State Pier work proceeds as ground broken on New York offshore wind farm

Greg Smith 

New London — At a pace of roughly 200 truckloads of rock and soil a day, the 7 acres of water separating the two piers at the State Pier facility is slowly being displaced.

Filling that space to create one larger pier area is part of one of the biggest construction projects in the city in recent history, helping to reshape an industrial waterfront site on the Thames River that was built more than a century ago.

State Pier in New London is a whirlwind of activity these days, host to dozens of construction workers operating cranes, excavators and dump trucks with the single purpose of completing the estimated $235 million project by next year.

Representatives from the construction and engineering firm Kiewit, construction manager of the project, provided a brief tour of the construction site on Thursday. Progress also can be tracked online at statepiernewlondon.com.

The modernization project is the result of the Connecticut Port Authority’s agreement with port operator Gateway Terminal and joint venture partners Ørsted and Eversource. The project includes widening the pier and a major update of infrastructure to create a facility with heavy-lift capacity to accommodate parts needed to construct offshore wind farms.

While Ørsted and Eversource are contributing more than $70 million toward the project and will lease the facility for 10 years, CPA officials are quick to point out that the updated facility will be better suited to host an array of cargo when not in use by the offshore wind industry.

State Pier is expected to be put to use by the beginning of next year. Ørsted and Eversource broke ground on a 12-turbine South Fork Wind project off the coast of Long Island on Feb. 14. The wind farm is expected to generate 132 megawatts, enough to power 70,000 homes, and be operational at the end of 2023.

It’s the smaller of several wind farm construction projects associated with New London’s State Pier, which is expected to be used for the assembly and delivery of components. A larger project, the 704 megawatt Revolution Wind, is being planned for waters off the Rhode Island Coast.

Connecticut Port Authority Executive Director John Henshaw said dredging started in earnest once the project obtained a federal permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in December.

Dredging of the silt and organic material from between the two piers, known individually as State Pier and Central Vermont Railroad Pier, was completed on Jan. 20. This was needed to create a stable footing for the 380,000 cubic yards of material needed to fill the more than 7 acres of space between the piers and create one large central wharf area.

During Thursday's tour, there was a constant stream of dump trucks depositing material that was being pushed into the water by bulldozers.

Officials say there are 25 trucks working on the site, each making an average of eight trips per day, or 200 total trips. Some of the material is taken from soil excavated from the property and stockpiled atop the CVRR Pier. Some dredge material also will be used.

The type of fill being hauled to the site is classified as “clean fill” and authorized for use by the federal permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. Officials say it is soil consistent with the physical and chemical criteria established by federal and state guidelines that mandate the material — mostly rock and soil — be devoid of any pollutants.

Waterford-based Kobyluck Sand & Gravel secured the contract for the major part of the fill operation.

Elsewhere, a demolition dust control mister was humming as excavators clawed and jackhammered into a portion of State Pier that is being demolished. Cranes are positioning and driving into the ground large pipe piles that range in diameter from between 30 and 42 inches. The piles are driven into the ground to create retaining walls, known as combi walls, at various places around the piers, including the delivery berth and receiving platform.

More dredging will occur after Oct. 1 in the turning basin area, where ships will maneuver around the pier.

Henshaw said he expects the fill activity to be completed by the end of the summer, when the material in the Central Wharf area will be compacted before a final surface is completed. While there have been no major delays since the start of construction, there have been hiccups.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection reports that since it issued a permit for work at State Pier in August, it has fielded several complaints — specifically about the dumping of snow and use of a turbidity curtain around the in-water construction area. Those complaints resulted in follow-ups from DEEP but did not require any further enforcement, a DEEP spokesperson said in an email on Friday.

On Jan. 2, a DEEP emergency response unit responded to a report of the release of hydraulic oil from a dredging machine. In response, absorbent booms and pads were deployed to soak up the oil in the river and the equipment was repaired, DEEP said. The case has since been closed.

On Feb. 4, Henshaw reported to the CPA board that a “trespasser,” later identified as port authority critic Kevin Blacker, “breached the site” and caused work to stop while state police responded. Henshaw called the incident the “the height of irresponsibility” and promised an arrest if another incident occurs.

Of the complaints filed with environmental officials, Henshaw said, often “the complaints don’t match the reality on the ground.” The CPA is in regular communication with DEEP and the Army Corps of Engineers about ongoing work, he said.

As for the timeline and cost of the project, Henshaw said challenges to the CPA’s permit applications helped delay the project. He acknowledged that the schedule is closely associated with the cost of the project.

“The dredging permits in-water took a little longer than anticipated. That was a challenge and one we have to overcome,” Henshaw said. “I think we’ve tried to be clear there are repercussions associated with the delays. However, we’re doing our best to try and mitigate those through savings where we can."

The final price of the project still is being negotiated and is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Henshaw said it's likely the CPA will work on an amendment to the contract with Kiewit prior to the guaranteed maximum price being finalized.

“Ultimately, what we’re trying to do is the best with the budget we can,” Henshaw said.

He said he expects Ørsted and Eversource to begin using the State Pier site by Feb. 1, 2023, when some deliveries are expected. Some work on the pier is expected to continue through April 2023.

Companies named in subpoena were primary recipients of hazmat work

Dave Altimari

Two companies named in a federal grand jury subpoena investigating former state official Konstantinos Diamantis were the primary beneficiaries of millions of dollars’ worth of hazardous waste abatement work on state buildings since 2017, records show.

Asbestos Abatement and Insulation Services (AAIS) Corporation and Bestech Inc. of Ellington are two of the four companies that the state Department of Administrative Services chose in 2017 to be on an exclusive list of contractors that would handle all abatement work on state buildings. The list was originally intended for state agencies and municipalities that needed emergency work done.

Since the contract went into effect, there have been 284 projects, each identified as a separate work order under the one contract, including abatement at college campuses and the former Seaside Sanatorium in Waterford.

Diamantis’ team was in charge of the contract, state officials said Friday. AAIS and Bestech were among the names that federal authorities asked officials to search for in a subpoena issued in October that centers on Diamantis.

The grand jury investigation has raised questions about whether Diamantis, who ran the Office of School Construction Grants & Review — first at DAS and then at the Office of Police and Management — pressured municipalities to hire specific contractors, construction managers and hazardous waste and asbestos removal companies.

An analysis by the CT Mirror shows that AAIS and Bestech got all but 15 of the 284 purchase orders issued by the state for hazardous waste disposal and demolition from fiscal year 2017 through 2022 — contracts that are paid for by the state and not tied to school construction jobs.

On Friday, after receiving questions about the arrangement from the Connecticut Mirror, the state abruptly canceled the contract, even though it was supposed to run until April.

In July 2021, state officials created a new contract, identified as “20psx0154,” to increase the number of contractors on the hazardous waste abatement list from the four on original contract “16PSX0110.”

DAS spokeswoman Lora Rae Anderson said Friday that state officials are going to amend the 2021 contract and “that guidance for both state and municipal use is going to be updated.” She did not give a timeline for that update or explain what it would entail.

Anderson said Diamantis’ school construction grant team was in charge of the hazardous waste and abatement contract.

Representatives from AAIS and Bestech, as well as Diamantis’ attorney Norm Pattis, did not respond to requests for comment last week.

Two companies, 98.8% of the money

The Mirror’s analysis shows:

·      Since the 2017 fiscal year, the state has paid out about $29.2 million for hazardous waste and asbestos abatement work under DAS contract “16PSX0110.” AAIS received $20.6 million of that and Bestech $8.2 million, purchase orders show — about 98.8% of all the money spent through the contract.  

·      The state issued 284 purchase orders under the emergency contract.

·      One of the contractors, Haz-Pros, got five jobs. Environmental Services Inc. got 10.

·       AAIS was named on 214 purchase orders, including exclusive agreements to do work at all state colleges and vocational schools. Some of the work was assigned by other state agencies, such as the Military Department, but the majority were assigned by DAS.

·      Bestech Inc. got the remaining 55.

“Wow, I had no idea it was that much money,” Raymond Newbury, Haz-Pros Asbestos Services Manager, said Thursday in an interview.

“We did not get that many” jobs, Newbury said. “I knew they (AAIS) were getting most of the work. I thought it was just the familiarity with the people that dealt with the contractors.”

‘I would call Mike’

Newbury said the contact for almost all abatement jobs was not Diamantis but Michael Sanders, who worked on the school construction grant team that Diamantis oversaw. Sanders had been doing state abatement contracts for years, first at the old Department of Public Works before moving to DAS.

Sanders died in December. The state medical examiner's office has ruled his death a drug overdose, but the investigation is still open.

“I would call Mike a couple times a year and tell him that I could really use some work,” Newbury said. “But you know, when I asked Mike, he would say that AAIS were just cheaper.”

A review of the pricing lists submitted by the four companies who were awarded the contract shows that while AAIS offered cheaper prices on asbestos removal for other jobs such as mold remediation and lead paint removal, the price ranges were very close among the four contractors.

Sanders' role

Sanders is listed as the Construction Services Associate Project Manager in the "memorandum of understanding" that transferred the school construction program from DAS to the Office of Policy and Management in 2019. The grant program went to the oversight of OPM when Diamantis was named its deputy secretary.

Anderson said Diamantis and his team, specifically Sanders, were in charge of the hazardous waste abatement contracts.

"Municipalities are responsible for their own contractor procurement and contracting per state statutory requirements for bidding. Therefore, the Department of Administrative Services does not select vendors for towns," Anderson said.

Gov. Ned Lamont fired Diamantis from his OPM position on Oct. 28, days after the federal subpoena was served. When told he would be placed on administrative leave from his school construction job, Diamantis retired.

Diamantis had run the school construction grant program for more than six years. It’s unclear when Sanders joined the school construction grant team, but Newbury said Sanders was the only person he dealt with since the contract went into effect.

A May 2020 letter from Bristol’s former corporation counsel Dale Clift shows that Sanders was deeply involved in one hazardous waste abatement school contract in Bristol in 2020. According to Clift, Sanders advised the city to reject the lowest bid, from Select Demo Inc., and instead hire Bestech.

Clift’s letter said that the “directive” delivered by Sanders was issued by Diamantis.

“(Sanders) represented that you were directing all bids for abatement and demolition to be rejected,” Clift told Diamantis in the letter. “This directive came so late in the process and was so surprising, the project personnel sought and received verbal reinforcement and validation of your directive over the next several days.” 

The city eventually hired the low bidder anyway.

Sanders worked in state government for 27 years until he died in December under what police described as “suspicious circumstances.”

Police found the 53-year-old’s body at a home in Old Saybrook on the evening of Dec. 17. Police arrested the man living in the house and charged him with risk of injury to a minor and possession of narcotics.

The state’s Chief Medical Examiner later listed Sanders’ cause of death as an accidental overdose tied to cocaine and fentanyl.

Manchester project questioned

Around the same time that Bristol officials say they were being pressured by the state to hire Bestech, a similar scenario was playing out in Groton — this time involving AAIS, who were not the low bidder for a hazardous waste disposal/demolition contract there.

Groton also eventually chose the lowest bidder, Stamford Wrecking, but only after that company’s lawyer — New Haven attorney Raymond Garcia — questioned why his client wasn’t getting the contract.

In January 2021, Garcia was contesting another contract in Manchester, which was in the process of renovating the Buckley Elementary School. In two letters to city officials, Garcia warned they needed to put the contract out to bid for everyone and not just the contractors on the state’s emergency list. But assistant city attorney John F. Sullivan responded in a letter saying that Manchester was just following the state’s guidance.

”The contract in question is identified as State DAS Contract 16PSX0110. The Town is selecting a bid from one of the four contractors approved by the state for this type of work under this contract,” Sullivan wrote.

The city asked the contractors on the state’s list for bids, and three of them — AAIS, Bestech and Haz-Pros — submitted bids, with AAIS getting the contract as the lowest bidder, for $1.47 million. 

After the Manchester contract went to AAIS without Stamford Wrecking getting a chance to bid for it, Garcia took his concerns to Attorney General William Tong on Feb. 2 in a three-page letter that outlined how the 2017 contract was being circumvented.

A new contract

The discussions among Garcia and state officials, including Diamantis and Assistant Attorney General Margaret Chapple, led to the issuing of a new directive to municipalities on March 2, 2021. The directive, signed by Diamantis, clarified when municipalities should use the state’s hazardous materials abatement contractors list for their school projects.

The directive states that if municipalities planned to use one of the companies on the so-called emergency contractor list, they needed to solicit a minimum of four bid proposals in order to be eligible to get state funding.

Then, in July 2021, state officials put the old hazardous material abatement contract, which was set to expire in April 2022, out to bid again in order to get more contractors on the list.

DAS contract “20psx0154” added more contractors to the emergency list. In addition to AAIS, Bestech and Haz-Pros, four new companies are included: Manafort Brothers Inc., New England Yankee Construction, Omni Environmental and Stamford Wrecking Company, which had been battling the state for nearly a year.

Newbury said he was notified about the new contract and did bid to stay on the list, even though he hasn’t gotten much work out of it.

“I think the contract is in effect, but I don't know anybody that's used it yet,” Newbury said.

 State records show that only one purchase order has been issued under the new contract: a $1.45 million purchase order on Feb. 8 for a hazardous material remediation at Norwalk Community College.

The contractor is AAIS.

Torrington sets hearing for high school building project

Emily M. Olson

TORRINGTON — The school building committee and its team of architects and engineers are getting ready to formally present the $159 million project, which was approved by voters in November 2020, to the Planning & Zoning Commission in March.

The SLAM Collaborative, based in Glastonbury, filed the application with the land use office in early February, which includes a special exception use permit and site plans for the new construction.

The approved project includes a new middle-high school building and administrative offices. The old building will be torn down after the new high school is completed.

“Torrington Middle School (grades 7-8), High School (grades 9-12) and Central Office Administraton department will be located in a new 309,900 state of the art facility on the existing Torrington High School property,” the SLAM Collaborative wrote in its application. “The existing THS building will be abated and demolished, making way for site circulation, parking, and a new and renovated athletic fields complex. The middle school wing is 3 stories and the high school wing is 4 stories, with a partial basement walk-out level.

“(Torrington’s zoning regulations) allows the school to be permitted in the R6 zone,” according to the application, which allows the school building project because “it is in the best interest of the health, safety and welfare of the public.”

The Board of Education’s School Building Committee had to ask for an additional $20 million to fund the project, which was approved in a referendum in January, by about 5 percent of the town’s 21,000 eligible voters, with an outcome of 1,129-301.

Voters in November 2020 approved building the new middle-high school and administrative offices for $159 million. Earlier this year, the state legislature announced that instead of 65 percent reimbursement for all eligible costs for the project, that amount would be increased to 85 percent.

Residents voted in favor of spending $159.6 million for a new middle-high school building including a new central administrative office wing, with the expectation that, with about $85 million in state reimbursement, the city’s share would be lowered to $74.6 million. With the higher reimbursement, the city’s share was reduced to $28 million.

In December, school building committee co-chairmen Mario Longobucco and Ed Arum came to the City Council asking to add $20 million to the project, citing increased student enrollment and rising costs for construction and materials. The co-chairmen said more students will add to the overall footprint of the new facility. That, coupled with escalating construction and materials costs, have resulted in the project running over budget.

“This year alone, there are 137 new students in grades 7-12, that were not here pre-pandemic,” Longobucco said at the time. “Construction costs $525 per square foot. And as we all know, everything’s going up. Materials costs have gone up. ... So we had to go back to the drawing board.”

The Planning and Zoning Commission is expected to review the building committee’s site plan application at its next meeting in March.

Shelton developer says downtown plan lacks sufficient parking

Brian Gioiele

SHELTON — John Guedes’s plans to redevelop the former Chromium Process site would further strain an already limited parking situation downtown, according to a fellow downtown developer.

Angelo Melisi, Jr., the developer of Bridge Street Commons I and II in the heart of downtown, is calling on the Planning and Zoning Commission to deny Guedes’s plans, as presently submitted, to construct a four-story building with 30 apartments and 34 parking spaces on land presently used for city parking.

“Given the current situation in downtown Shelton, and in the immediate vicinity of this proposal, this is simply not enough parking,” Melisi wrote in a letter submitted to the commission.

Melisi said he supports the development of more apartments and commercial space downtown, but wrote “I do object to the construction of more apartments and more commercial space without adequate parking.”

While praising city officials and the commission for its efforts in helping revitalize downtown, Melisi said the need for parking has been significantly underestimated.

“I am very concerned that downtown might become a victim of its own success unless steps are taken to ensure that all new construction has adequate parking facilities,” Melisi said.

“From my own experience, I am certain that allowing 30 new apartments and 8,350 square feet of commercial space, with only 32 parking spaces, would be a serious mistake,” he added. “(It) would impose significant hardship both on my properties and those of other landowners in the area.”

Melisi’s letter was entered in the record during the commission’s public hearing Wednesday on Guedes’ plan to construction Chromium Commons, a four-story structure with first-floor commercial space and 30 apartments on the top floors, at 113 Canal St., former site of the Chromium Process manufacturing building.

Guedes — who along with his partner Biagio Barone has an agreement in place to purchase the site from the city — is seeking approval from the commission to have the property designated a Planned Development District (PDD).

Guedes said his development will not have an adverse impact on parking downtown.

“No issues,” Guedes said when asked about any negative impacts.

Guedes also noted that the new development sits next to the Conti lot, which is used as a community parking lot.

“The lot where Chromium Commons is proposed to be built is currently used as a parking lot,” Melisi said. “I counted 45 cars parked there at noontime (Feb. 15), and the lot is usually completely full at night.

“Once parking is no longer available, the parking situation will be even worse, because the available parking in the area will be reduced, while the demand for parking will be increased,” Melisi added.

Guedes said he was “surprised” by Melisi’s stance on the application as presented.

“Out of the entire City, he was the only one to show concern,” Guedes said. “The fact is that the City issued an RFP (request for proposal). I responded to it, and the Board of Alderman voted to accept it and sell it. At that time, if he had an interest in (the property) he had the opportunity to respond to the RFP. He did not. The site is not a city parking lot. It is a redevelopment site.”

Last year, the Board of Aldermen approved the sale of the property to Guedes and Barone for $100,000. As part of the agreement, the developers will pay $137,500 for brick pavers for the River Walk extension being built at the rear of 129 Canal St.

The original purchase price for the property was $250,000, but Guedes and Barone reduced their offer to $100,000 after learning that a portion of the former Chromium Process site — listed as 125 Canal St. — had been sold by the city to Melisi.

Melisi said Bridge Street Commons I (50 Bridge St.) and Bridge Street Commons II (427 Howe Ave.) occupy the entire block across Canal Street from Guedes’ proposed development. Between the two sites, Melisi said there are 116 apartments and 8,500 square feet of commercial space and 154 parking spots.

“My experience has shown that these 154 spaces are not enough,” said Melisi, adding that he is also acquiring the lot at 426 Howe Ave. (at the corner of Howe and Center Street) to provide an additional 24 spaces to be used for the restaurant, Chaplin, opening in the soon-to-be-completed building.

Melisi said he has found cars regularly parking on both sides of both parts of Canal Street, including in no parking zones, and both sides of Center Street.

“On an almost daily basis I have unauthorized parkers in Commons I and Commons II parking areas,” he said. “Last Friday evening, a prospective tenant told my office that she had spent 45 minutes looking for a parking space.”

The former Chromium Process site, which has been environmentally remediated, borders on Canal Street East and Canal Street West and is adjacent to the Housatonic Rail Co. and a few hundred feet from the Housatonic River. The site is currently used as a parking lot and is within walking distance of public parking facilities.

The city is in the process of leasing the parking spaces on the Eversource property, located across the street from the now completed Cedar Village at Carroll’s. Those additional 70 spaces would put the available parking spaces downtown at about 500. The city also leases parking spaces at the Conti building.

New Haven approves 473 housing units across 4 projects

Mary E. O’Leary

NEW HAVEN — Low demand for office space is behind a full conversion to residential use for one downtown property and the addition of apartments to another, while the city’s neighborhoods are also welcoming new developments.

A total of 473 housing units across four projects were approved at the latest City Plan Commission meeting as this sector continues to grow in spite of a lingering pandemic.

Thousands of apartments have been approved in recent years, which includes a sprint more recently by developers looking to get approvals before the new Inclusionary Zoning rules kicked in Friday.

The rules require a set-aside of affordable apartments for new developments and major renovations or a monetary contribution toward low-income units.

One-time mall to become apartment complex

City Plan approved the final conversion to residential from offices at the former Chapel Square Mall at 900 Chapel St.

It gave the OK to 87 more apartments there, adding to the 185 already approved for a total of 272 apartments.

The newest approval is for 10 one-bedroom and two two-bedroom units on the second floor; 15 one-bedrooms on the sixth and the 10th-13th floors at the complex at Chapel, Church and Temple streets. The ground floor retail will remain.

Attorney Christopher McKeon, who represented owners CSD Mall LLC, a division of PMC Property Group, said construction will begin immediately on the second, sixth and 11th floors with the rest undertaken as the office leases expire.

McKeon, whose office is in the tower at 900 Chapel St., said there are “significant vacancies in numerous portions of the building. That is not unusual in office buildings throughout the country.”

Apartments to top off office building

At 142 Temple St., owned by Olympia LLC, the board approved adding four residential floors to a three-story commercial building that will continue to maintain its current office spaces.

The proposal already has the necessary zoning and parking approvals.

Architect Kenneth Boroson said the two retail spaces on the ground floor will remain. There will also be a new staircase and elevator strictly for the residents.

There will be 60 apartments: 12 studios, 44 one-bedrooms and four two-bedrooms. The studios are around 565 square feet; one-bedroom apartments range from 615-750 square feet and two-bedrooms are 810 square feet.

There is some outdoor space on the fourth floor with a roof deck on the seventh floor. Boroson said the facade will be brick-like material. There will be 4,450 square feet of outdoor space, 5,410 square feet of amenity space and 350 square feet of green roof area.

The new structure will be wood. Boroson said the structure has to be light. The architect said the roof will be removed and the new floors put on it.

Damaged factory building to be razed

At 10 Liberty St., Vesta Liberty Street LLC wants to demolish a dilapidated factory in a BA zone that produced architectural lighting fixtures and build a 150-unit apartment complex at Liberty, Putnam and Spring streets.

It is a mixed neighborhood with automotive facilities and railroad yards close by as well as homes to the north and west.

The shuttered Electrix Illumination factory, which consists of four buildings, went out of business in December 2020.

Susan Fiedler and Tanya Segal are the investors in Vesta Liberty Street LLC.

The project calls for some parking on the first level with other spaces to the rear for a total of 136 parking spaces.

The apartments would be located on levels two through five and feature balconies and a roof terrace with views of downtown and Long Island Sound.

The owners are planning to meet with the community to explain their plans.

The old factory is on the city’s inventory of historic structures, but the owners determined that the cost of remediating it would be prohibitive. They will apply for the demolition permit — which incorporates a 90-day delay — when they are closer to construction.

Segel said a tenant who had signed a 10-year lease for the property left after 18 months. They scrambled to find a new use and in the meantime brought it up to environmental residential standards and cleaned out the debris.

The owners determined the property was better suited to residential use and found there was a need in the neighborhood.

“We have accomplished a lot in the last 14 months although it is not all visible,” Segel said.

Apartment location with outdoor activities

This project has been a long time coming for developer Ives George of RJDA. He is a familiar face to the commission, having started the complex deal in October 2016.

He got final approval this month for the L-shaped, 176-unit apartment building at 291 Ashmun and 309 Ashmun St. on city property bound by Canal Street and south of Henry Street.

It will consist of 68 studio apartments; 64 one-bedroom units; 32 two-bedroom units and four three-bedroom apartments. One-third of the apartments — 58 of them — will be affordable housing, a major desire of the city as it looked for a developer for the site.

“It has been a long haul, but we are extremely excited to be at this point,” Joseph said.

There will be 97 parking spaces and accommodations for 38 bicycles. The considerable amount of open space incorporates the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, which borders the property.

Joseph said one of the inspirations behind the project was to “highlight and emphasize the Farmington Canal Trail as an amenity not only for our building, but for the entire community.”

Commissioner Marchand suggested the developer consider a mid-block crosswalk to make it easier for people to get on the trail. It would also serve as traffic calming.

Joseph said he plans to incorporate bike maintenance facilities on his property. He agreed that maximizing the bike-friendly nature of the development will be key to its success.