New special taxing district eyed for massive Port Eastside development in East Hartford

Michael Puffer

Aplan to transform much of East Hartford’s aging Founders Plaza office park into about 1,000 apartments mixed with commercial development could get a big infusion of funding through the property taxes the project generates.

A team of investors that includes prominent area businessmen have already spent millions of dollars aggregating five properties within the office park along the Connecticut River for the “Port Eastside” development. 

Now, state lawmakers are considering a bill that would create a special taxing district around those roughly 30 acres. 

The legislature’s Planning and Development Committee will hold a public hearing on March 10, to discuss the creation of the “Port Eastside Infrastructure Improvement District,” which would be able to raise funds through bonding to pay for infrastructure, including utilities, roads, a planned greenway,  garage and more, said East Hartford Mayor Connor Martin. 

A “tax increment financing” agreement with the town would entitle this new district to a portion of the property taxes generated by the added value of the development. Those tax dollars would then help pay down any bonds.

“We are in favor of this because it supports the project and funnels a portion of the revenue back to the municipality,” Martin said.

Tax increment financing is a tool municipalities and developers have long used to defray the costs of infrastructure and other groundwork needed for large-scale developments. Proponents note TIF agreements cost municipalities nothing other than a portion of the tax revenue they would not have seen anyway without the new development.

Martin said the town has not yet negotiated how much of the newly generated tax revenue will go toward the development.

The Port Eastside project plans call for about 1,000 multifamily units in several buildings. These would mostly be apartments, but could include a handful of condominium units. The project would also include a 6.1-mile greenway and 400,000 square feet of entertainment, restaurant and retail space, according to a prior statement from Port Eastside LLC.

The development was introduced as an $841 million investment in the summer of 2023. Plans have since been updated without any new cost estimates being shared by the development team.

Investors in the development include brothers Bruce and Harris Simons, of Simons Real Estate Group in West Hartford; Manafort Brothers Inc. President Jim Manafort; Peter S. Roisman, head of Houston-based property tech company REV Leasing; Nicholas Michnevitz III, president of West Hartford-based MBH Architecture; Hoffman Auto Group Co-Chairman Jeffrey S. Hoffman; Chris Reilly, president of Hartford-based Lexington Partners; and Alan Lazowski, chairman and founder of LAZ Parking.

Port Eastside has spent millions acquiring five properties.

East Hartford’s Town Council about a year ago approved conditions that will allow the development team to use a $6.5 million state grant to demolish the 182,890-square-foot former Bank of America office building at 20 Hartland St., also known as 99 Founders Plaza.

In return, Port Eastside agreed to secure a building permit for an apartment building of at least 150 units on that site within four years.

Bridgeport report recommends closing seven aging schools, constructing four new ones

Richard Chumney

BRIDGEPORT — A long-awaited report on the future of the city school system’s aging facilities recommends the district shutter seven school buildings, construct four new ones and perform major renovations on eight others. 0:15

The recommendations were delivered during a virtual forum Tuesday by consultants hired to study the conditions of each of the district’s 37 buildings and the costs needed to maintain them over the next decade. 

School closure and construction recommendations

A long-awaited report on the future of Bridgeport Public Schools' aging facilities recommends the district close seven schools, build four new buildings and perform major renovations on eight others.

Pat Gallagher, a community planner with MP Planning Group, said the yet-to-be-approved proposal to replace several badly rundown schools with brand new ones could help the cash-strapped district save millions of dollars. 

“Our goal is to consolidate some of the older facilities with significant needs and provide them with a state-of-the-art modern facility in the same neighborhood,” Gallagher said. “That really aligns well with the neighborhood-based model that you operate.” 

The recently completed study found the district’s buildings will collectively need up to $702.5 million in repairs and other upgrades within the next 10 years — a figure Gallagher and other consultants have described as “significant.” 

The recommendations come as the district continues to face a $23 million deficit in the upcoming fiscal year that has prompted the school board in recent weeks to eliminate several programs and dozens of staffers. The panel is now weighing further budget cuts.   

Former Superintendent Carmela Levy-David announced the facilities study last spring after facing fierce pushback from parents, students and teachers over a controversial proposal to shutter six schools that she said were plagued by unsafe conditions and poor academic performance. 

Levy-David initially planned to start closing the schools by the end of last year but dropped the aggressive timeline due to the pushback and after some board members pointed out district rules require school officials to study individual buildings before shutting one down.

Mike Zuba, a demographer with MP Planning Group, described the master plan as a roadmap for the district. He has previously noted the school system last developed such a plan in 2003 and only updated the document in 2008.  

“It's Bridgeport's long-term guiding document for capital investments, how to be able to promote more efficient operations and achieve your desired educational vision over the next decade and beyond,” Zuba said. 

Notably, the report shows overall enrollment is on the decline. The district has the capacity to serve more than 24,600 students, but enrollment currently stands at about 20,000 and is expected to decline by around 800 students over the next 10 years. 

The seven schools the consultants recommend closing include Beardsley School, the Bridgeport Learning Center, Classical Studies Magnet Academy – Maplewood, Classical Studies Magnet Academy – Annex, Dunbar School, Edison School and Hall School. 

According to district records, the schools serve about 1,500 students. Aside from the Bridgeport Learning Center, which comprises about 40 K-12 students with special needs, the facilities are small neighborhood elementary schools. 

Gallagher said the schools were chosen because they were among the facilities most in need of renovations and had the lowest enrollment levels, making them ideal candidates to close instead of paying for repairs and upgrades. 

“This will allow the district to retire several aging facilities, including many of the facilities that scored as having the highest capital needs,” Gallagher said. 

The list of schools is slightly different from the six that Levy-David proposed to shutter last year. At the time, she recommended closing Bryant School, Edison School, Hall School, Dunbar School, Cross School and the Bridgeport Learning Center. 

Gallagher said the consultants are also recommending the district construct four new schools, perform major renovations on eight existing buildings and conduct a series of repairs and upgrades on eighteen others.   

Gallagher said the school system should prioritize building a new East Side school at the site of the old Harding High School on Central Avenue. He said the building could serve up to 750 pre-K-8 students who now attend Hall, Edison, Beardsley and Dunbar schools. 

He recommended the district also erect a new special program school where the Skane Center is located on Madison Avenue that could incorporate BLC’s existing programs and serve additional special needs students. 

The district is in the process of merging Skane with the nearby John Winthrop School as part of a multimillion dollar renovation of the 72-year-old building, a move that will free up the Skane site for future development. 

Gallagher said the district should aim to secure grant funding from the state to build the two schools between now and mid-2026, but he did not offer a cost estimate or timeline for the proposed projects. 

Though lower on the list of priorities, Gallagher suggested in future years the district replace Park City Magnet School with a brand new building and also construct a new Classical Studies Magnet Academy on the same 16-acre Chopsey Hill Road property.  

Additionally, the plan calls for the district to perform major renovations on Blackham, Bryant, Hallen, Hooker, High Horizons Magnet, Multicultural Magnet School and Read schools. The consultants also proposed expanding the Bridgeport Regional Aquaculture Science & Technology Education Center. 

Aside from Aquaculture, the consultants did not recommend any major construction projects for the city’s high schools, which are all relatively new or are on the verge of being replaced. The district is set to open a new $129 million Bassick High School this fall after more than two years of construction. 

Still, the enrollment levels at the individual high schools remain unbalanced. Central High is expected to be near capacity for much of the next 10 years, while Bassick and Harding high schools are projected to be overcrowded during the same period. 

Meanwhile, enrollment at Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet Schools continues to decline and is expected to hover around 60% for the next several years, leaving hundreds of seats unfilled. About 30% of the seats at the school are set aside for suburban students. 

To rectify the situation, the consultants recommended either working to grow suburban enrollment, relocating programs like the Bridgeport Military Academy to the school, asking the state to adjust the suburban percentage limit or sunsetting suburban student enrollment altogether.  

It is not yet clear if the school board will take up some or all of the recommendations. The panel is scheduled to hold a series of community forums in the coming weeks to solicit feedback about the plan from parents, students, teachers and other members of the public. 

The first forum will be held on March 31 at Harding, the second on April 2 at Central and the third on April 3 at Bassick. Each event will begin at 6 p.m. and take place over two hours, according to the district. 

Board Chairperson Jennifer Perez declined to share if she supports the proposal to close some neighborhood schools and build new ones, but said she plans to review the recommendations carefully. 

“We now have relevant data and will be seeking input from various stakeholders throughout the next month,” Perez said. “We will be discussing the recommendations in the coming weeks, and the board will have the opportunity to engage in further dialogue and determine what is the best path forward for our students.” 

Vice Chairperson Joseph Sokolovic described the plan as a helpful framework for the district but said he was skeptical of the proposal to shutter schools. He said he would not be comfortable voting to close a building before securing state funding for a replacement. 

“I would love to keep all the buildings open, repair them and not close them,” Sokolovic said. “The new schools now are just a wish list. They’re not funded yet.” 

Naugatuck to spend $3 million a year to fix roads after decades of neglect

Andreas Yilma

NAUGATUCK — About a decade ago, when Mayor N. Warren "Pete" Hess was first elected to office, one of the biggest complaints he heard from residents was on the condition of the roads.

Years later, he says it's still a complaint but there's been a strong effort resulting in improvements. 

"It was the biggest complaint and it's something that had not been addressed for too long and we're addressing it now responsibly in a manner that we can afford," Hess said.

The Board of Mayor and Burgesses approved at its March 4 meeting a modified five-year plan starting in the 2025-26 fiscal year and extending to 2031. The plan calls for spending about $3 million annually on its paving program. 

More than 40-year Candee Road resident Bob Cavaliere said he has definitely seen an improvement from the roads being terrible years ago. 

"Previously nothing was done so at least I see something getting done, compared to what it used to be, it's not bad," Cavaliere said. "They're working on the roads, they do repairs."

"Compared to what it used to be, they never did anything until something drastic happened," he said.

Borough officials listened to the complaints and in 2017, they enacted an aggressive road paving plan where they began spending about $3 million per year or about 10 times more compared to the past to catch up, Hess said.

Some of the major roads that have been paved or partly-paved from 2017 until last year include Field Street, Hunters Mountain Road, Webb and Jones roads, Wooster, City Hill, Field and High streets. 

"We've completed a lot which I don't think a lot of people realize but we have a plan to finish everything," Hess said. 

The first batch of roads slated to be milled and paved this year include Fairview and Hillside avenues, Southview, George, Cliff, Trowbridge Place, Moore and Nettleton avenues, Walnut Street, Maple Hill Road and Park Place. 

After the flooding from last August, the town was able to use Federal Emergency Management Funds to pave Hunters Mountain Road. The borough is also using funds from the state's Local Capital Improvement Program annually for paving.

The borough also used grant funding from Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program for North Main and Spring streets and currently $12 million for Rubber Avenue. 

"Rubber Avenue and the intersections on Rubber Avenue were deemed to be our most unsafe intersections with the most number of accidents so the state is giving us money to fix those," Hess said. 

The town also looks to use Connecticut Communities Challenge grant funds for downtown streets such as Old Firehouse Road, Water Street and the new road town officials look to build from the new proposed train station in the middle of Parcel B out to Old Firehouse Road. 

"We're doing it in a way where we are maximizing the use of available state money, money from contractors, and we're also utilizing our own forces in a way that makes it easier for us get more paving done for less money," Hess said. 

Hess said he gives all the credit to General Foreman Jeremy Lennon and the street department crews who have transitioned from being a maintenance crew to a high level construction crew, equal in skills to major construction companies. 

Town officials are expected to put the list of roads for the paving plan on the town website. They will also review the plan annually and modify it further if necessary, Hess said.