Massachusetts-based Grossman Development Group submitted its plans and petitions for five special permits to the Newington Town Planning & Zoning Commission (TPZ) which will hold a public hearing on the project during its regular meeting Wednesday night.

The developer’s application focuses on the former Eversource/Northeast Utilities property at 3333 Berlin Tpke. Plans call for 79,721 sq. ft. of commercial-retail space and 269 residential apartments ranging from 640 sq. ft. studios to 1,420 sq. ft. three-bedroom units.

A 43,000 sq. ft. grocery store will anchor the commercial side of the property, where specialty shops, a restaurant, brew pub and fitness center are also planned.

Town Planner Renata Bertotti reviewed the plans and has given them her stamp of approval, and now it is up to the TPZ to decide their ultimate fate.

“From a staff perspective I believe this is a good project for the town of Newington and I support it,” she told the Herald Tuesday. “My general feeling about this project is that it is really going to work well for the town. The site layout, the design, the uses proposed – all of it is compatible with the area.”

In her memo to the TPZ, Bertotti confirmed the development proposal meets local zoning regulations and would be consistent with the town’s 2020-2030 Plan of Conservation and Development.

A municipal fiscal impact and economic impact analysis report prepared by Goman & York Planning and Design estimated the town will collect $774,199 in net-positive tax revenue from the completed development. While property taxes are projected to be close to $1.2 million per year, the estimate factors in town services required on the property and 57 school-age children expected to live in the apartments.

The firm also calculated the project creating 170 construction jobs and 242 permanent jobs, and generating $4,658,219 in new consumer spending in local businesses. The property’s appraised value would increase from $3,902,000 to $65,478,119, according to the company’s estimates.

Plans call for five commercial buildings on 11.6 acres with frontage on the turnpike. The housing would be located on 13.3 acres fronting Pane Road. The State Department of Transportation is now reviewing proposed signal and traffic improvements.

The TPZ has the ability to act on the application as early as its Wednesday night meeting, but will likely hold off on any decisions until future meetings due to the size and scope of the project.

This meeting will be presented as a Zoom webinar, with no in-person attendance. Information on how to attend virtually will be posted on the town’s website at newingtonct.gov/virtualmeetingschedule .

Republican legislators call for federal aid in State Pier project

Greg Smith

Two ranking state Republican senators have called on the eastern Connecticut congressional delegation for federal support to help defray the state portion of the costs associated with the $235 million State Pier redevelopment project in New London.

State Senate Republican Leader Kevin C. Kelly of Stratford and Senate Republic Leader Pro Tempore Paul Formica of East Lyme are requesting the project be included in the next federal bill that is expected to address a wide range of infrastructure projects.

“Today's communication is to update you and ask for your support for a pivotal state project that is on the precipice of success or disaster,” Kelly and Formica wrote in the May 12 letter to U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy.

The letter reiterates Formica’s concern about the rising cost of the project, once estimated by the Connecticut Port Authority at $93 million but which now has ballooned to $235.5 million.

Federal aid could help fix what Kelly and Formica call “the financial boondoggle that the CPA has created.”

State Pier is being modernized to accommodate the offshore wind industry — a public-private partnership between the state and partners Danish wind giant Ørsted and energy company Eversource. The companies are jointly contributing a $70 million capital investment toward the project.

State Pier is expected to serve as an offshore wind turbine assembly and staging hub for the partners’ planned offshore wind projects.

The state is shouldering the remaining costs of the construction project, the most recent contribution to which came with the State Bond Commission approval of $55 million last month.

“The circumstances that we now find ourselves in are forcing the state government and ultimately the taxpayers to foot the difference in costs for this project. We strongly believe that if this were the same scenario involving state assets and private sector mismanagement, you would intervene for the protection of the constituents you represent,” the letter reads.

Blumenthal issued a statement in response.

“The State Pier holds the key to significant economic development for New London and eastern Connecticut.  The proposed improvements to the pier are exactly what President (Joe) Biden had in mind when he proposed his American Jobs Plan — projects that can lead to significant job growth,” Blumenthal said. “Details of what the infrastructure bill will cover are being negotiated and it is likely to defer to state and local authorities on the specific projects that will be funded. I will continue to advocate for federal investment in the New London area.”

Formica said this week he backs investment in renewable energy and development that would benefit New London but remains frustrated by escalating costs of the State Pier project and what he deems mismanagement and lack of accountability by the CPA.

The CPA, which has worked closely with the state Department of Administrative Services on the design of the project, has said the newest cost estimates come at the completion of the project design.

Of the $235.5 million estimated cost, $193 million is earmarked for construction costs and $11 million for contingencies. There is an additional $31 million for project soft costs that include construction administration fees, design permitting, environmental mitigation and 12 years of lease payments to New England Railroad Inc., a subsidiary of Connecticut-based Genesee & Wyoming Inc., for use of a 5-acre parcel of railroad property adjacent to State Pier that will expand the port’s footprint in New London. The lease is for $525,000 a year, rising 4% annually.

The CPA awaits legislative authorization of another $50 million in bond funding that will be needed to cover the state’s final contribution to the project. Major portions of the project await permitting from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The work at State Pier includes dredging, installation of a bulkhead and filling a 7-acre area between two existing piers to create one larger structure. Ørsted and Eversource have said State Pier could be used for some of the multiple offshore wind projects they have in the pipeline, including Sunrise Wind, South Fork Wind and Revolution Wind. The 100-turbine Revolution Wind Project, 15 miles off the coast of Rhode Island, is expected to produce 704 megawatts of power — 304 MW to Connecticut and 400 MW to Rhode Island.

David Kooris, chairman of the board of the CPA, said the port authority is negotiating for the upfront payment of $5 million from Ørsted and Eversource, part of an award for completing the project on time: August 2022.

“Now that we have a construction manager on board with the expertise, we are all confident we can deliver the project in that timeframe. We are negotiating their early contribution rather than waiting,” Kooris said.

The current capital contribution of $70 million by Ørsted/Eversource toward the project does not include the annual rent payments to the CPA that amount to an additional $20 million over 10 years. It also does not include the annual revenue share payments from terminal operator Gateway New London LLC to the CPA associated with activity at the pier, Kooris said.

Gateway Terminal, the company hired to run State Pier as part of an initial 20-year concession agreement, has agreed to pay $30 million for necessary equipment to handle cargo at the pier.

$18.2 million contract awarded for construction of Maritime Center of Excellence at Coast Guard Academy

Erica Moser

New London — The U.S. Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association announced Thursday it has awarded A/Z Corporation, based in North Stonington, an $18.2 million construction contract for the Maritime Center of Excellence.

The center will be built along the waterfront at the Coast Guard Academy. The demolition of Pine Hall — which Randall Hogan, chair of the Campaign for the USCGA Maritime Center of Excellence, has described as "aging and decrepit" — is scheduled for May 24.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new center is scheduled for July 29, with construction slated to be completed by October 2022. It will be the academy's first LEED-certified project; LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a green building certification.

The Alumni Association said in a news release the 20,000-square-foot facility, designed by the architectural firm SmithGroup, will offer seminar space for up to 150 people. There will also be spaces for vessel maintenance, offices and an atrium.

It will include a Science and Engineering Innovation Laboratory featuring a 3D printing workshop, wood and metal fabrication shop, and stability testing tank.

"This laboratory will encourage collaboration in the areas of digital processing and robotics, equipment design and construction, alternative fuels and emissions, environmental and coastal resiliency, among many others," Hogan said in the news release.

The facility will provide year-round maintenance capability, with a boat bay that will accommodate the vessels used by the academy's sailing and professional maritime studies programs.

Hogan said the center will be used for initiatives such as cadet summer programs, swab summer sailing training, coastal sailing training and more.

Academy Superintendent Rear Adm. William Kelly said that as Coast Guard missions become more important to national security, there will be an increasing need for more people to serve at sea, which is why the center "has never been more important."

"This state-of-the-art facility will serve as a focal point in our mission to 'instill a liking for the sea and its lore' for the future leaders of the world's best Coast Guard," he said.

"This is by far the Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association's largest campaign and is a culmination of recent successes that has seen the Alumni Association give back nearly $50 million to the Coast Guard Academy over the last decade," said retired Vice Adm. Manson Brown, chair of the alumni association's board of directors.

He said the funds raised are mostly donations from alumni, parents of cadets and alumni, and friends of the academy.

According to the Campaign for the USCGA Maritime Center of Excellence's website, $20,083,012 has been raised in donations and pledges, with a goal of $23.5 million.

In early 2016, in his first year as superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy, Rear Adm. James E. Rendon said he was interested in creating a Maritime Center of Excellence that would replace Pine Hall, a prefabricated building, at the waterfront. He said at the time he was in talks with the alumni association to put together a design concept and was "pretty optimistic that we're going to move toward making that a reality."

The campaign said the alumni association board "conducted a feasibility study in the fall of 2017, which revealed that alumni, parents and friends are ready to support the Maritime Center of Excellence."