CT Construction Digest Wednesday August 28, 2024
Norwalk Hospital gets 2-year extension for seven-story addition slated to begin 2026
NORWALK — The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a two-year extension for Nuvance Health for its planned construction of a seven-story addition to Norwalk Hospital.
A one-year extension the commission granted for the planned project last year expires in October. The hospital was seeking the longer extension to avoid coming back next October if progress were “close but not quite there,” Liz Suchy, a lawyer at Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey who was representing the hospital, said at last Wednesday's meeting.
The two-year extension would be “more than sufficient,” Suchy said, and that “the hope is that construction will have commenced by first quarter of 2026.”
The hospital is planning to build a new 191,000-square-foot patient pavilion tower with “associated site improvements,” the city’s website states.
The special application for the project was approved in October 2022.
The project, which at one point was slated to begin in spring 2023 with demolition at the site, was delayed while Norwalk Hospital found a new site for its inpatient psychiatric services.
The hospital had intended to terminate its inpatient psychiatric services and move those services off-campus, but the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy denied the request in January.
In recent years, staffing constraints have limited the hospital, which has only been able to maintain 11 or fewer inpatient psychiatric beds at Norwalk Hospital, the OHS decision states.
“The plans and the permits for the patient pavilion had to be put on hold while that issue was resolved since that Behavioral Unit location needed to be secured, so we're back before you for another extension. We thought it would be more appropriate to seek two years rather than one year,” Suchy said.
The hospital has had to reconfigure plans to determine where the inpatient behavioral unit will go before the expansion can begin. John Sterry, planning, design, construction, and corporate real estate vice president for Nuvance Health, according to his LinkedIn, said the current behavioral health unit is in a portion of the hospital that will be demolished in the construction process.
Immediate attempts to reach a Norwalk Hospital representative were unsuccessful.
The construction of the seven-story pavilion on the hospital campus will replace the Community Pavilion and the Tracey Pavilion, built in 1953 and 1918, respectively, a statement from the hospital said in 2021. The new pavilion will create a "soothing environment for all by providing single bed patient rooms; modern facilities, a new medical-surgical unit; and a mother and infant unit, among other updates and renovations, the statement said.
Farmington celebrates completion of $145 million new high school in time for first day of school
FARMINGTON — As students across the state begin the 2024-25 school year, Farmington High School students have kicked off the first day of school in their brand-new facility.
Hundreds of community members gathered in Farmington High School on Monday evening to celebrate the completion of the largest construction project in Farmington's history, the night before the new school facility's halls and classrooms were filled with students for the very first time Tuesday.
"It just fills my heart with so much joy that everyone here is excited about a first day of school," said U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, as she gazed at the packed bleachers in the school gymnasium.
Farmington Public Schools Superintendent Kathleen Greider described the opening of the state-of-the-art facility as a historic moment for the entire town.
"Our new high school is our collective best work and represents what Farmington is capable of when we all work together on a common, inspired goal that has meaning and value to us," she said Monday.
The $145 million construction project has been years in the making, culminating in the Monday ribbon cutting where district and school leaders, and local, state, and federal officials spoke about the long road it took to get to this moment, and what the school means for the community and students who will learn within it.
"This school is truly a miracle in modern times," said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, at the ceremony, "when so much is stymied and stopped by division and disagreement, I am here to say thank you to Farmington for showing us what community looks like."
The project was made possible after years of work on the local and state levels, including two town referendums, the efforts of the Farmington High School Building Committee, and legislators working to secure funding for the project.
"This was truly a grassroots effort," said Farmington Town Council Chairman Joe Capodiferro. "Volunteers on numerous boards, commissions, worked across the political aisle and throughout the community to gather support on a project that was desperately needed."
Although planning has been underway for around five years, construction began in summer 2022 and consisted of building, from the ground up, a new three-story, 236,000-square-foot Farmington High School that replaced the old school on the same campus, which was demolished as part of the project, according to the construction company.
Many speakers at the ceremony also discussed how even though the building was new, the legacy and history of the generations that came before have been carried on through the goals and values that allowed this project to materialize.
"This new building is more than just bricks and mortar," Meghan Guerrara, chairwoman of the Farmington High School Building Committee, said. "It represents our collective vision for the future of education in our community."
Core design features of the brand-new school include open spaces and natural light, connection to the outdoors, multipurpose spaces and furniture, collaborative, creative, and quiet work places, and public exhibition places.
"When you enter the school's various learning spaces, please reflect upon these design features imagined by this community so many years ago, and know how purposefully and thoughtfully each element and detail of this facility was collaboratively planned and constructed," Greider said.
The space in which students learn matters, said state Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker, and the new Farmington High School represented how designs and the principles behind them can foster an environment where students will feel valued, supported, and excited to come to school every day.
"From state-of-the-art classrooms and technology, to spaces that support collaboration and creativity, every detail has been carefully considered to ensure that students have the tools and the environment they need in order to succeed," she said.
The new facility will serve as a beacon of excellence in education throughout Connecticut and beyond, Greider said, and will promote inspired learning for all generations of students.
"Our new Farmington High School facility integrates both the beauty of our community, our river, our meadows, and our beautiful landscape situated in the picturesque Farmington Valley," she said, "coupled with our strong educational vision, ensuring our classroom and school learning environments inspire students to engage in deeper learning experiences aligned to our vision as self-aware individuals, empowered learners, disciplined thinkers, engaged collaborators, and civic-minded contributors."
Monday's ribbon cutting celebrated the completion of the second phase of the high school project, which included the construction of the new building. Phase three of the project, which includes the renovation of the old school's 900 wing and demolition of the remaining building, is currently in progress with an estimated completion date next July. The final phase of the project, which is site work, is expected to complete next June.
Historic homes in Hartford to be relocated for CT Children's parking facility
Four historic homes on Lincoln Street in Hartford will be placed on truck beds and relocated Thursday, to make room for the Connecticut Children's new 900-space parking garage.
Two of the homes will be moved to Putnam Street, one to Lawrence Street and one to Hungerford Street. They will be renovated and used to provide future housing.
The $60 million, nine-story parking garage will also include retail spaces and potential future businesses.
J Restaurant Bar at 297 Washington St., which is near the homes that are being relocated, closed in July. The owner, Jordan Dikegoros, said he will have it cleaned out by Sept. 1 so construction can begin.
Dikegoros has been negotiating with LAZ Parking, which bought his and the residential properties last year, to potentially lease space in the new parking facility.
The garage, across from the Connecticut Children’s campus, will be accessed from Washington Street.
The home relocations are scheduled to occur between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The project is a collaboration between Connecticut Children’s, Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance and LAZ Parking.
How contractors can guard against wage theft on their jobsites
Construction has a wage theft problem.
In fiscal year 2023, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division secured over $35.5 million in back wages for nearly 18,000 construction employees — more funds than from any other U.S. industry.
Wage theft can come in many forms, such as not paying overtime, not paying union or pension dues or misclassifying full-time employees as independent subcontractors, who therefore are denied benefits.
The issue creates a unique challenge for general contractors and primes who want to conduct business lawfully and effectively, and who want to protect themselves from reputational risk, liability and regulatory consequences. This can be tricky as subcontractors often deal directly with workers, without the prime or GC having direct knowledge of those interactions. Given that structure, GCs and project managers should be on the lookout, lawyers say, for wage theft on their projects. Beyond the DOL’s enforcement efforts, some states have also begun to adopt or pursue joint liability for wage theft.
“Ultimately in every state, there’s exposure for wage theft,” said Dan Rosenberg, principal at Chicago-based law firm Much Shelist. “States now have passed laws making it even easier for employees and unions to go after unpaid wages from solvent, bigger contractors.”
For example, in Minnesota, the Construction Worker Wage Protection Act went into effect in August 2023. The law gives construction workers the right on some projects — there are exceptions for smaller residential builds — to pursue unpaid wages from the lead contractor instead of a subcontractor that didn’t pay them. They can pursue what they’re owed by filing a claim with the state’s labor department or in court.
But even in states that don’t have these kinds of laws, contractors can still face consequences, Rosenberg said.
“The mechanic’s lien laws of every state would allow an employee to file, which ultimately the contractor, even — God forbid — the owner could have to pay for that project,” he said.
Why it happens
The reason wage theft is so pervasive in construction, experts say, is because it tilts the business playing field — albeit illegally — in favor of those companies that engage in it.
“The thing to understand is just what a cost advantage is afforded to the contractor that chooses to cheat through employment classification,” said John Nesse, partner at St. Paul, Minnesota-based labor relations law firm Management Guidance LLP.
Bottom of Form
Nesse serves as the general counsel to the Signatory Wall and Ceiling Contractors Alliance, an advocacy group for union contractors. The organization’s leaders have testified to Congress that misclassifying workers or engaging in wage theft offers close to a 50% cost advantage over employers who follow the rules. The downside, of course, is the shadow that hangs over firms when they’re found out, particularly if they sully the good names of their partners along the way.
“If you have an employer who is subcontracting the work, so that you’re creating multiple tiers below the GC, every tier creates an additional layer of risk,” Nesse said.
Vet, prequalify, verify
To better protect themselves from the reputational risk, liability and regulatory consequences that go hand in hand with wage theft, contractors can put specific provisions in contracts. But legal experts say the best first line of defense is often to know your trade partners well, ensure they have the means to pay employees and build trust in that working relationship.
“The first thing is you have to carefully vet your primary, the client and any subcontractors,” said Charles Krugel, a management-side labor attorney in Chicago. “And what I say is you could do a basic internet search or maybe search some court websites in your jurisdiction and find out if there’s been any lawsuits or any complaints or bad reviews from contractors or subcontractors on websites like Yelp, Yahoo, Glassdoor, whatever and find out what their reputation is.”
In the vetting process, it’s also vital to find out how exactly the subcontractor will deliver the work, according to Nesse, and ensure subcontractors will actually classify employees as employees, rather than independent contractors.
“Obviously you’re going to need to subcontract that first tier to the specialty contractors,” Nesse said. “You’ve got the concrete guy, you’ve got the electrician, you’ve got the drywall guy, so on and so forth. But if you’re subcontracting to a drywall contractor and then that drywall contractor is in turn subcontracting the work, to me, that’s an enormous red flag.”
Contracts and response
Some provisions do exist to help protect a GC in the instance of wage theft by a subcontractor.
For example, Rosenberg shared standard, common contract language, such as the requirement of a sub to provide the GC with any additional sub-subcontracts for work or permitting the GC to stop paying the subcontractor if they suspect wage theft is happening, in which case they should start paying workers directly. Doing so could also function as a potential defense, should a wage theft case arise down the road.
But Krugel said contracts can also use more creative approaches. For example, the prime could set up an escrow account with an initial down payment to protect funds, though that could pose a challenge based on its cash flow. Additionally, contractors could attempt to decide joint liability within the contract itself.
“If we’re in a state that doesn’t have strict liability, then ‘You pay 80%, we pay 20%’ or something like that,” Krugel said. “And maybe that could be held up. That could be enforceable then.”
An ounce of prevention
When it comes to prevention, both Rosenberg and Nesse noted that involving labor representatives — unions — can make a big difference. According to Nesse, merely having a third party working to ensure employees get their due can prevent the issue.
“I represent union signatory contractors, and when you’ve got a labor agreement in place, you’ve got that union acting as a third party to enforce those employment requirements,” Nesse said. “And to me, that’s the ultimate protection against this.”
For non-union builders? Extra leg work to know who’s hired by the sub remains the best course of action.
“The absolute core of this issue is employee misclassification and making sure that the workers on the project are actually employees of someone, not independent contractors,” Nesse said. “Now, there will be some rare exceptions to that, right? Like the guy that’s coming in to paint the mural on the ceiling, he’s gonna be an independent contractor probably. But the 10 to 20 guys that are installing the drywall always, every single time should be employees.”
Here's which roads remain closed more than a week after deadly flooding in Connecticut
More than a week after heavy rain triggered flash flooding in southwestern Connecticut that may have left up to three people dead, parts of multiple state and local roads remain closed, according to state and local officials.
The flooding washed out whole sections of tarmac as well as bridges and rail lines on Aug. 18. In Oxford, two women died after they were swept away by floodwaters during the storm, authorities said. In Westport, Fairfield police are also investigating whether a Weston man who went missing during the storm and who was later found dead in the Aspetuck River in Westport was killed by the weather event.
Authorities have set up detours at multiple roads damaged by the flooding, as well as barricades or signal devices where damage has narrowed roads to one lane of alternating traffic.
The state Department of Transportation says drivers should expect long-term closures at many of the state routes that remain closed.
Here's which state remain closed as of Tuesday:
Monroe
Route 34: Route 34 is closed between Loughlin Road in Oxford and Route 111 in Monroe due to flood damage.
Oxford
Route 67: Route 67 is closed at Old State Road, and between Old State Road and Seymour Southbury Road due to flooding, the DOT said. A section of the road is also closed between Park Road and Great Hill Road due to flood damage.
Route 34: Route 34 is closed between Loughlin Road in Oxford and Route 111 in Monroe due to flood damage.
Redding
Route 53: A section of Route 53, also known as Newtown Turnpike, remains closed in both directions at Glen Road near the Saugatuck Reservoir due to flood damage. The road is also closed at Valley Forge Road due to flood damage, the DOT said.
Pinetree Road: Pinetree Road has reopened after emergency utility work, Redding police said Tuesday.
Diamond Hill Road: Diamond Hill Road has been closed to thru traffic due to emergency utility repair work, police said Tuesday.
Route 107: A section of Route 107 just north of Glen Hill Road is open to traffic, but the DOT has closed the northbound lane with barricades and an alternating traffic pattern. "Please drive cautiously in that area," Redding police said in a Facebook post Thursday.
Seymour
Route 313: Route 313, also known as River Street, is closed at Route 67 due to flooding.
Southbury
Route 67: A section of Route 67 is closed between SR 487 and Community House Road due to flood damage.
Kettletown Road: Kettletown Road, also known as SR 487, is closed between Route 67, Kettletown State Park and Georges Hill Road for flood damage. The road is also closed between Maple Tree Hill Road and Georges Hill Road.
Bucks Hill Road: Bucks Hill Road may need to close "for repairs for a period of time" after the road sustained damage, town officials said. "Although it remains passable at this time, avoid the area if at all possible," the town said in an update Monday.
Crook Horn Road: Crook Horn Road is closed at Settlers Park, town officials say.
Georges Hill Road: Georges Hill Road is closed from south of Kettletown State Park to Kettletown Road, the town said.
Old Field Road: A section of Old Field Road is closed from Heritage Road to Poverty Road.
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Old Waterbury Road: A section of old Waterbury Road is closed at Church Road, but is accessible from Main Street North and Dublin Road, Southbury officials said. Authorities have closed the road to thru traffic west of Old Highway Road.
Sanford Road: A section of Sanford Road is closed between Jeremy Swamp and Jacob Road, Southbury officials said.