‘The budget growing is concerning’: Bridgeport flooding project nears construction, but over budget

Brian Lockhart

BRIDGEPORT — The designs for a massive undertaking aimed at reducing flooding in the South End are, after eight years of planning, 90 percent complete, with construction tentatively scheduled to start next winter.

But the project’s budget has also increased beyond the initial $56 million estimate from 2014, and more money must be found, acknowledged Shante Hanks, the deputy state housing commissioner overseeing the planning.

“The thought was ... that this would cover the cost of administration, planning, construction,” Hanks, a Bridgeport activist hired by the state in 2019, said this past week during a public teleconference updating the community on the status of the Resilient Bridgeport initiative. “It did not.”

That $56 million was financed by a pair of grants issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Some things were underestimated,” Hanks said. “We’re seeing the budget is growing, and we’re at 90 percent design.”

She also blamed the price hikes on the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic and resultant economic and supply chain issues.

Hanks, however, in response to questions from Hearst Connecticut Media both during and after the Wednesday meeting, did not provide a current cost estimate, stating that would be available later this year when the state seeks quotes from contractors.

“At this time it’s definitely large. We’re looking for additional funding for this project,” she said. “Believe me, the budget growing is concerning to all of us.”

That increase was one major reason, according to City Councilman Marcus Brown, that municipal and education officials forged ahead with plans to build a new Bassick High School in the South End and paying for their own flood mitigation measures, rather than wait for the completion of Resilient Bridgeport.

The city had been under some pressure last year to allow the state to move forward first since Resilient Bridgeport had been in the works years before the 2020 decision to relocate Bassick from its aged West End address to the South End at the University of Bridgeport campus.

“It would be ideal for them to let us complete (Resilient Bridgeport),” Hanks had said last April. “It (Bassick) is in a flood zone. It’s in a flood plain.”

“We said, ‘They don’t have the money to do this right now and will have to find a solution, and that’s going to take some time,’” Brown, chairman of Bridgeport’s school construction committee, recalled in an interview this past week. “We made the decision to start our project without waiting. Too much uncertainty.”

But Hanks insisted the cost overruns are “not causing delays.”

Resilient Bridgeport is the overall name for two projects to fortify the flood-prone South End, located along Long Island Sound, during severe storms like 2012’s Hurricane Sandy.

The first of those includes: Extending and elevating some neighborhood roads; building a storm water park that can be used for recreation when dry, but will have “detention ponds” to soak up and drain excess water like a big sponge; and installing a pump station.

Engineer Richard Pettinelli said during Wednesday’s teleconference that those designs should be finished over the summer with construction starting in winter 2022 and completed by fall 2023.

The second piece of Resilient Bridgeport is complicated and more expensive and involves erecting partially buried flood walls and another pump station. It also includes a significant amount of work within a section of the historic Seaside Park.

Beka Sturges with Reed Hilderbrand, the landscape architects involved with Resilient Bridgeport, spoke during Wednesday’s teleconference of all of the effort that has gone into using the flood-mitigation work to further improve and beautify Seaside with more lawn areas, better views of the Sound, new trees and improved lighting.

Seaside Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who co-designed Central Park in New York City, and Sturges emphasized the goal is to “reconcile” his vision with the need to establish flood protections for the community.

Pettinelli said construction on that portion of Resilient Bridgeport should begin in winter 2022 and last two years.

Hanks said it is the budget for that second, larger piece of the work which “keeps growing and growing.” She said the state has secured an additional $10.25 million worth of grants, but indicated still more will be required.

“We continue to look for other areas we can apply for additional funding,” she said.

A HUD spokesperson in a statement to Hearst Connecticut Media referred questions about the cost escalation back to the state housing department.

“DOH would really be in the best position to answer your questions on whether or not they will be applying for additional funds for this project,” wrote Rhonda Siciliano in an email. “HUD is aware that these types of projects typically require multiple funding sources ... outside of the HUD funds.”

Another online public information meeting on Resilient Bridgeport is scheduled for 7 p.m. on March 23.

Kosta Diamantis advocated ‘hybrid’ school building setup despite pushback

Andrew Brown

For years, Kosta Diamantis, the former director of Connecticut’s school grants program, advocated for a policy that would allow certain construction companies to claim more of the profits from school building projects — while potentially sidestepping the state’s normal bidding process.

Diamantis used his influence to advance contracts and, ultimately, legislation that would enable construction management firms to “self-perform” some of the work on schools using their own building crews, according to documents obtained by the Connecticut Mirror.

Those construction management firms traditionally don’t get paid to excavate the sites, pour the foundations, erect the walls, wire the buildings or install the plumbing for school projects in Connecticut. Instead, they are hired to review the designs, create the construction schedules and generally oversee the project for municipalities and the state.

The physical construction work for schools has historically been put out to bid so that other subcontractors can compete for those jobs and the millions of dollars that come with them.

But Diamantis wanted that arrangement to change, and to accomplish that goal he convinced lawmakers to alter state law so that school projects could utilize a so-called “hybrid” construction model. And while implementation of that law has been delayed repeatedly, it is set to go into effect in July.

Diamantis, who previously served as a state Democratic lawmaker for 14 years, said he asked the legislature to add language to an emergency funding bill in 2019 so that construction management firms could use their own employees to build portions of the state-financed schools.

That law enabled state officials and the local school building committees to award portions of a construction project to a construction management firm if they decided it was “more cost-effective than a subcontractor.”

In an interview this week, Diamantis said allowing pieces of the school projects to be built by construction management firms would save the state and municipalities money and would help to prevent change orders, which can drive up the overall price of construction.

“There is a value to that, both to the community taxpayer and the state taxpayer who is investing in these projects,” he said.

The hybrid setup, Diamantis said, would allow contractors such as O&G Industries and D’Amato Construction to serve as managers on the projects while also using their experienced construction teams to build portions of the new schools.

Diamantis stepped down from his position overseeing the school construction program on Oct. 28, 2021, after being placed on paid administrative leave.

Around the same time, the state received a federal grand jury subpoena for records related to the state’s school grants program.

Diamantis and several of the largest construction management companies in the state are named in those subpoenas, but it’s unclear if Diamantis’ push for the new legislation is of interest to federal investigators.

Construction companies pushed back immediately

The bill Diamantis persuaded lawmakers to pass, however, has ignited numerous complaints from officials within Connecticut’s construction industry.

Several industry groups have argued for more than three years that the law would allow construction management firms to bypass the normal bidding procedures for state building projects.

The legislation, Diamantis said, was never meant to subvert the public bidding process on school construction projects.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “That was never the intent of the language.”

But that’s not how the new leadership at the state Department of Administrative Services and the Office of School Construction Grants & Review explained the situation this week.

Michelle Gilman, the new DAS commissioner, asked lawmakers during a legislative hearing on March 7 to pass a new bill this session that would ban the “hybrid” construction model that Diamantis repeatedly advocated for.

Noel Petra, who took over the school grant program last year, explained that the language Diamantis helped to introduce in 2019 could allow a construction manager to perform work on a project without ever asking for bids from other companies.

“They actually wouldn’t be required to bid it,” Petra told lawmakers.

Petra’s statements to lawmakers, Diamantis said, were misleading and meant to create a false “narrative” about him and the school grant program that he ran for more than six years.

“Noel Petra doesn’t understand the school construction program, and he certainly doesn’t understand how it operates,” Diamantis said. “The school construction program is an outstanding program, and it shouldn’t be used as a tool to throw dirt.”

Lora Rae Anderson, a spokeswoman for DAS, said no construction company, to the agency’s knowledge, was ever given permission to manage a new school and build part of the same project.

But that wasn’t for a lack of trying.

Taking over

Even before the legislation passed in 2019, Diamantis was pitching his new construction model to municipalities.

In early 2018, he sent an email to officials in Bristol informing them that he had a new construction plan, which he claimed would drastically limit price changes and delays on the city’s new Memorial Boulevard Arts Magnet School.

“I believe this is going to take over … and reduce costs and time,” Diamantis wrote. “We think, as a team here, you should use it given the nature of the work involved.”

The city and the state would benefit, Diamantis argued, if Bristol let the construction manager self-perform a significant portion of the work on the more than $60 million school renovation project.

Emails, letters and meeting minutes obtained by CT Mirror show Bristol’s school building committee went along with that plan for months, as the city’s staff worked to adopt the specific contract language that Diamantis wanted.

But those plans came to an abrupt halt in the fall of 2018, just as Bristol was preparing to choose a construction manager for the project.

Roger Rousseau, Bristol’s purchasing agent, informed Diamantis that the city received a “variety of questions” from contractors about the new requirement that 20% of the project be built by the construction manager.

“The city is requiring the (construction manager) to self-perform with its own employees,” one of the contractors wrote. “Is there a state or other requirement requiring the city to do this?”

In an attempt to answer those questions, Rousseau asked Diamantis to provide some examples where other towns or cities allowed a construction management firm to build part of a school.

The city also requested legal opinions from Diamantis to confirm that the new “hybrid” model would comply with the state’s bidding laws.

Those emails went unanswered, according to city officials.

Instead, Bristol hired Donald Doeg, an attorney specializing in construction law, to provide the city with his legal opinion on the matter.

Doeg, who is well known in the state’s construction industry, pointed out that state law required all of the physical construction work on school projects to be awarded to the lowest qualified bidder.

And he warned that automatically awarding 20% of that work to the city’s chosen construction manager would open the city up to legal challenges.

Bristol eventually hired D’Amato Construction and Downes Construction to manage that school project as part of a joint venture. But the school building committee stripped out the requirement that the companies build 20% of the project with their own construction workers.

Diamantis said he disagreed with the legal advice that Bristol received, and the next year he took his proposals to the Connecticut legislature.

‘Beyond unorthodox’

The language that Diamantis helped to tuck into the legislation in 2019 didn’t draw much attention when it passed.

It was little more than a footnote on an annual appropriations bill that also approved more than $160 million in state funding for eight different school construction projects.

With several school projects on the line, the bill sailed through the House and Senate in less than a day and was signed by the governor shortly after.

But in the years that followed, those legal changes prompted several groups to issue warnings to state lawmakers and Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration.

Talking points that were drafted in preparation for a meeting with Lamont in July 2020 show leaders within the state building trades were deeply concerned with the law and the influence that Diamantis asserted on school projects.

“We have emails between the (Office of School Construction Grants & Review) and municipal officials stating that they are creating this ‘hybrid’ method,” they wrote. “This is beyond unorthodox.”

Lamont, in the wake of the federal investigation into the school grant program, said that he was never presented with those talking points and that the perceived problems with Diamantis never came up at that meeting.

But the opposition to the 2019 law wasn’t isolated to a single meeting with the governor.

Similar complaints continued to be shared with Diamantis and other state officials into the summer of 2021, not long before Diamantis left his position at the Office of School Construction Grants & Review.

Groups like the Associated General Contractors of Connecticut warned state officials and the legislature that allowing construction management firms to use their own crews to build parts of the projects could be problematic.

That was especially true, they argued, if there weren’t more adequate protections put in place to ensure every company had an equal chance at performing work on the school projects.

John Butts, the executive director of the Associated General Contractors, drafted numerous letters and legislative testimony, protesting the “ill-conceived” legislation that Diamantis championed.

The law, Butts argued, needed to be repealed or significantly reformed in order to “protect the sanctity of the public bidding system” and the interests of the state.

The general contractors association and other groups successfully lobbied lawmakers in 2020 and 2021 to prevent any municipalities from utilizing the “hybrid” model until the law could be reformed. It is set to go into effect in July.

And they provided legal recommendations to lawmakers that would ensure every aspect of a school project was put out to bid and that the construction managers wouldn’t have an advantage over subcontractors in that bidding process.

Those recommendations were introduced in a bill last year, but the legislation stalled during the session.

Diamantis said he had no objections to the protections those groups wanted to add.

But he said it would be a mistake to prohibit construction management firms from building any part of the schools in the future. Doing so would only cost taxpayers more money, he argued.

The new leaders at DAS don’t see it that way.

The policies Diamantis enacted need to be repealed, the agency said, in order to level the playing field and ensure every contract for school construction projects is competitively bid.

Bristol Arts and Innovation Magnet School construction project has become subject of federal grand jury subpoena

Dean Wright

BRISTOL – The Bristol Arts and Innovation Magnet School construction project has become the subject of a federal grand jury subpoena as part of an investigation into Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis’ pressuring schools to take specific build contracts.

In a letter obtained by the Bristol Press from Bristol’s legal counsel, the subpoena was issued Feb. 22 and “is returnable on March 15” before a federal grand jury in New Haven. The document requests “all documents related to any OSCG&R project at Memorial Boulevard Middle School” as well as “all communications with or related to Konstatinos Diamantis or any other employee or representative of OSCG&R” to be turned over to federal agents for review.

Bristol’s corporation counsel said it could not comment further in regard to the subpoena.

A letter obtained by the CT Mirror indicated that Diamantis had put forward a “directive” in April 2020 telling the city to disregard a winning bid for the Memorial Boulevard School’s abatement and demolition. The school is now called Bristol Arts and Innovation Magnet School. The low bidder of the project at $4.73 million was Select Demo Services. Project leaders were told to not take the bid though and hire Bestech, a firm which came in second with a cost of nearly $200,000 more than the bid winner.

Bristol’s then mayor, Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said the action caused confusion.

“I recall pushing back on the low bidder vs. second bidder conversation regarding hazardous abatement and demolition as all the various bid packages were being prepared in the Spring of 2020,” she said previously. “There was confusion since the second lowest bidder was on the state contract list as to whether we had to use them.” 

The city, nor its construction manager-at-risk D’Amato + Downtes, a Joint Venture, moved to arrange any kind of work with Bestech. The city’s then corporation counsel said that the OSCG&R moved to coordinate a meeting and communications to attempt to get Bestech to work on the site “as soon as possible.” On May 12, 2020, OSCG&R told D’Amato + Downtes, a Joint Venture, to award the project to the low bidder.

Due to concerns regarding a project financed by the New London State Pier and other school construction throughout the state, Diamantis has become the subject of an FBI investigation.

New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart confirmed to the Herald she was also pressed by Diamantis to hire a consultant that employed his daughter to help with a school construction project.

Stewart also told the Herald there was “fishy stuff going on” with the conversation she had with Diamantis.

Contracting Standards Board to ‘pause’ potential disqualification process for Mystic Education Center developer

Kimberly Drelich

Citing a full workload, the State Contracting Standards Board will "pause" a potential disqualification of the Mystic Education Center developer as a state contractor until the board finds out from the legislature in May what resources it will have.

Also during a meeting Friday, the board passed two motions related to the Connecticut Port Authority, a quasi-public agency that is the subject of a recent report from the State Contracting Standards Board. The board voted to request formal opinions from the attorney general regarding the port authority's ability to enter into public–private partnerships via its enabling statutes and regarding the legitimacy of the authority's harbor development agreement, a public–private partnership signed Feb. 11, 2020.

The board is working with the port authority on developing proper procedures for procurement, and the board has requested contracts, including for demolition work at State Pier in New London, Board Chairman Lawrence Fox and member Lauren Gauthier said.

In an update Friday about the process to potentially disqualify the Mystic Education Center developer, the board's Executive Director David L. Guay said that "our plates are full," and while he'd like to be an optimist, he's more of a pragmatist, so he's reluctantly asked to pause the project. He has 77 workdays before he retires, and after eight and a half years as executive director, he said he has a good sense of time management.

"I don't think I can complete this project before I leave, and, again, I'd like to be an optimist to think that we're going to get the lawyer we need and then we can proceed with this," Guay said, "but, if we don't, I would not like to have this halfway done and leave, so I'm suggesting we pause it for the moment until we get a better idea after May 3 of what the status of the board is."

Fox said the board is not abandoning the issue altogether, and hopefully the board will get some resources that would make the process much easier to continue.

The State Contracting Standards Board, which currently has an executive director and an intern as its only staff members, is seeking five additional positions: a chief procurement officer, staff attorney, accounts examiner, research analyst and trainer, The Day has reported. Gov. Ned Lamont's budget proposal for next year calls for $218,770 to hire three additional auditors under the Auditors of Public Accounts, but does not include funding for the five positions for the contracting board.

Fox said at Friday's board meeting that while it's difficult to predict the future, he thinks there is broad support in the General Assembly's Appropriations Committee and in the legislature as a whole for the five additional positions for the board. He also suggested the committee consider mandating the vacancies be filled by Sept. 1 and to allow the executive director, at the board's discretion, be reappointed for a period of time after his retirement to help with the transition.

Also during the meeting, the board passed two motions related to the Connecticut Port Authority, a quasi-public agency that is the subject of a recent report from the State Contracting Standards Board. The board voted to request formal opinions from the attorney general regarding the port authority's ability to enter into public–private partnerships via its enabling statutes and regarding the legitimacy of the authority's harbor development agreement, a public–private partnership signed Feb. 11, 2020.

The board is working with the port authority on developing proper procedures for procurement, and the board has requested contracts, including for demolition work at State Pier in New London, Fox and board member Lauren Gauthier said.

Last fall, after receiving complaints from several Groton residents, the board decided to determine whether to recommend disqualifying Jeffrey Respler of Respler Homes as a state contractor. Respler Homes had proposed a mixed-use development on the vacant, state-owned Mystic Education Center, also known as the Mystic Oral School, site under a lease he had with the state for the property on Oral School Road in Mystic. The lease has since expired and the state did not renew it.

That potential disqualification process would include a hearing; a recommendation by a subcommittee about whether or not to pursue a disqualification; an opportunity for the developer to submit comments, if disqualification is recommended; and then a decision by the full board.

The board has no jurisdiction over a purchase and sale agreement that Respler has signed with the state, or over the development agreement Respler signed with the town. The lease the developer had for the site has since ended, but Guay has said the potential disqualification process "really is about protecting the public going forward."

A state law gives the State Contracting Standards Board the authority to disqualify a state contractor for up to five years "from bidding on, applying for or participating as a contractor or subcontractor under, contracts with the state" based on reasons that include "conviction of or entry of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or admission to, the violation of any state or federal law for embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification, or destruction of records, receiving stolen property or any other offense indicating a lack of business integrity or business honesty which affects responsibility as a state contractor."

As the former head of a plumbing company, Respler had pleaded guilty in New York in 2004 to four counts of fifth-degree conspiracy, a Class A misdemeanor, as described in a New York news release, which Guay has said could potentially disqualify him as a state contractor.

Mediation between Groton and Respler Homes

Meanwhile, the Town of Groton and Respler Homes are in ongoing mediation regarding a dispute over each other's obligations under their development agreement.

In an update before the Town Council Committee of the Whole went into executive session on Tuesday, Town Manager John Burt and Eric Callahan, an attorney for the town, said the first formal mediation session was held on March 3 and a follow-up mediation session is scheduled for March 14. They said both the development agreement and the mediator require confidentiality. 

"The council is staying the course with the goal of ending the development agreement with Respler Homes," Burt said on Friday.

Respler could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday afternoon.

Respler confirmed in January that he has an agreement in which Blue Lotus Group, described as a company specializing in elder care and age-restricted independent living communities, would acquire Respler Homes.

Groton Town Council’s data center agreement meeting scheduled for Wednesday

Groton — The special Town Council and Committee of the Whole meeting to review a data center agreement has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. There will be an opportunity for public comment, according to a town notice.

The meeting will take place at Thrive 55+ (Groton Senior Center) at 102 Newtown Road and also virtually via Zoom.

NE Edge LLC, under manager Thomas Quinn, is seeking a host fee agreement with the town for land south of Interstate 95 between Hazelnut Hill and Flanders Roads. With the legislature providing 20- to 30-year tax exemptions for data centers, the proposed agreement sets forth the criteria for establishing one data center or potentially more on the land and also the revenue the town annually would receive in lieu of taxes. Quinn estimates the annual revenue at $1.5 million.

Town Manager John Burt said the special Town Council meeting will begin with an opportunity for public comment. After public comment, the meeting then will recess to a Committee of the Whole meeting for councilors to review the latest draft of the agreement. After the review, the Committee of the Whole meeting would be adjourned and the councilors would go back to the special Town Council meeting.

If councilors in the Committee of the Whole meeting recommend approving the agreement, they would then take up a resolution of approval at the special Town Council meeting, Burt explained. If they don't recommend it, the special council meeting simply will be adjourned, he said.

The latest draft agreement is available in the Committee of the Whole meeting agenda packet posted online at bit.ly/gtdataagenda. The town has posted the agendas and information about the proposal, as well as a host fee agreement that the town previously signed with Gotspace Data Partners for land off of Route 117/North Road, at bit.ly/gthostfee.

Shelbourne seeks CRDA backing for 159-apartment, mixed-use conversion in Hartford’s North End

Michael Puffer

Shelbourne Global has asked for an $8 million loan from the Capital Region Development Authority for a mixed-use conversion of the former Fuller Brush industrial complex in Hartford’s North End.

Shelbourne – one of the most prominent developers in Hartford – estimates it will cost $31 million to develop the residential portion of the project on the 12.5-acre property it purchased in late 2020.

City leaders are generally supportive of the project, although CRDA Executive Director Michael W. Freimuth said the agency has questions about Shelbourne’s budget proposal and is not quite ready to put it to a board vote. Freimuth said he is supportive of the project, although details need to be ironed out, which is not unusual. 

CRDA staff aren’t certain if the proposed construction budget is adequate and or if the rents Shelbourne proposes to charge will cover development costs.

“We think it would be an interesting and fun project, but we are in the number-crunch phase,” Freimuth said Friday following a meeting with CRDA’s Housing and Neighborhood Committee. “We need to get more comfortable with the construction forecast and we are not at the moment.”

Freimuth said CRDA staff will visit the complex at 3580 Main St. in the coming week to get a better sense of potential costs.

The agency has also asked Shelboune to adjust the revenue stream for the project.

As of January, Shelbourne proposed to use a $17 million conventional loan, $8 million from CRDA, a $1.5 million state housing grant and $5 million of equity.

Freimuth said Friday CRDA would rather Shelbourne borrow $7 million from the agency. The agency also wants Shelbourne to tap state and federal historic tax credits to pay that loan down to $4.5 million as the project reaches completion.

Michael Seidenfeld, Shelbourne’s chief operating officer, said he does not want to discuss terms through the media but touted the project’s benefits.

“Shelbourne is very committed to bringing quality housing and a transformative, mixed-use project to a crucial neighborhood of our city, which has been traditionally underserved and needs economic vibrancy,” Seidenfeld said. “We believe this project will bring jobs, residents and a much better quality of life to the neighborhood.”

Seidenfeld said Shelbourne is working closely with Mayor Luke Bronin, other city officials, the CRDA, members of Hartford’s legislative delegation and community groups to realize the redevelopment. He anticipates presenting a final plan at the next meeting of CRDA’s Housing and Neighborhood Committee on April 1.

Shelbourne paid $4.3 million for the Fuller Brush complex. The property hosts 10 buildings with a combined 326,000 square feet. In January, Shelbourne presented CRDA with a plan for 133 one-bedroom apartments, 26 two-bedroom units, 7,000 square feet of amenity space and room for office and manufacturing uses.

Based in New York, Shelbourne has either purchased, or been partner in the purchase of more than $250 million in Hartford real estate in the past several years, according to the company. Shelbourne said it has spent more than $30 million improving its Hartford properties.

In mid-2020, Shelbourne and Axela group closed a $22 million purchase of the former Red Lion Hotel at 50 Morgan St., with plans for an $8 million renovation.

According to Shelbourne, conversion into apartments had begun, and the new owners would complete the process, resulting in 273 units.

Shelbourne is a major partner in the redevelopment of the Pratt Street area downtown, where it is working on a mixed-use redevelopment of 398,484 square feet. It is also the largest landlord in downtown Hartford’s office market, owning four office towers.

Hartford wants to turn scrapyard into major ground-up manufacturing innovation hub

Greg Bordonaro

he city of Hartford wants to transform a former scrapyard in the Parkville neighborhood — which currently serves as the largest undeveloped and unutilized land parcel in the Capital City — into a major ground-up development that would serve the advanced manufacturing industry. 

The plan is part of a much broader $242 million public-private redevelopment vision to create a Parkville Arts & Innovation District.

Part of the plan hinges on obtaining funding from the state’s Innovation Corridor Program, which tasks the Department of Economic and Community Development with picking two or more “transformational, place-making proposals for major urban areas or regional economic centers” for grants of up to $50 million each.

The city of Hartford has officially submitted its program application, connecting it with efforts to turn Parkville into an advanced manufacturing hub. It is seeking $48.4 million in state grant funding to leverage an overall $242 million investment in Parkville. The district would include 13 parcels of  buildings and land spanning 55 acres. 

Redevelopment of a former 33 acre scrapyard at 500 Flatbush Ave. and 173/201 Bartholomew Ave., is described as the “biggest prize” in the city’s Parkville redevelopment vision. 

The ultimate goal is to transform the land into at least 325,000 square feet of advanced manufacturing flexible space along with additional amenities.

The envisioned industrial flex buildings would accommodate small manufacturing businesses or be combined for larger operations. 

The city of Hartford actually acquired the land last summer through foreclosure and it is situated adjacent to the CTfastrak and the CTrailHartford Line.

“Its development would also connect the heart of the Parkville Arts and Innovation District to Flatbush Avenue, creating a link between Parkville and the New Park Avenue commercial corridor,” according to the city’s Innovation Corridor Program application. 

However, before development can occur, the site must be remediated, the city said. The site has PCB contamination and contains multiple blighted buildings that must be demolished. 

As part of its Innovation Corridor Program grant funding request, the city is asking for $12 million to help remediate the site. 

“The magnitude of environmental remediation and stabilization work is significant. However, assessments done to date suggest that a phased remediation is feasible,” the city said. 

The city’s next step is to initiate a redevelopment plan for the site in conjunction with a remediation action plan. 

Remediation and redevelopment would occur in phases; work would start initially at the southern portion of the site and gradually move to the northern section of the property.

The initial work will focus on hazardous material abatement and buildings demolition, according to the city. 

District New Haven eyes Hartford location as part of ambitious Parkville redevelopment plans

Greg Bordonaro, Michael Puffer

District New Haven — the hip Elm City coworking space founded by serial entrepreneur David Salinas — is eyeing a new location in Hartford’s Parkville neighborhood.

Salinas is a partner in a much broader $242 million public-private redevelopment plan to create a Parkville Arts & Innovation District.

Part of the plan hinges on obtaining funding from the state’s Innovation Corridor Program, which tasks the Department of Economic and Community Development with picking two or more “transformational, place-making proposals for major urban areas or regional economic centers” for grants of up to $50 million each.

Programs must aim for at least 15,000 new jobs in data science, advanced manufacturing, insurance technology or other high-growth industries.

The city of Hartford has officially submitted its program application, connecting it with efforts to turn Parkville into an advanced manufacturing hub. It is seeking $48.4 million in state grant funding to leverage an overall $242 million investment in Parkville. The district would include 13 parcels of buildings and land spanning 55 acres. 

Overall, the city’s Parkville Arts & Innovation District plan aims to boost residential development, job training and new manufacturing development in Parkville, leveraging many local organizations and nonprofits that already operate in the area.

“The plan we submitted represents a comprehensive proposal for creating jobs, connecting Hartford residents to opportunity, bringing blighted buildings back to life, making Parkville a center of digital innovation and protecting and promoting the distinctive spirit that makes Parkville so special to begin with,” Mayor Luke Bronin said in an email to project supporters this week. 

Most of the projects outlined in the application — such as expansion of the Parkville Market and new apartment development in the area — have already been made public. The HBJ recently reported on many of those developments.

Salinas’ involvement is new. 

According to plans, District New Haven would open a 20,000-square-foot coworking space in an advanced manufacturing innovation hub known as the “The Factory.” The Factory would be housed in the Champlin Company building, an 80,000-square-foot property at 81 Bartholomew Ave., and contain three distinct but linked spaces, dedicated respectively to advanced manufacturing technology and companies.

District New Haven’s coworking space would focus on advanced manufacturing innovation, but also be open to other types of companies.

The Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT), in partnership with other organizations and higher-education institutions, will anchor and manage approximately 30,000 square feet of space in The Factory dedicated to helping small and mid-size manufacturers integrate new technologies into their existing workflows, and provide training necessary to do so.

Another 30,000 square feet of space — called Solutions @ The Factory — will serve as a home for technology-driven companies that “provide products and processes that enable attainment of Industry 4.0 standards for manufacturers,” according to the city.

Targeted tenant companies that have expressed strong interest in establishing a presence in this location, according to the city, include automation, digital production and cloud computing providers such as: Bright Machines, Cisco, Drishti, FANUC, Microsoft, Ready Robotics, Rockwell, Service Now, Sick, Sight Machines and Tulip. 

The Factory, according to the city’s application, “will establish Parkville as the premier place on the East Coast to drive the adoption of Industry 4.0 practices.”

Another new project outlined in the city’s application is formation of the “Powerhouse,” a new center of workforce and talent development to be located at a vacant building at 45 Bartholomew Ave.

There are plans to convert a vacant building at 45 Bartholomew Ave. in Hartford into a new center of workforce and talent development.

The long-vacant structure will be converted into a collaborative center for the development of digital and innovation talent. 

The plan includes the creation of shared flexible, multi-purpose spaces so that Powerhouse members, such as the workforce development nonprofit Girls for Technology, can conduct workshops alongside classes, seminars or research symposia held by UConn, Trinity College or the University of Hartford, according to the application. 

Partners involved in the plan include: Stanley Black & Decker, Launc[H]artford, the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT), The District, Girls for Technology, Real Art Ways, Parkville Management, Hands on Hartford, reSET, the Capital Region Development Authority, Capital Community College and the Connecticut Colleges and State University System, Trinity College and the University of Hartford, among others.