Lawmakers revert CT school construction bidding rules

Andrew Brown

Connecticut lawmakers passed a measure in the final hours of the 2024 legislative session that would roll back a reform that Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration pushed for after the state’s school construction program became the subject of a federal criminal investigation.

A single sentence change in a 254-page bond bill will, if signed by the governor, allow construction managers — the companies that oversee most state building projects — to also bid on the subcontracts for school construction.

That type of contracting, which is frequently referred to as “self-performance,” was advocated for by Kosta Diamantis, the former director of the state’s school construction office who resigned in the wake of the federal grand jury investigation.

Officials at the Department of Administrative Services lobbied lawmakers in 2022 — after Diamantis left state government — to ban construction managers from building portions of the schools projects they were leading.

They argued it created a disadvantage for other companies that were seeking to perform for that work. The main concern was that construction managers would have a leg up over other firms when competing for subcontracts because they already oversee the budgets, schedules and bidding processes for the construction projects.

The vast majority of school building projects in Connecticut are managed by a small group of construction companies.

State lawmakers passed the contracting changes that DAS requested in 2022 as part of an annual budget bill.

“Prohibiting self-performance helps ensure consistency between state and municipal projects, promotes competitive bidding along with opportunity and competition in the trades industry and creates a more level playing field between construction managers and subcontractors,” a DAS spokesperson said a the time.

The repeal of those contracting rules was inserted into the bond bill this week by Rep. Jeff Currey, D-East Hartford.

Currey, who is the son of former DAS Commissioner Melody Currey, told The Connecticut Mirror on Wednesday that he wanted to remove the restrictions on construction mangers because he believed it would save the state money on school building projects.

“We are trying to contain costs when it comes to school construction, and I think that this is one of the ways in which you can do that,” said Currey, who pointed out the construction managers would still be required to submit public bids in order to win the subcontracts.

He argued that local school officials and school building committees would protect against construction managers potentially taking advantage of the setup.

“I think there’s enough safeguards there to ensure that there’s nothing that may wind up being out of compliance with the statute,” he added.

Schools are not the only state-funded projects where lawmakers have attempted to place limitations on construction managers in recent years.

Last session, lawmakers passed a bill that banned the Port Authority from allowing construction managers to bid on subcontracts at projects paid for by the maritime agency.

Legislators took that step after Kiewit, the construction manager overseeing the redevelopment of the State Pier in New London, received approval in 2020 to “self-perform” work on that $300 million project.

That approval by the CT Port Authority board resulted in Kiewit recommending itself and winning subcontracts worth at least $87 million.

State auditors criticized that contracting process in a report last year arguing it created, at the very least, the appearance of a conflict since Kiewit was responsible for reviewing the bids from its competitors.

Budget stabilization plan boosts state’s potential XL Center renovation investment to $125M

Skyler Frazer, Greg Bordonaro

Efforts to revitalize Hartford’s XL Center are set to receive another potential boost after the state legislature’s passage late Tuesday night of a $370 million budget stabilization plan.

The bill, which has been greenlit by the House and Senate, increases the maximum amount of funding from $80 million to $125 million that the state and Capital Region Development Authority can contribute to an XL Center renovation. 

That potential $45 million increase in funding comes just weeks after bids for a $107 million XL Center renovation plan came in nearly $40 million over budget.

The budget stabilization bill mostly assigns $370 million in expiring federal pandemic grants to bolster higher education, social services, mental health, child care and town aid next fiscal year.

Included in the bill, however, is also mention of the XL Center renovation funding increase. 

CRDA has been angling for years for a large-scale rehabilitation of the roughly 50-year-old and increasingly obsolete arena. 

Gov. Ned Lamont and state lawmakers last year agreed to pump $80 million into an XL Center renovation project, provided venue operator and promoter Oak View Group invest an additional $20 million.

The Los Angeles-based live entertainment company agreed to do so, in exchange for a 20-year contract to run the XL Center and keep the first $4 million in annual net profit.

Any profit over that mark would be split with CRDA and used for arena maintenance. OVG would be responsible for covering any operating loss.

However, the renovation plan hit a major stumbling block in March, when CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth announced that bids for the renovation tallied to roughly $140 million, well above the estimated $107 million budget. 

That sent project planners back to the drawing board; they had to attempt to cut expenses without trimming elements essential to drawing more concerts and events, Freimuth said.

If the additional state funding comes through, the original renovation plan can stay largely intact.

CRDA leaders say major XL Center systems need to be replaced, while premium seating, staging and other elements of the downtown venue need updating to attract performers and events.

Planned renovations include upgrades needed to pull off shows, such as rigging, increased power capacity, new lighting, a new sound system and staging improvements.

There are also plans for new premium club seating, upgrades to lower bowl seating and improvements to amenities along the concourse.

The arena currently runs a roughly $2 million annual operating deficit and hosts six to eight concerts a year, in addition to various sporting and other events.
Oak View Group has said a major renovation will attract more acts to the Hartford venue. 

Freimuth, on Wednesday morning, said the budget stabilization bill gives CRDA and the state “upside” to go to $125 million for the renovation, but that funding is “subject to lots of approvals.”

The $80 million cap set last year was too low based on the bids that came in, he said. 

“... so this gives us some running room but does not guarantee” $125 million, Freimuth said.

Cleanup to begin at former Waterbury Button factory

Livi Stanford

WATERBURY – Beginning next month, work will begin to remove the remains of the former Waterbury Button factory, moving one step closer to remediating the brownfield site at 835 South Main St. that was destroyed in a fire last year.

The Board of Aldermen on Monday unanimously approved a contract with Manafort Bros. for $4.7 million to remove the debris.

This includes the approval of a transfer from the Capital Improvement Fund for $1.3 million to cover a shortfall in the contract with the cost of the project increasing after the fire at the abandoned site. Officials had estimated the cost of the project at $3.6 million before the fire occurred on May 27, 2023.

Brownfield sites often take years to redevelop, said Tommy Hyde, executive director of Waterbury Development Corp.

Ideas for the site potentially include housing, Hyde said, but he cautioned it is too early to make that decision as there are many steps to cleaning up the home of the former factory. Other ideas for the site include preserving it as open space.

Alderman Majority Leader Christian D’Orso said he is happy there is a contract in place to address the brownfield, which is among a dozen or so in the city that officials are actively working on.

“It all started with the work of former Mayor Neil M. O’Leary and the continuation of all these steps to continue cleaning up these sites,” D’Orso said. “It is one step closer to having them developed and back on the grand list, which is ultimately the end goal.”

Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski Jr. said he is happy the board approved the contract.

“It is an important first step to getting the property cleaned up and starting to transition into something that will benefit the neighborhood and the surrounding area,” he said.

Hyde said the project is funded from $3.1 million from the state Department of Economic and Community Development, roughly $210,000 from the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments and $1.3 million from the city’s Capital Improvement Fund.

He added he expects the city won’t have to spend the entire $1.3 million from the city’s Capital Improvement Fund, as they will receive a credit for steel found on the site, which is estimated at 1,000 tons. They also expect to remove 13,250 tons of debris at the site, which is significantly less than what originally was bid on, he said.

Hyde said after the debris is removed, which is approximately a 180 day project, the city will move to assess the extent of the contaminants at the site.

Pernerewski said this will determine the outcome of the site in conjunction with speaking with residents in the community.

$1M grant to help Danbury fight flooding, fix ‘completely undersized’ downtown drainage system

Rob Ryser

DANBURY – The East Ditch that was dug in the 1800s to serve the sewage and storm drainage needs of the south Main Street corridor was not designed for the dense population and hardened landscape that defines the downtown neighborhood today.

Nor was the East Ditch that was upgraded in 1925 built to handle the unusually heavy rains that are hitting Danbury and the rest of Connecticut with increasing frequency.Top of FormADVERTISEMBottom of Form

That means the residents in the south Main Street corridor can expect more flooding as the wettest months of the year approach.

“The construction back then was of an unbelievably high quality with a lot of attention to detail, but the pipes themselves are completely undersized,” said Antonio Iadarola, the city engineer and director of public works, referring to a 150-acre area that drains into the East Ditch. “They were designed for the 10-year storm. Today, we design for the 50-year storm.”

Though it’s not news that the warm weather months will bring flooding to the downtown and other problematic areas of Danbury, including the west side’s Lake Kenosia watershed, what is different this year is that for the first time since 1990, the city is getting serious about stopping it.

The City Council on Tuesday agreed to terms of a $1 million federal grant to study upgrades to the East Ditch’s 100-year-old infrastructure and stop the flooding that damages properties, closes roads and traps people in buildings.

"We are going to get some good preliminary engineering and a much better current cost estimate (along with) an understanding of all the permitting and how big of a disruption this is going to be,” Iadarola said this week about the benefits of the East Ditch study, which requires a $250,000 match from the city. “It is going to give us a solid understanding of what it would be an cost to implement it.”

Iadarola is referring to an ambitious and expensive infrastructure project that the city began in 1990 but was then abandoned.

Why?

“I can only imagine because of the price tag,” he said. “You have to get easements from everybody, and in some areas (the pipe)is underneath garages where people have built over the top of it. The implementation of it is tremendously challenging.”

Since 1990, the city has grown at one of the fastest rates in the state. The new federally funded study is necessary to account for that growth but also to implement the engineering field’s latest best practices.

"It is going to be quite disruptive if this project goes from design and study to implementation – we would have to work with every single property owner,” Iadarola said. “But once we actually get this study done, it opens a lot of doors for future funding."

The East Ditch upgrade, which could cost as much as $80 million, is not to be confused with another federally funded flood control study of the city’s so-called upper Still River corridor – from Rose Street to Lake Kenosia on the west side.

That upper Still River corridor study, funded by the Army Corps of Engineers, will look at ways to align snarls in the Still River to improve its hydraulics, because impediments in the river’s flow causes water to flood over its banks.

In the downtown’s East Ditch, a drainage area from south Main Street to South Street, and from Main Street to Town Hill Avenue, including Keeler Street, Center Street, State Street and Park Place, the hope is to document a concrete plan to upgrade a drainage system that Iadarola called “substantially undersized.”

The study may even consider discussions on a higher level about updating specifications and standards in the drainage manuals “because of these heavy rain events."

“We’re being forced to look at our design parameters because of the magnitude of these heavy rains coming in,” Iadarola said.

Manchester to sign contract for mixed-use development at long-vacant Broad Street Parkade

Joseph Villanova

MANCHESTER — Elected officials have authorized the signing of an agreement to redevelop the so-called "dark side" of the Broad Street Parkade with a mixture of residential and commercial property.

The decision is the first major public-facing action taken on the project since July, when the town spent $2 million to settle a lawsuit with a previously selected developer.

That legal battle was only one of a number of hurdles that Manchester has faced in its efforts to revitalize Broad Street, dating back as far as 2008.

Under the new contract, Texas-based developer Anthony Properties hopes to raise $100 million from private investors to build around 300 units of market-rate housing, supported by amenities including a fitness center and swimming pool, and two as-of-yet undetermined commercial sites.

Brian Shiu, vice president of development with Anthony Properties, said Tuesday night that the multifamily housing would likely be one- to two-bedroom units inside a three- to four-story building, and the commercial component would begin as vacant "pad sites" prepared for future development.

The Parkade property's "form-based" zone, enacted in 2012, allows for retail storefronts, restaurants, office space, and other commercial uses.

Town officials anticipate that Anthony Properties will begin construction in 2025, potentially split into two "phases" based on project financing. Each phase would include a minimum of 150 housing units, with the first phase including infrastructure improvements such as development of an East Coast Greenway connection.

For its part, Manchester will sell the seven parcels that make up the Parkade property to Anthony Properties for $4.15 million. After the sale, the town will allocate $850,000 of the revenue to reconstruction of Green Manor Boulevard.

Director of Planning and Economic Development Gary Anderson said Tuesday night that Manchester will also freeze all real estate taxes on the residential portion of development for eight years after Anthony Properties completes the final occupancy permit, split between any phases. He said the developer's bill would be capped at the value of the land, without buildings or improvements.

The tax agreement does not include the "pad sites" or any of the commercial construction, Anderson said, and the developer will pay any and all real estate taxes immediately after ownership is transferred and throughout construction of the planned buildings.

Anderson said in a memo dated April 25 that Manchester expects redevelopment of the Parkade to generate commerce and increase the value of the town's grand list, while helping address the "housing crisis" facing both the state and the region.

Nearby communities have established tax agreements as long as 27 years to secure developments like the one proposed by Anthony Properties, Anderson said, and the finished project is estimated to generate $3 million in revenue once taxed at its full value.

The Board of Directors authorized the signing of the Parkade development agreement in a unanimous vote Tuesday night, representing the third formal contract signed for the property since the project began.

The first contract, signed with Canada-based developer Live Work Learn Play in 2016, lapsed in 2018 amid legal and financial challenges. The second, entered with Easton-based Manchester Parkade I LLC in 2021, was called off by town officials in January 2022. The developer filed a lawsuit against the town in May 2022, and the matter was ultimately resolved in July.

CT CONSTRUCTION DIGEST WEDNESDYA MAY 8, 2024

Bridgeport to hold off on demolishing Cherry Street Lofts buildings 

Brian Lockhart

BRIDGEPORT — Prominent developer Gary Flocco has a few months' reprieve to get his Cherry Street Lofts project back on track before the city moves to demolish the handful of recently-condemned buildings he needs for more housing.

"Let's see what he can do," City Council President Aidee Nieves said Tuesday.

She and her colleagues on the legislative body had not been eager to commit to spending $10 million of taxpayer dollars to raze the private West End property. 

But that was the scenario the economic development office laid out. In late April, Director Thomas Gill and Deputy Director William Coleman informed council budget committee members that four blighted buildings making up the next phase of Flocco's Cherry Street Lofts endeavor — 62, 72 and 80 Cherry St. and 1325 Railroad Ave — had been deemed hazardous and ordered demolished.

Unsure of Flocco's ability to do the work, Gill and Coleman wanted the city to do the estimated $10 million job with no guarantee those funds would be reimbursed.

Flocco has already built 158 housing units in that neighborhood, which opened in 2018, plus a charter school. But Cherry Street's third phase has been stalled for the past few years following a ceremonial groundbreaking in July 2021. In an interview last month, Flocco blamed pending lawsuits filed by a former architect on the project for affecting his financing.

Nieves, Burns and the other budget committee chairman, Councilman Ernie Newton, all said this week that, for now, neither that committee nor the full legislative body will authorize spending any dollars to tear down Flocco's four buildings, despite their condition.

"The gentleman (Flocco) asked to give him time to see if he can put the deals and stuff together," Newton said.

Flocco has stated in the past that he believed he would soon have access to the capital to commence work, despite his ongoing legal issues. 

On Tuesday, Flocco said he has since made good progress.

"My banker is coming in two weeks and will meet with the city to give them a comfort level," he said. "I'm feeling very optimistic."

Nieves and Burns said, following economic development's request for the $10 million, they individually spoke with Flocco to better understand his situation.

"From the council perspective, we're not excited about issuing (borrowing) $10 million of bonds to demolish buildings that may yet be restored, rebuilt," Burns said. "My feeling is that the developer will still be able to pull things together and end up with a result I think we all want."

Burns acknowledged that the fact that an emergency condemnation order has been issued for Flocco's properties opens Bridgeport to legal exposure as long as the structures remain standing and in disrepair should a member of the public be injured there. 

But he and Nieves also noted that, realistically, even if the council wanted to fund the economic development office's $10 million request, it would take a few months for any tear-down to begin. For example, last year  the building department ordered the "immediate demolition" of the city-owned Remington Arms factory on the East Side in early January and construction crews began knocking it down in mid-April.

There is another factor complicating any efforts by Bridgeport to demolish Flocco's four structures. In December, 2020 this pending phase of Cherry Street Lofts was awarded $2.2 million from the state to help cleanup any environmental contamination there.

Jim Watson, spokesman for the state's Department of Economic and Community Development, confirmed that Flocco has been unable to execute the final paperwork to access those funds because of the pending lawsuits against him. 

Watson added, as a result of the state committing funds to Cherry Street Lofts, "any decisions to demolish or condemn the buildings will have to be signed off by the State Historic Preservation Office."

Were that agency not consulted, Watson said, the state aid could be jeopardized. 

Flocco said Tuesday he hopes to meet with state economic development staff in June to be able to obtain that $2.2 million.

Developers of the former West Hartford UConn campus refile plans to build hundreds more homes

 Michael Walsh

WEST HARTFORD — One month after the Town Council approved the construction of 322 housing units at one half of the former University of Connecticut campus, developers have restarted the approval process that would allow them to build over 200 more homes across the street.

Over the winter, the development group of West Hartford 1 LLC withdrew its plans to redevelop the western portion of the parcel, allowing West Hartford's various boards, commissions, and Town Council to just focus on the eastern side of the property at 1700 Asylum Ave., which was formerly used as the school's parking lot. It will now be transformed into four residential buildings, adding to an influx of new multifamily homes in West Hartford.

This week, the developers refiled those plans with West Hartford's Planning and Zoning Commission, where it will first seek a wetlands approval after a future public hearing. It is possible that developers will face a similar challenge to their plans as they did months ago, where residents intervened with a petition to try and stop the project, though they were unsuccessful.

"No new building or parking construction is proposed within a wetland except for the filling of a small, isolated wetland pocket of low-or-no functionality identified at the corner of building #5," reads the updated filing letter. "Development of the site as a university campus has significantly impacted the ecological integrity of its wetlands resources. The overall wetlands functionality is low."

Whereas the western side was a straightforward residential development, the plans for the eastern side — at 1800 Asylum Ave. — are a bit different. While there are plans to build 211 housing units, they will be split between 93 apartments, 28 townhouses, and 90 assisted-living units.

That housing, the developers said, would then be accompanied by a commercial component, including retail uses such as a restaurant, a cafe, a spa, and a grocery store, among other potential uses.

Should the project get its wetlands approval, the development would then need to be approved by the Town Council, which would have to vote to rezone the area from single-family to multifamily, while also approving of the commercial aspect of the proposal.

West Hartford's Town Council has shown a willingness to approve more housing in all parts of town, with well over a thousand new multifamily homes expected to be built over the next few years through a variety of projects. Should the project be approved as is, there would 533 total homes built between the two parcels.