CT Construction Digest Wednesday April 12, 2023
(MIDDLETOWN, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont and Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto today announced that the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is starting construction on a project that will reconfigure the Route 17 on-ramp that leads to Route 9 northbound in Middletown in an effort to increase safety for drivers and pedestrians and improve traffic mobility.
The project includes removing the on-ramp’s existing stop sign and creating a full-length, free-flow acceleration lane that will allow vehicles to merge onto Route 9 without first being required to come to a complete stop. The bridge carrying Route 17 over Route 9 will be replaced to accommodate the new acceleration lane, while Harbor Drive access to Route 9 will be removed. The Main Street Extension intersection will be realigned and signalized, and a new sidewalk will be added to the west side of Main Street Extension underneath Route 17.
Middlesex Corporation was awarded the contract, valued at $50 million. It is supported by funding Connecticut is receiving from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.
The on-ramp’s current configuration has resulted in 319 crashes and 27 injuries between 2019 and 2022.
This project is part of a larger, comprehensive CTDOT program to improve driver and pedestrian safety in Middletown, including removing the traffic signals on Route 9 and Miller Street access to the freeway.
Governor Lamont said, “Improving the area around Route 9 in Middletown has been high on my priority list. For far too many years, this has been a notorious spot for congestion and accidents, and the current configuration is the source of many of these issues. Reconfiguring the Route 17 on-ramp by removing the stop sign and creating an acceleration lane is just one component of improvements on Route 9 in Middletown that we will be making.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is allowing us to invest in projects like this that will improve traffic flow and increase safety.”
Commissioner Eucalitto said, “This project is critical to improving the safety of drivers through the Route 9 corridor in Middletown. Every construction project of ours is focused on improving the safety of drivers, making it easier to get to wherever you’re traveling. The federal infrastructure law passed two years ago allows CTDOT to address the most important roadway and bridge improvements while accelerating our work to make improvements faster.”
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal said, “This interchange has long been a rampant source of senseless crashes. I commend Governor Lamont’s use of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to reverse this dangerous trend and make the roads safer for all.”
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy said, “A big goal of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is to fund projects that make our roads safer. I’m glad to see Governor Lamont use the federal dollars we secured to make it safer to drive in Connecticut by targeting roads with higher crash rates and making improvements that will reduce the number of accidents and injuries.”
U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) said, “Since 2016, Connecticut’s Department of Transportation has been working with the City of Middletown to develop plans to reconfigure the Route 17 on-ramp to Route 9 northbound. Improving safety and reducing crashes at the interchange is urgent for motorists who use this ramp every day. This is one of the many reasons why I am so proud that we ramped up historic investments with the recently passed and signed into law Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This project will help reduce congestion, improve both vehicle and pedestrian safety, and increase access to the waterfront. Simply put, this investment will help Connecticut build a better, stronger economy – with more jobs. Due to the funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, this critical interchange project can move forward.”
Updates regarding this project’s development will be published online at portal.ct.gov/DOT/Projects/0082-0316-Route-9-Middletown-Home.
Challenges and high ambitions on display during tour of East Hartford development sites
After East Hartford bought the Church Corners Inn in downtown East Hartford early this year, workers found the 54-room boarding house infested with bedbugs, mice and other vermin.
Overrun with drug activity and violence, the property had seen more than 2,500 emergency calls to police and firefighters over five years, Mayor Michael Walsh told Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz outside the now-boarded up building Tuesday morning. There had been stabbings and shootings and gunshots through closed doors. Some tenants aggressively panhandled in the nearby Main Street – sometimes going so far to hop into cars stopped at traffic lights, Walsh said.
Now, in city hands, much of the century-old building is in such poor shape it will have to be demolished, Walsh said. But he hopes to see the façade recreated in a new development of 24 apartments.
Challenges facing the economically diverse, historically blue-collar town of East Hartford were not far from view Tuesday morning as Walsh toured two state representatives and a small clutch of journalists through several sites targeted for ambitious redevelopment projects.
The tour began at the Silver Lane Plaza, a 22-acre site where two of three deteriorating retail buildings stand empty amid cracked and pitted parking lots, then wound through several sites where retail, office and residential developments are planned on sites that haven’t seen investment in several decades.
Walsh took the opportunity to thank Bysiewicz; State Rep. Jeffrey Currey, D-11th District; and State Rep. Henry Genga, D-11th District for state support crucial to spurring private investment.
Bysiewicz said she has encouraged architects planning apartments in East Hartford, noting they will find a receptive partner in the state.
“The Governor has made building of thousands of new housing units a priority in the budget and especially if it was near public transportation, that would make it very attractive,” Bysiewicz said.
Silver Lane Plaza
East Hartford is tapping $10 million through the state-funded Capital Region Development Authority for the Silver Lane Plaza project. About $4.5 million went to the prior owner as part of the eminent domain taking completed early this year, Walsh said. The remainder will be used to demolish buildings and resettle about a dozen retail tenants hanging on in one of three buildings on the site.
The plaza is composed of two properties, 794-810 Silver Lane and 818-850 Silver Lane. They collectively host three retail buildings, of 107,148 square feet, 31,080 square feet and 18,562 square feet, according to town officials.
Walsh said the city has hired Colliers International to see if one of the smaller Silver Lane Plaza buildings is worth salvaging. Depending on the results, either two or three buildings on the site will be demolished beginning in June or July, he said.
After that, the town will start a search for developers using either a “request for proposals” or a “request for qualifications” process, Walsh said. He doesn’t have a particular vision in mind but is leaning against more apartments, given plans to build several hundred nearby.
Concourse Park
Around the corner from the plaza, Developers Avner Krohn of Jasko Development and Brian Zelman of Zelman Real Estate have secured local approvals needed for a complex of at least 300 apartments on a 25-acre site, which the town plans to hand over for $1. Walsh puts development costs at $120 million.
The project, dubbed Concourse Park, is planned as a market-rate complex featuring a heavy array of amenities, including a small movie theater, indoor party room, community garden, fitness center, pool and more.
Agreements with the town give Zelman and Krohn until Sept. 30 to finalize financing. That funding stack will include $7 million in low-interest financing through CRDA, Walsh noted.
This site, which once hosted a Showcase Cinemas, will yield $34 million in local taxes over the course of a 27-year tax agreement, Walsh said.
Founders Plaza
Tuesday’s tour included a stop at the roughly 50-year-old Founders Plaza office park along the Connecticut River, where developers are planning a grand mix of multifamily housing, retail and office development over roughly 40 acres, Walsh said.
Developers are waiting for a signed letter of intent and commitments from tenants before making a formal announcement, Walsh said. The area lies in a special development district, arming the town with the ability to offer tax increment financing, enterprise zone tax breaks and other incentives.
Walsh said the city is working to speed through changes in its plan of conservation and development to accommodate the expected development plan. He expects demolition of existing buildings to begin this summer and wrap up in fall. This would be paid through a $6 million request expected to go before the State Bond Commission in May, Walsh said.
Church Corners Inn
East Hartford paid $950,000 for the troublesome, 54-room boarding house in January, tapping $2.5 million granted by the State Bond Commission in December for the purchase and redevelopment. The dismantling of this property allowed the town to connect residents with better housing options, as well as social services, Walsh said. It will result in a better business climate for downtown merchants, he noted.
The town hopes to find a developer to build 24 apartments on the site, he said.
Rentschler Field Logistics
Walsh’s tour Tuesday drove past Rentschler Field, where Massachusetts-based National Development is currently working to build a 1.3 million-square-foot distribution center for Lowe's Home Improvement and a 1.2 million-square-foot distribution center for online home decor retailer Wayfair. It is, at present, the largest development underway in town, but Bysiewicz had just visited the site in March for a groundbreaking ceremony.
Walsh said the various developments will work in tandem to improve quality-of-life, business conditions and job prospects in his town of roughly 50,000.
Texas developer building 232 apartments in Newington, 255 in Southington
The Texas development company that just won approval to build 255 apartments in Southington is preparing to begin construction of a 232-unit complex in Newington.
Anthony Properties will start building on the site of the former National Welding plant in Newington later this year, and possibly as early as this spring.
State officials have been eager to see construction there for the past decade, and located a CTfastrak station alongside it in 2015 partly as a way to spur transit-oriented development.
Just last month, Southington approved Anthony Properties’ plan for a $55 million complex of apartment buildings along Route 229 just a few blocks north of the I-84 ramps.
On Monday, company Vice President Resa Gilmore confirmed that both projects will move forward, but cautioned that expecting construction in Southington this year would be too optimistic.
Founded in Dallas in 1987, Anthony Properties has developed retail, subdivisions, theaters and more in states including Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Arkansas, and has built extensive large-scale apartment complexes in several Iowa communities.
Three years ago it won approval for its first major New England initiative, a mixed-use project with 329 apartments in Attleboro, Mass. Currently it is building the retail section of that, with maps showing the residential portion as “future development.”
Anthony got the go-ahead to create a multi-story apartment building in Newington two years ago, but state development officials had been pressing to get the old National Welding property back on the tax rolls even since launching CTfastrak service in 2015.
The contractors’ trade magazine Construction Journal reports that the project will cost an estimated $55 million and will include a parking garage, four stories of apartments, a swimming pool, a dog park and other amenities. The company has dubbed the development The Spark.
In Southington, Anthony Properties is taking a different approach. It plans to spread apartments there between eight buildings on what’s mostly wooded property along Route 229 near Curtiss Street. The company will set aside 26 apartments as affordable, with rents for families capped at 80% of the monthly Area Median Income. That set-aside will remain in force for 40 years, according to town documents.
There will be a clubhouse, pool and nearly 18,000 square feet of retail space, according to Anthony Properties.
The planning and zoning commission approved the project despite objections from nearby homeowners. Most of those focused on traffic in the region.
“The development would not be beneficial to the town of Southington due to the increased traffic and ensuing safety issues this would cause. Realistically it just isn’t feasible to add another 250 to 300 vehicles or more to the already congested intersections of Curtiss and West / Spring and West streets,” wrote Curtiss Street homeowner Kevin Sullivan.
But a traffic study by Anthony Properties’ consultant concluded that the new housing wouldn’t substantially worsen traffic nearby. The lower section of Route 229 has been seen traffic volumes rise markedly in the past two decades, partly because of the arrival of Target in 2008 followed by other new retailers and several hotels. At the same time, ongoing expansion of Lake Compounce and ESPN to the north led to more traffic as well.
Wilton to vote on $2.11 million turf field at Allen's Meadow
Karen Tensa
WILTON — After environmental testing, the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to recommend moving forward with a project to add the town’s third turf field at Allen’s Meadow.
As a result of the vote, the project will be submitted as a referendum for bonding at the annual Town Meeting on May 2.
The approval came at Monday night’s meeting, after the board delayed the vote at its April 3 meeting, according to First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice.
"Now it's up to the voters," Vanderslice told Hearst Media Connecticut in an interview.
The Board of Selectmen's vote came after it had learned that results of recent water tests showed no toxins were present that would be attributable to the town’s two existing artificial turf fields.
"We took it very seriously," Vanderslice said of the concerns about possible toxins from a turf field. "We did the investigation of the current turf fields, we did the tests," and no toxins were found in the runoff from the fields, she said.
The selectmen had also delayed its vote while waiting for the state Department of Transportation to draft its new lease for Allen’s Meadow with the town of Wilton. But on April 4, the DOT confirmed the terms of the lease, which will allow construction of a new artificial turf field and an enclosed bubble at Allen’s Meadow.
The plans for the third turf field are posted on the town website, explaining the need for the project, the status of the lease and the environmental reviews along with costs.
Director of Public Works Frank Smeriglio presented information on the design of the field and its estimated costs at the meeting on Monday night.
The turf field’s design and construction would cost about $1.82 million, according to the town website. With inflation and a 10 percent cost contingency, the total cost would come to $2.11 million.
According to town documents, if the estimates are correct and the contingency were required, the town would bond a maximum of $1.93 million for the project. If no contingency were required, the town would bond $1.75 million.
A local environmental group, the Norwalk River Watershed Association, has raised the alarm about the environmental impacts of turf fields.
Concerns about PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are widely used and long-lasting chemicals — had prompted the state Department of Transportation to delay drafting its new lease of Allen's Meadows with the town of Wilton, The state had accepted new lease terms earlier this year that would allow the town to construct the field at the 423 Danbury Road property.
The town decided to bring forward a plan to build a third turf field in town, due to heavy demand for field use by youth and adult sports leagues, Vanderslice said.
The town's grass fields are heavily used, like the two existing turf fields, and they do not get much opportunity to rest, she said. During last year's drought, the grass playing fields were "fried," Parks and Recreation Director Steve Pierce said, until heavy fall rains revived them.
"I came into office on turf fields, and I'm going out on turf fields," Vanderslice, who is not running for reelection to a third term, said of the long-running issue in town.
See the renovation prep work at Old Greenwich School happening while students are on break
GREENWICH — While Greenwich Public School students are on spring break this week, the Old Greenwich building committee is hard at work having professionals conduct field work as part of the renovation project’s architecture and engineering process.
Last week at the town’s Board of Estimate and Taxation 2024 budget Decision Day, the members, with a tie-breaking vote, denied the OGS renovation project’s construction, which ultimately postponed the start of the full renovation for at least another year.
However, the BET members voted in favor of appropriating slightly more than $1 million to complete the A&E designs for the OGS renovation. Last year, they appropriated $1 million to begin the design work.
Building Committee Chairperson James Waters said there are teams of about 20 professionals on-site at the OGS building while students are away doing schematic design work, including the committee’s owner’s representative, Morganti Group, who is overseeing the process.
Waters said architects and engineers from Silver Petrucelli and Associates “are completing thorough assessments focused on mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection and extensive architecture design.”
Along with that, experts from Langan, an engineering consultant, are conducting phase one environmental studies, he said.
Waters said this includes “drilling geotechnical borings and conducting interior hazardous material assessments.”
The design work includes an in-depth Americans with Disabilities Act assessment. The lack of accessibility at OGS was mentioned many times by administrators, parents and private citizens at the BET's public forum last month.
"Our students with injuries should not have to be carried up the front steps for another year, or be stuck on the ground floor room with a substitute because they couldn't physically make it up the stairs to their classroom," said Kathryn Cooper, first vice president of the OGS parent-teacher association, at the public forum. "In 2023, our children should not have windows as the only source of ventilation due to the lack of HVAC in their school building. Our principal should not have to turn away any more families with mobility-challenged children due to non-compliance with the law enacted 33 years ago, thus also leaving our district vulnerable to additional lawsuits."
Montville housing project on schedule despite rejection of tax break
Kevin Arnold
Montville ― The third time proved not to be the charm for the developers of the 72-unit Oxoboxo Lofts project.
The Town Council on Monday voted 5-1 to not enter into a 10-year agreement with the project’s land owner Ox Owner, LLC, a subsidiary of the Massachusetts-based developer Dakota Partners.
The council postponed its decision in February, the first time it heard the proposal, until it could gather more information and then rejected it in March as it was unable to agree on a start and end date for the agreement.
A revised plan was brought up again Monday night but the council again rejected it.
Dakota Senior Development Director Eric Kuczarski said the failure to reach an agreement will not kill the project and said construction at the 42 Pink Row property, home to the historic Faria Beede Mill, is set to resume in June.
He said the now $43 million project is 45% complete and on track to be finished by June 2024.
The initial plan requested to lock in the $4.4 million town-appraised value of the property with a 2% annual increase in the assessment for the next 10 years. Kuczarski explained that locking in those figures would help finalize the operating costs.
On Monday, Kuczarski returned to the council with the same financial figures, but offered to have the agreement start on Oct. 1, 2024 and end on Sept. 30, 2034.
There was one caveat to the timeline. If for some reason the owner would not be able to complete the project by the proposed start date, it would be able to push the start date back until it was complete and could generate revenue from its tenants.
The proposal called for a three-year window for the owner to enter the agreement in the case of an unforeseen delay.
Once the owner entered the agreement, the assessed value of the property would be the same as if it entered the agreement from the proposed start date. This means if there was a delay and the agreement began in 2025 Dakota would pay tax on the $4.4 million plus 2 percent.
The ending date would remain unchanged. The deal would have been off the table and the property would be taxed normally if the owner did not enter the agreement within the three-year window.
“If for some reason there’s a delay or issue, both the developer and the town would be most interested in not burdening something that’s not done yet with a large tax assessment,” Kuczarski explained to the council.
Not all the councilors agreed.
“I can’t speak for everybody on the council but I feel that you went in the wrong direction with this one,” Council Chairman Tom McNally said. “I think we want the start date so we get this started as soon as possible.”
Kuczarski said the timeline would motivate Dakota to complete the project as quickly as possible in order to take full advantage of the deal.
Councilor Lenny Bunnell Sr. looked to the proposed 57 deed-restricted affordable units in the development as a reason to support the deal.
A total of 4.97% of the town housing is deeded as affordable and that number would increase to 5.69% with the project’s completion. Municipalities that have less than 10 % of affordable housing are subject to the state’s affordable housing law. Under the law, towns can not reject developments that have a minimum of 15% affordable units even if they do not conform to zoning. The only way a town can reject a project is to prove it endangers health and safety.
“I think that we need to do something to create a goal of affordable housing and this is one opportunity to do it,” Bunnell said, the lone council to vote in favor of the deal. “And if we don’t do it, the state’s going to make us do it.”
Councilor Tim May raised concerns about the town becoming a part of a business model for a private company. Questioned by May, Kuczarski said there would theoretically be nothing stopping his firm from securing the agreement, thus increasing the property’s value, and then selling the property to another developer.
McNally, as he did in March, said a deal like this could open up Pandora’s box for other developers to look for similar deals, with or without the affordable housing component.
Mayor Ron McDaniel, who can not vote on council matters, said he did not see the agreement as an unfair measure to take to increase the town’s affordable housing stock, especially since the project has already seen so many delays.
The project was delayed in 2021 largely because Dakota Partners was awaiting a flood management certification, among other permits.
The delay caused the developer to request a five-year extension of the permits it obtained from the town's Wetlands and Watercourses Commission, set to expire Sept. 15, 2021, and the site plan approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission, set to expire on Oct. 19, 2021. Both extension were approved in 2021.
Kuczarski said Tuesday the developer will look to other avenues to control the project costs. He added that its is unlikely his firm would propose another tax assessment agreement but remains optimistic about the project’s future.
“Things are really lining up good to get this underway in June,” Kuczarski said Tuesday.