State Bond Commission OKs hundreds-of-millions of dollars for brownfields, development and more

 Michael Puffer

The State Bond Commission, meeting Friday, approved hundreds-of-millions of dollars to aid housing initiatives, clean brownfields, upgrade cultural facilities and support private development projects. 

Housing is a big focus of Friday’s session, with the Department of Housing in-line for $59 million to be used for grants for development projects and housing programs. Another $35 million was approved for first-time homebuyer assistance. 

The state’s Time to Own program offers downpayment assistance for low-to-moderate income homebuyers, and has received more than $100 million in state support since its 2022 creation by Gov. Ned Lamont. 

The commission approved $35 million for the state’s brownfield remediation fund. The program has been a key component in the teardown and redevelopment of abandoned and polluted industrial sites that would otherwise continue to rot away without attention due to the extreme expense of remediation. 

Another $5 million was approved for grants to upgrade security at nonprofits deemed at heightened risk of a terrorist attack, hate crimes or violent acts. The Nonprofit Security Grant Program has provided grants to 237 organizations, including 129 places of worship, since its creation by Lamont in 2021.

AdvanceCT is up for $800,000 to support its business recruitment efforts. 
 
Friday’s agenda also included funding for various cultural, nonprofit and private development projects, some of which include: 

$1.4 million for repairs of the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, including security upgrades, smoke detection repairs and more. 

$5 million for a new University of Connecticut research center at Hartford’s XL Center arena. 

$6.8 million for environmental investigation and cleanup at New Haven Science Park’s Tract A. 

Reallocation of $2.5 million previously approved for a Hartford affordable housing project into funding for Capital Region Development Authority loans to two Hartford projects, including Simon Konover’s planned conversion of office and commercial space at 45 Pratt St. in Hartford into 37 apartments, which is slated for a $1.1 million loan. The remaining $1.4 million will be used for a loan to help Carbone’s Ristorante reestablish itself in a former movie theater building in Hartford’s Front Street District. 

$5 million for a grant to New Haven for a housing development under the Mill River Municipal Development Plan.

$300,000 for a grant to Newtown’s Everwonder Children’s Museum for relocation and expansion. 

$475,000 for a grant to redevelop a sculpture garden at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield.

$900,000 for a grant to complete Phase 2 of the Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center. 

$2 million for a grant to New Canaan for renovations to its Playhouse Theater.

$100,000 for a grant to the Connecticut Foundation for Dental Outreach in Southington to help provide care for underserved and uninsured individuals.

New CT DOT project to tackle crash-prone, curvy roads in Farmington Valley and beyond

Natasha Sokoloff

FARMINGTON — The Farmington Valley is home to a plethora of windy roads, making for scenic drives that are trademark to many rural towns throughout the state. While many residents cherish these beautiful roadways, such narrow roads and curves are also characteristic of a substantial amount of Connecticut's car crashes.

According to police crash report data from 2020 to 2022, there were approximately 280,000 crashes in Connecticut, and 34,000, or 12 percent, occurred on curves on state or town roads.

In an effort to curb car accidents and deaths, the state Department of Transportation is updating and installing new horizontal curve warning signs and speed advisories on local roads throughout 15 towns in northwestern Connecticut.

"Looking at these numbers, it's clear that curves are a prime location for crashes, especially fatal crashes," said Claire Sylvestre, the project engineer from the DOT's Traffic Safety Unit, at a public information meeting for the project in Farmington on Dec. 14.

While fatal crashes make up less than 1 percent of crashes in the state, a third of them happen on curves, she said. So, the project takes a proactive approach by installing warning signs to improve driver awareness in response to curves.

"Which means putting warning signs on curves before a serious crash can happen, not after," Sylvestre said. That involves not just putting up warning signs where crashes have happened in the past, but looking at all current locations on the road system to prevent crashes in the future, especially because crash patterns can vary widely year to year, she said.

Numerous studies have concluded that by installing arrows, chevrons, and curve warning signs, crashes can be reduced anywhere from 30 to 50 percent, according to the DOT presentation. And signs are considered a relatively low-cost countermeasure with quick installation.

The estimated construction cost for this project across the 15 towns is approximately $305,000, covered completely by federal funds. The construction cost includes the actual sign installations and removals, Police traffic control along the road, and trimming of tree branches near signs.

Enhanced signage will be implemented at curves on 99 town roads, including in Farmington, Simsbury, and Canton. A field review of each curve, which includes reviewing existing conditions and using a ball-bank indicator to determine appropriate advisory speeds, will be conducted.

In Farmington, Mountain Spring Road, Brickyard Road, South Road, and River Road are included in the project. There were a total of 83 car crashes among all four of these roadways from 2020 through October of this year, according to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository. While none was fatal, a quarter of the crashes had injuries.

Notch Road, Nod Road, and Stratton Brook Road in Simsbury will be worked on, an area had 44 crashes in the last three years, according to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository. About half of those crashes happened on curves.

Canton's North Mountain Road will also be part of the project. In the last three years, six non-fatal crashes occurred on this road, according to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository. All but one of the accidents occurred where the road was curved.

However, to be proactive, DOT didn't rely on recent crash history alone for the project, but had to also determine which roads had the potential for crashes based on their layout and surroundings, as well as town feedback, Sylvestre said.

DOT officials then determined which curves could benefit from signs considering primary crash risk factors, like advisory speed, the presence of an intersection, and whether the curve was on a hill, according to the presentation. Not only will the project will replace old, faded signs according to federal guidance, but also potentially change the type, number, and location of signs on curves.

Based on submissions from the 15 towns in the northwestern section of the state, there are 213 horizontal curves that may benefit from enhanced signage, according to the project.

The state is also initiating three other similar projects to cover the remaining regions of the state. A total of 61 Connecticut towns are included in these signage projects, impacting 609 locally owned and maintained roads.

"The best way to address the fact that single-curve crashes can happen in an unpredictable way is to warn drivers of curves in a consistent manner across the state," Sylvestre said.

Construction is anticipated to begin next summer and should be completed through summer 2025, according to DOT officials. It's still to be determined when project construction will start in each individual town.

The project is limited to installing post-mounted sheet aluminum signs on posts driven into the ground, so no excavation or earthwork, or right-of-way impacts, are anticipated as part of this project.

Bridgeport developments: What to watch for in 2024

Brian Lockhart

BRIDGEPORT — Next year could see progress on some significant economic developments in Connecticut's largest city.

A couple long-delayed projects are finally expected to be completed — John Guedes' downtown apartments and Anthony Stewart's Honey Locust Square on the East End — while others either still in the concept stage or in limbo as to their status might move at least incrementally forward. 

Guedes in early 2019 struck a deal with Mayor Joe Ganim's administration and the City Council to purchase three then city-owned parcels on Congress and Main streets and receive a tax break to erect 92 market-rate units with ground floor retail. 

After issues involving cleaning up contaminated soil and supply chain problems, Guedes on Friday said, “We should be starting occupancy by March, April. If you go by you'll see the outside is coming to completion. Probably half the apartments are ready."

He also has 7,000 square feet to offer approximately five "mom and pop shops" but no committed tenants yet.

"The important thing is the apartments because the apartments create demand," said Guedes, who recently completed converting the closed downtown Holiday Inn hotel into housing.

Also downtown the city has been trying to redevelop the old Davidson's Fabrics on Middle Street and adjacent Main Street land where a $12 million "premiere hockey and ice skating training facility" proposed in 2018 never broke ground. 

The Ganim administration in summer 2022 sought proposals for the Davidson's building and received one that was characterized as "likely" to be forwarded to the council for approval but so far has not. Asked for an update last month, economic development staff responded, "No comment because these matters are still under consideration."

Guedes said Friday he has expressed interest in the ice hockey land for housing but "they (the city) still haven't moved on that, either."

The economic development office also said that a plan Zulfi Jafri of Darien submitted in summer 2022 to transform the historic McLevy Hall downtown on Broad Street across from the government center into a small hotel is similarly "still under consideration."

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of downtown on the opposite side of Interstate 95, developer Howard Saffan is looking to build upon his success transforming the former minor league baseball stadium into a publicly-owned, privately-run 6,600-seat concert amphitheater that opened in summer 2021. Saffan in September announced his desire to add a 3,000-capacity concert venue there on vacant municipal land. But, as reported at the time, there are plenty of wrinkles to be worked out, from financing to local permits to whether there is even a need given all of the other existing entertainment venues around Bridgeport.

Further along the harbor on the East Side is Steelpointe where 2024 should be when construction finally begins on the 1,500 luxury apartments the development team there have been planning. Years and a few mayors in the making, Steelpointe currently boasts a massive Bass Pro outdoor retail store, a Starbucks coffee shop, the Boca seafood restaurant and a luxury marina.

Adam Wood, spokesman for father/son Steelpointe developers Robert Christoph Sr. and Jr., recently said the hope is to break ground in the coming weeks on the infrastructure necessary to support the apartments as well as a future hotel. In late 2021 the council voted to approve a 12-year tax break for the Christophs' apartments, but the project encountered more complicated-than-anticipated ground contamination that had to be addressed to the satisfaction of state and federal environmental permitting agencies.

Dirty soil is also an issue at the nearby AGI rubber company site on Stratford Avenue, where developer Anthony Stewart and Jafri in 2021 proposed a 10-story building with 200 units of market-rate and affordably priced apartments, plus retail, including an IHOP restaurant.

This time last year the Ganim administration was unsuccessful in obtaining $8.1 million in state aid to: Complete the environmental cleanup at AGI; raise the land, which borders the Pequonnock River, so it will not flood; build a seawall; and construct a public accessway along the water. The economic development office is still trying to obtain state dollars for that work.

In the meantime IHOP has announced it is opening a location in neighboring Stratford. 

Stewart on Friday said he believes there is a big enough customer based for the restaurant chain, known formerly the International House of Pancakes, to also come to the AGI property.

"I still want to build that," he said, while acknowledging things are on hold until funds are secured for ground remediation and other infrastructure.

Stewart's current focus is completing Honey Locust Square, his supermarket/retail/office/restaurant development on the East End which is aimed at revitalizing that neighborhood. The Ganim administration tapped his Ashlar firm in 2018 to redevelop the dilapidated commercial block on Stratford Avenue between Newfield and Central avenues into Honey Locust Square.

The project has become known for delays and budget woes, much of which Stewart blamed on the global COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the price and availability of construction supplies. Last spring the state committed $3.5 million to help fund the completion of Honey Locust, but Stewart, as reported in early October, has been waiting for the release of those dollars.

"We expect to be funded sometime soon," Stewart said Friday. Having wanted to be complete this fall, Stewart is now aiming for "April-ish, May-ish." But the news has not been all bad. In late August M&T Bank announced it would open a branch there, something Stewart and local elected officials had been urging.

Another prominent municipal parcel is the former Harding High School on the East Side. Early this year the city put the property on the market and received two bids, one from neighbor Bridgeport Hospital's owner, Yale New Haven Health, and a second from a Conifer Realty.

Neighborhood leaders have during the ensuing months met with Yale New Haven representatives over their intentions to expand the hospital at Harding and how a deal for the property might also include construction of affordable housing. But the economic development department is mum on when the terms of a sale might go to the council.

In March a social media star, Steve Ronin, who travels the world documenting abandoned places, posted footage of Harding's interior online that showed all of the furniture, equipment and supplies left behind in the aged structure when faculty and students in 2018 relocated to a new state-of-the-art home a few blocks away.

While all of the aforementioned efforts involve municipal land, there are two situations where city officials are aiming to acquire, either through negotiation or seizing through eminent domain, long-blighted private sites in the South End and the Hollow whose owners have for years failed to improve or sell them. Those are, respectively, the former Warnaco clothing factory on Myrtle Avenue and nearly a block of nine other properties by Lafayette Park in the Hollow. The City Council after some delays authorized moving forward in November.

But city officials have given up on their plans to similarly obtain the decommissioned PSEG coal-fired power-plant along the harbor in the South End. As of October the plan is to instead work with PSEG on ways to repurpose the site with the landmark red-and-white smoke stack. 

In September the state awarded the Ganim administration $22.5 million to eventually tear the plant down. But that work is years away. For now the Connecticut Metropolitan Council of Governments has undertaken a study of future uses that should be ready sometime around the end of 2024.

Meanwhile in the North End a pair of high profile proposals for privately-owned land are in court due to objections from city officials.

Amit Lakhotia, who has been active in New Britain, wanted to build a 177-unit market-rate apartment complex at the closed Testo's restaurant on Madison Avenue with Guedes as his contractor.

After some neighborhood elected officials, residents and activists opposed the scale of the redevelopment, Ganim ordered the municipal law department to review whether the zoning permit had been properly issued. Municipal lawyers and a private attorney determined that was not the case, pulled the permit in late July, and in November Lakhotia filed a pending lawsuit to have it restored. 

Similarly a few blocks up Madison Avenue opposition from the mayor and some neighbors convinced Bridgeport's zoning commission to deny Hugh Scott of Branford's application to turn a long-vacant North End Stop & Shop supermarket into a self-storage facility. Scott sued in July and the case is ongoing.

Development projects to watch in Middletown, Portland and Cromwell in 2024

Alex Wood

At a time when multifamily housing faces numerous obstacles, developers are well on their way to building more than 1,000 such housing units, mostly rental apartments, within less than 8 miles of one another in Middletown, Portland and Cromwell.

None of it came about easily, however, as major projects now moving toward fruition have been in the works for years, sometimes with significant conflict along the way and always with extensive scrutiny and discussion.

Most of the multifamily housing growth comes from three major complexes:

The 240-unit Brainerd Place, under construction in Portland, overlooks the Connecticut River near the Arrigoni Bridge.

The Springside Middletown apartments on Middletown’s Newfield Street, or Route 3, will include 486 apartments when both phases of construction are complete.

The Lord Cromwell complex on the site of a blighted former hotel at 100 Berlin Road, or Route 372, in Cromwell, is to include 274 housing units, mostly rental apartments and 20 condominium townhouses.

While those three complexes, all of which are receiving tax abatements from the municipalities, account for 1,000 of the coming housing units, redevelopment of buildings on Main Street in Middletown is expected to add another 30 units.

The reasons for the surge in apartment construction are undoubtedly multifaceted. But Bob Dale, the developer of Springside Middletown, succinctly explained one major reason when he said during a recent tour of the construction site, “Connecticut is the state with the least vacancy.”

The burgeoning apartment market is not the only development taking place in the area. At least two of the big apartment complexes, Brainerd Place and Lord Cromwell, will also include commercial space, as will the four smaller redevelopment projects on Middletown’s Main Street.

Other commercial development in the area includes a Big Y supermarket under construction on South Main Street in Middletown and a Texas Roadhouse restaurant and Goldfish Swim School, both under construction in the big shopping plaza anchored by a ShopRite supermarket at 45 Shunpike Road in Cromwell.

An entrepreneur’s plan to convert the abandoned Portland Drive-in site into a complex containing a firing range, archery range, axe throwing lanes, a food court and conference rooms could become real at any time.

Robert Pizzi, president of Central Connecticut Arms LLC, says he put the project out to bid last month and is waiting to see whether the bids show that the COVID-19 spike in construction prices has come down to the point that he is willing to go ahead.

Here’s a rundown of the projects by town:

Middletown

Springside Middletown. Phase 1, consisting of 240 apartments and amenities that include conference rooms for people who work at home and an outdoor pool, is under construction. Bob Dale, the developer, said during the site tour that he hopes to have apartments ready to occupy by about Memorial Day, with completion of Phase 1 by mid-2025.

After that, he said, he hopes to secure financing for the second 246-apartment phase of the project.

Dale said it was too early to know exactly what rents in the complex would be, but he said they would be comparable to other “newer communities in the region,” roughly in the range of $2,000 to $3,000 per month.

The complex will bring a big infusion of population to the outskirts of town. But the developer plans to encourage the tenants to shop locally by giving out gift cards good at more than 200 local businesses, Mayor Ben Florsheim said during the tour. He said the total amount of the cards started at $100,000 but is higher now.

Big Y. Construction is well underway on the new supermarket on South Main Street. The store is expected to bring 50 full-time and 100 part-time jobs to the city, while adding $20 million to the tax rolls, according to a document the developer, Stone Point Properties LLC, submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission when it was under consideration.

The developer said the new store is in an “underserved corridor,” and several residents who submitted written comments to the commission agreed that the area needs a grocery store.

The developer called the store more “appropriate and attractive” than the telephone company fleet maintenance garage that was on the site previously.

The entrance will be from South Main Street, unlike the maintenance garage, which opened on Highland Avenue, and a traffic light will be installed at the entrance. The developer said the light would enhance traffic and speed control in the area.

418-422 Main St. Dominick DeMartino is the principal of companies redeveloping this building and several others on the east side of Main Street.

The business on the first floor of 418 Main St. is to be called The Wine Bar at Sicily, and is to be operated by Tony Prifitera, who also owns Sicily Coal-Fired Pizza next door at 412 Main St. Prifitera said the space for the wine bar is “about ready” and that it probably will open in February.

On the northern, 422 Main St. side of the building, an ice-cream and cookie shop is planned, also to be run by Prifitera.

The upper floors of the building are to be renovated into 10 market-rate apartments, according to Christine Marques, the city’s economic and community development director.

428 Main St. is another DeMartino project, being done with city and state financial assistance. The developer plans to restore the art deco façade of the former Woolworth building and use the first floor for retail and restaurant space, while creating a rooftop bar overlooking the Connecticut River, according to Marques.

545 Main St. consists of two buildings, a former office building facing Main Street and a former roller-skating rink in the back, according to Marques. It belongs to a company headed by resident Jerome R. Carnegie-Hargreaves, records show.

The plan, also being carried out with city and state financial assistance, is to create eight “workforce residential units” and more than 12,000 square feet of “program and small business space,” according to Marques.

584 Main St. is another DeMartino project, this one involving replacement of the front section of the existing building. The revamped building is to be occupied by a restaurant and 12 apartments, Marques said via email.

Cromwell

Lord Cromwell complex. The town is giving substantial tax abatements to the developers of the new complex planned for 100 Berlin Road, at the intersection of Route 372 and the entrance ramp to the northbound lanes of Interstate 91.

But, in addition to the new development, the town stands to get a cleanup of a blighted former hotel that presents challenges from squatting to mold and PCBs, according to the developers.

The project has necessary local approvals but physical work has yet to start. When the financing for the project is in place and weather permits, the developer, Lexington Partners LLC, plans to start a demolition and site cleanup process that could take a year and cost more than $4 million, according to lawyer Peter J. Alter, representing the developer.

Construction will come next and is expected to take 24 to 28 months, depending on the weather, Alter told the Town Council in October.

When the project is complete, it is expected to include 254 rental apartments, 20 townhouse condominium units and some 30,000 square feet of commercial space, the developer says.

Texas Roadhouse. The new restaurant is under construction on the edge of the parking lot of the ShopRite plaza at 45 Shunpike Road, replacing the Ruby Tuesday restaurant that formerly occupied the site.

"We are on schedule to open our doors at the end of March 2024," Peter Christian, an official of three companies involved in the development, said via email.

Goldfish Swim School is being built in the same plaza, in a space formerly occupied by a Pet Valu store and a vacant space that was next door to it, according to Steve Marszalek, a co-owner of the company that will operate the chain’s Cromwell school.

He said the school is expected to open Jan. 2. It started taking enrollments in October and has reached almost 600, said Lydanis Cruz, the school’s sales and service coordinator. She and Marszalek said the school can accommodate up to 1,800 students.

Aside from the Cromwell school’s sign and construction fencing around the front, little visible change is taking place. But major changes have been happening inside, where construction of a pool started about four months ago, and it was recently filled with water, Marszalek said.

Other changes to the building include changes to the ventilation system, installation of showers, bathrooms, and even a hair drying station, he said.

The school plans to keep the pool’s water temperature at 90 degrees and the air temperature at 92 degrees, he said. That’s part of the school’s approach of making learning to swim a fun and pleasant experience for the children from ages 4 months to 12 years that it teaches.

The school emphasizes learning through play, along with safety, according to its website. Marszalek said the interior will seek to create a bright, colorful family atmosphere.

Portland

Brainerd Place, now under construction, is to include 240 apartments and almost 118,000 square feet of commercial space, according to Dan Bourret, the town’s development planner. The complex, at the intersection of Main and Marlborough streets, also includes three historic homes that will be preserved, he said.

The project received its first approval around 2017 and it has undergone changes over the years, Bourret said. He said the developer, BRT DiMarco PTP LLC, has changed the project from two phases to three and is negotiating a new tax abatement agreement with the selectmen.

Central Connecticut Arms plans a firing range that will include five 100-yard rifle lanes and 15 25-yard pistol lanes on the site of the former drive-in theater, according to Pizzi, the company president.

Asked about the compatibility of the range and the food court also planned for the complex, Pizzi said, “You won’t hear a thing.”

The complex is also to include five archery lanes separate from the firing range, he said, and will offer axe throwing and several large conference rooms available to rent for events.

The complex will also include a three-dimensional simulator for such things as self-defense training, he added.

Development projects to watch in the New Haven area in 2024

Austin Mirmina

The New Haven area recently has been a hotbed for development, with the Elm City as ground zero.0:00

Office buildings, lab buildings and, increasingly, housing have begun to rise in New Haven over the last few years, and several projects are expected to be completed in 2024.

Other New Haven County communities are also seeking to bring more housing online, including Hamden and East Haven, where the latter could see the start of construction on two projects that had been delayed for years. Meanwhile, in West Haven, could 2024 be the year that New England Brewing Co. finalizes a deal to relocate to the city's shoreline?

Here are some of the key development projects in the New Haven area to look out for in 2024:

New Haven

One of the city's most visible projects, a glitzy building containing 500-square-feet of mostly leased bioscience lab space at 101 College St. on the seam between downtown, Yale's medical campus and the Hill neighborhood, is nearing completion after several years in the works.

It is expected to provide 700-1,000 jobs.

New construction is also rising on the longtime parking lot that was the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum before it was demolished in 2007.

Among the projects is "Square 10," a development led by Spinnaker Real Estate Partners on the 5-acre site bounded by South Orange, George and State streets and Route 34. 

Construction of the first of three buildings in Phase 1 of the site's redevelopment is well underway.

The site is at the city's front door, where vehicles exiting Interstate 95 and Interstate 91 on Route 34 enter downtown. It eventually will be home to 700 units, with ground-floor retail, a pool, a health club, a public plaza and other amenities. The first building will consist of 200 apartments.

City officials have called the Coliseum site at 275 S. Orange St. "one of the most important pieces of the Downtown Crossing redevelopment project."

More apartments on the way

Apartments and new lab space are under construction along Orange Street, Audubon Street, State Street, Crown Street, Olive Street, George Street, Howe Street, Dixwell Avenue, Winchester Avenue, South Frontage Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, among others. They are rising both downtown and in adjacent neighborhoods.

Here are a few of them:

Wooster Square

Wooster Square is growing beyond Wooster Street and the area along it. Mid-rise apartment buildings are going up along Olive Street, among other locations, dropping hundreds of additional apartments in an area with restaurants, bakeries and a watering hole or two already built in.
Several buildings already have gone up in recent years, with more on the way.  

Among them are 78 Olive Street, where Philadelphia-based PMC Property Group won Board of Alders approval in April 2022 to build a 13-story building with 136 apartments, including 14 affordable units, on what previously was a parking lot next to the Strouse Adler “Smoothie” building. The alders by a 24-1 vote approved a zone change to allow denser development than otherwise would have been allowed.

The Olive Street development will be the tallest building on the Wooster Square side of State Street and the railroad tracks — nearly twice the height of other apartment buildings approved in recent years and months. The 2.48-acre site is bounded by Olive, Chapel and Court streets and the railroad tracks that run behind the State Street Rail Station.

Dixwell Avenue

Dixwell Avenue is another part of New Haven that has become a target for redevelopment.

Demolition of the former Elks Club at Dixwell Avenue and Webster Street began in November to make way for the more than $200-million ConnCAT Place development, which will revitalize the deteriorating Dixwell Plaza shopping center in the heart of the city's Dixwell neighborhood.

The project's first phase calls for ConnCORP, the for-profit subsidiary of the nonprofit ConnCAT, to demolish the existing Dixwell Plaza and the former Elks Club and replace them with a new headquarters for ConnCAT, 184 apartments — 20 percent of which will be "affordable" with below-market rents — a food hall, a 20,000-square-foot grocery store, 5,600 square feet of retail space, a health care clinic, daycare center and public plaza.

Not far away, developers connected to a nearby city church broke ground in 2022 on a project to build 69 units of housing — including 55 affordable units — on the triangular former “Joe Grates” property off Dixwell Avenue and Orchard Street. When construction is complete, the four-story building will be the first environmentally friendly “mass timber” affordable housing project in the nation, an official said.

Of the 55 affordable units set aside for low- to moderate-income families, 20 will be reserved for those experiencing homelessness. 

Long Wharf

Get ready for some eventual big changes at Long Wharf, the largely commercial area of the city that stretches roughly from Union Avenue south — beneath Interstate 95 — to New Haven Harbor.

For years, the city has been working on a major flood control project to shore-up the low-lying coastal area and a sweeping redesign called the Long Wharf Responsible Growth Plan.

The city is seeking $25 million in state grants to demolish the former Gateway Community College and enhance Long Wharf Park as part of the plan. Officials also are asking for $7.1 million from the state to build a cafe kiosk and public bathroom on the Green, along with a family playground downtown.

The plans, which the city began presenting publicly in 2021, call for the city to demolish the former Gateway building on Sargent Drive and replace it with the new location of Gateway's automotive trade school, which currently operates in North Haven.

The most recent plans, presented to the community in a public meeting back in February 2023, also call for construction of a new home for the APT Foundation, including its methadone treatment facilities, behind Gateway, replacing both the existing APT facilities at One Long Wharf and its existing clinic on Congress Avenue in the Hill section.

The project would redesign and raise Long Wharf Drive to make it more flood-resilient, build a community marina adjacent to the Canal Dock Boathouse and build a larger Long Wharf park that would be more pedestrian-friendly. It would include additional parking spaces and a dedicated, tent-covered area that would be available for picnics and while enjoying food from the nearby food trucks.

Fair Haven

The Fair Haven section is finally getting some attention.

A new LGBTQ-friendly affordable housing complex with 58 units, approved earlier this year, is going into the former Strong School at 69 Grand Ave. Meanwhile, a new, greatly expanded Fair Haven Community Healthcare home, also approved earlier this year, is going up in and around 374 Grand Ave.

The city is also working with a private developer to put a new 10,000-square-foot commercial-industrial building on the long-vacant site of Bigelow Boiler Co. on River Street, an industrial area near the Quinnipiac River.

West Haven

NEBCO

New England Brewing Co. has been seeking to relocate from Woodbridge to West Haven’s shoreline since 2021. 

The City Council previously approved an agreement for a developer to lease the city-owned land at 6 Rock St. — where the shuttered Savin Rock Conference Center is located  — and build a brewery and taproom for NEBCO to occupy. The developer would have served as the landlord of the newly built brewery, according to the agreement.

After lawsuits delayed the project, NEBCO proposed a new concept that would have greatly decreased the brewery's proposed manufacturing component. When the City Council expressed doubts, NEBCO decided to walk. 

Gov. Ned Lamont and West Haven's state delegation then stepped in to revive the project, and the State Bond Commission approved a $900,000 grant to aid the renovation efforts of the former conference center and bring the deal back on the table.

A new land lease agreement, which the City Council approved in October, is under review by the Municipal Accountability Review Board.

Chick's Drive-In

Chick’s Drive-In on Beach Street was an iconic beach eatery, offering hot dogs and fried food during the city’s heyday. The business was sold upon its owner’s death and torn down in September.

Since being sold, about half of the parcel has seen the construction of townhouse units, but something else appears to be happening at the site. The city recently approved the sale of two city-owned slivers of land to the developers so they can make development at the site easier. The project has been stalled somewhat by a city project to raise Beach Street to avoid flooding concerns.

Beach Street

It took millions in state funding and years of planning, but a raised Beach Street should be completed soon. Councilwoman Meli Garthwait, who now is an at-large but lives in the second district, said on Facebook that paving work on Beach Street should be completed in the spring.

Hamden

One of the town's first development projects to break ground in the new year will be an affordable housing complex at 2980 State St. Approved in September, the $26 million project calls for the construction of three apartment buildings with a total of 64 units and infrastructure improvements aimed at making the site's surrounding roadway more pedestrian-friendly.

Hamden Town Planner Eugene Livshits said recently that the project's developer, Regan Development Corp., has been readying the site for construction.

Plans show that 30 rentals will be one-bedroom units, 32 will be two-bedroom units and two will be three-bedroom units. According to the plans, 63 of the complex's units will serve households making 60 percent or less of the area median income. The other unit would be reserved for a superintendent who maintains the facility.

Another affordable housing project consisting of 31 townhouse-style units is in the works at 455 Sherman Ave. Livshits said the project's developer has made "really great progress" and that two of the residential buildings on the property are "almost essentially ready to be leased out." A third building is up as well, but needs to have interior work completed, the town planner added.

At least 30 percent of the development’s units are expected to meet affordable housing requirements, officials said previously.

East Haven

After years of setbacks, the town finally could see two major housing projects on Strong Street and Sperry Lane break ground in the coming year. 

The Strong Street development will include 69 detached single-family homes on about 17 acres, project officials said. The units will not have an age restriction or affordable component. Autumn View LLC, the project's developer, also received approval for a five-lot subdivision on Strong Street, bringing the total number of homes to 74.

Joseph Budrow, East Haven's zoning enforcement officer, said Autumn View has not yet been issued building permits for the project's construction phase. Only grading has commenced at the property, according to Budrow.

First proposed in 2007, the Strong Street project was approved by the town's Planning and Zoning Commission in July. Officials previously estimated the project would take about three years to complete.

On Sperry Lane and Foxon Boulevard, a developer got the go-ahead to build a housing project for residents 55 and older, with 378 units at the site of a former Girl Scout camp. But according to Budrow, construction on the project has not yet started. "All is quiet up on Sperry Lane," he wrote in an email.

Originally dubbed the Sperry Lane proposal, the most recent plans call for three residential buildings with 258 units and a fourth building with 120 assisted-living units. All of the units will be age-restricted and must have at least one tenant 55 or older, documents show. No resident may be younger than 18.

In addition to accommodating older residents, the project also will increase the town's availability of affordable housing, as the developer has agreed that 39 of the 258 non-assisted units — or 15 percent  — would be deemed "affordable" as defined by state law. 

Budrow said there has been "no movement" on the four-story, 21,000-square-foot luxury apartment building that will be located on 3.4 acres at 71 South Shore Drive in the town's Momauguin section. The building, to be called Mariner's Point Apartments, will contain 72 one- and two-bedroom, market-rate units, and feature a fitness room, rooftop deck and other amenities, plans show.

New Haven approves Yale Golf Course renovation, where up to 1,500 trees will be taken down

Mary E. O'Leary

NEW HAVEN — Everything old is new again as Yale University has received the city's approval for its golf course to closely revert to its 1926 design, which will also level up to 1,500 mature trees.

The project had already received state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection approval and now has a sign-off by the City Plan Commission for its site plan, sediment control and inland wetlands impact tied to the restoration on its 278-acre parcel in Westville. Yale is still awaiting approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The local discussion since last spring has touched on flooding concerns and pesticide use, but most directly, there was objection to the number of mature trees that will come down in an era of climate change and their role in carbon sequestration.

 The pesticide use and tree loss were ruled out for consideration as beyond the commission's scope. 

The staff report the commission adopted, however, said while Yale will be incorporating "many sustainability practices" into its maintenance routine, it was important to raise other  concerns.

Generally, it said the negative impacts of golf courses are well documented and cover such things as mowing, herbicide, pesticide and fertilizer use, as well as high volumes of water and loss of forested areas.

At the Yale Golf Course specifically, "the removal of mature trees (1,000 to 1,500 across the site), chemical usage, and water usage are still of concern and, while not under the purview of the City Plan Commission, are important environmental considerations to raise," the staff wrote.

Laura Cahn, who heads the New Haven Environmental Advisory Council, said that unlike other cities, New Haven does not have an ordinance that addresses the removal of trees except from city property.

Besides the tree issue, the most controversial component was construction of a temporary hauling road off Fountain Street through the Yale Nature Preserve, which will add to the damage of wetlands and close this resource during construction. It will run behind some 20 homes on Long Hill Terrace.

This aspect was also eventually approved by City Plan, after much discussion, rather than operating construction equipment to and from the site on narrow city streets.

The alder for the area, Amy Marx, D-26, had suggested holding off on final approval until residents could weigh in on an alternative to the temporary road.

Yale attorney Joseph Hammer did not object as long as the decision was made within a short period, as the university hopes to start work in two months.  

The commission members appeared interested in doing this but ultimately did not see a way forward after the staff had already vetted the hauling road and the university had met all the necessary zoning, sediment control and wetland requirements.

In several public meetings between Yale officials and the abutting residents, there was testimony that runoff from Yale's land was flooding their properties.

Working with the city, Yale has proposed infrastructure changes to stem this on Stevenson Road. City Engineer Giovanni Zinn also testified that improvements have already been done on Curtis Drive. Marx worried about damage to the backyards on Curtis Drive,  Long Hill Terrace and Stevenson Road.

City Plan did agree to allow interventor status for Cahn, who had to prove that the changes at the golf course could cause "unreasonable pollution, impairment or destruction of the public trust in air water or other natural resources of the state."

The commission let her make her case but found there was no expert testimony or quantifiable measurements to back up her concerns. The members characterized her claims as too generic. 

Victoria Chun, director of athletics at Yale, said her goal has always been to be "a great partner to our neighbors." An example was her decision to open the golf course to the general public rather than be membership-based.

The neighbors have also long accessed the course for walking and sledding. Chun said going forward, Yale will develop a 1.5-mile cross-country skiing trail when there is a heavy snowfall.  Residents can also walk along the paved path from the entrance to the clubhouse.

Sledding will still be allowed at specific areas, but not at the most popular ones around holes10 and 18 as that resulted in significant damage to the course, Chun said.

The positive impact of the course renovation includes the removal of invasive plants and conservation measures that will lessen the need for city water when ponds on the course are dredged to increase storage capacity and a new computer controlled irrigation system is installed. The renovation will upgrade tees, greens, bunkers and fairways, lengthen the course, realign the golf cart path and plant 35 acres of native grasses.

Chun said it is the only university golf course designed by Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor, and the restoration was critical to its functioning. "We have a treasure," she said. She said Yale will hire an arborist to inventory and develop a tree management plan.

The project will permanently impact 9.6 acres of wetlands/watercourse and 14.26 acres of adjacent upland area, according  to a review by the city's consultant, SLR International Corp., hired to vet Yale's application.

The city characterized Yale's mitigation plan for the loss of wetlands as "robust" as it creates, restores and enhances some 5.66 acres of wetlands. 

Commission Chairwoman Leslie Radcliffe said she could not understand the benefit of taking down so many trees. 

"One thousand to 1,500 trees is mindblowing to me," she said. "The disruption of the natural habitat to me seems a little bit extreme in order to be able to make it a nicer golf course ... What is the alternative?"

Jeromy Powers, associate director of planning, said the trees, over almost 100 years old, are encroaching on the golf course. "They are putting a lot more shade and inhibiting natural light on the golf course itself.  That is creating a kind of detrimental agronomic growing micro-climate."  

Powers said that leads to increased maintenance, watering and chemicals to maintain the golf course. Basically, he said he is talking about the health of the grass. He said this will allow Yale to maintain it more efficiently and sustainably. After the trees are cut down, the stumps will be leveled so as not to disturb the soil.

Scientific studies have found, however, that new growth is not as valuable as a carbon sink as are long-standing forests. 
 
The commission received three letters from the business community supporting the renovation as an important New Haven asset, including from the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, which represents some 1,200 businesses. A petition from 85 residents throughout the city also backed Yale's plans. Six letters opposed them, and eight supported intervenor status.

Marx, who has been active on the issue since she found stacks of felled trees on the golf course last spring, thanked Yale for its involvement in five personal and community meetings on the topic, but she also made a "desperate plea" for an amendment to the plans to save some of the trees given the global climate crisis.

Referring to the SLR report, she asked for a cataloging of the mature trees that will be removed to determine the replacement value of the 1,806 gray birch, shagbark hickory, sugar maple, tulip tree, black oak and white oak trees that will be planted. 

She said her gut feeling is that roads, rather than wetlands, referring to the temporary road, are best for traffic.  She said her desire was to give the neighborhood a voice on this specific aspect of the plan. The SLR report favored the Conrad Drive entrance to the site in contrast to Fountain Street, which is a major thoroughfare with only two lanes, while the staff favored the temporary road.

The report said the hauling road off Fountain would enter the Yale Nature Preserve and wetlands north of the golf course, an area that "serves as an important visual and noise buffer" from the nearby Wilbur Cross Parkway. The SLR report also recommends particular care be taken around the vernal pools on the site and that the contractor be aware of the breeding season of amphibians.

 It mentioned that the state-endangered fairy shrimp is on the site, and there were questions about the endangered Northern Long Eared Bat.  

Powers said the project will commence in February and be completed in the fall of 2025, with the course reopening in the spring/summer of 2026. 

The construction period will be from February through January 2025, followed by a growing period to allow the turf and plantings to mature before play. He said the growing period will run from July 2024 through October 2025. 

During the restoration, the golf course will remain closed to the public for liability reasons. The temporary access road off Fountain Street will also be closed to the public during the 2024 construction work. After that, the temporary road will be restored to its previous condition in the Yale Nature Preserve, and access will reopen in 2025.  He said the trails in the western portion of the site will remain open but accessed from the Maltby Lakes area.

Powers said work will be done Monday through Saturday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and adhere to the city's noise ordinance.

Scaled-down Naugatuck apartment project still draws opposition

ANDREAS YILMA

NAUGATUCK — The developer for a proposed apartment project near Long Meadow Pond Brook has downsized the plan after residential backlash, but residents continue to show strong opposition.

Apartments at Long Meadow of Shelton initially proposed a 467-unit complex in eight buildings with 695 parking spaces, including 233 in garage spaces under buildings on 34.6 acres close to Long Meadow Pond Brook between Webb Road and Rubber Avenue. The area previously was a farm. The plan also called for townhouse units, a clubhouse and a pool.

SLR Consulting engineer Darin Overton, representing the applicant, revealed at a Dec. 6 Inland Wetlands Commission hearing two alternate and smaller proposals.

The first alternate has two apartment buildings instead of three, replacing buildings three through five from the original plan. There would be a reduction of 102 units for a total of 373 apartment units including the unchanged amount of townhouse units with 613 parking spaces, Overton said.

The second alternative proposal would call for a reduction of 114 apartment units for a total of 361 with 624 parking spaces but the wetland impacts would be greater than the first alternative.

Applicant James Cormier said he and his team listened to what people previously said, which caused them to significantly cut the density and change their initial proposed plan.

The commission previously received a request for a legal intervener from residents Chester Cornacchia and attorney Fred Dlugokecki. In the 1970s, the Millville Nursery owner used to take in rubber shards from Uniroyal and use it as mulch at the nursery, Cornacchia said.

But Cormier said a number of tests have been previously done on the property which showed no threat to people’s land.

“That information proves that the property and the tests on the rubber were not hazardous,” Cormier said. “So he and his adviser came up here and deliberately mislead everyone and the neighbors by telling them that we’re going to end up poisoning their wells because they said the property was contaminated.”

SLR professional wetlands and soil scientist Megan Raymond said the proposed plan has direct wetland impacts that are unavoidable, particularly for access.

“This is a high value wetland that we certainly take into consideration and prioritization in designing the plan. Though this area is high value, I would not paraphrase it as sensitive resource,” SLR professional wetlands and soil scientist Megan Raymond said. “Something can be high value without being particularly sensitive.”

Dlugokecki said the commission and the borough adhere to the regulations of the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act of 1972.

“We must preserve water courses, wetlands and natural resources and it’s such a priority to everyone, the rich, the poor, the middle income people because if we don’t preserve those natural resources in clean drinking water then affordable housing and other legitimate alternatives in public interest topics are largely irrelevant,” Dlugokecki said.

About a dozen and a half residents spoke, all in opposition of the proposed development.

Samuel Landsman, who lives on Webb Road, showed two videos of his property where after a large rainfall the wetlands area turns into a lake.

“This is what it looks like with significant rainfall. It really does become a lake. There’s a lot of water moving through here,” Landsman said.

Jim Woodfield, who has lived on Webb Road for his whole life of 72 years, said he spent thousands of dollars to have a new well put in for his house and thousands of dollars put in for 12 Webb Road.

“This guy is guaranteeing that our wells aren’t going to be polluted, but I bet you where he lives, he doesn’t have to worry about wells,” Woodfield said.

The commission continued the hearing to Jan. 3 at 6:45 p.m. at the Board of Education building.