CT Construction Digest Tuesday May 13, 2025
Site of new federal courthouse in Hartford is chosen
HARTFORD—The new $335 million federal courthouse will be built at 145 Allyn St. in downtown Hartford.
The courthouse will be built on what is now a 2-acre parking lot and feature 281,000 square feet of space, with 11 court rooms, 18 judges chambers and 66 parking spaces. According to government documents, the project will meet the 10-year and 30-year needs of the court and related agencies.
The U.S. General Services Administration announced the site selection Friday.
It will be bounded to the south by Church Street, to the north by High Street, to the south by Allyn Street and to the east by mixed use and religious buildings.
The site was chosen over 61 Woodland St. According to the government's environmental impact report, many of those who commented on the two possible sites preferred the Allyn Street location.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam was among those who preferred the Allyn Street site early on.
"Last year, my office drafted a letter calling for the selection of the Allyn Street site and urging the federal government to move forward with this project as swiftly as possible," Arulampalam said. "Allyn Street is ripe for revitalization, and the construction of a new federal courthouse on the site will bring a much-needed infusion of activity and economic development. I’m thrilled to see this project moving forward, and my office will remain engaged in the process to come.
The new courthouse will replace the aging, undersized Abraham A. Ribicoff United States Courthouse on Main Street, just south of Hartford City Hall and the main branch of the Hartford Public Library.
The government report list several deficiencies in the current courthouse, including inadequate space, safety concerns related to detainees access to areas of the courthouse frequented by the public, jurors and court employees, and concerns of uncontrolled public access around the building and inadequate blast protection setbacks.
Built in 1963, the Ribicoff courthouse has 203,000 square-feet of usable space on seven floors. A two story annex was added in 1991. The courthouse features eight court rooms and 11 judges' chambers. When the new courthouse is built it is expected to become the headquarters for Connecticut's U.S. courthouses. The others are located in Bridgeport and New Haven. Some judges would be expected to make a move to Hartford from those cities.
Another public comment period that ends June 9. Construction is expected to begin in 2027, with an opening planned for 2030.
Wesleyan plan to remove contaminated soil from wetlands draws ire of local residents
Cassandra Day
MIDDLETOWN — Wesleyan University is seeking approval from the city to remediate elevated levels of lead and arsenic in wetlands at the former Long Lane School for delinquent youth.
The college purchased 170 Long Lane from the state of Connecticut in 1999.
The applicant, Thomas Battles of Farmington-based HRP Associates, is working with Wesleyan University, according to documents. They are proposing to drain and fill a 1-acre pond, and build a new stream channel through it to connect the channels.
The university will pay for the work and later be reimbursed by the state, school officials said.
The first two of three phases, overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, were conducted between 2006 and 2014, HRP consultant Lisa Aglieco said during Wednesday’s Inland Wetlands meeting.
The latest plan, approved by DEEP in December 2024, calls for the removal, onsite relocation and placement of pesticide-impacted soils beneath a cover of four feet of fill, according to a March 28 letter from HRP Associates.
A dam, contaminated with coal ash from the former power plant, will also be removed from the site, Aglieco told commissioners Wednesday.
Historically, she said, pesticides were used in the orchard and crops originally on the property.
Many residents have expressed concerns about the environmental impact of the project, saying the university would be creating a landfill, Aglieco acknowledged.
“We are not. We are just placing soil over sediments over soil. These soils have been tested numerous times and are not toxic or hazardous, but considered residual,” she said.
Leonore Winn, who owns property nearby, also wrote April 2 about her dissatisfaction with the project. "I am not only against this plan, but disappointed that Wesleyan would consider this a suitable plan for such a residential area. Money should not be an issue when public safety is at risk."
Nearby resident Gale Rugh, who said she has a problem with polluted soil staying on the site, spoke Wednesday. "If they wanted to truck away that contaminated soil, I would be absolutely fine with their plan.
"The suffering for me would be living there, knowing that it is across the street from, not only our house, but the possibility of that getting into the water system," Rugh added.
Former Middletown mayor Paul Gionfriddo asked the panel to approve the application Wednesday so work isn’t pushed off even longer.
"To cart away all of that soil, for those of us who live immediately next to this area, the kind of stress we've been under for the last couple of years, with trucks coming in to build those piles of dirt, we imagine another couple of years worth of trucks on our streets, carting that dirt away, would be equally difficult to live through,” he said.
It’s important to start construction this summer, Gionfriddo added, when the land is dryer. "What we would end up with after this, is far better than what's there now.”
Herpetologist Dennis Quinn, principal at Quinn Ecological in Southington, conducted an assessment of vernal pool breeding species in March to determine possible impacts on wildlife, specifically amphibians and reptiles.
“It is full of green and bullfrogs, not typically compatible with our vernal pool breeding species,” such as fish and snapping and painted turtles, he said Wednesday.
Former university employee Carolyn Shaw also wrote a letter April 2, saying she walks every day down Wadsworth Street, which borders the land.
She's seen a number of changes made by Wesleyan over the years, Shaw added. "... It was a good steward, erecting a solar array, using existing structures to house the buildings and grounds operation, and allowing the creation of a preschool," she wrote.
"The well-being of the humans, plants and other creatures and plants in the present Long Lane pond area and the future of people, plants and animals around it, are in your hands ...," her letter said.
The information provided that evening needs to be reviewed by Land Use staff, the city’s Environmental Planner James Sipperly said. "It's going to be a doozy, so I'm going to need time."
SOUTHINGTON— The transformation of the former Briarwood College property into a new senior development may not be happening, as the application was withdrawn.
The project slated to have 150 age-restricted housing units spread out among seven buildings on site at 2279 Mount Vernon Road was set to be developed by PGX Holdings LLC.
PGX Holdings LLC submitted an application on Feb. 18 to change the zone from R-40 to ARCHZ, ultimately going from a residential zone to allowing for an age-restricted development for those aged 55 and over.
The application was the subject of a public hearing that began on March 4 and was continued twice, first to March 18 and then to May 6 but was ultimately withdrawn before the new date.
According to online documents the Planning and Zoning Department received an email on April 30 from Sev Bovino, a civil engineer with Kratzert, Jones & Associates Inc. in the Milldale section of Southington on behalf of the applicant. The email, made out to Assistant Town Planner David Lavallee states in part, “On behalf of my client, I hereby withdraw the variance and the zone change application.”
The email does not state a reason for the decision. When contacted Bovino deferred comment to owner Choni Grunblatt, who did not return a request for comment.
PGX Holdings purchased the property in 2021. The site has been vacant since the for-profit school, Lincoln College of New England, closed in 2018, citing enrollment and financial difficulties. It had been founded as Briarwood College in 1966.
In addition to seeking the zone change, the developers also filed an application with the Zoning Board of Appeals, which has been continued twice by the ZBA and is now expected to also be withdrawn.
Wilbur Cross Parkway tunnel in New Haven to finally get structural upgrades after years of delays
Austin Mirmina
NEW HAVEN — After years of delays, state transportation officials are reviving plans to overhaul the 75-year-old Heroes Tunnel on the Wilbur Cross Parkway.
The long-overdue project would bring much-needed upgrades to the busy tunnel, which carries about 74,000 vehicles per day through West Rock Ridge in New Haven, according to the state Department of Transportation. Built in 1949, the aging, twin-barrel tunnel no longer meets current standards and has become expensive to maintain as it continues to wear down, officials said.
This week, DOT officials met with leaders from New Haven, Woodbridge and Hamden to update them on the project, agency spokesperson Josh Morgan said in an email. The meeting covered the tunnel’s current condition and the proposed scope of work, which the state estimates will cost about $150 million and begin in 2028, he said.
Morgan did not provide much detail about the renovation plans, only saying that the project design is still in the works. But a DOT presentation shared with municipal officials this week gives a better idea of what they envision.
According to the slideshow, the project will include structural repairs to the tunnel liners, which typically are made of steel or concrete and provide stability and support. Plans also call for improved ventilation and fire protection systems, enhanced lighting and new signage to guide both drivers and pedestrians.
"The purpose of the project is to correct existing deficiencies, enhance safety, improve travel, and ease maintenance of the Heroes Tunnel," the DOT's presentation states.
Originally called the West Rock Tunnel, it was renamed the Heroes Tunnel in 2003 to honor "heroes of all kinds" in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. It is the only highway tunnel to pass beneath a natural land feature in Connecticut.
The tunnel has shown signs of wear in recent years, with a 2022 inspection report citing several "deficiencies." In its latest presentation, the DOT also notes that the tunnel's narrow lanes and "substandard" shoulder widths lead to traffic congestion and recurring bottlenecks during rush hour.
Despite the issues, DOT officials have stressed that the tunnel remains safe for travel.
The agency has explored a range of options to improve the structure over the past decade, but only minor repairs have been completed.
"They’ve gone back and forth with a number of different plans," Mica Cardozo, Woodbridge's first selectman, said in a phone interview. "Each time they get close to actually starting the project, something derails it."
The DOT originally planned to build a third barrel to usher northbound traffic through the trap rock mountain, reconstruct one of the existing barrels and reserve the other one for use during emergencies or while the other tubes underwent repairs. That proposal carried a price tag of about $200 million.
However, the DOT later determined that those plans were not "feasible, either from a funding perspective or otherwise," said Cardozo, who was briefed on this week's meeting with the state agency but did not attend because of a scheduling conflict.
According to Cardozo, project officials plan to close one side of the tunnel at night to complete repairs and detour traffic through the side that remains open. The tunnel is expected to fully reopen for normal daytime traffic, he added.
"We’re basically where it began when they first initiated some of the studies … but now it seems as if they have a definitive path forward and will be moving along with that," Cardozo said. "That’s the good news."
Woodbridge, in particular, has a vested interest in the tunnel’s renovation. For years, town officials have worked with the state on potential improvements to both the tunnel and the nearby Exit 59 interchange. During rush hour, heavy congestion on the Wilbur Cross Parkway, also called Route 15, often pushes traffic off the Woodbridge exit, jamming up local streets.
"The Exit 59 interchange is very important to us," Cardozo said. "It’s such a congestion point during rush hour that it really impacts the economic stability of that area."
With both sides of the tunnel staying open during the day, Cardozo said he does not expect traffic backups to spill onto local roads during construction.
Morgan, the DOT spokesperson, said the agency expects to hold a public information meeting by the end of this year to present the plan and get feedback from residents and businesses.
Bridgeport school board weighs new $125M school, $75M special education center
BRIDGEPORT — City school system officials are proposing to build two new schools to replace a handful of aging buildings, including a $125 million pre-K-8 school and a $75 million center for special education.
Jorge Garcia, the district’s chief operations officer, said the elementary school would be built at the site of the old Harding High School and serve students who currently attend Beardsley, Edison and Hall schools.
He argued the yet-to-be-approved construction project, which would be largely funded with state money, would cost the district much less than the tens of millions of dollars needed to renovate the three decades-old schools.
“This is not something that we're asking for because we want to see a new building,” Garcia said. “This is something we're asking for because these buildings are in a state of disrepair. They're not healthy, and they're not safe.”
Garcia said the proposals were based on recommendations included in a recent facilities study that urged the district to shutter seven school buildings, construct four new ones and perform major renovations on eight others.
The district plans to use the results of the study to create a master plan guiding the school system’s various capital improvement projects over the next decade, including the closure of old schools and the construction of new ones.
Interim Superintendent Royce Avery, however, has said the cash-strapped school system must first secure the funding for new school buildings before it moves forward with a proposal to shutter any facilities.
Garcia described the proposed elementary school as a state-of-the-art facility. He said that unlike older schools, the new one would be fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and feature air conditioning and proper ventilation.
“This is about us getting these kids into a building where they have a fighting chance,” Garcia said.
The old Harding High, built in 1924, has been vacant since 2018, when students and staff moved from that Central Avenue campus into a state-of-the-art facility on Bond Street. The city had considered selling the 8-acre property to Bridgeport Hospital, but the deal ultimately failed to materialize.
Garcia said a construction company told the school system the proposed elementary school would likely cost about $125 million to build, but it is not yet clear how much city taxpayers will need to contribute to the project.
The state generally covers about 68% of the cost of building a new school, but Garcia said he is hoping the city will receive a reimbursement rate of about 90% since the proposed school would have extra space for preschool classes and be energy efficient.
Joseph Sokolovic, the vice chairperson of the school board, expressed skepticism about the project. He suggested consolidating three schools into one campus would raise transportation costs and questioned why the district would not instead renovate the facilities.
“This process feels rushed,” Sokolovic said.
In response, Garcia said the district would need to spend about $80 million on each school to renovate the structures as new and claimed the state will not cover the costs of fixing up the aging buildings.
Board member Robert Traber, who lives near the old Harding High and whose two grandchildren would likely attend the new school, said he leans in favor of the project, but that the board should seek input from community members before making a final decision.
“The schools in my neighborhood have been neglected forever, if you will. That's rhetorical obviously,” he said. “So something needs to be done.”
In addition to the unnamed East End school, district officials also recommended the construction of a center to serve more than 260 K-12 special education students, including city children who are currently sent out of district to receive their education.
District officials hope the facility, which would also replace the Bridgeport Learning Center, would allow the school system to save some of the nearly $22 million it spent last year sending students to private facilities.
“If we don't build the programs in-house, we can't bring kids in-house,” Avery, the acting superintendent, said. “The reason why they went out of district placements is because we could not serve them in district.”
Garcia said the center could be built on the site of the Skane Center on Madison Avenue. The district is in the process of merging Skane with the nearby John Winthrop School as part of a renovation of the 72-year-old building.
He said the proposed center would likely cost about $75 million to build, but that the city could be reimbursed for up to 95% of the expenses from the state.
The school board’s facilities committee voted to advance the two school construction proposals to the full board. The nine-member panel is set to meet on May 12, but have not yet set an agenda for the meeting.