On the Move: Work on Arrigoni, East Haddam swing bridges will have impact

Larry McHugh

MIDDLETOWN — Another busy week is on tap for the chamber team as we come up on Labor Day here in Middlesex County.

On the chamber calendar front, this week features the return of the chamber divisions after a brief summer hiatus. We will kick off the division year on Wednesday morning with an important meeting of the Portland and East Hampton division on Zoom.

The September meeting of the chamber’s Central Business Bureau, which covers issues of importance to the business community in downtown Middletown, will be held Thursday morning.

The Chester, Deep River and Essex Division will get together Friday for the first time since June. These meetings will feature reports from local and state officials, business leaders in each town, and other important stakeholders.

While our staff plays a key role in these meetings, I want to take a moment to thank our division chairs, and all members that support these important meetings on a monthly basis. Our grassroots divisions help us keep a close eye on the issues that directly impact or have the potential to impact our members in each of our towns.

We look forward to a productive week of meetings.

On the infrastructure front, the chamber continues to do its best to play a constructive role in the important river crossing projects happening in Middlesex County.

Bridge construction

The rehabilitation of Arrigoni Bridge approach spans and operational improvements at St. John’s Square / Main Street intersection in Middletown and Portland are moving right along and expected to wrap up in the early part of 2022.

The work group that we established in 2020 has been meeting regularly, and has done a great job of ensuring access to the bridge for emergency management and other critical vehicles, all while doing its best to minimize the economic impact of the construction on local businesses.

This committee features municipal and state leaders from both sides of the bridge, district and project leaders from the state Department of Transportation, project manager from the contractor, Mohawk Northeast, first responders from both sides, Middlesex Health, and of course, businesspeople of all stripes.

After the project on the Arrigoni wraps up, our attention will turn toward the East Haddam Swing Bridge Rehabilitation Project, scheduled to begin in the spring. There is no way around the fact that this project will have a major impact on the towns of Haddam and East Haddam, and the whole central part of Middlesex County over the course of three construction seasons.

The bridge needs to be closed for significant stretches in order for the work to get done. The chamber hosted a special meeting of our East Haddam and Haddam Division Thursday, which featured a presentation from DOT on the current plan for the project and over 50 of our member businesses.

The chamber will be launching a new committee that will work to minimize the impact of this project as well, using the Arrigoni Bridge work group as a model. We look forward to playing an important role throughout this project, and I would like to thank DOT, our elected leaders, and everyone who is working together to manage this in an effective and efficient way.

Business development

I look forward to joining Cromwell Mayor Enzo Faienza, Town Manager Tony Salvatore, Chamber Cromwell Division Chairman Rodney Bitgood, and other local leaders for the grand opening celebration for Café Fiore Cromwell at 134 Berlin Road on Thursday afternoon.

Conveniently located off Interstate 91 and close to Route 9, Cafe Fiore Cromwell offers an outstanding menu, a cocktail lounge, indoor and outdoor dining, banquet rooms, and much more. We wish Executive Chef Rusty Cecunjanin and the entire Café Fiore Cromwell team nothing but the best as they embark on this delicious new venture.

Closing out the week on Friday, I look forward to joining chamber Vice President Jeff Pugliese for a trip down to Essex to meet with the new President and CEO of Essex Savings Bank, Diane Arnold. Diane recently took over for longtime president Greg Shook, who did a great job in this important role.

Essex Savings Bank is a very important member of our chamber and lower county stakeholder here in our region. We look forward to a great discussion, and to continuing a strong working relationship.

Tropical storm response

In closing, I want to take a moment to thank all of our local and state leaders, Eversource President Joe Nolan and his team, and the emergency management teams in Connecticut who were ready to respond in a big way to Tropical Storm Henri. While the storm tracked east and spared Connecticut a direct hit, the infrastructure for a strong response was in place, and we here at the chamber are grateful for everyone’s efforts.

This will not be the last storm that will hit our state, and every time we are faced with this situation, we learn a little bit more. The chamber looks forward to supporting these efforts moving forward, and we will continue to stress the importance of having an emergency plan and business continuing plan in place and ready to go, because, as we have learned, it is not if — but when — another storm will hit.

Despite this fact, the sun always shines in Middlesex County!

Larry McHugh is president of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce in Middletown.

Affordable units may be part of downtown Shelton development

Brian Gioiele

SHELTON - Affordable housing could be part of the proposed development for land on Canal Street tucked between the railroad tracks and Veterans Memorial Park.

Developer John Guedes, a Shelton resident and owner of Primrose Companies, tweaked his plans for construction of a five-story structure, dubbed Riverview Park Royal, with 11,000 square feet of retail or commercial space and 92 apartments at property listed as 113-123 Canal St.

The modified plans, presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday in what was the second public hearing on this application, call for eight studio units designated as affordable under state statute 8-30g, the state’s affordable housing law. He also added five parking spaces, bringing the total to 184 on site.

Overall, there would be 24 studio apartments, along with 20 one-bedrooms, 44 two-bedrooms and four three-bedroom apartments.

The commission continued the hearing, as Guedes awaits a final decision from the Inland Wetlands Commission. He must also submit building elevation renderings. No date has been set yet for the continued public hearing.

Commissioners asked Guedes if the eight affordable units needed to be studios, to which he replied that only the studios would be available under that designation.

“I’m making an accommodation,” Guedes said. “All the affordable units are the studios, or I will remove those (affordable units) from the plans.”

Guedes increased the parking total, making it two spaces for each unit after commissioners voiced concern about the amount of parking allocated for 92 units.

The site, as proposed, would have outside parking and more spots in a lower-level parking garage. Attorney Dominick Thomas, representing Guedes, said there would be 92 spots designated for tenants - the remainder for the general uses at the property. Thomas added that there are plenty of nearby city parking areas to accommodate the commercial or retail uses too, if renters are using more than one space.

The city has owned the 2.57-acre property for years after seizing it following the previous owner’s failure to pay back taxes. Guedes and his partner, Biaggio Barone, have a contract to purchase the land from the city.

The deal also includes Guedes covering the cost of extending the River Walk from Veterans Memorial Park, along the river and ending at Canal Street East.

The application asks for a special exception for the property, which sits on the Housatonic River in a River Front District.

Proposed $8.8 million Main Street project would be first to receive Norwich grant money

Claire Bessette  

Norwich — An $8.8 million redevelopment of two long-vacant Main Street buildings stands to become the first recipient of city grant and loan money through a revived economic development program if approved by the City Council.

Norwich Luxury Apartments LLC purchased the two-building complex at 77-91 Main St. in early August for $1.8 million and is proposing an $8.8 million makeover of the 19th century buildings into 42 market-rate apartments and eight street-level commercial spaces. The buildings had been proposed as a Norwich heritage museum in the 1990s, a project that eventually fell through after it had received grant money from the state to stabilize the decaying buildings.

The project on Thursday received unanimous support from the Norwich Community Development Corp. board of directors for a $400,000 matching grant for building code corrections and a separate $400,000 loan. But the action is contingent upon the City Council’s approval of a plan to use $2 million of the city’s $14.4 million in American Rescue Plan grants to revive the former downtown revitalization program and expand it citywide.

The council is scheduled to vote on City Manager John Salomone’s spending plan for the ARP grant money on Sept. 7.

But NCDC President Kevin Brown said the board wanted to show its support with a contingency vote Thursday to allow the developers to continue their planning and design for the project.

“This project is an $8.8 million project in downtown Norwich,” Brown said. “That’s a 10 to 1 return on the public dollars put into this thing if we get the approval to move forward and use the ARP for this.”

Even if the council approves the ARP spending plan Monday, NCDC has a few more steps to go through before it can allocate the proposed $2 million. The expanded economic development revitalization program must be designed, and NCDC must sign an agreement with the city for use of the funds. Brown said the former downtown program will be used as the basis, with funding to be divided into a building code correction program, a lease rebate to assist new businesses and a revolving loan, with the proceeds remaining in the program to assist future developers.

The grant to the Main Street project would come under the code correction and the revolving loan, Brown said.

Project attorney Stanley Schutzman said in an email to The Day describing the project that the city’s funds would be vital in allowing the project to move forward. But he said the city’s money would not be drawn down until the project renovations receive a certificate of occupancy from city inspectors.

“It is enabling the development to occur,” Schutzman said in the email. “This development satisfies the criteria and intent of the funds both in terms of spurring downtown redevelopment and economic activity as well as bringing the properties to current code compliance.”

The proposed project calls for 42 loft-style apartments with a fitness center for tenants, recreation room, “clean and green” appliances, high-speed communications infrastructure and other amenities. The developers hope to negotiate leased parking spaces in the city’s two nearby parking garages for tenants.

The two buildings would undergo a full façade restoration to their original historical appearance, retaining the “beautiful masonry exterior, arches and fine architectural details,” Schutzman wrote. A glass display case in the lobby will feature artifacts specific to the buildings’ history.

Schutzman said the developers expect to submit plans, designed by local architect Stefan Nousiopoulos, to the city within the next few weeks and would start construction following approval. The project is expected to take 12 to 16 months to complete.

Brown said the Main Street project is exactly the type of development NCDC hopes to support in downtown and other sections of the city. He said bringing 42 market-rate apartments to Main Street would mean customers for nearby restaurants and pubs, downtown shops and city functions.

He said NCDC staff, including former President Jason Vincent, who died in December, and interim transition specialist Fawn Walker had been working with the developers through the planning stages of the project. Given the “high potential” that NCDC would receive the ARP dollars, the agency staff brought it to the board for approval on Thursday.

“We would not be this committal if we weren’t confident that project financing is imminent,” Brown said.