained,” said Gunia, adding that also staying on is Daniel Witkins, Sr., of DFW Building Co., the construction manager for the Fountain Square project since its inception. 

Also being completed now is the traffic signal at the corner of Bridgeport Avenue and Parrott Drive. Gunia said paving the remaining section of Bridgeport Avenue will also be completed within the next 30 days. 

“This was a key element for the whole center, so much so, the operation of the signal is tied into leases,” Gunia said. “It is so important to get that done.” 

Berlin’s Steele Center taking shape, with two more buildings under construction

Hanna Snyder Gambini

Developers are framing out the next phases of the Steele Center mixed-use project in Berlin, as another building’s anchor tenant Hop Haus is preparing for its grand opening.

Tony Valenti and Mark Lovely of Southington-based Lovely Development and Newport Realty are building The Steele Center, a $17-million, 75,000-square-foot commercial and residential development, that will bring 70 market-rate apartments and several commercial storefronts to the Kensington Village area.

Steele Boulevard is a new road that stretches from Farmington Avenue to the new Berlin train station on the Hartford line, featuring several residential and mixed-use buildings under construction.

The buildings at 10 and 29 Steele Boulevard are starting to take shape.

The 10 Steele project is a 1.5-story building with 7,900 square feet of commercial space on the first floor, and four apartments above – two, two-bedroom and two, one-bedroom units. 

Valenti said he expects the units will be ready for occupancy by year end, and his team has started marketing the retail space, with negotiations underway with a hair and nail salon, a financial planner and a medi-spa. 

Nearby, 29 Steele Boulevard is a free-standing building with 1,650-square-foot commercial spot with patio space, ideal for a small restaurant or coffee shop, but also suitable for an office, Valenti said.

The Lovely team has partnered with Century 21 All Points for the commercial and residential leasing.

The footing for both buildings has been poured, and steele framing is next.

“We expect to see both with vertical construction within a few weeks,” he said.

Remediation work on the planned 55 Steele Boulevard, a free-standing apartment building with 50 market-rate units, is set to begin in May or June. Once construction begins, it should take about 18 months to complete that building.

That building sits in the back of the complex, closest to the train station.

Right along Farmington Avenue is the mixed-use 9 Steele Boulevard, which is completely finished with 16 market-rate apartments that are fully leased.

The 7,500 square feet of commercial space on the main-floor is anchored by a 4,100-square-foot Hop Haus brewery and gastropub, with an outdoor patio along the main road, that is set to open in June, with some soft openings planned before then.

The remaining commercial space at 9 Steele will also be shared by a home care agency, attorneys office and cosmetic/fitness/life coaching center.

The Steele Center project is moving along, despite some delays with supply chain issues, and a pivot from planned two-bedroom units to smaller apartments to keep pace with the changing market, Valenti said.

“We can never move as fast as we want, but as soon as we got past all the supply issues, we are totally back on track and we want to finish off this development,” he said, expecting to be completely finished in a little more than two years’ time.