‘A bittersweet day:’ Demolition begins on Fairfield University’s Alumni Hall

Katrina Koerting

FAIRFIELD — Wally Halas started watching Fairfield University basketball games at Alumni Hall when he was 12 years old.

Several years later, in 1965, he would take the court there as a member of the Fairfield Prep basketball team, helping the school secure its first state title in 1969.

And on Monday, he watched a crane tear into the roof of the now 62-year-old building at the start of demolition to make way for a new convocation center.

“It’s a bittersweet day, but good for the university and prep communities,” said Halas, who now serves as the vice president for university advancement.

Halas said he still remembers the exhilaration he felt on game days, running out of the locker room onto the court to cheering fans who would throw red and white streamers.

“It was like a cascade of color,” he said.

He pointed to the stands, describing the faces that would watch through windows at the end of the gym and a crowd that packed the bleachers until they were standing on the top row. Cheers would echo off the cement wall that used to separate the space into two courts in the early days, amplifying each fan’s voice, he said.

“Instead of 1,200, it would sound like there were 2,400,” he said.

It will take about a month for Alumni Hall’s demolition to be completed, said Katie Hurley, the project executive for Gilbane Building Company, which is building the center and recently completed the new nursing building on campus.

The new convocation center, to be built on the same spot, is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. It was designed by Centerbrook Architects and is expected to cost $45 million.

It increases the current footprint by about 33 percent, bringing the total square footage up to 85,000 square feet. It will be able to seat 3,500 — up from 2,800 — and will host Stags basketball and volleyball games, Fairfield Prep basketball, concerts and other events.

Until completion of the new facility, the university’s athletic events will be played at Webster Bank Arena, said David Frassinelli, the university’s vice president of facilities.

He too grew up with Alumni Hall, which is where he saw his first basketball game. His father was involved with some of the university’s earliest buildings.

Alumni Hall was built in 1959 — an innovation at the time and one of the earliest pre-stressed concrete buildings. The 11 pre-cast arches used to create the curved roof set a record, according to the university archives.

“That was pretty exciting to see the arches lifted in place,” said John Phelan, who served as the field engineer on the project. His father was the architect and E & F Construction Company, which was in charge of the project, built several of the buildings on campus.

Alumni Hall was Phelan’s first project after graduating from Yale, he said. He was also a Fairfield Prep graduate and was pleased to be involved in a project that would give other Fairfield Prep students a place to play basketball.

His son attended both Fairfield Prep and Fairfield University, where he also played basketball.

Phelan said he enjoyed watching his son play in a building he helped build and would frequent the site as a season ticket holder. His daughter, Betsy Blagys, is now the university’s assistant director of recreation, working next to Alumni Hall.

“It’s a little emotional,” Phelan said, adding he would always see the building as he drove on campus. “It’s not going to be there anymore.”

But whether Alumni Hall stands or is replaced, “The buildings are less important than the memories you made and the people who did it,” Frassinelli said.

The venue hosted some memorable concerts throughout the years, including performances from the Beach Boys, The Byrds, Ludacris and John Legend. Then-Vice President George H. W. Bush also made a campaign stop there in 1988.

Both Phelan and Frassinelli said it’s time for a new structure, allowing for more space and hosting events beyond athletic games. Replacing Alumni Hall with a modern venue is the capstone of the university’s master plan to improve the student experience, which is years in the making, Frassinelli said.

“It will really raise the bar for events on campus,” Frassinelli said.

Riverfront Recapture buys 60-acre Hartford-Windsor parcel, plans community park

Zachary Vasile

Riverfront Recapture, the nonprofit organization that manages riverside parks in Hartford and East Hartford, has purchased 60 acres of riverfront land on the Hartford-Windsor town line and plans to build a new community park there.

In a statement, Riverfront Recapture officials said the property will be redeveloped for recreation, with new trails, open green spaces, piers and docks.

“This land purchase gives us a rare opportunity to conserve one of the last riverfront parcels in the region and significantly expand public access to the Connecticut River,” said President and CEO Michael Zaleski. “The redevelopment plan represents a transformational investment in the multimodal transportation system along the Connecticut River, will drive economic development and improve the environment and community health in the underserved neighborhoods surrounding the park.”

A purchase price was not disclosed.

Funding for the acquisition came from private investors, including the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the William and Alice Mortensen Foundation, and the Mowell Family Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

Currently, plans for the property include the creation of “Garmany Cove,” a nine-acre inlet where Riverfront Recapture plans to install a paddle sports and outdoor center, with rowing, kayaking, canoeing, dragon boating and stand-up paddle boarding all available.

New trails, space for a 10-acre commercial development and infrastructure such as fishing piers, docks and maintenance facilities are also expected to take shape, officials said. Walking routes in the park will help complete a regional trail connection between the Hartford and Windsor Riverwalks.

Wetlands within the parcel, which Riverfront Recapture said are of low quality, will be replaced by an ecologically developed floodplain wetland, and hundreds of new trees will be planted to promote the development of habitats in meadow areas.

Riverfront Recapture manages, operates and maintains four connected parks encompassing 148 acres along the Connecticut River: Mortensen Riverfront Plaza, Charter Oak Landing and Riverside Park in Hartford and Great River Park in East Hartford.

Connecticut Supreme Court hears high-stakes appeal from ousted developer of Hartford’s Dunkin’ Donuts Park

Kenneth R. Gosselin 

HARTFORD — The Supreme Court Monday heard a high-stakes appeal from the former developers of Hartford’s Dunkin’ Donuts Park, who are seeking a new trial in a wrongful termination lawsuit that sought as much as $90 million in damages from the city of Hartford.

An attorney for the developer, DoNo Hartford LLC and its construction company, Centerplan Construction Co., told a five-member panel of justices on the state Supreme Court that they did not get a fair trial in 2019. A jury in Superior Court in Hartford blamed Centerplan for not completing the minor league ballpark on time in 2016, justifying their termination by the city. The jury awarded the city damages of $335,000.

The Supreme Court will not conduct a new trial itself but instead used Monday to ask both the developer and the city questions about hundreds of pages of filings outlining their positions. The court could order a new trial in Superior Court or decide the first one was proper.

The appeal rests largely on the contention by DoNo Hartford and Centerplan that the trial in 2019 did not allow them to present evidence that they could not be held liable for “countless flaws” in the ballpark designs because the architect was under the city’s control.

That, the appeal argues, set into motion cost overruns, delays in the ballpark’s construction and finally, the termination of the developers.

“But isn’t it always the contractor’s responsibility as well to work with the architect?” Justice Maria Araujo Kahn observed. “If there’s a change and the change is because your client is in the middle of construction and now something needs to be revised, how does that become the city’s fault?”

The developer’s attorney, Louis R. Pepe, of Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLC of Hartford, responded: “Of course, the contractor has an obligation to work with the city and the architect, and that’s exactly what it did.”

But Pepe said an agreement in early 2016, just months before the ballpark was to completed stipulated that the city would contribute another $5 million to the project but would have signoff on any changes, leading to the missed deadline.

The city has pushed back on that contention, noting that Centerplan was working directly with the ballpark’s architects back to when construction first started in early 2015.

“Centerplan directed these architects to change the designs months earlier in several ways, in order, presumably to save money,” Attorney Leslie P. King, of Carlton Fields, who represented the city, told the justices Monday.

Few dispute the 6,100-seat stadium just north of downtown was on an aggressive construction schedule spanning just about 13-months, with a May, 2016 home opener with the Yard Goats, a Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.

With the ballpark not ready, the Yard Goats played their first season entirely on the road. A new contractor was subsequently brought in to finish the job, delaying the opening until 2017.

The development agreement for the ballpark spanned two mayoral administrations. Centerplan and DoNo Hartford were hired under former Mayor Pedro E. Segarra and fired by current Mayor Luke Bronin early in its first term in 2016.

At Monday’s hearing, justices delved deeply into contract and construction law, closely questioning both Pepe and King. From the gallery, Robert Landino, Centerplan’s chief executive, Jason Rudnick, a principal in DoNo Hartford and Attorney Ray Garcia, who represented the developers in 2019, looked on.

Landino declined to comment after the hearing.

While the appeal is largely focused on the termination from the stadium project, there could also be implications for the development around it, already underway. Centerplan and DoNo Hartford also were subsequently fired from that $200 million-plus project.

After the 2016 jury verdict, the same Superior Court judge in the case, Thomas Moukawsher, lifted restrictions that would allow a new developer to pursue building apartments, retail and entertainment space and parking garages.

If a new trial is ordered, the decision to lift those restrictions could potentially be revisited. Construction already has begun on the first of four parcels, located just south of Dunkin’ Donuts Park.

King declined to comment after the hearing, but Pepe said: “Hartford DoNo and Centerplan did not receive justice in the trial and it is our hope that this court will remedy that.”

Rocky Hill gets state funding to redevelop site of long-empty Ames headquarters

Steven Goode

ROCKY HILL — The state Bond Commission awarded the town of Rocky Hill $500,000 to help revitalize the former Ames headquarters site and transform it into what town officials hope becomes a town center village with a mix of housing and shops.

“It’s a project that’s been near and dear to my heart,” Mayor Lisa Marotta said Friday after learning of the award. “It’s been a top priority and I’m delighted to add this funding opportunity.”

The funding was secured by state Rep. Kerry Wood, a Democrat, whose district includes Newington, Rocky Hill and Wethersfield.

Wood said in a release Friday that the property has also been an important priority for her given its central location, years of sitting dormant and getting it back on the tax rolls.

“After many discussions on priorities for the town, there was no question that the Ames property redevelopment was top on the list,” Wood said. “We will create hundreds of construction jobs as well as permanent jobs and greatly increase the tax base on a property that has long been dormant. Our downtown will have more interconnectivity and truly be a wonderful place to live, work, and recreate.”

The property has been vacant and has had no redevelopment activity for at least 15 years, according to Raymond Carpentino, the town’s economic development director.

The site includes land totaling approximately 12.16 acres and a 225,000 square-foot building, most recently used for corporate offices for Ames department store, which employed up to 1,500 people at its prime, Carpentino said.

Prior to Ames, the site was used for a gas station/auto repair shop, a dry cleaners, a grocery and department store. The initial building was constructed in 1965 and subsequent additions were built as late as 1987-91 to comprise the current total area, he said.

Carpentino said the site also includes approximately 9 acres of paved parking and vehicle access areas.

“The project is a complete redevelopment of the site: demolition of the building and parking lot into a residential mixed-use development,” he said.

Marotta said the town is also seeking brownfields grants from state agencies for up to $2 million to aid with demolition of the site and that it has revised its tax abatement policies to incentivize developers.

“It’s a very expensive project,” said Marotta, adding that demolition costs could reach $1 million.

Marotta said the town is working with the property owner and a developer, who is under contract, but added that discussions are in early stages with the developer.

Wood also secured $400,000 in funding for updates to Elm Ridge Park, Rocky Hill’s signature outdoor entertainment and sports space. It includes ball fields, a skate park, basketball courts, pools, a pavilion, dog park, walking trails, and an amphitheater. The town rents various parts of the park to the public and recreation leagues to help support the upkeep of park.

The funding will be used for upgrades to help manage the increase in demand for use, which increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three projects totalling $6.2M added to Winsted’s referendum

Kurt Moffett 

WINSTED — Taxpayers will have more than just the 2021-22 budget to vote on May 29.

The second question on the referendum ballot will ask residents whether they support the Water and Sewer Commission borrowing $6.2 million from the state for three infrastructure projects. The commission would pay back the loan via user fees, not taxes.

“It’s really a unique opportunity for the town to get good value and have the state participate in funding these projects,” Finance Director Bruce Stratford told the selectmen on Monday night at Town Hall.

The loan would come from the state Department of Public Health’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. Commission member William Hester told the selectmen early this month that the three projects have already been approved by the state public health department for low-interest financing and partial funding.

Stratford said the commission is eligible for a 25-year loan at an annual interest rate of 2%. It is also possible the commission would only have to pay back half, or $3.1 million, of that loan. A component of the state fund includes forgiveness clauses of 25% and 50%.

Selectman Candace Bouchard said these projects “support the residents and the businesses in downtown and the industrial parks so it’s really important for the town as a whole that they’re supported.”

The three projects are:

Replacement of 4,000 feet of water mains under Case Avenue, Center Street, Greenwoods Avenue, Thibault Avenue and the eastern section of Holabird Avenue, from Whiting to Florence streets.

Replacement of a decommissioned 1.5-million-gallon water storage tank on Wallens Hill with a 500,000-gallon tank to maintain fire protection, water quality and water pressure on the east side of town.

Construction of a 500,000-gallon water storage tank at the Crystal Lake water treatment on Route 263 so that the existing 25-year-old 1-million-gallon storage tank can be repaired.

A hearing on the three projects is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 25 at the Pearson School.