A Passion for Building Drives O&G’s Third Generation Chief

Scott Van Voorhis

The idea of working for a single company for an entire career may seem like a relic from a distant age, but it has worked well for Raymond R. Oneglia in helping guide his family-owned contracting business into the 21st century—and into its own next 100 years—while preserving bedrock values of dedication, loyalty, respect and consensus-building.

Under Oneglia as vice chairman, Torrington, Conn.-based O&G Industries Inc. has thrived and expanded beyond its home state to take part in major projects around the country. But the company has not lost focus on its core New England market, with Oneglia striking a balance between growth and keeping the company, one of the largest privately owned contractors in the Northeast, at a manageable size.

The firm ranks at No. 287 on ENR’s current list of Top 400 contractors, reporting $332.6 million in 2021 revenue. The executive also has been prominent in sharing his decades of expertise with peers and with the next generation of industry professionals.

The successes have made Ray Oneglia this year’s selected recipient of ENR New England’s 2023 Legacy Award. It is given annually to an individual in the region, which includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, who has established a solid record of lifetime industry achievement and service to colleagues and community.

“Ray is a very focused, dedicated person,” says Kenneth Merz, O&G corporate secretary, who has worked alongside Oneglia since 1970. “He is always thinking about what to do next or what we should get involved with.”

Family Affair

To say O&G is a family business doesn’t do full justice to Oneglia’s corporate commitment to the firm—and that of his brother David and several cousins.

The company was founded in 1923 by Oneglia’s grandfather, Andrew, and business partner Flaviano Gervasini. Oneglia’s father, Raymond, quit high school as a sophomore to help run the company, and he and brothers Francis and George were devoted to O&G before passing leadership to the third generation, Oneglia notes.

Driving with his father as a boy to construction sites, Oneglia got an early sense of industry life. He worked for the firm as a teen during summers, and by 16 was capable enough to be a foreman and scraper operator on the Colebrook Dam project in Connecticut. He also admits to a short-lived adventure with the dynamite crew on one project that ended when a state inspector sent him home for being under age.

Oneglia graduated in 1970 from Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., but there was little question of what career he planned. Soon he was overseeing a 16-mile sewer and roadway job, managing the reconstruction of Connecticut Route 7 from Danbury to Brookfield and running the repaving of I-84 from Danbury to Newton.

“It was just a passion—it was a total passion, and it is to this day,” Oneglia says. “I still get up at 5 and I’m in the office at 7.”

As he rose through the ranks, Oneglia began to push the company into new market niches, expanding a small rock quarry his grandfather had bought and acquiring other quarries and construction material yards.

Diversification has been good for the company’s bottom line, making O&G one of Connecticut’s top construction materials suppliers, with a recent investment in a factory to produce components for low-embodied carbon concrete.

The efforts also have harnessed the skills and drive of other family members to manage new units “so everyone has the kind of place where they could follow in a line of work behind their fathers,” Oneglia says. “I have a cousin whose father ran the building division and now he has run it for many years.” He notes another cousin who followed in his father’s footsteps into the firm’s asphalt operation.

The family approach, however, extends well beyond biological ties between various members of the Oneglia family. Across the firm at all levels, there are longtime employees who may be the second or even third generation of a family to work at O&G.

“We have had an incredible workforce —all union—and they have made the company what it is,” Oneglia says. “Everybody who has been with us for a long time, when they leave, it’s because of age or illness. We don’t lose [employees] very often. We have a company of very loyal people who have contributed immensely over the years to the success of the company.”

Safety Lesson

The strength of that bond was tested more than a decade ago after a Connecticut power plant site explosion in 2010 that killed six employees of O&G subcontractors as workers were clearing debris from plant pipes with hundreds of thousands of gallons of natural gas.

Oneglia declines to comment on the 2010 Kleen Energy plant accident, citing still active litigation with victims and families, but he acknowledges that the company learned hard lessons about safety over the years.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration levied $16.6 million in fines against the plant operator, subcontractors and O&G, which had the largest single penalty, $10.6 million. “We had a couple things happen over the years that were tragic,” Oneglia says, speaking in general of safety and efforts to reduce onsite accidents. “Could they have been prevented? You never know—you try and analyze” what happened, he adds. “We are very, very safety conscious.”

The lessons learned are key as O&G has pushed into new geographies and more complex project work. Oneglia led development of successful partnerships with contractors Perini Corp. and Tutor-Saliba, now Tutor-Perini Corp., forging a relationship with CEO Ron Tutor.

That paved the way for O&G to participate in complex projects such as a lock and dam in Louisiana, a nine-mile Chicago tunnel, a rail line through the Alameda Corridor in California and runway construction at Los Angeles International Airport. Oneglia is a board director of publicly traded Tutor-Perini.

“He definitely grew and developed over the years,” Merz recalls. “He was very good at meeting people and getting to know them and figuring things out about them as well.”

Oneglia says O&G has helped Tutor-Perini sharpen its pencils when drafting bids and provides a key financial backstop, which ensures that the California firm does not have to use all of its bonding capacity on a few projects. “None of the projects we have ever done with Tutor were finished late or had claims,” Oneglia says.

Community Impact

Oneglia has also assumed industry leadership roles over the years. His contributions include many years of service to the Connecticut Construction Industry Association—for which he headed several labor negotiation committees and its legislative committee and served as overall group chair. He also is past president of the Connecticut Road Builders Association.

A longtime member of The Moles, the national heavy construction professionals group, he was president in 1999 and received its member award in 2015. Former group executive director Tom Groark recalls Oneglia as a meticulous planner, “one of those contractors who thinks before he does anything and makes sure he has it all figured out before he starts anything.”

Oneglia, who says his father was also very active in the industry, takes pride in labor contracts he and other construction executives helped negotiate with trades on behalf of the Connecticut Construction Industry Association. “It was sometimes very time-consuming,” he says. “You could be there until 11 o’clock the night before.”

The executive has also been active in industry and union efforts to train young workers for construction careers, focusing on ways to remove potential job barriers for students in local high schools who are learning English. Oneglia has volunteered his time and money to support programs in local technical high schools. He also is dedicated to supporting veterans, having served in the Army National Guard and now serving as a board director of the U.S. Coast Guard Foundation. “It has been a very positive thing in my life to see what people do in the military, ” he says.

Looking ahead, Oneglia is planning the transition of O&G leadership, with seven fourth-generation family members involved in the company, including son R. Bradford “Brad” Oneglia, vice president in charge of asphalt, and nephew Ryan Oneglia, a heavy civil division vice president. Other extended family members hold vice president titles in the firm’s building, masonry and construction materials units.

“I think the most important thing is the full turnover of the organization to the next generation,” he said. “We are midway through that, if not a little further.”

Director of CT's controversial school construction grant program resigns

Dave Altimari

The person hired to replace Konstantinos Diamantis to steer the state’s school construction grant program has resigned after barely four months on the job.

Douglas Rogers resigned from his job as director of the Office of School Construction Grants & Review on March 13 in an email to the state Department of Administrative Services human resources department. The email didn’t give a reason for his sudden departure.

“As of March 13, 2023, I resign my position as Director, School Construction Grants and Plan Review, DAS,” Rogers wrote.In an interview this week, Rogers said he couldn’t adjust to the slow pace of state government work.

“I’ve been doing school construction for years, and I felt I was the right person for the job, but I just couldn’t get used to the state’s pace,” Rogers said. “I’m conditioned to move quickly, because time is money in construction, and I just couldn’t execute things in a timely manner.”

Rogers cited the example of trying to fill at least two vacancies on the OSCGR team. Rogers said he conducted several interviews and selected possible candidates but they found other jobs before the state’s hiring process was finished.

“If I had spent 10 years (in state employment) before taking this position, I would have been prepared for how slow things move,” Rogers said. “‘I just didn’t feel the work was being supported, so we mutually agreed I’d leave.”

Rogers began his job at OSCGR on Oct. 31 and was earning about $150,000 a year, according to state records.

He was hired after an extensive search to replace Diamantis, who was removed as the director in October 2021 after state officials were informed that a federal grand jury was investigating several school constructions projects.

DAS spokesman John McKay said the agency “is currently evaluating the next steps to fill this role.”

“The Office of School Construction Grants and Review continues to function as intended, and the office is being overseen by DAS Deputy Commissioner Darren Hobbs,” McKay said.

While state officials had little to say about Rogers’ resignation, DAS Commissioner Michelle Gilman told legislators during her confirmation hearing in January that she was “really proud” to be working with him.

She told lawmakers Rogers’ background made him a perfect person to lead the unit in the aftermath of Diamantis’ departure.

“He has a background of working at CREC [Capitol Region Education Council] and also with other school districts on school construction facilities management as well as a military background, which we have enjoyed because there is not a lot of diversion from procedures and process in the military,” Gilman said.

“He has been able to not only bring that vision to the school construction team but also a great deal of knowledge overseeing the OSCGR team in particular,” she added.

Diamantis, once the state’s second-highest budget official and a former state representative, was hired in 2015 to lead the school construction grants office. He took the grants oversight responsibility with him when he was appointed deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management in 2019.

OSCGR, which controls millions of dollars in state funding, has been in a state of flux since Oct. 28, 2021, the day Gov. Ned Lamont removed Diamantis from his appointed position as undersecretary of OPM and suspended him with pay from his position as the director of OSCGR. Diamantis resigned hours later that same day.

The move to oust Diamantis came shortly after reports surfaced that his daughter had been hired by then-Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo’s office at the same time Colangelo was seeking Diamantis’ help in getting raises for state’s attorneys.

State officials also at that time released grand jury subpoenas revealing the federal investigation into the school grant program that included construction projects in Enfield, Manchester and Tolland.

After Diamantis was removed from OSCGR, Deputy DAS Commissioner Noel Petra was put in charge of the unit and tasked with helping to review previous school projects as well as approving grants for new ones.

DAS hired an outside auditor to review all of the grants OSCGR had issued since 2018, which is the same time frame federal authorities began investigating the program and for which issued the grand jury subpoena.

The 23-page report that was produced by Marcum LLP, an independent auditing firm, included an analysis of more than 111 school construction projects undertaken in Connecticut between 2018 and 2021.

The state paid Marcum $240,000 for the audit, which was immediately criticized by some legislators because no local officials were interviewed, and it only conducted a review of internal files and did not interview anyone outside of DAS.

Local officials from several towns alleged in the wake of the federal investigation that Diamantis pressured them to hire specific contractors for their school projects.

Those allegations included contracts for construction administrators, general contractors and demolition and remediation companies. 

Owner of former Bridgeport Stop & Shop making 'some changes' to self storage plan

Brian Lockhart

BRIDGEPORT — The developer who wants to build a self-storage facility at the site of a long-shuttered Stop & Shop on Madison Ave. said he requested this week's zoning hearing be delayed another month to incorporate "some changes" into his plan.

But those who have been urging Hugh Scott to completely scrap his proposal and replace it with affordable/senior housing may not want to get their hopes up just yet. He clarified Monday that the intent is for self-storage to remain in any revised design.

Scott said "we continue to evaluate" some sort of housing concept, but "we believe that self-storage is an important component of the development of the property."

"We're in the process of making some changes ... that we hope everyone will find more acceptable," Scott said when asked why his scheduled presentation to the zoning commission Monday night was put off until late April. He declined to elaborate further.

This is the second delay. His proposal was originally supposed to be brought to the zoning board in February.

Scott is just the latest property-owner to face a backlash in the North End, where some residents, elected officials and activists have in the recent past rallied to successfully oppose large-scale developments, from privately-run dormitories aimed at college students attending nearby Sacred Heart University, to a new two-year campus run by Fairfield University and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport.

At least some of that resistance to big changes can be traced back a couple decades to the neighborhood's initial experience with the old Stop & Shop. An odd fit, the large supermarket, despite intense opposition, was built in the late 1990s at 2600 Madison Ave. on the former Dewhirst Dairy site in a mostly-residential neighborhood. It closed in 2012 and the building has since sat empty.

Scott bought the property a year-and-a-half ago for $4 million. At a public meeting last month at the North End Library organized by council members Michelle Lyons and AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia, he sought to convince the audience of around 50 people that he had studied various possibilities and a self-storage facility was the most realistic, and least intrusive and disruptive, use of the old store.

But an alternative plan urged by Lyons, former state Rep. Christopher Caruso, state Sen. Marilyn Moore and others to instead build some sort of affordably-priced and/or senior housing there appeared more popular with the crowd. The next week Mayor Joe Ganim announced that he too embraced that concept. 

Scott has countered housing would require "massive" public subsidies to be feasible. 

Told Monday of Scott's desire to still pursue some-sort of self-storage but with a possible residential piece, neither Lyons nor Caruso expressed enthusiasm for any such a mix.

"I just feel they're adding the housing to try to get the self-storage as well there," Lyons said. "How could you put storage and housing together?"

Caruso agreed, stating he did not think there was enough land for both. He also questioned whether anyone would want to live right next to a self-storage structure.

"The people, what I'm hearing, they want senior housing and a senior center," Lyons said. 

Ganim meanwhile on Monday said he would hope Scott would address the North End's issues with his original plan.

"If he doesn't, he's going to continue to get vocal opposition from the neighborhood and that has an impact. I think they raised legitimate, valid concerns," Ganim said.

This can also be a political issue for the mayor and his administration. North End voters will potentially play an important role in this year's upcoming elections, and he is running for another four-year-term.

The mayor and council appoint members of the zoning commission. That body, however, cannot simply turn down an application without providing legally defensible reasons should a developer appeal in court. 

Last April, following weeks of public back-and-forth between Fairfield University, the Bridgeport Diocese and their critics on the two-year college plan for diocese property elsewhere in the North End, the mayor's office issued an opinion from the law department that reversed a municipal lawyer's earlier conclusion that such a use of the land was allowed under zoning.

No one has so far questioned the actual legality of a self-storage facility where Scott wants to locate it.

Short by One Vote, Halls Road Overlay District Defeated in Old Lyme

Cate Hewitt

OLD LYME — After many months of presentations, public hearings and deliberations, the Zoning Commission narrowly denied the Halls Road Overlay District application that would have allowed the construction of mixed use buildings in the town’s main commercial district.  

At Monday’s special meeting, the application received three votes of approval and two against, which normally would have counted as an approval. But due to a negative referral from the Planning Commission in January, the application required a supermajority vote, or four out of the commission’s five votes. 

The overlay district would have allowed property owners and developers to build new mixed use buildings – with commercial space below and residential units above –  provided that the buildings fronted Halls Road according to certain rules. The biggest limiting factor to building high density residential units was the sewer or septic capacity, according to the attorney for the Halls Road Improvements Committee. The issue dates back to 2015, when the committee first convened. 

During Monday’s nearly two-hour discussion preceding the vote, commission secretary Jane Marsh – who voted to approve – requested a number of language changes to the December 16, 2022 draft, including changes recommended by town attorney Matt Willis. 

Among Marsh’s requests were that the commission specify a maximum length for buildings fronting Halls Road to avoid the possibility of long, continuous structures that lacked gaps where pedestrians could walk through to the parking lots located behind the buildings.  

The idea, Marsh said, was to approximate Lyme Street, “so we’re looking for that same feeling, just having some small break up in the buildings.” 

The commission approved a maximum length of 125 feet per building, as well as a building maximum of 10,000 square feet. 

The maximum building height was lowered from 40 feet to 35 feet, and the maximum lot coverage was lowered from 50 percent to 40 percent because the area is in the town’s conservation zone – and its regulations would supersede the overlay district’s, said Marsh. 

Commission chair Paul Orzel urged the commission to present the best legal document possible to allow a developer to present a proposal to the commission.

“What are the legal guardrails that this overlay should have?” he asked. 

Orzel, who voted to approve the application, said that infrastructure constraints would drive the amount of development on Halls Road. 

The overlay presented opportunities for developers, said commission member Mary Jo Nosal, who voted to approve the proposal.

“I think we’re trying to redevelop what we’ve had since 1950s and 1960s. We’re trying to do what towns are doing throughout the state in developing usable, livable streetscapes so that people can age in place,” she said. “It’s a mindset that’s different from what we had before to what we’d like our vision to be in the town of Old Lyme.” 

Nosal said the town had held meetings over the past three years to ask people what they wanted to see in their shopping district. 

She also noted that the Halls Road Improvements Committee had not been represented at the Planning Commission meeting when the negative referral vote took place. 

Alternate Michael Barnes, who replaced commission member Mike Miller at the meeting, said he was concerned about potential bulk frontage on Halls Road and as well as lot coverage and density, which he said would increase. 

Barnes, who voted against the application, also said the potential housing on Halls Road would be rented at market rate and would not accomplish the goal of creating affordable housing in the community. 

Sloan Danenhower, who replaced commission member Tammy Tinnerello because she had not attended the previous meetings concerning Halls Road, said the “elephant in the room” was the lack of infrastructure for sewer and water.

“The town pays for it down the road,” he said. 

Proposed warehouse in Ashford has many in the ‘Quiet Corner’ up in arms

Eric Bedner

Residents of Ashford are in an uproar at a proposal — similar to one that was shot down in Willington — that could place an enormous warehouse in their rural town, raising concerns that it would destroy the character of the “Quiet Corner.”

Massachusetts-based Campanelli Construction is proposing a 1.1 million-square-foot, 55-foot-tall warehouse on the site at the intersection of Interstate 84 and Route 89 in the northern section of town, a parcel that includes the Ashford Motel.

The structure would be about the same size as the Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester.

Any construction is a long way off, as the Planning and Zoning Commission is considering amending its regulations to allow for a building on the site to be as tall as 55 feet.

The current regulation on the Interstate Interchange Development zone, or IID, the only one in town, limits the height of buildings to 35 feet.

The developers initially wanted to extend the height limit to 75 feet, but scaled it back to 55 feet after hearing from the public.

If the rule change were to be approved, the regulations would apply to any future structures on the parcel.

Developers of the proposed warehouse would have to return to get the commission’s approval for a special permit to begin construction, a lengthy process that would also include more public hearings.

An ‘outrageous’ proposal

Hundreds of residents already have attended two public hearings in February and March, with a large majority of speakers opposing the project. A third public hearing is scheduled for April.

“The majority of those who have spoken seem to be negative toward it, but there are also a number of people who are in favor of it,” First Selectman Bill Falletti said.

Speaking as a resident and taxpayer, not as first selectman, Falletti said that he supports the rule change to allow the process to go on to the next step.

He notes that if the proposal were to move forward to the special permit process, it would face more scrutiny, such as environmental and traffic studies, both of which are sticking points for many residents.

Despite the polarizing issue leading to residents calling for a townwide vote, the Planning and Zoning Commission has the final say under state law, Zoning Enforcement Officer Michael D’Amato said.

While Campanelli Construction is seeking a similar warehouse that was proposed in Willington, it is not the same developer and the projects are not connected.

D’Amato, who also serves as a zoning agent in Willington, said the project was scrapped in that town because the developers were seeking to change the proposed area from residential zoning to allow for what would have been a 1.5 million-square-foot warehouse.

No tenant has been lined up for the Ashford proposal, leaving residents to further speculate about the impact to their rural community.

Ashford resident Michael Maglaras, who also serves as the superintendent of the captive insurance company fixing crumbling foundations, said his main concern is that the site off Exit 72 of I-84 is the last undeveloped exit off the highway in the area.

He opines that millions of cubic yards of land would have to be moved from a “pristine” site next to a state wildlife sanctuary.

“This is a massive, massive construction project” with no planned public water or sewer, Maglaras said. “Simply put, it’s the wrong project for a rural environment.”

He said he and his wife moved to Ashford from Greenwich after 30 years specifically because it is rural and quiet.

“We’re going to fight like hell to keep it that way,” Maglaras said, adding that he’s hopeful the proposal doesn’t get past the initial rule change, saying that if the amended language were passed, it would be “opening Pandora’s box.”

Charles Vidich, an Ashford resident with four decades of experience in land-use planning on the local, state, and federal level, also opposes the project.

Specifically, he is concerned that whatever tenant to occupy the building would have to “self-police” their water and septic systems.

“It is a public water supply issue,” Vidich said. “It’s not a question of if a disaster will happen, it’s a question of when.”

He also doubts assertions that trucks going in and out of the warehouse property would only use I-84, saying that many are more likely to take the local Route 89 when traveling south.

“This is really an outrageous urban proposal for a rural area,” Vidich said.

Town impact

John Knuff, an attorney representing Campanelli Construction, said that no public water would be affected as all wastewater would be collected and treated on site, and that 30% of the land would remain open space, according to Planning and Zoning Commission meeting minutes.

Maglaras said he understands some residents support the idea because of the tax revenue.

Knuff said that the expected impact on the town’s tax rate would result in an average savings of about $850 per year on property taxes, depending on the assessed value of a resident’s home.

He said that the location represents only about 0.5% of the town’s land, but could possibly support up to 10% of Ashford’s budget, according to meeting minutes.

Residents of Willington and Stafford shot down a similar proposal last year, as a warehouse was proposed off Exit 70 of I-84.

At that time, developers said they expected at least 900 tractor-trailers a day coming on and off the interstate using local roads.

They also estimated that at least 1,500 cars would be commuting daily to the building as well.

Developer to tweak affordable housing plans after Rocky Hill, Glastonbury projects rejected

Hanna Snyder Gambini

ANew York-based developer of several proposed “attainable” apartment buildings around Connecticut said he will resubmit new plans for projects in Rocky Hill and Glastonbury after both applications were denied by those towns’ Planning and Zoning boards.

Vessel RE Holdings LLC is looking to build a five-story apartment complex on vacant property at 2369 Main St. in Rocky Hill, with 30 one-bedroom units, nine of which would be rent-restricted for low- and moderate-income households.

The Rocky Hill Planning and Zoning Commission last month denied Vessel’s application, citing concerns with traffic flow, lack of amenities like sidewalks or greenspace, inadequate parking and electrical grid capabilities.

Glastonbury Plan and Zoning officials last week rejected a plan by Vessel RE Holdings LLC to build 48 apartments on a vacant lot at 51 Kreiger Lane.

That plan called for 30% of units to be affordable for 40 years, which was a condition for receiving certain zoning exemptions through the state’s affordable housing law. 

Glastonbury’s town attorney told land use officials that the parcel is in a “Planned Commerce” zone, and therefore wouldn’t qualify for those exemptions because it’s an industrial area.

Neil Rubler, founder and CEO of Vessel, said his firm plans to submit new applications for  both projects, but has not yet determined a timeline or which changes they will make to each set of plans.

Vessel RE Holdings LLC is an affiliate of New York City-based Vessel Technologies, which also has an apartment project underway in New London and is planning a similar development in  Simsbury.

Vessel’s approach is to build small, energy-efficient apartments that are accessible to middle-income professionals like first responders, teachers and other residents who don’t qualify for subsidized housing but for whom luxury or even market-rate rents are out of reach.

$327M Connecticut Children’s Hartford expansion stirs debate with included $47M parking garage

KENNETH R. GOSSELIN

HARTFORD — An expansion of Connecticut Children’s in Hartford that would roughly double the size of the hospital could come with an equally imposing $47 million parking garage on the opposite side of Washington Street, rising as high as 8 stories with 900 parking spaces.

The proposed parking garage, at the southwest corner of Washington and Lincoln streets, would accompany a new, $280 million tower now under construction across the street on Connecticut Children’s campus.

The garage, which would be connected to the hospital via a pedestrian skywalk, is critical to the expansion, the hospital says, and will provide parking for hundreds of new employees Connecticut Children’s expects to hire and convenient access for an increased number of patients.

Currently, the hospital leases parking in multiple places. The new garage would give patients, visitors and employees a dedicated parking option, Connecticut Children’s said.

But the garage also is stirring debate in the city’s surrounding Frog Hollow neighborhood, not only for its size but for a design that doesn’t do enough to add life to the streetscape and better blend into the neighborhood.

The project illustrates the tension that exists between hospitals in urban areas that want to expand and innovate, and the older, sometimes historic communities that surround them. In Hartford, the proposal also comes as parking throughout Hartford — particularly downtown — is increasingly being debated and whether its existence is holding back more mass transit alternatives.

Neighborhood leaders in Frog Hollow are quick to acknowledge the contributions to medicine made by Connecticut Children’s. They strongly supported the 195,000-square foot tower, which will get a ceremonial groundbreaking April 28.

But some of those leaders are equally fast to point out that existing parking garages in the hospital district along Washington Street that encompasses Connecticut Children’s and Hartford Hospital already present a physical barrier of sorts to the surrounding neighborhood.

“To further that, i.e. just build a pure parking garage that will further wall off their community from ours does nothing, in my mind, to benefit the neighborhood nor does it help them become a more integral part of our neighborhood and community,”  Aaron Gill, a longtime Frog Hollow resident and activist, said.

Connecticut Children’s said it has worked with the Frog Hollow Neighborhood Revitalization Zone since last fall to improve its design, adding more storefront space and cloaking the garage with a mesh that would mask the parking decks that could be covered with murals designed by local artists.

The hospital said it also has made concessions on reducing the height of the structure on Lincoln Street to better blend with its residential nature. Residents of that street also would be able to park for free during snowplowing and trash collection.

“The reality is: we, one, can only afford so much,” Bob Duncan, Connecticut Children’s chief operating officer, said, noting that the most recent designs have evolved from discussions with the NRZ. “We’re in the hospital business. We take care of kids. That’s what we do.”

The cost of the parking garage already has grown from an initial $28 million, pushed higher not only by design changes but also the higher cost of materials and persistent supply-chain troubles, Duncan said.

More can be done

Frog Hollow’s Gill and others in the neighborhood argue more can be done with the facade of the structure, perhaps adding office space on a third upper floor that could also be used by the hospital.

In addition, measures could be taken to reduce overall parking, such as eliminating free parking for employees to encourage other transportation alternatives. An overall reduction in parking demand could help chip away at poor air quality and higher childhood asthma rates, they say.

Duncan said imposing parking fees on employees would put Connecticut Children’s at a recruitment disadvantage. The hospital’s two main competitors in Hartford — Hartford Hospital and St. Francis Hospital — don’t charge employees, Duncan said.

“I’m sure you’re well aware of the recruitment wars and the shortage of staffing that we have in health care at this given time,” Duncan said.

Duncan said air pollution is just one part of a complex mix affecting asthma rates that also includes cigarette smoking, animal dander, dust, mites and indoor pollution.

“The idea of a car driving, pulling in and parking versus driving around the neighborhood, looking for parking at street level,” Duncan said. “You’re using more energy and creating more pollution.”

The garage proposal is still in the early stages and would require approvals from the city’s historic preservation commission and its planning and zoning commission. If approved, construction of the garage would not begin until early next year, to be timed with the completion of the new tower, expected in late 2025.

In an unusual move, the NRZ recently voted neither to offer a letter of support nor to oppose the garage. Instead, the NRZ decided to draft a letter with the pluses and the minuses of the garage project, clearly signaling it wants more discussion with the hospital.

“There is opportunity for discussion, and maybe if we can move the needle a little further, we can actually get to where the NRZ may support the project,” Carey Shea, co-chair of the NRZ in Frog Hollow, said. “But I don’t think we’re there right yet. But I also don’t think we’re ready to cease discussions. We’re still open to bringing good ideas forward.”

‘Not just put up, but kept up’

The parking garage proposal — and Connecticut Children’s new tower — also are part of a larger plan by the city that envisions the Washington Street corridor as a health and innovation corridor, anchored by Connecticut Children’s and Hartford Hospital. The corridor was listed in the plan as one of the 10 projects that could transform the city by 2035, Hartford’s 400th anniversary.

At the center of Connecticut Children’s expansion is a move into fetal care from its traditional pediatric care roots. Fetal care often includes surgery inside the womb to improve chances of survival. The hospital also seeks to build on specialized treatments for rare bone diseases. Both aim at raising the hospital’s profile nationally.

For Frog Hollow, the expansion and parking garage project also has a third component: a mixed-use development on the site of a former car wash on the northeast corner of Washington and Lincoln. The hospital purchased the property last year and is now using it as a staging area for construction. Connecticut Children’s has committed to securing a developer for the property, after the new tower and garage are completed.

But to build the parking garage, there is a cost to neighborhood.

The structure would encroach on a historic district, requiring the acquisition and demolition of four houses on Lincoln Street. Lincoln Street is part of a historic district created in 2003 of mostly two, two-family structures built between 1890 and 1915.

The project also would include buying and razing the J Restaurant and Bar building at 297 Washington St., a fixture for more than 50 years. J Restaurant and its predecessor, Pizza Plus, have been operated by two generations of the Dikegoros family.

Jordan Dikegoros, the restaurant’s owner, declined to comment on the project. But hospital officials told a recent meeting of the Frog Hollow NRZ that Dikegoros is considering moving into some of the storefront space in the proposed garage.

The garage would be built, owned and operated by LAZ Parking Realty Investors, an arm of the Hartford-based parking giant. The hospital will lease it and through those payments will eventually pay for the construction, Duncan said.

At a recent NRZ meeting, even those who support the parking garage still have concerns.

Andrea Richardson, a property owner on nearby Madison Street and an employee at Connecticut Children’s, observed that the existing garages aren’t that attractive, and she wondered, as time passes, what would happen to the proposed garage.

“We’re talking about this happening now,” Richardson said. “But then, 5, 10 years from now, what is that structure going to look like? It just needs to be, not just put up, but kept up.”

Pool, bathhouse to go as Hamilton Park project begins

LIVI STANFORD

WATERBURY – Hamilton Park’s pool, bathhouse, “Bubble” building, and athletic center are scheduled to be demolished next month, signifying the beginning of phase 1 of a massive renovation project at the 92-acre park that has been three years in the making.

“It is an exciting first step as this has been a priority of the mayor’s administration to look at our parks and enhance them where we can,” said Thomas Hyde, interim director of the Waterbury Development Corporation.

At the Board of Aldermen meeting on April 10, the board is scheduled to decide whether to approve a multimillion-dollar contract to construct a new pool, a 3,200-square feet pool house, and a promenade adjacent to Seven Angels Theatre.

These projects are all part of Phase 1, which Mayor Neil O’Leary said is expected to cost $8 million, which will be funded with American Rescue Plan Act funds.

He described the project as a “quality of life issue” that is long overdue.

O’Leary said the swimming pool would be “state of the art” and the pool house would have amenities and be compiant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

On March 20, the Board of Aldermen unanimously approved allocating $700,000 from American Rescue Plan funds toward phase 1 improvements.

In that same meeting, the board also approved two contracts for tree removal on the site and the construction and demolition of the buildings.

“We are looking to do a lot of work in Hamilton Park and this is the start of it,” said Board of Aldermen President Paul Pernerewski. “It is a good project and people have been waiting awhile to get the work done in Hamilton. This is the first step to clear the way to get into this project.”

O’Leary said work on the master plan for Hamilton Park began three years ago, with neighborhood community meetings and the hiring of the Chesire-based design firm SLR Consulting, which helped with the design of the park.

The firm included 25 recommendations, of which SLR landscape architect Suzanne Schore has cited the conversion of Hamilton Park Road into a pedestrian walkway and multiuse trail with amenity space and lighting as one of the most significant. All 25 recommendations are part of the master plan.

The 12-foot walkway would close traffic between a new parking lot where the tennis courts are and Seven Angels Theatre. According to the park’s master plan, vehicle access to the road would be restricted to emergency vehicles.

Officials are recommending the road closure because Hamilton Park Road over the years has been used as a shortcut from East Main Street to Plank Road, where there have been car accidents involving pedestrians.

The pedestrian and safety improvements are not part of Phase 1 but city officials say the goal is to do every single item on the master plan contingent on funding and grants.

Michael LeBlanc, the city’s director of finance, said the city was pursuing several funding opportunities.

Bilal Tajildeen, president of the Bouley Manor Neighborhood Association, said he was excited to hear about a potential new pool. He said his biggest concern is the lack of sidewalks and bike paths on Meriden Road and East Main Street leading to the park.

“If you wanted to ride your bike to the park, you couldn’t ride your bike,” he said. “That creates a lopsided park system.”

Hyde said certainly officials would look into this issue to potentially address in future phases.

Developer pursues tax break to build new hotel in Southington

Jesse Buchanan

SOUTHINGTON – Hotel owners are eyeing a property off Queen Street near Interstate 84 and are looking for a tax abatement to open in Southington.

KARM Properties is interested in a tax abatement for development at 95 John Weichsel Crossing, a small road off Queen Street near the Hartford HealthCare HealthCenter and just south of the I-84 ramps.

The property is in an enterprise zone, which allows the possibility of a tax abatement that’s partially funded by the state.

Mark Sciota, Southington’s town manager, said the council could vote to send the tax abatement question to the Southington Enterprise Zone and Economic Development Committee (SEED).

Even if the council and SEED were in favor of the idea, building a hotel would require Planning and Zoning Approval. Sciota said hotel owners want to know if they’ll get the tax abatement before taking on the expense of drawing up plans and filing town applications. He said it’s early in the process.

“There’s an applicant investigating putting in a hotel there,” Sciota said.

The seven-year tax abatement reduces the property tax burden by 100 percent the first year, declining gradually to zero by the end of the program.

Such tax abatements help encourage development, according to town officials. Earlier this month, a similar tax break was given to Anthony Properties, a Texas-based developer building a $100 million residential and retail project on West Street.

Boost to other businesses

Barbara Coleman-Hekeler, Southington Chamber of Commerce president, is also on the SEED committee. While she didn’t want to comment as a committee member without seeing the tax abatement request, she said as a chamber director the addition of a hotel is usually welcome by area businesses including other hotels.

Southington’s location and attractions draw people from the state and region, she said, so it’s not surprising that a hotel was looking to start up. That might even be welcome to other hotels that at times struggle to keep enough rooms available.

“I know that all of our hotels on West Street are super busy in Southington,” Coleman-Hekeler said. “They work very closely together so that if there’s an overflow for a specific time period, they feed into each other’s hotels.”

“As a chamber, if it’s a business that’s coming to town to not just conduct business here but to be supportive of everything that’s here as well, that’s the main focus of everything that we are as a chamber,” she said.

KARM Properties could not be reached for comment Monday.

Stores to open at Newington development by year's end; supermarket remains a mystery

Luther Turmelle

NEWINGTON — The retail component of a mixed-use complex under construction on a nearly 25-acre site formerly owned by Eversource Energy on the Berlin Turnpike is expected to open by the end of the year, according to a principal for one of the project's developers.

Meadow Commons will offer 99,500 square feet of retail space, with 45,000 square feet of that space carved out for a yet-unannounced grocery store anchoring the development, said Jeremy Grossman, a senior vice president with the Massachusetts-based Grossman Development Group. The retail portion will also include restaurants, with Sally's Apizza and Shake Shack taking some of the space, Grossman said.

The residential component will include 269 apartment units, with residents expected to begin moving in some time during the spring of 2024, he said.

"We have spent a couple of years getting to know this community," Grossman said of Newington. "We think we have a pretty good idea what people in this market are looking for in terms of shops and services."

Mixed-use development projects have become increasingly popular because of the symbiotic relationship between the residential and retail elements, said David Cadden, a professor emeritus at Quinnipiac University's School of Business. 

"For the retailers in these developments, you get a captive audience, a captive customer base with the people who live there," Cadden said. "And for the developer of the homes, one-stop shopping is a selling point for potential buyers."

The Meadow Commons site was formerly the home of a training facility for Eversource, according to Mitch Gross, a company spokesman. The property was sold for nearly $3 million in July 2022, and construction on the mixed-use complex started in November.

The name of the grocery store anchor has not been released at the request of that company, Grossman said. Several of Grossman Development's retail centers elsewhere are anchored by supermarkets.

The company acquired a retail center last year in Waterville, Maine, that has a Hannaford Supermarket as its anchor. Lakeway Commons, which the company developed in Shrewsbury, Mass., has a 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market as its anchor.

Grossman described Lakeway Commons as "a very similar site and a very similar plan," to Meadow Commons. Both developments have about the same amount of retail space and nearly the same number of housing units.

The supermarket that goes into Meadow Commons will have the difficult task of competing against Stew Leonard's, which is located less than a mile south of the new development on the Berlin Turnpike.

Based on the size of the largest retail space in Meadow Commons, retail consultant Burt Flickinger said the likely tenant for the new development is either a Whole Foods or a Lidl, a German discount grocery chain that does not currently have a location in New England.

Whole Foods officials "like to work with developers that they already have existing relationships with" when opening new stores., said Flickinger, managing director of the New York City-based Strategic Resource Group.

Whole Foods has 10 stores in Connecticut with an 11th store under construction at Evergreen Walk in South Windsor. The closest Whole Foods to Newington is 10 miles away in Glastonbury.

Lidl stores are typically 30,000 square feet to 35,000 square feet in size, he said. The grocery chain has about 170 stores in nine U.S. states along the East Coast from Georgia to New York.

Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are two grocery chains that are "trying to fill in the holes of where they don't have stores in the state," said Wayne Pesce, president of the Connecticut Food Association. 

With the exception of a Whole Foods store in Milford, all of the chain's other locations are clustered in either Fairfield County or Hartford's suburbs. Trader Joe's has nine stores in Connecticut that follow a similar pattern: Five are in Fairfield County and four are in Hartford's suburbs.