CT Construction Digest Friday March 13, 2020
Caterpillar posts worst machine sales since 2016
Joe Deaux, Bloomberg
In a further indication of the stress rippling across the construction and mining sectors, Caterpillar reported its biggest decline in global machine sales since the end of 2016.
The report underlines how the coronavirus outbreak is putting a drag on the industries that Caterpillar supplies. Fears about the virus's impact on global growth have helped send shares of the economic bellwether down about 39% this year, off to its worst start since 2009.
The downbeat mood in the industry permeated ConExpo, the largest construction convention in North America. In remarks at the Las Vegas gathering this week, Caterpillar Chief Executive Officer Jim Umpleby said the coronavirus hasn't yet caused major supply snags, and the company was focusing on executing the plan set in place when he first took over as CEO. But Umpleby didn't offer much detail on how the worldwide move to stamp out the virus will change prospects for the business.
"Our guidance was based on the best information that we had at the time, and if we have any changes to that we'll do it when we put out our first-quarter results," Umpleby said in an interview.
In February, Caterpillar said its machine sales dropped 11% on a rolling three-month period. Isolating the Asia-Pacific region, the sales fell 17%, the largest drop in four years.Oil and gas retail sales fell 3%, marking a sixth straight month of declines in the segment. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Bonfield said Wednesday that oil-market tumult from the past week will impact the oil and gas business, but said that it's still too early to tell how strong that may be.
Magnet school project info is available online
SUSAN CORICA
BRISTOL - The City Council at its March meeting unanimously approved a resolution on the Memorial Boulevard Intradistrict Arts Magnet School to send the final plans, project manuals and cost estimates to the state to prepare for bidding.
Joe Deaux, Bloomberg
In a further indication of the stress rippling across the construction and mining sectors, Caterpillar reported its biggest decline in global machine sales since the end of 2016.
The report underlines how the coronavirus outbreak is putting a drag on the industries that Caterpillar supplies. Fears about the virus's impact on global growth have helped send shares of the economic bellwether down about 39% this year, off to its worst start since 2009.
The downbeat mood in the industry permeated ConExpo, the largest construction convention in North America. In remarks at the Las Vegas gathering this week, Caterpillar Chief Executive Officer Jim Umpleby said the coronavirus hasn't yet caused major supply snags, and the company was focusing on executing the plan set in place when he first took over as CEO. But Umpleby didn't offer much detail on how the worldwide move to stamp out the virus will change prospects for the business.
"Our guidance was based on the best information that we had at the time, and if we have any changes to that we'll do it when we put out our first-quarter results," Umpleby said in an interview.
In February, Caterpillar said its machine sales dropped 11% on a rolling three-month period. Isolating the Asia-Pacific region, the sales fell 17%, the largest drop in four years.Oil and gas retail sales fell 3%, marking a sixth straight month of declines in the segment. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Bonfield said Wednesday that oil-market tumult from the past week will impact the oil and gas business, but said that it's still too early to tell how strong that may be.
Magnet school project info is available online
SUSAN CORICA
BRISTOL - The City Council at its March meeting unanimously approved a resolution on the Memorial Boulevard Intradistrict Arts Magnet School to send the final plans, project manuals and cost estimates to the state to prepare for bidding.
The same resolution sparked a contentious debate by the Board of Education earlier in the month, as some newer board members unsuccessfully sought to delay approval to get more information, which the project backers warned could have derailed the entire project.
Council member David Preleski said he wanted to bring people up to date on what he called “a pretty critical point in the development of the school building.” He is also a member of the project’s building committee.
The city needed to present the design documents, project manuals, and cost estimates to state officials by March 11 in order to go out to bid and keep to the project schedule, he said.
Preleski said he was concerned about the school board members who said they weren’t getting enough information about the project.
“There is a great deal of information available on the city website, the Board of Education website. We hold meetings monthly, those minutes are published, they are accurate, they are detailed,” he said.
“We need to move positively forward and make sure people know how to get information,” he continued. “There’s a lot of information that exists, it has existed for a very long time, from which you can ask questions and get this thing moving forward without delay.”
Preleski noted that the building committee meets on the last Thursday of the month, with the next meeting scheduled for March 26, at 6:30 p.m., in Room 36 of the Board of Education offices, 129 Church St. “Everyone is invited to attend,” he added.
Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said she was attending a Connecticut Conference of Municipalities event recently with Miguel Cardona, Connecticut commissioner of education.
“He said that as his staff and himself deal with municipalities and boards of education and administrations they feel inspired by some of the good governance they see and that there’s a lack of confidence when there is not good governance,” she said. “I think that we need to take that to heart and understand that what we do and how we conduct ourselves oftentimes has repercussions with our funders.”
The city and school board are collaborating on the project to transform the closed school into an arts magnet school for grades six through 12. The opening date is projected to be August of 2022.
The board approved sending the documents 7-1, with John Sklenka voting against and Allison Wadowski abstaining. Sklenka and Wadowski were among the four members newly elected to the board last November.
Sklenka and Vice Chair Kristen Giantonio were concerned that the newer members were not on the board when the project was approved, and since then had not been given enough information about the resolution and the project generally to be able to approve it.
Giantonio has served on the board for almost two years now but she said even she feels information has been lacking.
“There’s a lot of missing details for I for one to be comfortably able say that I have reviewed this thing and can vote on it in good faith,” she said.
Sklenka asked to table the vote until at least April, to allow time for “a serious discussion at our next operations meeting.”
Superintendent Michael Dietter explained that the city has an agreement through the Connecticut Office of School Construction Grants & Review, which has committed to funding 60% of the total project cost of $63 million, with the city bonding the rest.
Dietter said there could be potentially serious ramifications to postponing the vote, because it would delay the committee from being able to go out to bid in time, which could jeopardize the state grant.
He and Tim Callahan, the district’s project manager for the arts magnet school, said the project information is readily available but they pledged to do more to keep board members informed.
Project information is available at the city’s website and the board’s website www.bristol.k12.ct.us .
Developers complete first phase of $80M New Britain apartment complex
Joe Cooper
evelopers of an $80-million mixed-use development in downtown New Britain say they have completed construction on the project’s first phase.
Massachusetts-based Dakota Partners Inc. and New York’s Xenolith Partners LLC broke ground on the so-called Columbus Commons development near a CTfastrak bus station in 2017 on the first of two retail/apartment buildings on Columbus Boulevard. The brownfield site previously housed the former New Britain Police station.
The developers on Thursday said they have completed Columbus Commons’ first, six-story building, which includes 80 one- and two-bedroom apartment units and roughly 10,000 square feet of ground-level commercial/retail space.
The second building will comprise another 80 apartment units and 10,000 square feet of retail space. It was not immediately clear Thursday when the second phase of construction would be completed, or when tenants will begin occupying space.
The city of New Britain awarded the project, at 125 Columbus Blvd., to Dakota and Xenolith in July 2016.
Dakota in recent years has been active building apartments in downtown Hartford, and is planning to build a $32 million affordable-housing complex, with 108 units, in Newington.
Council member David Preleski said he wanted to bring people up to date on what he called “a pretty critical point in the development of the school building.” He is also a member of the project’s building committee.
The city needed to present the design documents, project manuals, and cost estimates to state officials by March 11 in order to go out to bid and keep to the project schedule, he said.
Preleski said he was concerned about the school board members who said they weren’t getting enough information about the project.
“There is a great deal of information available on the city website, the Board of Education website. We hold meetings monthly, those minutes are published, they are accurate, they are detailed,” he said.
“We need to move positively forward and make sure people know how to get information,” he continued. “There’s a lot of information that exists, it has existed for a very long time, from which you can ask questions and get this thing moving forward without delay.”
Preleski noted that the building committee meets on the last Thursday of the month, with the next meeting scheduled for March 26, at 6:30 p.m., in Room 36 of the Board of Education offices, 129 Church St. “Everyone is invited to attend,” he added.
Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said she was attending a Connecticut Conference of Municipalities event recently with Miguel Cardona, Connecticut commissioner of education.
“He said that as his staff and himself deal with municipalities and boards of education and administrations they feel inspired by some of the good governance they see and that there’s a lack of confidence when there is not good governance,” she said. “I think that we need to take that to heart and understand that what we do and how we conduct ourselves oftentimes has repercussions with our funders.”
The city and school board are collaborating on the project to transform the closed school into an arts magnet school for grades six through 12. The opening date is projected to be August of 2022.
The board approved sending the documents 7-1, with John Sklenka voting against and Allison Wadowski abstaining. Sklenka and Wadowski were among the four members newly elected to the board last November.
Sklenka and Vice Chair Kristen Giantonio were concerned that the newer members were not on the board when the project was approved, and since then had not been given enough information about the resolution and the project generally to be able to approve it.
Giantonio has served on the board for almost two years now but she said even she feels information has been lacking.
“There’s a lot of missing details for I for one to be comfortably able say that I have reviewed this thing and can vote on it in good faith,” she said.
Sklenka asked to table the vote until at least April, to allow time for “a serious discussion at our next operations meeting.”
Superintendent Michael Dietter explained that the city has an agreement through the Connecticut Office of School Construction Grants & Review, which has committed to funding 60% of the total project cost of $63 million, with the city bonding the rest.
Dietter said there could be potentially serious ramifications to postponing the vote, because it would delay the committee from being able to go out to bid in time, which could jeopardize the state grant.
He and Tim Callahan, the district’s project manager for the arts magnet school, said the project information is readily available but they pledged to do more to keep board members informed.
Project information is available at the city’s website and the board’s website www.bristol.k12.ct.us .
Developers complete first phase of $80M New Britain apartment complex
Joe Cooper
evelopers of an $80-million mixed-use development in downtown New Britain say they have completed construction on the project’s first phase.
Massachusetts-based Dakota Partners Inc. and New York’s Xenolith Partners LLC broke ground on the so-called Columbus Commons development near a CTfastrak bus station in 2017 on the first of two retail/apartment buildings on Columbus Boulevard. The brownfield site previously housed the former New Britain Police station.
The developers on Thursday said they have completed Columbus Commons’ first, six-story building, which includes 80 one- and two-bedroom apartment units and roughly 10,000 square feet of ground-level commercial/retail space.
The second building will comprise another 80 apartment units and 10,000 square feet of retail space. It was not immediately clear Thursday when the second phase of construction would be completed, or when tenants will begin occupying space.
The first phase of the development was supported, in part, by funding from the Connecticut Department of Housing, the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and low-incoming housing tax credits.
The city of New Britain awarded the project, at 125 Columbus Blvd., to Dakota and Xenolith in July 2016.
Dakota in recent years has been active building apartments in downtown Hartford, and is planning to build a $32 million affordable-housing complex, with 108 units, in Newington.