An $840M development project along the CT River is scaled back slightly, and will be done in phases

Steven Goode

EAST HARTFORD — The planned redevelopment project on the Founders Plaza property is still coming, but it's going to come in phases instead of one big chunk. And that's OK with Mayor Connor Martin.

"I'm not concerned at at all. We're taking a grand plan and making it a reality, but we're doing it in manageable chunks," Martin said Wednesday. "They're being real and I appreciate that."

The project, known as Port Eastside, is expected to have 1,000 apartment units at full build-out, but the developers, Hartford-based Lexington Partners, have decided to start with a first phase of 300 apartments overlooking the Connecticut River on the site of the former Bank of America building. There will be four floors of housing built on top of a 20-foot-tall ground floor that would accommodate parking and commercial space. An outdoor pool and a courtyard are planned for the first level of housing.

The total cost of the project — originally announced as $840 million, though likely to be reduced as aspects of it are trimmed — includes $125 million to $150 million in public improvements, according to the developers.

Christopher Reilly, president of Lexington Partners, said Thursday that even though interest rates have started to stabilize, they are still high and lenders have taken a step back, prompting the company to rethink the roll-out of the project.

"We're phasing out the project in more manageable increments," he said.

Reilly said the financial factors will also have an impact on how quickly the first phase, which will cost $110 million to $120 million, will begin construction.

"The lenders have to come back to the market," he said, adding that they hope to begin construction during the second quarter of 2025 with completion in about two years.

Reilly said that he hoped that the planned pedestrian bridge would become a reality at some point, but added that they are going to focus on housing first.

Plans for a Hartford HealthCare presence and a transportation hub are also aspects of the project that are still in the works, he said.

Regardless of the change in the immediate scope of the project, Martin said that it gives residents more time to understand what will be happening on the property and adjust to a large influx of new residents. It will also allow the town, he says, to gauge how that will affect town services, such as schools and public safety.

The phased-in approach, Martin said, will make it easier for the town to make adjustments, if needed, and to assure that they are getting the tax revenue they need to offset any new costs and avoid raising taxes.

But the project is also moving forward now. Martin said that a special meeting is scheduled for Monday to sign a demolition agreement. The state has supported the project with $6.5 million through the Capital Region Development Authority for demolition of 50-year-old, 183,000-square-foot building.

Reilly said that because they are receiving public money for demolition they have to go out to bid, which he expected to take 60 to 90 days. The Bank of America building will also need some remediation before it's torn down. The hope is to demolish the building this summer.

On other development fronts, Martin said he expected demolition on the former Silver Lane Plaza main building to begin any day now and that ground should be broken soon on the former Showcase Cinemas site, which will also feature amenity-rich apartments.

Aging Chatfield Hollow Bridge in Killingworth dismantled; construction expected to start late summer

Sarah Page Kyrcz

KILLINGWORTH — With a huge claw doing most of the work, a backhoe dismantled the aging Chatfield Hollow covered bridge March 4 and to make room for an  identical structure to take its place.

Two years after the state initiated a plan to take a close look at the dilapidated covered bridge, with its deteriorating roof, loose footboards and rotting, buckling floorboards, it was determined that replacing it was necessary.

The bridge has been closed to foot traffic since December 2022. 

A local group who pushed for getting the bridge replaced is pleased with the plans, but they say that more work needs to be done at the park.

“With repeated storms and the continued degradation of the condition of the bridge structure, DEEP needed to demolish and remove the timber portion of the bridge before it fell into the water,” said Paul Copleman, state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection spokesperson.

“The removal was a proactive step towards a replacement project still planned for fall 2024,” he said.

At this time the cost of the bridge replacement is unknown.

Chatfield Hollow was designated as a state park in 1949. The exact date of when the bridge was built is unknown.

Copleman outlined the process of rebuilding the bridge that crosses the Chatfield Hollow Brook. 

This includes extensive and thorough documentation of the previous bridge structure and replacement identical to the removed bridge. 

Included in construction are upgrades to allow for ADA accessibility, lowered windows to allow for more outward viewing from within the bridge span and raised superstructure atop new stone stamped abutments to provide resiliency through extreme weather events. 

The new bridge will be built to re-establish previously existing stream flow and public access to trail head.

Cheryl Buckley has been visiting the state park since 1978 and brought the matter to the attention of the state in the hopes of getting the bridge repairs completed. She has been working on this project for seven years.

“Year after year, I kept taking pictures and sending it in, but at that point there was no money allocated to state parks, so it wasn’t fixed, it wasn’t maintained,” this Guilford resident said.

Buckley is one of some 3,000 people that call themselves Friends of Chatfield Hollow and have a Facebook group of the same name. 

“Friends of Chatfield Hollow have been so instrumental in advocating for this and making sure that not only this iconic bridge could continue in some way, shape or form to be such a piece of the park system and the trail system, but to make sure that it was safe for those who want to use the park,” said state Sen. Christine Cohen (D-Guilford).

Buckley is happy to see the project moving along.

“I think it had deteriorated so much that it had to be rebuilt,” she said. 

“Especially the abutment underneath,” she said. “There was really no way to correct that. It’s the big stones and boulders and some of them had become dislodged, making the structure a little bit unstable.”

Since 2022, the Lamont Administration and the legislature have committed $80M in capital investments as part of the Restore CT State Parks initiative.

With some 412 acres, Chatfield Hollow State Park is a popular destination for biking, hiking, picnicking, swimming and fishing.
 
Other projects planned at the park include improvements to the beach area, the dredging of Shreeder Pond, the re-paving of the entire park’s roads and parking lots and repairs to the Mill Pond dam. More information at the DEEP website.
 
For Buckley, once the bridge project is completed, she is looking forward to spearheading another project at Chatfield Hollow.

Buckley helped bring the deterioration of the Chatfield Hollow Oak Lodge to the attention of state officials. The nature center was completely renovated in 2018.

Now Buckley’s vision is to be able to make that building accessible all year long by upgrading the electricity to 220-amp service.  

“We haven’t been able to use the nature center when it’s cold,” she said. “So, if we got 220-amp in there, that would solve it. We could turn the heat on when we’re using it and turn it off when we’re not.” 

For now, Buckley and Friends of Chatfield Hollow look forward to the bridge construction which is expected to start late summer 2024 and finished early fall 2024.

“What better time than when the foliage is beginning to change,” said Cohen. 

“It’s such a great time in Connecticut,” she said. “I think it’s really the height of the season in many ways for people to enjoy Chatfield, especially in terms of its trails.”

Residence Inn expansion in South Norwalk scrapped; new luxury hotel proposed for next door

Katherine Lutge

NORWALK — Plans to expand the Residence Inn by Marriott in South Norwalk have been scrapped, but a new stand-alone luxury hotel has been proposed in its place.

“There was a proposal last year to extend the Residence Inn and incorporate a new structure of eight stories into it, on 31-35 South Main Street, but the deal with the Residence Inn did not materialize,” said attorney Elizabeth Suchy, representing TR Sono Partners LLC at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Wednesday night. “That is no longer going to proceed.”

The new hotel application calls for 100 rooms and 83 valet-only parking spaces at 25, 31-35 S. Main St.

“At this time, I do not have any information to share on the hotel brand for the new hotel,” Suchy said in an email.

“The basic design approach here was to be contextual to the architecture of the street and the adjacent Residence Inn,” said Seelan Pather, the project’s architect from Beinfield Architecture.

 

Designed to be a luxury hotel, the building would also feature a pool deck and a rooftop deck bar.

“Something else that has proven very popular is a rooftop deck bar, so we’re going to do one here again … with views of the (Long Island) Sound,” Pather said.

All visitors would pull into the building’s footprint to unload and use the valet parking system, which would occupy the first and second floor along with a basement, Pather said.

The Planning and Zoning Commission authorized a design peer review of the project and will hear the application again at future meeting.

Even though the new hotel would be next door to the Residence Inn, Suchy said this project would fill a demand in the area.

“With the hotel DoubleTree closure on Connecticut Avenue, there does exist a need in Norwalk for additional hotel rooms,” she said. “So if you are wondering why one hotel is next to another, there is a need for hotel rooms in Norwalk.”

Project's history

In January, TR Sono Partner received a one-year extension on its plans to expand the Residence Inn to 31-35 S. Main St.

“We are asking for a one-year extension of time, and that is largely due to the volatility in the interest market in 2023, increases in volatility in the construction industry, both of which we anticipate will level off and become a little more stable in the upcoming year,” Suchy said during the Planning and Zoning Commission’s meeting on Jan 17, 2024.

Originally approved in February 2023, the plan included adding 48 rooms and 45 off-street parking spaces for the Residence Inn in eight stories at 31-35 S. Main St.

This project would have required the demolition of the Udelman building that was constructed in 1927. The Norwalk Preservation Trust spoke out against the demolition, saying the expansion and historical preservation could be achieved simultaneously.

Although the area is part of the South Main and Washington Historic District, a historical review determined the architecture was “decidedly unremarkable” and said the building did not have historical significance.

The new application would also call for knocking down the Udelman building to create the entrance and exit to the valet parking area.

As developer seeks wetland approval for Enfield sports complex, concerns raised over artificial turf

 Susan Danseyar

ENFIELD — Officials and residents await answers to questions they have about the effect a proposed sports complex near the Massachusetts line could have on wetlands, habitat, and human health.

Andrew Borgia of Fast Track Realty is planning to develop the former MassMutual property at 85 and 100 Bright Meadow Boulevard for a sports complex. All Sports Village, as the project is called, would have outdoor athletic fields, a basketball building along with a hotel, restaurant, additional retail space, and a family entertainment center. The complex would be built on the now empty 65-acre MassMutual office park along with an adjacent 3.78-acre farmland parcel at 113 Brainard Road.

At issue for residents and members of the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency before granting a permit for the project, is whether Borgia's plan to fill in a 2.45-acre wetland on the MassMutual property will have an adverse effect on waterways as well as on animal and plant habitat. Some residents are worried about what they say are possible harmful chemicals from artificial turf planned on the project's 11 soccer fields.

During a public hearing Tuesday, the project's team of engineers and soil scientists said they won't have to do anything to mitigate storm water because its runoff will actually be reduced after the development is built. They also said filling in one of the wetlands and building another on a sloped portion of the property will control erosion of the soil and reduce water spillage onto the parcel.

The team said its development plan also calls for repairing damage to flora in the area that they said beavers — now gone from the property after they were relocated by the town — caused when they built their dams.

"We will identify, with help from the planning staff, areas in town related to wetlands and watercourses that can be enhanced or restored to some extent that would offset what's happening on the site," said environmental scientist George Logan of Rema Environmental Services, who is part of the development team.

Assistant Planner Georgienna Driver asked for clearer information on what the development team considered successful wetlands on the property, which are defined as purifying water, helping with flood control, limiting erosion, and supporting plants and animals. She also asked for more details on how the team would build a wetland on a slope and what wildlife they think might be on the property.

Members of the public questioned the use of artificial turf and rubber crumb infill that's used on such fields, saying they are bad for the environment and people's health.

"I'm concerned this project is above and right next door to a major water supply," said Karen Laplante, a member of the Conservation Commission, who said her comments were on behalf of herself as a concerned citizen. She asked the applicant for contract specifications for the artificial turf material, make, and model and if the project would be requiring that the turf be free from forever chemicals. "What is the lifespan of the proposed turf?" she asked.

Testing for artificial turf should be mandatory for the project as it will be on about 17 acres of the aquifer, Laplante said. She said tests should include for synthetic precipitation leaking procedures and on individual chemicals to determine what will leak onto the fields. She also asked for clarification on drainage from the turf fields and where it will run.

Agency members continued the public hearing until March 19 to allow time for reviewing additional information officials requested from the development team.

Borgia in 2023 changed his plans to alleviate residents' concerns about the proposed project. It originally called for Fast Track Realty to lease a portion of the nearby 32.6-acre town-owned Brainerd Park for playing fields as part of the project's financing requirements.

However, a number of residents said they were against the town transferring the land, which was donated to the town in 1958, for private use by a developer. Borgia then revised his plans by removing a proposed indoor turf building and adding it to the basketball building, providing space for the fields originally planned for the park to be placed on the MassMutual and Brainard Road site.

At the time, a few Town Council members said they regretted that some residents had asked officials to walk away from leasing part of the park, which they said would have benefited the town. In return for leasing a portion of Brainerd Park, Borgia had proposed to spend $6.5 million in park improvements at Brainerd and improved fields at the Enfield Annex so the town would have contingency fields during what would have been construction at Brainerd.

Nearly $2M approved to fix ruptured New London sewer line

John Penney

New London ― A series of unexpected ruptures along a major sewer line on Pequot Avenue late last year that led to sewage backups will cost nearly $2 million to fix.

That repair job is expected to be followed by the reconsideration of a defunct city sump pump replacement program aimed at preventing future overflow incidents.

The City Council this week unanimously authorized appropriating up to $1.8 million to conduct an emergency repair of the sewer line running between Jerome Road and Neptune Avenue not far from Ocean Beach Park.

About half of the funding will cover the cost of introducing about 3,500 linear feet of flexible lining into the damaged 12-inch diameter pipe. That lining will cure into an inner shell ― harder than the pipe it protects ― after exposure to an ultraviolet light system, Public Utilities Director Joseph Lanzafame said on Thursday.

The work will be done by the National Water Cleaning Main Company which submitted the lowest, $1.09 million, of the three bids for the project.

The remaining funds are needed to cover excavation, paving, labor and project management costs, according to Feb. 20 memo from Lanzafame to Mayor Michael Passero.

The problem began in mid-December when officials learned the sewer line, which ferries wastewater from the Ocean Beach pump station and another on Pequot Avenue, ruptured. Two more fractures occurred within a three-week span, Lanzafame said.

A temporary bypass was placed along the street to allow for the inspection of the damaged line, but that pipe was overwhelmed by heavy January rains leading to sewage backing up into 10 residences – including five beach bathroom structures – on Pequot and Mott avenues and Lower Boulevard.

A more robust bypass pipe was added on Jan. 12 and is still in place.

Lanzafame said the January backup can be partially attributed to home sump pumps being illegally hooked into the city sewer lines, which are not designed to handle stormwater flow.

“We will be discussing resurrecting an old sump pump replacement program we introduced years ago,” he said. “There’s nothing nefarious about those hook-ups; people just don’t know not to connect to a sewer line. But it’s a significant cost increase to treat all that extra flow.”

Lanzafame said it was initially thought that scouring action due to grit and sand whirling through the flow may have caused the original main line rupture, but that theory was discarded after a close inspection of the pipe.

“It’s hard to say or know what caused the issue,” he said. “But the bottom of that pipe had degraded to the point where it was paper-thin.”

The council on Monday approved transferring the repair funding from the Water and Water Pollution Control Authority’s general fund account, which stood at $6.2 million as of this week, Finance Director David McBride said.

The lining, a specialized material only manufactured in Germany, is slated to be delivered in about five weeks. Installation will take another two to three weeks and paving several more weeks.

Lanzafame said his hope is to get the pipe repair job done and the partially above-ground bypass pipe removed before early May when the area is inundated with beach tourists.

“It would take more than a couple of cones to protect that length of pipe when you have so many people coming in that are unfamiliar with the area,” he said.

Though the liner material does not come with a warranty, Lanzafame said the repaired pipe is expected to remain intact “beyond 50 years.”