CT Construction Digest Tuesday May 10, 2022
Connecticut’s infrastructure conundrum persists amid renewed focus
During the Connecticut Business & Industry Association’s (CBIA) recent 2022 economic update session held at the Trumbull Marriott, the watchword was arguably “infrastructure.”
This was especially on display during the panel discussion titled “How Connecticut Should Spend Federal Infrastructure Funds.” Mark Boughton, commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Revenue Services, moderated the discussion and was joined by Tom Santa, president and CEO of Santa Energy in Bridgeport; David DeMaio, president of the Pat Munger Construction Co. in Branford, and Tom Jensen, vice president of government affairs for UPS.
Boughton, a former Danbury mayor, explained that his role was both to provide a single point of contact in the government for concerned business leaders and to serve as the governor’s senior adviser on infrastructure matters.
“People think we just have cash rain down on us in Hartford for stuff like roads, bridges, broadband, trains, things like that — and that’s not really true,” Boughton said, explaining that while there are roughly $5 billion which the state can direct toward already existing programs, the part he found most exciting was the $580 billion earmarked for competitive grants.
“That’s really where I think Connecticut will excel,” Boughton said. “But there’s a catch. The catch is we’ve got to be like Ricky Bobby in ‘Talladega Nights’ — if you ain’t first, you’re last. You have got to get those applications in fast.”
Boughton then asked his interlocutors: “What does government need to get right to ensure that this bipartisan infrastructure law is transformative for generations to come? What do we need to get right?”
“Road construction is obviously the low-hanging fruit,” answered DeMaio. “If you think about what really needs to happen is you need to add lanes. However, that’s an almost impossible undertaking if you look at the effort that would take. So, we need to bolster our freight railways. The infrastructure’s there but it needs to be updated.”
DeMaio added that shifting significant amounts of freight from trucks to trains would benefit everybody remaining on the highway and would make for a generational change. DeMaio also said he would like to see improved utility infrastructure in currently underserved communities, like Guilford where the lack of a sanitary sewer has killed multiple development projects.
Jensen agreed that adding lanes was unfeasible, but that interchanges between I-95 I-91, and I-84 could all be improved to provide increased “fluidity and velocity.”
“If you’re not trying to figure out capacity to the extent it’s possible,” Jensen said, “and I know it’s challenging in Connecticut, but if you’re not trying to figure out capacity, you’re planning to fail.” Watching changes to consumer behavior and a shift to an increasingly remote workforce are also necessary according to him.
Santa echoed many of his colleagues’ statements but added that the state’s deep-water ports also needed investment. His business deals with shipping products on Connecticut waterways, which Santa called “dormant assets that really beg to, without a huge amount of money, be brought back to life.”
Boughton also put the question to the panel of what businesses need to do right to ensure that transformative efforts by the state have the maximum impact.
Santa suggested that a “big picture” approach was necessary, that different stake holders need to look at the costs and benefits to decisions outside of their immediate environment. He gave an example of a business opposing the reactivation of a rail line near its property despite the fact the small sacrifice of a minor daily disruption could greatly revitalize the local economy and provide with many more opportunities to do business.
Jensen said that more of a focus on user pay for user benefit would help ensure infrastructure is funded as it is needed. He called the recent gas tax holiday a bad policy, stating it will lead to a hole in the state’s transportation budget, and he floated the idea that paying for the use of highways through a means other than the gas tax will prove necessary as more commercial fleets and private cars are electrified.
DeMaio’s response was that businesses need to embrace outside the box thinking and explore options such as incentivizing the use of public transit by employees to help bolster state efforts to improve transportation more generally.
The controversial study will cost $1.5 million. It could shape future of Hartford-Brainard Airport
HARTFORD — A controversial, $1.5 million study examining whether Hartford-Brainard Airport should remain open or be closed for redevelopment has been approved by the General Assembly, a study some hope will finally shape the future of the century-old airfield.
The study must be completed by October 2023, pushed back from the initially proposed Jan. 1. The study will examine environmental, regulatory and economic aspects on both sides of the debate and wouldn’t be ready until the 2024 legislative session.
“We extended it because we became convinced that by the time you got going on this and got the analysis going, we weren’t going to be ready for the next session,” state Sen. John W. Fonfara, D-Hartford, said. “We thought we had better take our time and do it right.”
The future of Brainard has been debated for decades, stretching back to the late 1950s when a large portion of the airfield was taken for redevelopment in the city’s South Meadows.
The discussion heated up again last year when the Hartford City Council passed a non-binding resolution supporting redevelopment.
The debate has pitted those who support redevelopment, including Fonfara and Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, against those who say the airport should be further invested in as an economic development amenity.
Advocates for keeping the airport open, including the newly-formed Hartford Brainard Airport Association, whose members are local pilots, Brainard tenants and others, have pushed back against the airport being cast as a “a playground for rich folks” with single- and twin-engine planes.
They also say Brainard is vital for its pilot training schools and entry into the field of aviation. Fonfara has said there are more than a dozen other airport options within 20 miles of Brainard that could provide a similar function.
Fonfara said the study will be led by the state Department of Economic and Community Development, which will oversee hiring consultants.
In 2016, a legislative report recommended keeping the airport open and investing further in its development.
Redevelopment, the report said, would be too costly, require large public subsidies and take at least two decades.
Fonfara said he expects this study will provide a more in-depth, objective analysis.
“A lot of emphasis in the study will be on what is the true value of the airport,” Fonfara said.
“Advocates want people to think there are these millions of dollars spun off in economic activity,” he said. “And then you have others saying there is very little. I happen to be one of those.”
A mixed-use redevelopment would benefit both the city and the region, drawing visitors and making the greater Hartford area more attractive to a young, sought-after workforce, Fonfara said. Redevelopment would open up more access to the Connecticut River and complement plans for the waterfront in East Hartford, Fonfara said.
Michael Teiger, the association’s executive director, said the group supported the 2016 study, “which apparently wasn’t good enough for everybody.”
Tieger, a Hartford pulmonologist, said he doesn’t expect the new study will make any new revelations.
“We believe they are going to find what we know already: that the land is contaminated and would be exorbitantly expensive to redevelop,” Tieger said. “And they will just stop with the idea of redeveloping Brainard and go on as we should.”
“We’re happy to participate to find out just what is going on down there,” Teiger said. “But we think it’s a waste of time and a waste of $1.5 million.”
Last month, concerns about soil contamination under the airport surfaced, including coal tar, a by-product of coal gasification plants that existed in virtually every American city at the turn of the last century.
The Metropolitan District Commission, the regional water and sewer authority, spearheaded the last airport redevelopment proposal in 2006. The proposal called for nearly 7 million square feet of commercial and manufacturing space, stores, apartments, a marina, a rebuilt trash-to-energy plant, an expansion of its nearby wastewater treatment plant and a river park.
The MDC plan was headed up by William DiBella, a former Democratic state Senate majority leader who remains the MDC’s chairman.
No other conceptual plans for the area exist besides the 2006 vision advanced by the MDC.
Windsor could adopt stronger regulations on large distribution facilities this week, responding to resident concerns over a boom in development in recent years.
The Planning and Zoning Commission could vote as early as Wednesday – following a public hearing – to adopt a regulation making warehousing, logistics and distribution centers subject to special permits, rather than simply being allowed by right in industrial and warehouse zoning districts.
Under the proposed change, applications to build new logistics centers and warehouses would require public hearings, rather than simply being subject to site plan review. This would allow the Planning and Zoning Commission to set conditions on approvals that address resident concerns, rather than simply request accommodations from developers, Town Planner Eric Barz said.
Members of the commission asked for more control following resident complaints about the approval process for the BDL Logistics Center development in 2021, according to Barz. Scannell Properties gained approval to add two buildings with a combined 487,200 square feet at 1190 Kennedy and 451 Hayden Station roads.
Interest in building logistics and distribution centers in Windsor remains heavy. Two applications for large centers were recently submitted.
Indus Realty, on April 13, submitted plans for a 248,000-square-foot distribution center on 61.7 acres at 105 International Drive. This proposal is subject to site plan review.
Missouri-based NorthPoint Development has submitted plans for a nearly 750,000-square-foot distribution center on 93 acres inside Windsor’s Great Pond Village mixed-use development, which sits along Day Hill Road. As Great Pond Village is an approved planned development, this application is subject to staff review alone.
The Indus and NorthPoint projects are both being proposed on a speculative basis.
NEWTOWN — The good news is Connecticut is willing to support a proposal to redevelop two empty hospital buildings into apartments and commerce by helping Newtown gain national historic status for its Fairfield Hills campus.
The bad news is the state’s historic preservation office wants a commitment from Newtown to keep all the other vacant former hospital buildings standing on the town’s 180-acre campus for at least five years after the completion of the redevelopment project.
The state condition represents a conflict for town leaders. On one hand leaders are encouraged by a Boston developer’s plans to convert two vacant Fairfield Hills buildings known as Kent House and Shelton House into housing and shops. On the other hand, leaders believe demolition is the only option for other dilapidated structures on the campus that have no reuse value.
“The way a project would have to happen is the developer needs historic preservation tax credits, and the National Park Service is how a project would get assigned credits,” said Newtown First Selectman Dan Rosenthal. “We have worked closely with the state Office of Historical Preservation and need their blessing to have things progress to the level where credits would be awarded by the National Park Service.”
The federal credits, which Rosenthal estimated at $10 or $11 million, are what make the developer’s investment possible in World War II-era hospital buildings that have been vacant for decades, leaders said. Without tax credits, Newtown’s deal with WinnDevelopment would be off, and the redevelopment prospects would be as bleak for Kent and Shelton houses as it is for the campus’ other large buildings.
“Renovating Kent and Shelton would run $50-to-$60 million, so the economics get away from you pretty quickly without the tax credits,” Rosenthal said.
Should Newtown agree to keep the entire campus in preservation for five years after the redevelopment of Kent and Shelton, it would probably be 2031 before Newtown could raze buildings in the worst condition.
Newtown has been tearing down larger buildings in unsafe shape over the last decade, as the budget permits, while trying to market smaller buildings for creative reuse, such as the former staff dining room of the hospital known as Stratford Hall, which today is home to NewSylum Brewing Co.
“If we don’t agree (to the state’s condition) the whole campus becomes a demolition project on the taxpayer’s back,” Rosenthal said. “If I say ‘yes,’ I am encumbering the campus.”
The next step is to bring the discussion before the town’s Legislative Council and Board of Finance, ideally at a joint meeting with the Board of Selectman, Rosenthal said. Such a meeting could come as soon as June.
“The historical question is a threshold issue,” Rosenthal said. “I am looking for consensus.”
A top Newtown planner said the benefits of preserving Kent and Shelton houses with apartments that the town needs outweighs the disadvantage of having the town’s hands tied for five years after the development is complete.
“My opinion as an economic developer is that it’s a priority of the campus to redevelop these buildings,” said Christal Preszler, deputy director of economic and community development. “If we don’t move forward, this project doesn’t happen.”
Preszler is referring to Newtown’s decision in 2021 to work with WinnDevelopment on the residential and commercial reuse of Kent House, a 200,000-square-foot structure built in 1940, and Shelton House, a 90,000-square-foot structure built in 1933.
WinnDevelopment, which won a bidding war, had informally proposed building 56 apartments in Shelton House and 113 apartments in Kent House. WinnDevelopment’s selection followed a two-year public campaign to encourage a limited amount of housing in the largest of Fairfield Hills’ buildings, and save the relics from demolition.
The campaign faced opposition from residents who said the pastoral character of the campus would be ruined with residential development. In 2020, Newtowners voted 9,400 to 7,300 to authorize the town to rezone Fairfield Hills for a mix of housing and commercial space in no more than two of the abandoned buildings.
Today, the developer is waiting to submit blueprints to the Planning and Zoning Commission until the matter of its federal historic preservation tax credits is satisfied.
Newtown tried in vain to convince the state to allow some of the buildings in the worst shape to be razed. The hospital buildings are listed on the state register of historic places.
“We had hoped for a more limited historic district,” Rosenthal said. “But the state wants all the buildings on the 180 acres that the town owns (preserved).”
Bloomfield panel endorses plan to build 90 townhouses, duplexes
Richard Chumney
BLOOMFIELD — A developer has been given the approval to move forward with plans to build 90 townhouses and duplexes on a site that was initially proposed for single-family homes.
The Bloomfield Plan and Zoning Commission voted last week to approve a master plan from Krown Point Capital to construct the project on a nearly 54-acre site at the end of Ryefield Hollow Drive.
Reggie Kronstadt, Krown Point’s principal, said the company plans to build 68 townhouses and 22 duplexes, which he described as luxury rental units that will each feature up to three bedrooms.
He said the units will be marketed to people who are uninterested in owning a home but want to live in a residence with more space than traditional apartments, a market he argued is rapidly growing in the Hartford region.
“The site plan that we’ve come up with will allow us to really program for the type of housing that we think is missing in Bloomfield,” Kronstadt said. “Over the course of COVID, there’s been a huge shift to the need for larger scale rental housing.”
According to documents submitted to the town, a local construction company originally intended to build 71 single-family houses on the largely undeveloped site and sell the units to individual buyers.
But the builder never moved forward with construction and now plans to sell the property to Krown Point. Kronstadt said his company opted to expand the scope of the local builder’s proposal due to soaring construction costs.
“It's very tough to make the 71-unit project work,” he said. “Costs are up 35 percent and continue to go up with really no ceiling at this point.”
Kronstadt said the homes will include a private garage, patio, yard and basement storage. The housing development will also feature a clubhouse with pool, gymnasium, work stations and community spaces.
Plans show the development will be accessible to drivers from an entrance on Ryefield Hollow Drive. Kronstadt said the property will be staffed by an on-site management team.
Dave Ziaks, an engineer working on the project, said 25 acres of the property will be set aside as permanent open space for the town. A small dog park will be built inside the development.
Kronstadt said construction of the project is expected to take up to 24 months to complete. If the town approves a site plan for the development, the work could begin as soon as this fall.
Here’s what’s in Westport’s $11.7M Post Road improvement project
WESTPORT — Post Road certainly has its traffic troubles, some of which were highlighted at a recent public forum focusing on downtown.
Some much-needed help is on the way though, in the form of an $11.7 million project that will improve various intersections along the busy corridor. The project was celebrated Monday by several officials, including First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker, state Sen. Will Haskell and state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg.
“Anyone who travels on this road knows that bumper-to-bumper traffic is a daily occurrence, and accidents are all too common,” Haskell said. “Much of that traffic and many of those accidents can be avoided with a little bit of investment, including traffic signals that can sense how many cars are coming and are responsive to the flow of traffic.”
The project aims to make the road — which averages about 24,000 cars a day — safer and more efficient, which in turn will help local businesses and make them more accessible, according to Haskell’s office.
The work includes adding left turn lanes at three intersections along the Post Road, also known as Route 1. The areas include the Fresh Market and Village Center intersection, the Roseville and Hillspoint Roads intersection and the Bulkley Road North and South.
“I’ve been driving on Roseville Road since I got my driver’s license. I can tell you having a turn lane there will have a significant difference for people right here in Westport,” Steinberg said. “It’s a project that’s practical, long-needed and why infrastructure investment is so important in every community, just like this one.”
A two-way left turn lane will also be added from the Village Center driveways to Roseville and Hillspoint roads allowing people to turn left into commercial driveways.
It will also align the offset Buckley Avenue intersection and add new traffic signals that better meet current traffic conditions.
“These are very critical improvements for the town of Westport,” said state Department of Transportation Senior Advisor Carlo Leone. “The roadway is very busy and these intersections are very difficult to cross. The improvements from this signalization are going to be key to making those improvements for the safety of the people of Westport.”
The project also adds bus shelters, curb work, sidewalks and crosswalks to make it safer for the pedestrians who frequently cross the Post Road and those who ride the bus.
“This road is home to one of Connecticut’s most-utilized bus services, the Coastal Link,” Haskell said. “Unfortunately, too often the folks waiting for these buses are left braving the rain or cold.”
Josh Morgan, a DOT spokesman, said the safety project has been in planning and design for several years.
The State Bond Commission approved the $11.7 million for the project on March 30. Of that amount, 80 percent will be covered by federal funding and 20 percent will be covered by the state.
Morgan said it’s expected to go out to bid this summer and awarded in the fall. Work will continue in three phases, to be completed in 2025.
“In order to keep traffic flowing and allow continuous access to businesses, the work will be done over three construction seasons,” Morgan said.
The first part will be from Westport Plaza down to the Fresh Market. The second phase is the Roseville and Hillspoint intersection, ending with the Buckley Avenue intersection.
Tooker said it’s an excellent project and thanked the state officials for their work on it.
“Anything we can do to improve this corridor from a traffic and pedestrian safety standpoint is thrilling.” Tooker said.