CT Construction Digest Thursday February 20, 2025
Naugatuck works to abandon part of Water Street for new train station
Andreas Yilma
NAUGATUCK — The Board of Mayor and Burgesses has voted to discontinue a portion of Water Street to make way for the proposed new train station.Ad
“We are conveying the piece at the bottom in the center that's mostly on Water Street to the state so they can build a train platform, a train station and parking,” Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess said.
Water Street is divided mainly by Maple Street. The section of Water Street from Trinity Health of New England Urgent Care to the Post Office recently was converted to a one-way to help with traffic. The rest of that portion of Water Street that runs past The Station Restaurant all the way to Millville Avenue and Church Street is one-way.
The side of Water Street south of Maple Street hasn't been used in the past 40 years, Hess said.
“We're going to discontinue the town road,” Hess said. “So Water Street will be a town road on both sides of the state land but in the middle, on the state property, it'll be a state property with state access, not town access.”
Before borough officials can convey part of the road to the state, the process has to be referred to the Planning Commission for its approval.
The state Department of Transportation was expected to open bids in the beginning of February for the construction of the train station and platform. The current train station is next to The Station Restaurant down the street at 195 Water St.
Hess said the DOT is expected to start construction as soon as warmer weather arrives.
The proposed train station in the middle of Parcel B is part of the transit-oriented development that will complement the residential and commercial development on the same piece of land.
Pennrose, a real estate development company from Philadelphia, and the Cloud Co. of Hartford are set to develop the land at the corner of Maple Street and Old Firehouse Road, The development is broken into three phases that cumulatively consist of three, four-story buildings with 60 units in each structure consisting of 29 one-bedroom and 31 two-bedroom units as well as 4,700 square feet of commercial space on the bottom floor.
Phase one of the project will be at the corner of Old Firehouse Road and Maple Street while phase two will be placed on the other end by Rubber Avenue. The middle of Parcel B will hold phase three.
Pennrose Senior Developer and Parcel B project manager Karmen Cheung said they expect to break ground in spring, around the same time as DOT.
AFlorida-based company is proposing a new 200,000-square-foot warehouse in South Windsor.
Vero Beach, Florida-based Altatwo Realty Co. LLC is proposing to build the warehouse, along with associated parking, trailer spaces and a new freight rail spur on a 16-acre wooded property at 250 Rye St.
An application was filed with South Windsor’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission in January. The project would require filling 2,512 square feet of wetlands and would compensate by creating 5,000 square feet of new wetland area, according to a report soil scientist Ian Cole filed, included with the application.
The location of the proposed warehouse is a short distance from Route 5, in an area heavily developed with existing warehouses and logistics buildings.
The new warehouse would access the site using a common driveway with an existing warehouse at 300 Rye St., which has related ownership.
The 182,855-square-foot warehouse at 300 Rye St. houses a glass recycling center operated by Strategic Materials Inc., a company that was acquired last year by Belgium-based industrial materials mining and processing company Sibelco.
The warehouse at 300 Rye St. is owned by Alta Realty Co., a company that, according to state records, shares its address with the limited liability company that owns 250 Rye St. Alta Realty’s principal is The Tenny Group.
New Haven gets $9.5M of frozen federal funds, but $20M for climate change still in limbo
NEW HAVEN — About $30.5 million in already approved funds has been locked by the Trump administration's freeze on grants and programs related to climate change and diversity, officials said.Ad
That money is set to update heating systems, facilitate public housing development and provide job training for some of the city's neediest residents, officials said.
But the city received the first sign of relief when funds for a $9.5 million geothermal project beneath Union Square, including both Union Station and a proposed apartment complex the Housing Authority of New Haven wants to build on the former site of the demolished Church Street South apartments, were released around 3 p.m. Tuesday, a key official said.
"It's extremely frustrating," said state Rep. Steven Winter, D-New Haven, who also is executive director for the city Office of Climate and Sustainability.
He added it's "deeply concerning" to have the funding interrupted and worried the projects might not happen if the funding keeps getting suspended. He said the city won that money in a very competitive process.
Winter said all of the grant funding was suspended Feb. 10.
"There's a federal restraining order from the federal district court in Providence that requires the administration to unfreeze the accounts that were frozen," Winter said.
But so far, that hasn't really happened, he said.
The only communication Winter has received so far from the federal government is a message on the federal payments portal that the status of the city's grants had changed, he said.
The main thing in limbo is a $20 million Community Change grant. Among the projects it would fund are energy enhancement projects, heating system upgrades, energy efficiency improvements and other issues "that really plague our older housing stock" in 14 of New Haven's neediest census blocks, Winter said.
It also includes a workforce development component to train residents for jobs, as well as funding for plumbing and electrical upgrades, active transportation and expanding New Haven's network of protected bike lanes, including a new one along Blatchley Avenue in Fair Haven, Winter said.
The grant also would fund a large investment in Haven's Harvest, a nonprofit that rescues food and feeds the hungry across the city, he said.
"These are all helping people with real needs, as well as help with climate change," Winter said.
The grant also would fund stormwater and tree canopy improvements to increase shade and reduce flooding in aging neighborhoods, expand the city's growing bikeshare program and expand a program to convert food scraps into compost that can be used in community gardens, he said.
Also held up until Tuesday was the $9.5 million grant for the geothermal project. But now it appears that those funds have been unfrozen, Winter said early Tuesday evening.
"It's a really groundbreaking project," he said, adding it would benefit the city's Hill neighborhood.
Also caught in the mix is a $1 million "environmental justice" grant that would help residents in some of New Haven's neediest neighborhoods update their existing oil heating systems with heat pumps, Winter said.
After the city learned in late December that it had won the grant, the project was approved, or "obligated" on Jan. 17 by the former Biden administration. But Winter later found the money to be unavailable, learning a few days later that it had been suspended, he said.
"We are finalizing a solicitation for an engineering contract for the geothermal," he said, but that can't move forward until and unless the funds are unfrozen.
The freeze has stop much needed work in its tracks, Winter said, including creating job descriptions to bring on new staff.
"We really can't move forward with those preparatory steps unless we have confirmation that we can move forward," he said.
The city's statutory partner in the Community Change grant, the Greater Dwight Development Corp., which would lead the housing and workforce development portions of the grant, also is left waiting and wondering what might happen, said Linda Townsend Maier, the GDDC's executive director.
"We're waiting and we're hoping," Townsend Maier said. "The city ... or Steve did a very good job to make sure that that was the reality ... getting input from all the neighborhoods."
But right now, "We're pretty much in the same position we were in before we applied," Townsend Maier said.
Mayor Justin Elicker said the money was awarded to the city and so legally obligated.
"We expect the federal government to meet their obligations, and we’re going to do everything we can and must to ensure this happens," he said. "These grants are critical to advancing important infrastructure projects and initiatives for the city-at-large, specific neighborhoods and individual residents."
He said the freeze has affected New Haven's efforts to address climate change, as well as the daily work of city and state governments throughout the U.S.
"It also just represents backwards thinking," he said. "The United States should be leading on green technology and jobs. That’s the future. Trump can slow it down, but he can’t stop it – and if the United States doesn’t lead, other countries will."
While it would be much harder for the city to reach its climate goals without federal leadership and support, he said New Haven is committed.
"New Haven will continue to stay true to our values, follow the science and lead the way on climate,” Elicker said.
‘55-and-older’ community proposed in South Windsor
AVernon builder is proposing an age-restricted housing development in South Windsor that would include 44 single-family houses and three duplexes.
Kenneth J. Boynton, president of Boynton Construction, in January applied to the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission for a zoning exemption and site plan approval for his “Orchard Pointe” senior residence development at 186 Foster St. The development would be restricted to owners ages 55 and above.
Boynton said he plans to build quality homes for people looking to downsize from larger properties. He hopes to gain approval in time to begin building the first demonstration home this spring and then will build as units sell.
“We are trying to build an active adult community …,” Boynton said Wednesday. “There is a really big need for this type of housing.”
Boynton purchased the 16.8-acre property for $850,000 last year. It consists mainly of agricultural fields with a wooded portion on its eastern edge. The site abuts houses to the north and the working Foster Farm to its south.
The property was transferred to Orchard Pointe Developers LLC, which has Boynton as its principal, in January.
The town’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission signed off on the plan on Feb. 5. It is tentatively scheduled to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission on Feb. 25.
The development would be a planned community with underlying land, roadways, common areas and a community building owned by a homeowners association, according to Boynton’s application. It would also be served by public sewer and water.
Dwelling units in the community would range from 1,550 to 2,400 square feet. An existing barn would be converted into a pickleball court and community room. Eight units would be deed-restricted to affordable prices.
Boynton said he does not yet have a price schedule for the homes. These could vary based on construction costs. He said the aim is to keep them affordable to the community.