Long-delayed $1 billion fuel cell, data center in New Britain could start construction this year

DON STACOM

The ambitious plan for a $1 billion energy complex and data center at the old Stanley Works industrial complex in New Britain appears to be back on track after a long hiatus triggered by the pandemic.

EIP LLC has changed financing, brought in a different fuel cell supplier and rewritten the plan for where it will operate its energy production equipment, but plans to begin work on the project this year if regulators sign off.

“I’m still holding my breath for the next 60 days until those regulatory approvals go through, but once that happens all signs point to go,” Mayor Erin Stewart said this week.

“It’s on the positive path now. I feel confident saying that this is the most promising news we have had in 24 months,” she said

More than three years ago, then-Gov. Dannel Malloy and city business leaders gathered at the old Stanley Works plant on Myrtle Avenue to applaud EIP’s massive proposal.

“This project represents a new beginning for New Britain,” Malloy said in the summer of 2018. “We’re going to have thousands of jobs on this site in the not-too-distant future.”

EIP planned to generate almost 20 megawatts using fuel cells from Doosan Fuel Cell America in South Windsor in the first phase, and said subsequent stages would add 44 megawatts. In addition, EIP pledged to renovate the long-vacant, six-story factory on Myrtle — the centerpiece of the old Stanley complex — to use as a data center.

At the time, political leaders from both parties described the EIP plan as transformative for a rundown neighborhood in one of Connecticut’s poorer cities.

In mid-2019 the state put up a $55 million tax credit to spur the project, and EIP executives spoke of a construction start in 2020. But the pandemic hit, and the hulking brick factory complex has shown no signs of life since then.

EIP and Stewart said the global shutdown in the first months of the pandemic followed by international supply chain disruptions stalled the progress for about two years.

But by last spring, EIP said it had lined up new investors and replaced Doosan with California-based Bloom Energy as its fuel cell supplier. And it reconfigured its design: Instead of renovating two old Stanley buildings behind the main six-story factory, it will raze them and store the fuel cells outdoors on a 4-foot-high, 48,000-square-foot platform.

The company told the Connecticut Siting Council in October that this stage of the 10-year project will cost $75 million to $80 million. Future stages would expand the fuel cell farm, renovate the six-story building as a massive data center and construct new offices across Curtis Street.

EIP is asking the siting council and public utilities regulatory authority to extend its permits, which had anticipated 2020 construction. Because of the delay, EIP doesn’t expect to begin bringing in fuel cells until late this year.

The company told regulators this winter that it envisions the first phase of the fuel cell project would be operated by mid-2023. It will use 73 fuel cells, each roughly 30 feet long, 4 feet wide and 7 feet high.

Greg Smith 

New London — New London has two ongoing school construction projects totaling more than $160 million and is expecting the state to reimburse 80% of those costs.

The Connecticut Port Authority is managing a $235.5 million project to rehabilitate State Pier into an offshore wind hub in New London that includes a state investment of more than $160 million.

The one thing the two projects have in common is Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis, the former deputy secretary in the state Office of Policy and Management who, before his suspension and retirement, led the state’s Office of School Construction Grants and Review. Diamantis additionally was hand-picked by the state to oversee the State Pier project, presumably to quell lingering doubts about the port authority’s ability to handle such a large project by itself.

News of an FBI investigation into Diamantis has left city and port authority officials with more questions than answers.

Diamantis already was being investigated because of the Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo Jr.’s hiring of Diamantis’ daughter, Anastasia. The state, on the same day it released a report on the findings of its investigation, released a copy of an Oct. 20, 2021, subpoena from the FBI to the state Department of Administrative Services requesting communications dating back to Jan. 1, 2018, involving Diamantis and school construction projects, hazardous materials abatement projects and State Pier infrastructure improvements projects.

Connecticut Port Authority Executive Director John Henshaw and authority board Chairman David Kooris said in an interview Thursday they’re not sure what it means. While the grand jury subpoena was made public, the reason for the investigation is not. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment Thursday about the purpose of the investigation and whether it is connected to the state probe.

Kooris said Diamantis has been involved with the port authority since late in 2019 during the final negotiations for what is known as the Harbor Development Agreement, or HDA.

For the port authority, Kooris said Diamantis had been the point person on the construction project with his team at OPM and DAS and heavily involved in the procurement and construction activities and awarding of contracts.

“We don’t know much about what’s going on,” Kooris said. “When I read the subpoenas, and I read the subsequent documents with the search terms ... it looks to me like of course they’re going to start with as wide a net as possible. I don’t read that as (the Connecticut Port Authority) being a particular focus of the investigation. My position on that is exclusively derived from what I’ve read.”

Henshaw and Kooris said no one from the U.S. Attorney’s Office has contacted the port authority or requested any documents.

Kooris said he doesn’t think there is a need to seek funding assurances from the state, since the $235.5 million from the state and joint venture partners Ørsted and Eversource is in escrow in accounts controlled by the terms of the HDA.

“The money is there. There’s no second guessing that,” Kooris said.

After Diamantis left, Noel Petra, deputy commissioner of DAS, was appointed to lead oversight of the State Pier project.

In an email Thursday, Petra said, “ongoing projects including school construction projects and the State Pier project are continuing at this time and the Department of Administrative Services will fulfill its statutory and legal responsibilities.”

New London Mayor Michael Passero expressed similar confidence that the Diamantis investigation would not hinder ongoing school construction projects.

“I don’t think that’s a concern. I think one way or another the state will honor its commitment to the city for reimbursement costs,” Passero said. “The Kosta scandal shouldn’t affect that process at all.”

Passero also expressed confidence in the State Pier project, saying, “the project is well underway. It’s going to get done. I just hope they can manage the costs.”

“There’s too much at stake for the economic health of southeastern Connecticut, for the state of Connecticut and our private partners in the wind industry,” he added.

Diamantis could not be reached to comment.

In response to a request for comment from the governor’s office, Paul Mounds Jr., chief of staff, issued a statement: "The Lamont administration has and will continue to fully cooperate with federal authorities concerning their investigation. The administration has and will continue to comply fully with the ethics laws of the state because the people of Connecticut deserve transparency and accountability."

State Sen. Cathy Osten said she had “no idea” why the FBI was investigating Diamantis but said oversight of the Connecticut Port Authority has increased over the past year thanks to several bills passed by the legislature. Those bills require stricter reporting requirements to provide a level of transparency sought by legislators.

“That was because of the earlier reports that said nobody was paying attention to what was going on there,” Osten said.

Lamont says he’d fire top prosecutor under investigation if he could

HARTFORD (AP) — Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday he would fire Connecticut's top prosecutor — if he had the authority — for “ethical malfeasance,” a day after an independent report raised suspicions about the prosecutor's hiring of a state budget official's daughter.

The Democratic governor spoke about Chief State's Attorney Richard Colangelo Jr. during an unrelated news conference.

“When it comes to Colangelo, I don’t hire him, I don’t fire him," Lamont said. “But if I did, he'd be gone.”

Colangelo's lawyer, James Glasser, said in a statement Thursday that Colangelo did nothing improper when he hired the budget official's daughter in 2020. At the time, Colangelo was lobbying the budget office for pay raises for prosecutors in his office.

“With the benefit of hindsight, Mr. Colangelo should have been more sensitive to issues relating to the appearance of a of conflict of interest when making hiring decisions,” Glasser said. “Mr. Colangelo is a dedicated career prosecutor who is well-regarded by his colleagues, judges and the defense bar. It is truly unfortunate that his motives are now being impugned and his actions questioned.”

A message seeking comment from Colangelo was left with his spokesperson Thursday. He has denied wrongdoing.

Also Thursday, the chairman of the state Criminal Justice Commission, which has the power to hire and fire chief state's attorneys, issued a statement about the investigation and Colangelo.

“The findings in the report are quite startling and raise profoundly serious questions about whether the Chief State’s Attorney can continue to discharge the duties of the constitutional office he holds,” the chairman, Associate Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Andrew McDonald, wrote.

The commission is asking Attorney General William Tong's office for advice on the due process that would be needed if it holds a hearing on whether to remove Colangelo, McDonald said, adding no chief state's attorney has ever been fired.

In his comments, Lamont also said, "I have zero tolerance for this kind of ethical malfeasance and the deputy of OPM was gone very soon.”

Lamont referred to the former deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, Konstantinos Diamantis, whose daughter's hiring by Colangelo in 2020 spurred the independent investigation. The report said Colangelo hired Diamantis' daughter while lobbying OPM officials, including Diamantis, for pay raises for prosecutors in his office.

Diamantis was placed on paid leave in October for what officials called “alleged misconduct,” and he submitted a letter of resignation and retirement the same day.

Lamont has referred the factual findings of the independent investigation led by former Connecticut U.S. Attorney Stanley Twardy Jr. to state ethics officials and the Criminal Justice Commission. The investigation report was released Wednesday.

Lamont's office still has not released Twardy's legal conclusions and recommendations, which were provided verbally, a Lamont spokesperson said.

Diamantis also has denied doing anything wrong. A message seeking comment was left for him Thursday.

Diamantis told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Twardy's investigation found no wrongdoing and nothing in the report raised red flags about his daughter’s hiring, noting “the chief state’s attorney can hire by statute and the constitution anybody he chooses to effectuate his mission. That’s his choice.”

Diamantis said that while he was at the Office of Policy and Management, Colangelo’s requests for pay raises were denied on different occasions.

Colangelo told investigators that pay raises for top nonunion prosecutors in his office were needed because they were on the verge of making less than lower-tier unionized prosecutors around the state.

“But the simple truth is Mr. Colangelo was motivated only by his interest in fixing an unbalanced pay scale for the benefit of his employees, the State, and the people of Connecticut; he did absolutely nothing improper when trying to right that past wrong,” Glasser said.

Diamantis' daughter, Anastasia Diamantis, did not return a message seeking comment.

Colangelo hired Anastasia Diamantis as an executive assistant in his office at a starting salary of $99,000, effective July 3, 2020. No one else was interviewed for the job.

Colangelo and Konstantinos Diamantis denied discussing a job for Anastasia Diamantis beforehand, Twardy's report said.

But about a month before Anastasia Diamantis was hired, the report said, Colangelo sent her father an email that included descriptions of two jobs open in Colangelo’s office. Konstantinos Diamantis later forwarded the email to his daughter. The email did not contain any context for making Konstantinos Diamantis aware of the jobs, the investigation report said.

“However, the fact that Mr. Diamantis forwarded the e-mail to Anastasia despite no message in the body of the e-mail from Mr. Colangelo prompting him to do so suggests that Mr. Colangelo and Mr. Diamantis had discussed a job for Anastasia,” the report says.

The report also found that Colangelo, Konstantinos Diamantis and Anastasia Diamantis gave conflicting statements to certain questions by investigators that “cast doubt on the integrity of the circumstances surrounding Anastasia’s hiring.”

Konstantinos Diamantis is also being investigated by the FBI and a federal grand jury in connection with hundreds of millions of dollars in state spending on school construction projects and improvements to the state pier in New London, according to a federal subpoena that was publicly released on Wednesday. The subpoena is dated Oct. 20, eight days before Konstantinos Diamantis was put on leave and resigned.

Konstantinos Diamantis, a lawyer and former Democratic state representative, had overseen the state's school construction funding program for the last six years of his state employment.

It’s not clear from the subpoena what exactly federal authorities are investigating. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Connecticut, which subpoenaed the state records, declined to comment.

Diamantis declined to comment on the federal investigation Wednesday. He previously has said he believed he would be cleared of any wrongdoing.

Demolition begins on the University of Bridgeport’s Bodine Hall

Cayla Bamberger

BRIDGEPORT — Demolition has begun at what was previously the University of Bridgeport’s largest dormitory, Bodine Hall.

The former residence hall is one of the buildings that will be torn down to relocate the nearly 100-year-old Bassick High School to the South End — a plan that was further expanded to include the Bridgeport Military Academy last year.

“While we are saying goodbye to Bodine Hall, we look forward to welcoming Bassick High School to the neighborhood,” said Danielle Wilken, president of UB. “Having Bassick in close proximity to our campus will open up opportunities for us to work together to provide high school students with an early appreciation for higher education that will prepare them for success.”

The project has hit several roadblocks along the way, including most recently failing to make Connecticut’s school construction priority list in December. However, a group of state lawmakers added Bassick back last month, putting the plan on track for the state to cover most of the $129 million building costs.

The bulk of the University of Bridgeport’s academic programs and real estate were acquired and accredited by Goodwin University for $32 million last May. Wilken, who was the provost and dean of faculty at Goodwin, was named UB president at that time.

Quinnipiac University to invest $244 million in new ‘South Quad’ in Hamden

Meghan Friedmann

HAMDEN — A South Quad featuring three new buildings is coming to Quinnipiac University’s Mount Carmel Campus, according to officials.

The board of trustees approved $244 million for the project, which will include construction of a 79,000-square-foot School of Business, a 137,000-square-foot general academic building and a 417-bed residence hall, the university announced Thursday in a release.

The construction will take place within the campus’s existing footprint, between Tator Hall and the College of Arts and Sciences, the release said.

Three main campuses make up Quinnipiac: York Hill and Mount Carmel campuses in Hamden and a North Haven campus.

The upcoming project will mark the first time new standalone buildings have been constructed on the Mount Carmel campus since the early 1990s, according to university President Judy D. Olian.

“We hope that we’ll be able to put shovels in the ground over the summer, with the timeline that we’ll complete the projects by 2024,” she said. “It shouldn’t disrupt anything around the campus, and we’re concentrating all of the construction in one quadrant of the campus.”

The larger academic building will house an auditorium that can seat 600-800 people, a greenhouse and a vivarium, or animal habitat, the release said.

It also will feature new labs, increasing research opportunities, according to Olian.

“Our faculty pride themselves on doing research with undergraduates, and that’s a significant component of the new building,” she said.

University leadership hopes the new buildings will enhance learning and better prepare students for future careers by providing spaces that mimic actual workplaces, Olian said when asked why the board chose to invest in the project.

“We have been thinking about transformation at the university. How do we really accelerate the progress of the university?” she said. “And spaces alone don’t do that by any stretch. But spaces are enablers, so you can learn differently in spaces that mimic the work world.”

Various features of the new business school, for example, will create an environment similar to what students might encounter after graduation.

“You want to have spaces that reflect those modes of working, so (the school of business) will have an innovation space, an entrepreneurial space, spaces where you can do focus groups in marketing,” Olian said, adding that it also will offer access to platforms where students can use supply chain and trading softwares.

Olian expects the business school to be completed in the first half of 2024, she said, while the other two buildings more likely will be completed during the latter half of that year.

“The board and the management are just extremely appreciative that we can draw on our endowment, and hopefully the debt market, for the residence hall. And of course philanthropy will play an important part in getting this done,” Olian said.

The university’s next step is to enter a “detailed design phase” and then seek the necessary town approvals, according to Olian.

“We’re really excited about this,” she said. “I think it’ll be transformational.”

Developer buys 14-acre property in Stratford for $10.6 million

Mike Mavredakis

STRATFORD — A commercial real estate developer purchased a 14.2-acre property at 775 and 975 Lordship Boulevard for $10.6 million Wednesday, according to Jon Angel, president of Angel Commercial, LLC. The buyer intends to build warehouse facilities on the lot, Angel said.

“The new owner plans to construct warehouse facilities on this property, which is in short supply and high demand in this area,” Angel said in a written statement. “The property is located less than one mile off the exit ramp to I-95, Exit 30 (Lordship Boulevard), and next to the FedEx Ship Center.”

The property was sold by Stratford Land Development Company Limited Partnership to Lordship Land, LLC. Both deferred comment to the broker, as did Mary Dean, town economic development director.

The idea is to build on the property and then lease the space. There is no deal in place to lease the property at this time, but there are interested potential tenants, Angel said.

“The intention here is construct a facility for lease. It’s not likely to be an acquisition for the purposes of resale,” Angel said. “This market is a very desirable market for warehouse distribution and e-commerce and related-type uses largely because of the proximity to the highways.”

The property had multiple bidders and sold quickly, Angel said.

“Build it and they will come,” Angel said, referencing the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams.”

“That's the mentality right now. At the moment, the industrial sector is a very, very hot commodity,” he said. “And we have other buildings in the region under construction on a need-driven basis, which is an important factor for any developer who elects to jump into this arena and construct a new building.”

The developer is still in the planning phase with the property, Angel said. He anticipates they will bring development proposals to the town Planning and Zoning Commission in the next 30 to 60 days.

Pending town approval, Angel anticipates the building will be a similar size to the Athletic Brewing Company facility at 495 Lordship Boulevard, where the former ExxonMobile Chemical Co. building was. This building is set to be 368,000 square feet with 36- to 40-foot-high ceilings, Angel said.

The building will be designed to be divided, but the owners have not decided how or how large the buildings will be, Angel said.

The lot is divided into two parcels, a 2.3-acre portion at 775 Lordship Blvd. and a 12-acre spot at 995 Lordship Blvd. The buyer bought each of these plots together in a single sale. The plots’ proximity to the highway and nearby businesses were key to the deal, Angel said.

Developer hopes to convert former Meriden Aeolian factory into 80 apartments

Mary Ellen Godin

MERIDEN —  A Boston-based development group hopes to convert the former Aeolian Co. factory at 85 Tremont St. into 80 apartment units under the city’s adaptive reuse program.

Trinity Acquisitions LLC is seeking a special exception permit and site plan approval to gut and renovate the former factory on 2.2 acres in the city’s adaptive reuse overlay and R-3 zones. The Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the request on Wednesday. 

"They’ve done this type of project before,” said City Economic Development Director Joseph Feest. “We’ve met with them several times. They are a very well-versed group. We were Impressed with their sketches and property designs. It’s definitely an improvement. That building is in need of some TLC.” 

The city’s adaptive reuse overlay zone was created by the City Council in 2019. It applies to select buildings and reduces the restrictions and obstacles developers face in a rehabilitation project. 

To qualify, buildings must be at least 50 years old, "no longer productively utilized" or "severely underutilized," and the site must have a principal building with at least 15,000 square feet. There are about 40 eligible buildings in the city, mostly former factories warehouses, including those on Britannia, Center, Pratt, Colony, Cambridge, High and State streets.

The Aeolian Co. was established in 1887 as the Aeolian Organ and Music Co. and at its peak employed 500 people. The company manufactured automatic organs and music rolls. It expanded in 1895 to include a successful line of player pianos known as pianolas, according to the Connecticut Historical Society. 

By 1906, the Aeolian Company had acquired a number of its competitors and operated seven factories throughout the United States, including New York City, New Jersey, and Worcester, Massachusetts.

The Meriden factory manufactured the majority of music rolls used on all brands of automatic instruments in the United States and abroad at the time.

By 1918, the company produced phonograph motors, parts and records. The popularity of player pianos and similar automatic instruments grew significantly through the 1910s before reaching an apex during the 1920s. Meriden was home to two of the most prominent American producers in this period, with the other being the Wilcox and White Organ Co., located on the north side of Cambridge Street opposite the Aeolian Co. plant.

After the Aeolian Meriden plant closed in 1930, the Tremont Street complex was occupied by a variety of businesses, including the General Electric Co., which leased the factory during the early 1950s, according to state records.

The plant is now largely vacant, but there are a small number of commercial tenants operating out of the building. The tenants will be moved to other commercial spaces in the city, Feest said. The planned apartments will be leased at a variety of rental prices, he said.

Mayor Kevin Scarpati met with the developers two months ago. 

“It (housing) is probably one of the only viable uses for that building,” Scarpati said.

“It’s taking a building that is in rough shape and help turn around the whole neighborhood. That’s the objective reuse, contributing to the neighborhood and make it an asset and revitalize a community.”