CT Construction Digest Monday August 19, 2024
Revolution Wind delayed by a year
Greg Smith
Revolution Wind, the 65-turbine wind farm under construction and slated to be the first to deliver power to Connecticut, will not start delivering electricity to the state until 2026 because of delays in construction of an onshore substation, Danish wind farm developer Ørsted announced on Thursday.
The 704 megawatt wind farm, 15 miles off the coast of Rhode Island, was slated to be in operation by 2025 and remains under construction.
Ørsted, which is constructing the wind farm in partnership with New England-based Eversource Energy, said delays are related to a substation being built by Eversource in the Quonset Point Business in Park in North Kingstown, R.I. The state-owned property is a former Navy base and Naval disposal site. Substations serve as gateways for the electricity from wind farms to the electrical grid.
Ørsted said ground contamination was anticipated at the site of the substation but turned out to be worse than expected. It has led to a change in the plans for construction.
“Revolution Wind thoroughly researched the site, including the past uses of the property as a US Naval disposal facility,” Ørsted said in a statement. “Prior to commencing construction, the project initiated a soil sampling campaign that revealed the nature and extent of the contamination was more significant than anticipated. The overall elevation of the substation was increased by 5’-7’. This reduced the amount of potentially contaminated soil that would need to be removed, processed, and disposed, and avoided a substantial delay.”
Ørsted, in a statement on Friday, said that despite the delay, construction of Revolution Wind continues to progress. Turbines for Revolution Wind are being delivered, assembled and shipped out of State Pier in New London where vessels have been coming and going over the past few weeks. There is not expected to be an impact on operations at State Pier.
“Construction for Revolution Wind continues to progress, with more than half of the foundations installed and turbine installation imminent,” the statement said.
Installation of the monopile foundations, the steel cylinders driven into the ocean floor to support the turbines, started in May. Ørsted and Eversource have not yet announced the date for erection of the first turbine.
Revolution Wind is slated to supply 400 megawatts of power to Rhode Island and 304 MW to Connecticut, enough to power an estimated 350,000 homes. It is the first project in the U.S. to supply power to two different states.
Ørsted, which recently completed the 12-turbine South Fork wind farm in New York waters, is one of four companies to submit bids to Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island for an additional new offshore wind farm. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has not yet made an announcement on whether it planned to accept any of the bids.
The delay comes at an awkward time for Ørsted, which was among companies involved in the offshore wind industry to suffer major losses and drop plans for wind farms in recent years because of escalating costs.
Mads Nipper, group president and CEO of Ørsted, in a statement on Thursday called the delay “unsatisfactory, and we continue our dedicated efforts to de-risk our portfolio.”
Revolution Wind is similar in size to Vineyard Wind, a wind farm that was under construction off the coast of Massachusetts but forced to suspend operations when a blade on one of the turbines broke apart on July 13 and left debris at local beaches.
Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Iberdrola and GE Offshore Wind. The blades used at on the turbines at Vineyard Wind are larger than the ones being used for Revolution Wind and produced by a different company.
CDOT nears final design for long-awaited Route 7 and Merritt Parkway Interchange project in Norwalk
NORWALK — For almost 20 years, the Department of Transportation has been working to provide a solution to the incomplete interchange between Route 7 and the Merritt Parkway in Norwalk.
“We’re working toward that to complete that preliminary design by the end of the year,” said Nilesh Patel, principal engineer with CDOT.
CDOT is in the process of obtaining its final approvals for the latest alternative of the interchange, which would change the superhighway into a boulevard with traffic signals.
When Route 7 was built in the 90s, connections to the Merritt Parkway were only made in one direction, toward New York City. In 2005, a project to complete the interchange connection was started but ultimately shut down due to litigation with the Merritt Parkway Conservancy.
“This project has been around for quite a long time,” Patel said. “There was a lawsuit when this project did go initially to construction, and the major emphasis of that was really on how the project and the facilities would impact the aesthetics of the Merritt Parkway.”
Since then, the project has gone through several alternatives before landing on the latest one, Alternative 26. The key change in this plan is the use of traffic signals on Route 7 to manage traffic on and off the highway. The project also includes improvements to Main Avenue.
The project requires a lot of coordination between state and federal agencies, Patel said.
“They were shut down during the pandemic, and so that was one of the biggest hurdles in terms of the delays,” he added.
Now the team is close to finalizing a design.
“We were looking at the end of 2025 to complete the design and start construction sometime in 2026,” Patel said.
The cost of the project is estimated to be about $175 million and will be funded through state and federal sources.
Last year, during a public meeting, several advocates from the Norwalk River Valley Trail pushed for CDOT to include the bike path within the plan. Patel said since then they have met with the advocates but are still working out the best plan for the multipurpose path.
“We reviewed their alternatives, and we met with them and essentially said that if the alternative along Route 7 is something that we could accommodate, we would look into it,” Patel said.
When complete, the trail will connect bikers and pedestrians from Norwalk to Danbury.
“The city is undertaking their own routing study for the NRVT,” Patel said.
The Merritt Parkway Conservancy and other community stakeholders have been involved in the process as well.
“With a lot of good coordination, we’ve had a great relationship with Wes Haynes and the Merritt Parkway Conservancy and some of the other stakeholders as we assessed and screened all the alternatives,” Patel said.
The project will be presented at a public meeting at the end of the year, Patel said.
West Rocks Road in Norwalk to undergo $2M upgrade with sidewalk, crosswalks to enhance school safety
NORWALK — West Rocks Road is slated for a $2 million makeover to add sidewalks and crosswalks along a 2-mile stretch of the road that encompasses three schools.
“We’re combining those two grants to incorporate sidewalks as well as crosswalk enhancements throughout the corridor… to make a full connection all the way through because the existing [sidewalk] has like a 3 foot wide path… and the sidewalk is inadequate at best,” explained Greg Pacelli, Norwalk’s transportation planner.
Norwalk’s Transportation, Mobility and Parking Department is hosting a community meeting Monday night to discuss the project. Residents attending will be sorted by their addresses to discuss the section of the project closest to their homes.
“We’re doing it in an open house format… so they can go up and, you know, see their property and see where the sidewalk is proposed at the front of their property,” Pacelli said.
The roots of this project date back to the 2012 bike and pedestrian master plan, which identified the need for better connections along West Rocks Road. Sidewalks were recently added to the northern section of West Rocks Road near Creeping Hemlock Road, but this project will connect the sidewalks down to Cannon Street and France Street.
“It’s going to look and operate a whole lot different than it does today,” Pacelli said.
Winston Preparatory School, West Rocks Middle School, and All Saints Catholic School are all within the 2-mile stretch of West Rocks Road. To make walking to school safer for students in the area, crosswalks will be added around the schools.
“Two of them [crosswalks] are actually gonna be raised crosswalks as well to slow vehicle speeds because… we found that portion of West Rocks Road north of All Saints has excessive speeds,” Pacelli said.
The preliminary plan includes adding 5-foot-wide sidewalks that are ADA-compliant, with a grass strip between the road and path in some areas.
Part of the funding for the project comes from a $1.4 million federal grant and a Local Roadway Accident Reduction Program grant.
“I think it builds a little bit on a couple of our other initiatives, so it’s another example of a Complete Streets project,” said Garrett Bolella, assistant director of Transportation, Mobility and Parking. “This is another example of one of those types of projects and how we look at the redesign of roadways for all users.”
The public meeting will be held in the Community Room at City Hall from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday night.
Following the meeting, designs will be finalized.
$1.25 million condos planned at Madison's The Marketplace near Hammonasset Connector
MADISON — Builders haven’t broken ground yet on the long-vacant site, but developers are already listing luxury two-bedroom condominiums for $1.25 million at The Marketplace of Madison, near the Hammonasset Connector.
One-bedrooms at the complex at 1339 and 1341 Boston Post Road are going for $998,000.
The planned 24-unit condo development includes retail space and a 100-seat restaurant on the first floor in two three-story buildings, completing The Marketplace, which was approved in 2004 for four buildings. Two buildings were completed nearly two decades ago.
Construction is expected to start later this month or in September, according to Vincenzo Valentino, listing agent with Advise Realty Services. Developers hope to have the project completed in the summer of 2026.
Valentino says he is getting calls from people interested in the condominiums, the retail space and restaurant.
“We're going to be offering reservations for units if somebody comes in and they're interested in a unit and they want a specific placement of unit, then absolutely,” he said.
The developer arrived at the $1.25 million price for the two-bedroom units from doing a "market analysis" on the shoreline, looking at comparable properties in neighboring towns, Valentino said.
According to the real estate listing, the units will be “thoughtfully crafted,” featuring “top-end finishes,” stainless steel appliances, open floor plans and “spacious primary suites.”
The listing says The Marketplace will offer “premium amenities,” such as a “beautifully appointed” community room, “state-of-the-art fitness center," and secured package delivery. The listing also notes that residents will have Madison beach rights
In June, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a
special exception for the vacant properties, amending earlier approvals for the
land.
The new buildings will be 29,186 square feet and 28,806 square feet, occupying
the same footprint as in the earlier approved plan.
“These are big buildings, no doubt about it, they're going to dominate that whole space,” one PZC commissioner said at the June meeting.
Representing the applicant, attorney Jeffrey Beatty noted the town had approved the building size in 2004 and is an as-of-right use.
The residential project will consist of 20 two-bedroom condos ranging from 1,568 to 1,230 square feet and four one-bedroom units at 860 square feet.
While these two lots have been dormant for 20 years, The Marketplace’s first two buildings, constructed in the early 2000s, now house Integrated Dermatology of Clinton and the popular Cohen’s Bagels, in addition to other occupants.
Beatty told the commission this development will add much-needed housing stock in Madison.
“We believe that there is a demand for one- and two-bedroom dwelling units in the town of Madison,” Beatty said. “And that introducing 24 new units … that addresses and helps diversify Madison housing portfolio by introducing units that there's a scarcity of.“
Changes from the 2004 plan include lowering the building height from 45 feet to 37 feet, which the PZC approved. The applicant was also granted an exception to allow a greater number of residential units versus commercial space.
Right now, the town caps the number of dwelling units to 200 percent of the commercial space in a mixed-use building. For this application, the PZC is allowing 275 to 300 percent residential use on two floors, while the first floor is commercial.
The applicant is listed as 1339 Boston Post Road LLC and 1341 Boston Post Road LLC.
Beatty said the increased number of residences does not “erode the commercial development of the district.” He noted that demand for commercial space on the second floor would be limited, as most businesses, such as retail, want first floor space.
“There's not as great a demand for that use as there is for
residential dwellings,” he said.
Valentino says the completed Marketplace will have a village feel.
“So, the Marketplace is kind of like a gathering spot for a lot of residents from Madison,” he said. “They go in there, there's cute little boutiques, there's Cohen's Bagel.” He added that the location has been referred to by many as “the entryway into the beautiful town of Madison.”
“So, having these two beautiful buildings, there is going to be such a nice welcoming for you as you're coming into town and you see these two beautiful buildings with the retail below,” he said.