Milford developer starts $16M luxury housing complex on River Street

Nick Sambides

MILFORD — Having finished a $22 million, three-building apartment center on Broad Street this summer, city developer Robert Smith's Metro Star Properties is starting construction of a $16 million two-building complex slated for nearby River Street this fall, he said Monday.

Asbestos abatement continues and demolition will begin of an old downtown shopping center in October at 44-64 River St. The city issued the demo permit about two weeks ago, city officials said. The 50-apartment complex, which includes 12,000 square feet of retail space, is Smith's 30th in and near downtown since 1999 starting with what is now known as Schooner Wharf, Smith said.

"Our priority is to find a neighborhood grocer to occupy the first floor," said Smith, Metro Star's founder.

Smith, a lifetime resident of Milford and third generation real estate developer and construction company owner, is bullish on downtown Milford and his and other investments made there through the years. His company sold Schooner Wharf and several other properties to an Arizona developer for $70 million in 2013.

"We have seen the downtown continue to prosper with the contribution of other stakeholders like Stonebridge (Restaurant), SBC (Restaurant and Beer Bar) and Milford Photo, who believed in the potential of the area and invested time and money," he said. "When driving through downtown on the weekend its wonderful to see all the people walking around the green with lines of people waiting to enter Scratch Bakery, all looking to relax and enjoy the Milford vibe. Many of these people live just steps away."

The 44-64 River St. apartment project initially consisted of one 61,928-square-foot mixed-use building, approved in 2021, but the Planning and Zoning Board agreed in February to split the 50 apartments between two buildings. The board took this action after Smith relocated the proposed parking garage to avoid delays in getting approval for an initial entrance on Railroad Avenue.

The complex, which will include 20 electric vehicle charging stations, consists of a front building along Broad Street that is 51,844 square feet and a rear building that is 12,303 square feet for a total of 64,147 square feet, according to city documents. 

Metro on Broad, the project completed this summer, is 78 units spread across three residential buildings ranging from studio- to three-bedroom apartments, with rents ranging from $2,095 to $3,295 per month. It's at 135 Broad St., just off the Milford Green. The first apartment center, Building 131, was completed and opened in October. The last to be built, Building 127, opened in July and its last apartment rented in early August, said Colleen Chrzanowski, Metro Star's assistant community manager who helps rent spaces in and manage the building.

About 150 people reside there, Chrzanowski said.

"I live in Milford and it was interesting to see how fast they came up," Chrzanowski said of the buildings' construction. "It was like one day there was nothing and the next day there was a building."

The site is historic. It is where early submarine inventor and Milford resident Simon Lake did his work, Chrzanowski said. One of the buildings on site was fashioned with a sawtooth roof to commemorate Lake's having kept a laboratory there. Nautical flags with names of his submarines and other historical terms from his life hang from the buildings, Smith said.

East Windsor first selectman wants CT council to reject latest proposed solar farm in town

Jamila Young

EAST WINDSOR — First Selectman Jason Bowsza says his town has done more than its share to help state go green. Now he says he is fighting on behalf of his residents by urging the Connecticut Siting Council to reject the latest proposed solar farm in town. 

“We have done our part as citizens in Connecticut toward large-scale renewable energy projects,” Bowsza said in testimony to the Siting Council on Sept. 7. 

On Friday, Bowsza said that Solar Two is "gobbling up prime farmland" and is contradictory to the town's plan of conservation and development, which, he told Siting Council, seeks to preserve the “rural, village and business character” of the town.

Bowsza said that along with the erosion of farmland, residents have environmental concerns with the proposed solar farm, including stormwater runoff, groundwater contamination, and fire hazards.

It's a concern many rural towns across the state have about solar farms, as it is the Connecticut Siting Council, not the municipality, that has legal jurisdiction over the location of power facilities. 

Verogy Holdings LLC, the applicant for Solar Two at 31 Thrall Road, is a professional renewable energy business that develops, finances, constructs, manages, and operates solar-generating facilities.

Verogy officials say that the project will help Connecticut meet its emission reduction targets, as well as meet Gov. Ned Lamont's goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2040. Pending approval, the project would begin financing, detailed engineering, procurement, and construction efforts by the end of this year, with commercial operation planned for the project in 2024. 

The town already has two solar farms in operation — NorCap South on Wapping Road and Solar One on East Road. Solar One, which was built in 2021 after Verogy developed the property for it, is now owned by NextEra. 

A third solar farm development, Gravel Pit Solar between Apothecaries Hill Road and Plantation Road, is currently under construction.

Bowsza said that given Verogy's track record of not addressing resident's concerns of the noise it emits, the company has demonstrated why it is not a good partner for the town. 

"Verogy did not address the concerns of Solar One to date. Neither has NextEra," Bowsza said. "Residents who live in close proximity to Solar One are having an intrusion on their home life. We haven't gotten anything from the developer or owner." 

Residents living near Solar One has long complained of a high-pitched ringing noise emitting from the solar farm, with one neighbor describing it as a "whining noise that travels."

Bowsza said that the properties of Solar One and Two are owned by the Catholic Cemeteries Association of the Archdiocese of Hartford, so the location of Solar Two on its property would be a decision between the association and the Siting Council.

"They have no problem leasing the property for 30 or 40 years and destroying it, but it's a private transaction," Bowsza said. "We retained outside counsel; we've hired a law firm with considerable experience. We're working with state legislators to change the law over having a municipality have control of siting, making sure communities and communities like mine are heard or considered. We'll keep trying until they do."

Bowsza said that if the Siting Council does approve the solar farm, the town has the right to appeal the decision, which he said the town will do.  

The Siting Council is accepting letters of input until Oct. 5.

CT adds estimated 2,100 jobs in August, moves closer to recovering jobs lost early in pandemic

Paul Schott

Connecticut’s private sector has finally recovered all of the jobs that it lost at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to preliminary data released Monday by the state Department of Labor — but headwinds including a persistent labor shortage continue to hinder job growth. 

The state’s private sector had an estimated total of about 1.46 million jobs last month, having recovered 100.6 percent of the positions that it lost during COVID-19 pandemic-sparked shutdowns during the spring of 2020. The comeback reflects rebounds in several industries, including construction, whose employment has reached its highest level in about 15 years. 

Overall, also including public-sector jobs, Connecticut has recovered 98.5 percent of the approximately 289,000 jobs that it lost in the spring of 2020. 

“It appears that Connecticut’s economy is reaching a new normal with sustained low unemployment rates and steady monthly job growth,” Patrick Flaherty, the Department of Labor’s director of research, said in a written statement. “With job gains across a diverse range of industries, Connecticut is well-positioned to weather ongoing pressure from inflation and interest rates.”

Connecticut added a total of 2,100 jobs last month, the Department of Labor estimated. As it does every month, the department updated the previous month’s jobs numbers. An originally estimated jobs gain of 2,900 for July was revised down to 1,900. 

The state has added about an average of about 2,500 jobs per month in 2023, a slightly faster pace than in 2022, according to Department of Labor officials. The approximately 1.69 million payroll jobs that Connecticut recorded last month was 21,200 positions, or 1.3 percent more jobs than the total in August 2022. But the uptick lagged behind a national increase of 2 percent during the same period. 

Last month's jobs numbers total compared with about 1.70 million positions in February 2020, the last full month before Connecticut recorded a COVID-19 case, and 1.72 million jobs in March 2008, which marked the state’s all-time employment peak. 

“The August job gains are good to see, especially on the heels of the positive July report,” Chris DiPentima, CEO and president of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said in a statement. “Even with a downward revision in July’s numbers, the private sector is finally fully recovered from the jobs lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is still work to be done as Connecticut still trails much of the country in job growth since the pandemic and even going back to the Great Recession.”

During the past year, the 10 major sectors in Connecticut have recorded the following changes in employment levels, on a percentage basis.  

•    Construction and mining: +2.3% (compared with total number of jobs in August 2022)
•    Manufacturing: -0.1%
•    Trade, transportation and utilities: +0.4%
•    Information: +1.3%
•    Financial activities: -2.8%
•    Professional and business services: +1.2%
•    Education and health services: + 3.5%
•    Leisure and hospitality: +3.0%
•    Other services: -0.8%
•    Government: +1.3%

Six sectors are estimated to have gained jobs in August: education and health services, +800; professional and business services, +700; construction and mining, +500; trade, transportation and utilities, +500; manufacturing, +400; and information, +200. 

Four sectors are estimated to have lost jobs last month: other services, -400; leisure and hospitality, -300; financial activities, -200; and government, -100.

The monthly estimates of employment levels are derived from surveys of businesses, while the unemployment rate and labor force estimates are based on household surveys. 

“Overall, as the national and state economies recover, volatility in monthly numbers can be expected,” the Department of Labor said in a news release summarizing the job report. “Job and employment estimates are best understood in the context of their movement over several months rather than observed changes in a single month’s value.”

Ongoing challenges

Amid the job gains, unemployment in Connecticut last month ran at a four-year state low of 3.6 percent. With the national jobless rate running in August at 3.8 percent, last month also marked the first time since May 2020 that the state's unemployment rate has run below the national level. 

With unemployment low, many job openings continue to go unfilled. There are about 77,000 jobs posted across the state, compared with a pandemic-era high of about 120,000 positions, according to Department of Labor data.

CBIA’s 2023 Survey of Connecticut Businesses found that 81 percent of employers are having difficulty finding and retaining employees, and 46 percent said that the labor shortage represents the greatest threat to economic growth.

Contributing to businesses’ hiring challenges is the state's shrinking labor force. The labor force, which includes workers and unemployed people looking for work, is down about 1 percent from August 2022, and it has declined in each of the past eight months.

“That is indicative of underlying issues for the state economy — issues that policymakers must address, like the cost of living, housing, child care and the high cost of doing business,” DiPentima said. He added that those are issues that “CBIA and the business community continue to put forth solutions for addressing, such as private-sector investment in housing, restoring the pass-thru entity tax credit and incentives for first-time home buyers … Employers are doing their part. It’s time for policymakers to do theirs and help build an economy that provides opportunities for everyone in Connecticut.”

At the same time, many business leaders believe that increased investments in areas such as infrastructure would also boost jobs growth. 

“There is tremendous opportunity for large infrastructure projects that aren't happening right now,” Christina Oneglia Rossi, vice president of O&G Industries, a Torrington-headquartered company that provides construction products and services in the northeast, said at CBIA’s economic conference on Sept. 14.  She added that, “the money is there, so we’re hopeful that some of these projects come to bear because investing in infrastructure has the highest return on investment in terms of job growth and in terms of improving the state economy.” 

Work underway to boost safety at dangerous Route 9 ramp in Middletown

Cassandra Day

MIDDLETOWN — In an attempt to reduce motor vehicle crashes on one of the most dangerous highway on-ramps in the state, the state Department of Transportation is conducting a $50.4 million project to remove the stop sign-controlled on-ramp from Route 17 to Route 9 north in Middletown.

The effort to remove the stop sign has been going on for at least three decades, ATANE Consulting Engineer Kevin Conroy told participants, according to the meeting video.

The state agency hosted an information session Thursday at the Middletown Police Department to explain the progress on the three-year project.

The on-ramp’s current configuration resulted in 319 crashes and 27 injuries between 2019 and 2022, according to the latest UConn crash data information.

Middlesex Corp. of Portland is the contractor for the project, which began in late March. Its expected completion date is mid-October 2026.

Motorists will experience some temporary inconveniences such as lane closures, reductions and detours during the process. 

Work includes the construction of a 1,000-foot, full-length acceleration lane in place of the stop sign, and widening of the area on both Route 9 and the Exit 23B southbound on-ramp at deKoven Drive. The roadway will be broadened between 24 and 30 feet, Conroy said.

Also, the Route 17 bridge over Union Street will be rebuilt, and the Main Street Extension southbound on-ramp will be realigned.

"The real benefit of this project is to eliminate that stop sign by providing enough of an acceleration lane that allows people to merge safely without having to look behind them,” Conroy explained. 

The present setup forces motorists to “take your chances,” he added. 

Motorists entering Route 9 north from the Route 17 on-ramp must awkwardly crane their necks to the left, nearly halfway around, to judge both the presence of vehicles and their speed.

Once construction is complete, Conroy said, drivers no longer will be able to enter Route 9 north from Harbor Drive, as the street will end just north of the park entrance. 

Eventually, the new lane will be integrated into the DOT's signal removal project on Route 9 downtown,  Conroy said.

"As somebody who's been studying this particular intersection for going on 30 years, the problem hasn't changed," Conroy said. "It's always been one of the more difficult places in the state, especially to merge onto a highway."

As traffic patterns are temporarily redirected, advance construction warning signs are in place, as well as smart work cameras, Conroy said. The latter is part of the DOT's new speed monitoring program.

One attendee brought up a point about whether noise levels would disturb the peace of those who live close to the project. There will be some construction done at night, Conroy replied, but sounds will be below 90 decibels, the maximum allowed by industry standards.

The sound of heavy traffic is in the 90 dB range. Loud noise above 120 dB can cause immediate harm to the ears, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

DOT personnel regularly conduct noise measurements at the nearest occupied building, which was 65 dB when last taken, Conroy explained. "We are well below the limit. We're sympathetic to noise, especially at night, and we do our best to do that, so we don't disturb folks,” he said.

To watch the meeting video, go to bit.ly/3Rk0wKD. For information, see route9middletown.com, where people can also sign up for email notifications on the project. For questions, email DOTProject82-316@ct.gov.

LEARN votes to purchase vacant Waterford school and build new $95M early childhood facility

Daniel Drainville

Waterford ― Regional educational service center LEARN is moving forward with its plans to acquire the vacant Southwest School building from the town.

LEARN’s Board of Directors voted Friday to authorize Executive Director Kate Ericson to buy the 15.3-acre property and school building at 51 Daniels Ave. for $1.

LEARN will use the site to construct a $95 million bilingual early childhood school that will encourage students to retain their home languages.

“What we’re trying to do is to hold on to their home language rather than wipe it out and become solely English speakers,” Ericson said Friday.

The new school would feature 568 slots, Ericson said. Of those, 48 will be for infants and toddlers, 200 will be for pre-kindergarten students, 100 will be for kindergarten students, 100 for first-graders and 100 for second graders.

The school will be the first of its kind in the state. Currently, there is no district that has an infant-toddler program attached to its school.

LEARN currently operates four magnet schools: the Friendship School in Waterford, the Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London, the Marine Science Magnet School in Groton and Three Rivers Middle College Magnet High School in Norwich.

With two years left on its lease for the Friendship School, LEARN began to look for a way to reconfigure its schools and the age groups it serves.

“The challenge with the current configuration of the Friendship School is multi-layered,” Ericson said. “What we’re seeing is there’s not a need for pre-K that there was 20 years ago.”

Ericson cited that decline, along with the town’s development of its own pre-K programs, as reasons why the Friendship School has become inefficient.

The Friendship School was created around 20 years ago as a joint endeavor between New London and Waterford. But about seven years ago, Waterford decided to back out of the partnership, Ericson said. Since then, New London students have filled about 50 percent of the school’s seats, with the other half opened to 16 towns in the region, Ericson said.

Because the Friendship School is pre-K only, it had a harder time getting state funding, Ericson added.

“All of that led us last year to do some hard thinking about taking the regional needs and thinking about ‘what do we need to do?’” she said.

Considering all those factors, LEARN began putting together the idea of a new early childhood school that would help reconfigure its current school network, Ericson said.

LEARN is looking to obtain state funding for the project. If that does not happen, it will return the land to Waterford.

“There’s a lot of process that still has to happen for this to be executed,” Ericson said.

The LEARN Board of Directors submitted a funding grant in June to the state for review. The General Assembly would not approve any potential funding until next spring, Ericson said.

LEARN’s goal is to begin designing and then building the school next July with an opening projected for 2027. The current school would be demolished.

Additionally, LEARN will reconfigure the Regional Multicultural Magnet School to be a grade 3 through 8 program. It currently serves grades kindergarten through grade 5.

“So our families would have a chance to live with us and be with the LEARN community from possibly infant/toddler all the way through grade 8,” Ericson said, with the option of then applying to the Marine Science Magnet School, which serves high school students.

“I think this is a pretty significant moment for LEARN,” she said.

CT city could see $34 million conversion of 2 office buildings into high-profile apartments

KENNETH R. GOSSELIN

HARTFORD — Two prominently-located downtown Hartford office buildings — one, a historic, former bank on Pratt Street and the other, directly across from Bushnell Park — could be converted and add another 120 apartments — and ease the stockpile of lower-grade, older office space that has gotten even tougher to lease after the pandemic.

The proposals also would capitalize on the continued strong demand for residential leasing in the downtown area.

The Simon Konover Co. of West Hartford is proposing a $7 million conversion of the upper floor offices of 31-45 Pratt St. — once the headquarters of the old-line Hartford lender Society for Savings —  into 37 market-rate apartments. The existing Society Room of Hartford, the banquet and event venue in what was the old bank lobby, would remain.

Two blocks to the south, the 5-story, 1920s building at 15 Lewis St. would be converted in a $26.7 million project to 78 apartments — 10% of them at affordable rents — and its main entrance would relocated from Lewis to Jewell St. The building new name — “The Jewell” — would reflect the change and new orientation to the park.Subtitle

Lexington Partners, founded by the late Marty Kenny, a major developer downtown and in the surrounding region, is partnering with building owners LAZ Investments, an arm of parking giant LAZ Parking founded by Alan Lazowski, and Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC, downtown’s largest commercial landlord.

“It’s an obvious recognition that the ‘B’ market space is done,” Michael W. Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, said. “It’s not inconsistent with what we have been doing downtown over the last few years anyway. The projects that we have been doing is ‘B’ space to a new use. It’s their recognition of it and they are basically going this route because they see the market going there.”

 

Occupancy levels are falling in top-of-the-line, marquee office towers downtown. Employers are downsizing their leases as more office employees work from home full- or part-time. There is some hope that tenants that once sought out ‘B’ space will move up a rung to more modern space and negotiate favorable leases. That would cut into the space coming onto the market.

CRDA, which has helped finance apartment redevelopment downtown in the last decade, is being asked to approve a low-cost, state-taxpayer-backed $1.1 million loan for the Pratt Street project and a $5 million loan and $2 million equity investment for Lewis Street.

Those requests will be considered Tuesday by CRDA’s housing committee. They also must pass muster with the full CRDA board of directors and later, the State Bond Commission.

Since 2013, the downtown area has added more than 3,000 apartments. Another 440 are under construction and an additional 400 are closing to securing financing. On top of that, another 1,200 are in the “pipeline,” including the first phase of Bushnell South.

If the Pratt Street proposal were successful, it would join in a revitalization of the brick-lined, pedestrian-only street in the heart of downtown The recent conversion of 99 Pratt St., at the corner with Trumbull Street, into 97 apartments now has a 100% occupancy a year after first beginning leasing.

The street also is seeing an increasing uptick in new storefront restaurants, bars and other shops, partly financed by the city’s Hart Lift grant program.

“Tenants are increasingly hard to come by in ‘B’ office space in downtown Hartford, and we see the opportunity to turn it into high quality apartment living in downtown on Pratt Street,” said Newt Brainard, Konover’s vice president of development and acquisition. “We see that as a ‘win-win’ for both the city and our property.”

According to CRDA, projected average monthly market-rate rents would range from $1,300 for studios to $1,600 for a one-bedroom. Average unit sizes would range from 400 to 750 square feet.

The building at 15 Lewis has stood vacant for more than three years. Prior to the pandemic, there was some consideration given to turning the structure into a “micro hotel” but that has not been financially-feasible as the hospitality industry recovers from a battering during Covid.

While the building’s smaller interior spaces no longer make it desirable for modern offices, they do lend themselves to apartments, the developers say. And the pink-colored Sandstone piers and arched windows at ground-level make a strong statement, they say.

“We believe the site is probably one of the nicest sites available in all of the downtown,” Jane Davey, director of asset management and acquisitions at LAZ Investments, said. “The views of the Capitol are phenomenal. The structure of the building — it’s got some great features in it: nice high ceilings, great high windows, so we began to revisit the concept of doing housing there.”

The new apartment building also would likely have a rooftop space for tenants and a restaurant would likely occupy the storefront once leased by Vito’s on the Park, Davey said.

Projected average monthly rents would range from $1,500 for a studio to $2,300 for a two-bedroom, according to CRDA. “Affordable” monthly rents would range from $1,400 to $2,000, CRDA said.

Units range in size from an average of 380 to 800 square feet.

The conversion of the building would complete the transformation of a block that also once included two highly-visible vacant office buildings at 101 and 110 Pearl St. Those buildings were converted into apartments.

“We’re still really bullish on downtown,” Chris P. Reilly, president of Lexington Partners, said. “There’s still a lot of demand to be met in downtown. And with the resurgence of retail that we’re going to see over the next six months, we think its only going to get better.”

If financing were lined up and city approvals are secured, the projects would be expected to get underway next year.