CT Construction Digest Thursday May 14, 2020
$32M Newington apartments on hold after tax-credit miss
Matt Pilon
assachusetts-based developer Dakota Partners says it will delay construction of its planned 108-unit Cedar Pointe apartment complex in Newington by a year, after failing to win $2 million worth of tax credits for the $32 million project.
Dakota told HBJ in November that it was planning a late summer 2020 groundbreaking, but this week, the company’s marketing director, Katie Cardillo, said in an email that construction had been pushed out to fall 2021.
The delay comes after a nine-month legal fight over Newington’s planning board rejecting Cedar Pointe over safety concerns. A judge sided with Dakota last year, overturning the denial.
Cardillo said the new timeline is unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There’s plenty of competition for the credits. CHFA, which had $8.8 million worth of credits to award, said it received 16 applications seeking a total of just over $23 million. Seven projects were ultimately selected.
Cardillo said Dakota -- which has received low-income credits for other Connecticut projects in the past -- intends to reapply for the funding this November.
Middletown officials decry elements of DOT construction work in populated area
Cassandra Day
MIDDLETOWN — As construction continues from the north end of the city to the downtown, at least one business owner is very displeased with relinquishing some of his property for traffic improvements.
Luce restaurant owner Sammy Bajraktarevic, whose eatery sits at the corner of busy Washington and Main streets was offered $630 by the state Department of Transportation so it could cut three to four feet into the curb to create a wider lane for tractor trailers to turn onto Washington / Route 66, a state roadway.
Matt Pilon
assachusetts-based developer Dakota Partners says it will delay construction of its planned 108-unit Cedar Pointe apartment complex in Newington by a year, after failing to win $2 million worth of tax credits for the $32 million project.
Dakota told HBJ in November that it was planning a late summer 2020 groundbreaking, but this week, the company’s marketing director, Katie Cardillo, said in an email that construction had been pushed out to fall 2021.
The delay comes after a nine-month legal fight over Newington’s planning board rejecting Cedar Pointe over safety concerns. A judge sided with Dakota last year, overturning the denial.
Cardillo said the new timeline is unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dakota had applied for federal low-income tax credits for the project, but came up short in late March, when the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, which administers the program, did not select Cedar Pointe for an award.
There’s plenty of competition for the credits. CHFA, which had $8.8 million worth of credits to award, said it received 16 applications seeking a total of just over $23 million. Seven projects were ultimately selected.
Cardillo said Dakota -- which has received low-income credits for other Connecticut projects in the past -- intends to reapply for the funding this November.
Middletown officials decry elements of DOT construction work in populated area
Cassandra Day
MIDDLETOWN — As construction continues from the north end of the city to the downtown, at least one business owner is very displeased with relinquishing some of his property for traffic improvements.
Luce restaurant owner Sammy Bajraktarevic, whose eatery sits at the corner of busy Washington and Main streets was offered $630 by the state Department of Transportation so it could cut three to four feet into the curb to create a wider lane for tractor trailers to turn onto Washington / Route 66, a state roadway.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said of the proposal, which includes the removal of a tree at the corner.Bajraktarevic needs those spaces, which face the street to ensure customer convenience. They are all the more important now to the restaurant owner, who is doing takeout during the coronavirus pandemic.
Construction began on two separate state projects in late February. In addition the roadwork in the center of the city, a repair project on the Arrigoni Bridge involves the upgrading of deteriorating approach spans carrying Routes 17 and 66 in Middletown and Portland over the Connecticut River, as well as deck replacements.
In all, $3.25 million will be spent on adding four more lanes to the roadway near St. Johns Square, which leads to the Arrigoni Bridge into Portland and also allows access to the downtown, and $43 million worth of bridge repairs.As to the Washington and Main project, Bajraktarevic said, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, luxury car-owning clients preferred those spaces so they could check their vehicles while dining. He is also troubled by cars and motorcycles that “race” along Main Street toward the bridge at speeds up to 60 miles per hour, especially during the summer months, when it disturbs those eating outdoors.
“All those motors revving — it’s like a speeding raceway. It’s such an inconvenience to try and keep Main Street spaces occupied with customers,” Bajraktarevic explained.
St. John’s Square project manager and state DOT engineer Stephen Hall has said portion of the project will address two safety issues of concern to residents. It will include the addition of two more right and left turn lanes at Hartford Avenue in front of St. John Church to ease the congestion of motorists coming off Route 9 south and heading over the bridge into Portland.
Emails and a call to Hall for comment on this story were not returned by press time.
Common Council Minority Leader Phil Pessina said is worried about preserving the character of historic Main Street, its walkability and business-friendly climate.“The plan looks good on paper, but the reality is, we’ve always had a Main Street that was easy to cross,” he said.
The DOT eliminated all midway crossing spots, including from Powder Hollow Brewery on lower Washington Street to Melilli Plaza. The one that connected pedestrians coming from Main Street near the Salvation Army and Cinder & Salt clothing store also is gone.
The councilman is pleased the DOT’s plans to turn Rapallo Avenue into a flyover for Route 9 were abandoned, “but the human factor is, it will raise speeds. I don’t believe it will slow down (motorists),” Pessina said.
There are major concerns from locals who are worried motorists will try to cut down residential side streets to avoid the bottleneck and construction as the roadway approaches the bridge, causing traffic backups and safety issues.
Some families living in this area don’t have cars and people are used to walking on Main Street, crossing midway between the intersections to get where they need to go.
Councilman Ed McKeon has two objections to the project. “The state has never communicated clearly to the city about what they want to do.”
He’s also concerned about the impact on nearby residential areas. “They want to put more cars on Main Street moving at a higher speed than now. They will say they want traffic to move more smoothly, but you can translate that into more traffic moving faster,” he said.
“It’s good for the cars — people who are traveling through Middletown — but bad for pedestrians, residents and merchants. Their core objective works against what is good for those four blocks of Main Street,” he said of the DOT.
The city, council members and public were unaware of changes prior to the start of construction in late February, according to Mayor Ben Florsheim. Public hearings that took place over the course of several renditions of the state project originally included addressing the Route 9 north and southbound stop light exits.
Most people thought the two projects wouldn’t be divorced from one another, Florsheim said. “We were taken aback a couple of months ago that it has been combined with the Arrigoni Bridge work,” he said.
There is good news, said the mayor, who is pleased communication with state officials has improved significantly recently. During workshops with council members and a public hearing at Macdonough Elementary School a few months back, the public’s feedback was taken into account.
But Florsheim calls the loss of parking spots “a big blow. We have had a supply problem with parking downtown for a while, and we do have to address it.” The city is conducting an update to its 2008 parking study, taking into account the situation around the entire city.
There are some benefits to taxpayers, according to Florsheim.
“Having better accommodations for pedestrians on Main Street is a good thing. The big question is about adding volume of traffic. We want to make sure if that’s going to happen, it’s not adding to lack of pedestrian safety, contributing to businesses not able to do well. Improvements need to happen,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pessina worries about losing the character of the area. “We’re left behind with what they’ve designed — what they feel is the best for Middletown. Every time you exclude the public and don’t listen to their concerns, it’s a detriment to a community,” he explained.
East Lyme to consider additional $2.17 million for new police building
Mary Biekert
East Lyme — After receiving construction bids and tallying additional costs in recent weeks, the committee overseeing renovations for the town’s new police building unanimously voted Tuesday to move forward with a $7.17 million plan to complete the project.
The plan is $2.17 million more than the $5 million voters approved for the project last year, and now will require the Public Safety Building Vision Committee to go before both the boards of selectmen and finance to present its recommendations for the building and ask that the town bond the additional money for the project.
“This is the most difficult project that this town has ever gone through,” First Selectman Mark Nickerson said at the end of Tuesday’s vision committee meeting. “We are well past the 20th year talking about a public safety building. This is the third or fourth rendition of it. It’s been politicized. It’s been a big question out there and we have done a disservice to the police all along this pathway. It’s time to put this to bed."
“You’ve done an amazing job,” he continued to the committee. “We needed everybody’s input, and sometimes it got rough and sometimes there was a tug of war going on. But we got the best product. And while that price tag is where it is ... We are far, far, far, far under what a new building would cost.”
He was referring to two previous, unsuccessful attempts to establish a public safety complex. In 2004, the Board of Finance declined a $6.5 million proposal to build a facility at Camp Niantic, now named Camp Nett, and in 2007 a $14 million complex was rejected by voters at referendum.
The Board of Finance agreed in early 2019 to allot $5 million toward the current project, which voters later approved at referendum, to purchase and renovate the former 30,000-square-foot Honeywell office building at 277 West Main St. into a consolidated space that would host a new police facility, as well as the town’s dispatch center, fire marshal’s office and emergency operations center.
Having closed on the building in May 2019 for $2.77 million, the town’s vision committee, which consists of selectmen, Board of Finance members, Police Commission members, police Chief Mike Finkelstein and residents, was left with an approximately $2.23 million budget for renovations and, over the last eight months, has deliberated and worked with contracted architects Silver/Petrucelli + Associates on how the building should be renovated while trying to keep costs within budget without skimping on quality.
Currently, police are housed in what’s been described by the first selectman as a “deplorable” and cramped building on Main Street, forcing the town’s police force to deal with flooding, mold, mildew and an overcrowded work space for more than a decade now. The Town of East Lyme currently pays the Town of Waterford about $43,000 annually to use its holding cell space as the current police building, owned by Dominion, does not have holding cells.
Plans for the new police building show the entirety of the renovations will be contained to the first floor of the building, leaving the second floor to possibly be utilized by other town departments in the future. The plans include three holding cells and ample storage space for evidence collection, as well as other police-related needs.
After factoring in the $2.77 million the town has paid to purchase the 277 West Main St. building, and the $3 million construction bid from Noble Construction & Management of Centerbrook — the lowest of nine bids submitted to the town late last month for the project — the Public Safety Vision Committee decided last week it also would recommend that an elevator cab be installed during renovations, adding approximately $200,000 to the bottom line.
The committee also factored in other costs for the project: up to $500,000 in information technology infrastructure; a $40,000 estimate to eventually hook up the building to public water; more than $100,000 in architect fees; $50,000 for a clerk of the works; about $308,000 for contingency costs and other miscellaneous items, bringing the total cost of the project to $7,178,566 Tuesday.
“I want to thank each and every one of you,” vision committee Chairman Paul Dagle said to his committee members at Tuesday’s meeting. “We have scrubbed, we’ve had differences of opinion, we’ve listened to each other, and we’ve tried to satisfy each other’s questions. I think that’s the value of this committee. ... I’m very proud of the work that everyone has done and I’m very proud we have unanimously endorsed this recommendation.”
The committee will go before the Board of Selectmen at a meeting next week to present its recommendation for consideration and to ask for an additional $2.17 million allocation. Should the Board of Selectmen approve the plans, the Board of Finance then will have a say in whether the town should proceed to bond the additional money.
Residents typically have a say on allocations of more than $10,000, either through a town meeting or referendum. But Nickerson said by phone Wednesday that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Ned Lamont signed an executive order allowing a town’s boards of selectmen and finance to have final say on bonding allocations and they don't require a town meeting to approve the funds.
In response to whether the town could hold a virtual town meeting, or conduct the meeting in an alternative fashion, Nickerson said, “I’ve never heard of it done, I don’t know. I can’t comment on that. But we have (a dozen) elected people who are doing the business for the town, and we have a vision committee who unanimously approved the renovations.”
“You’re talking about 24 people, 12 (of whom are) elected, who will have looked over this project before approving it,” he said. “We are into our third decade of struggling with this issue, so I’m hoping for some positive results.”
Board of Finance Chairwoman Camille Alberti said Wednesday by phone she could not yet comment on how a more than $2 million allocation will affect next year’s town budget and finances, but said she planned to announce the news at a Wednesday evening Board of Finance meeting before the board was to begin further deliberations to decrease the town’s originally proposed $77.6 million 2020-21 budget in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the boards of selectmen and education submitted revisions to decrease their proposed budgets this month, but the finance board has yet to finalize next year's budget. It is scheduled to do so on May 27.
Alberti added that she was not sure if she was comfortable approving the $2.17 million allocation without first allowing residents to vote on the decision. She added that she plans to tally up and present to residents what she described as the real total costs of the police building project, stating that the $7.17 million figure does not include what the town has been paying in short-term financing interest fees this year for the building purchase, or lost tax revenue after Honeywell sold the building to the town, as well as interest costs the town will pay as part of 20-year bonding packages for the project.
The town has until the end of August to sign a contract with its selected contractor, Noble Construction, and may change elements within the project’s scope to further bring down costs before doing so.
What’s Next For Construction And Contech After Covid-19?
Construction began on two separate state projects in late February. In addition the roadwork in the center of the city, a repair project on the Arrigoni Bridge involves the upgrading of deteriorating approach spans carrying Routes 17 and 66 in Middletown and Portland over the Connecticut River, as well as deck replacements.
In all, $3.25 million will be spent on adding four more lanes to the roadway near St. Johns Square, which leads to the Arrigoni Bridge into Portland and also allows access to the downtown, and $43 million worth of bridge repairs.As to the Washington and Main project, Bajraktarevic said, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, luxury car-owning clients preferred those spaces so they could check their vehicles while dining. He is also troubled by cars and motorcycles that “race” along Main Street toward the bridge at speeds up to 60 miles per hour, especially during the summer months, when it disturbs those eating outdoors.
“All those motors revving — it’s like a speeding raceway. It’s such an inconvenience to try and keep Main Street spaces occupied with customers,” Bajraktarevic explained.
St. John’s Square project manager and state DOT engineer Stephen Hall has said portion of the project will address two safety issues of concern to residents. It will include the addition of two more right and left turn lanes at Hartford Avenue in front of St. John Church to ease the congestion of motorists coming off Route 9 south and heading over the bridge into Portland.
Emails and a call to Hall for comment on this story were not returned by press time.
Common Council Minority Leader Phil Pessina said is worried about preserving the character of historic Main Street, its walkability and business-friendly climate.“The plan looks good on paper, but the reality is, we’ve always had a Main Street that was easy to cross,” he said.
The DOT eliminated all midway crossing spots, including from Powder Hollow Brewery on lower Washington Street to Melilli Plaza. The one that connected pedestrians coming from Main Street near the Salvation Army and Cinder & Salt clothing store also is gone.
The councilman is pleased the DOT’s plans to turn Rapallo Avenue into a flyover for Route 9 were abandoned, “but the human factor is, it will raise speeds. I don’t believe it will slow down (motorists),” Pessina said.
There are major concerns from locals who are worried motorists will try to cut down residential side streets to avoid the bottleneck and construction as the roadway approaches the bridge, causing traffic backups and safety issues.
Some families living in this area don’t have cars and people are used to walking on Main Street, crossing midway between the intersections to get where they need to go.
Councilman Ed McKeon has two objections to the project. “The state has never communicated clearly to the city about what they want to do.”
He’s also concerned about the impact on nearby residential areas. “They want to put more cars on Main Street moving at a higher speed than now. They will say they want traffic to move more smoothly, but you can translate that into more traffic moving faster,” he said.
“It’s good for the cars — people who are traveling through Middletown — but bad for pedestrians, residents and merchants. Their core objective works against what is good for those four blocks of Main Street,” he said of the DOT.
The city, council members and public were unaware of changes prior to the start of construction in late February, according to Mayor Ben Florsheim. Public hearings that took place over the course of several renditions of the state project originally included addressing the Route 9 north and southbound stop light exits.
Most people thought the two projects wouldn’t be divorced from one another, Florsheim said. “We were taken aback a couple of months ago that it has been combined with the Arrigoni Bridge work,” he said.
There is good news, said the mayor, who is pleased communication with state officials has improved significantly recently. During workshops with council members and a public hearing at Macdonough Elementary School a few months back, the public’s feedback was taken into account.
But Florsheim calls the loss of parking spots “a big blow. We have had a supply problem with parking downtown for a while, and we do have to address it.” The city is conducting an update to its 2008 parking study, taking into account the situation around the entire city.
There are some benefits to taxpayers, according to Florsheim.
“Having better accommodations for pedestrians on Main Street is a good thing. The big question is about adding volume of traffic. We want to make sure if that’s going to happen, it’s not adding to lack of pedestrian safety, contributing to businesses not able to do well. Improvements need to happen,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pessina worries about losing the character of the area. “We’re left behind with what they’ve designed — what they feel is the best for Middletown. Every time you exclude the public and don’t listen to their concerns, it’s a detriment to a community,” he explained.
East Lyme to consider additional $2.17 million for new police building
Mary Biekert
East Lyme — After receiving construction bids and tallying additional costs in recent weeks, the committee overseeing renovations for the town’s new police building unanimously voted Tuesday to move forward with a $7.17 million plan to complete the project.
The plan is $2.17 million more than the $5 million voters approved for the project last year, and now will require the Public Safety Building Vision Committee to go before both the boards of selectmen and finance to present its recommendations for the building and ask that the town bond the additional money for the project.
“This is the most difficult project that this town has ever gone through,” First Selectman Mark Nickerson said at the end of Tuesday’s vision committee meeting. “We are well past the 20th year talking about a public safety building. This is the third or fourth rendition of it. It’s been politicized. It’s been a big question out there and we have done a disservice to the police all along this pathway. It’s time to put this to bed."
“You’ve done an amazing job,” he continued to the committee. “We needed everybody’s input, and sometimes it got rough and sometimes there was a tug of war going on. But we got the best product. And while that price tag is where it is ... We are far, far, far, far under what a new building would cost.”
He was referring to two previous, unsuccessful attempts to establish a public safety complex. In 2004, the Board of Finance declined a $6.5 million proposal to build a facility at Camp Niantic, now named Camp Nett, and in 2007 a $14 million complex was rejected by voters at referendum.
The Board of Finance agreed in early 2019 to allot $5 million toward the current project, which voters later approved at referendum, to purchase and renovate the former 30,000-square-foot Honeywell office building at 277 West Main St. into a consolidated space that would host a new police facility, as well as the town’s dispatch center, fire marshal’s office and emergency operations center.
Having closed on the building in May 2019 for $2.77 million, the town’s vision committee, which consists of selectmen, Board of Finance members, Police Commission members, police Chief Mike Finkelstein and residents, was left with an approximately $2.23 million budget for renovations and, over the last eight months, has deliberated and worked with contracted architects Silver/Petrucelli + Associates on how the building should be renovated while trying to keep costs within budget without skimping on quality.
Currently, police are housed in what’s been described by the first selectman as a “deplorable” and cramped building on Main Street, forcing the town’s police force to deal with flooding, mold, mildew and an overcrowded work space for more than a decade now. The Town of East Lyme currently pays the Town of Waterford about $43,000 annually to use its holding cell space as the current police building, owned by Dominion, does not have holding cells.
Plans for the new police building show the entirety of the renovations will be contained to the first floor of the building, leaving the second floor to possibly be utilized by other town departments in the future. The plans include three holding cells and ample storage space for evidence collection, as well as other police-related needs.
After factoring in the $2.77 million the town has paid to purchase the 277 West Main St. building, and the $3 million construction bid from Noble Construction & Management of Centerbrook — the lowest of nine bids submitted to the town late last month for the project — the Public Safety Vision Committee decided last week it also would recommend that an elevator cab be installed during renovations, adding approximately $200,000 to the bottom line.
The committee also factored in other costs for the project: up to $500,000 in information technology infrastructure; a $40,000 estimate to eventually hook up the building to public water; more than $100,000 in architect fees; $50,000 for a clerk of the works; about $308,000 for contingency costs and other miscellaneous items, bringing the total cost of the project to $7,178,566 Tuesday.
“I want to thank each and every one of you,” vision committee Chairman Paul Dagle said to his committee members at Tuesday’s meeting. “We have scrubbed, we’ve had differences of opinion, we’ve listened to each other, and we’ve tried to satisfy each other’s questions. I think that’s the value of this committee. ... I’m very proud of the work that everyone has done and I’m very proud we have unanimously endorsed this recommendation.”
The committee will go before the Board of Selectmen at a meeting next week to present its recommendation for consideration and to ask for an additional $2.17 million allocation. Should the Board of Selectmen approve the plans, the Board of Finance then will have a say in whether the town should proceed to bond the additional money.
Residents typically have a say on allocations of more than $10,000, either through a town meeting or referendum. But Nickerson said by phone Wednesday that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Ned Lamont signed an executive order allowing a town’s boards of selectmen and finance to have final say on bonding allocations and they don't require a town meeting to approve the funds.
In response to whether the town could hold a virtual town meeting, or conduct the meeting in an alternative fashion, Nickerson said, “I’ve never heard of it done, I don’t know. I can’t comment on that. But we have (a dozen) elected people who are doing the business for the town, and we have a vision committee who unanimously approved the renovations.”
“You’re talking about 24 people, 12 (of whom are) elected, who will have looked over this project before approving it,” he said. “We are into our third decade of struggling with this issue, so I’m hoping for some positive results.”
Board of Finance Chairwoman Camille Alberti said Wednesday by phone she could not yet comment on how a more than $2 million allocation will affect next year’s town budget and finances, but said she planned to announce the news at a Wednesday evening Board of Finance meeting before the board was to begin further deliberations to decrease the town’s originally proposed $77.6 million 2020-21 budget in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the boards of selectmen and education submitted revisions to decrease their proposed budgets this month, but the finance board has yet to finalize next year's budget. It is scheduled to do so on May 27.
Alberti added that she was not sure if she was comfortable approving the $2.17 million allocation without first allowing residents to vote on the decision. She added that she plans to tally up and present to residents what she described as the real total costs of the police building project, stating that the $7.17 million figure does not include what the town has been paying in short-term financing interest fees this year for the building purchase, or lost tax revenue after Honeywell sold the building to the town, as well as interest costs the town will pay as part of 20-year bonding packages for the project.
The town has until the end of August to sign a contract with its selected contractor, Noble Construction, and may change elements within the project’s scope to further bring down costs before doing so.
What’s Next For Construction And Contech After Covid-19?