CT officials cut deal for XL Center renovations that includes private funding

Jonah Dylan

HARTFORD — The XL Center could get $20 million in private funding to put toward a renovation that would cost more than $100 million, according to the state budget passed by the Senate and the House before the end of the legislative session.

The budget would allow for Oak View Group — the contractor that runs day-to-day operations in the arena — to invest $20 million toward the renovations. The state could invest up to $80 million, according to the budget document, for the much-needed repairs to the arena that hosts a variety of events in downtown Hartford.

According to the budget agreement, OVG would be responsible for any monetary losses but would earn any profit up to $4 million. OVG and the Capital Regional Development Authority, which operates the arena, would split any money over $4 million.

Officials are also hoping to move forward with a retail sports betting venue at the XL Center that could open this fall.

The arena hosts the Hartford Wolf Pack, an AHL hockey team, as well as UConn men's and women's basketball. It was previously the home to the Hartford Whalers before they left for North Carolina in 1997, and officials have been pushing for a major renovation for decades.

The push to get funding for the renovations comes as Hartford officials and Gov. Ned Lamont have been courting the Arizona Coyotes, the NHL hockey team that has struggled to find a permanent home in Arizona. Lamont has said he's spoken with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman about relocating the team to Hartford and also said he has an ownership team in place that would be interested in buying the team and moving it to Hartford.

But that's led to questions about the XL Center's ability to host an NHL team. Lamont said Monday that it would probably take "quintuple" the $100 million already planned to get the XL Center ready for an NHL team, even as lawmakers have struggled for years to get the $100 million or so needed for immediate renovations for the arena's current tenants.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said Monday that he hoped the renovations could happen soon.

"Regardless of what happens with this effort to secure an NHL team, it's important that the XL Center is an arena that is modern, competitive, worthy of the national champion Huskies who play there and able to attract entertainment acts of all kinds," he said. "We are focused on continuing to work in partnership with the Capital Region Development Authority and with the state of Connecticut to get those improvements underway."

It wasn't clear what the timeframe for renovations would be.

CT won’t alter bridge inspection plan after collapse of I-95 in Philadelphia

Joshua Eaton

Connecticut’s bridge inspection program, which monitors the condition of about 5,000 bridges statewide, won’t change after the collapse of a major highway in Philadelphia on Sunday, according to the CT Department of Transportation. 

“Our bridge inspections and maintenance plans remain the same,” DOT spokesperson Josh Morgan said in an email.

The state is responsible for inspecting about 4,000 state-owned bridges across the state, along with another roughly 1,000 municipal bridges with spans longer than 20 feet.

Over 3,000 municipally owned bridges and culverts fall outside the states’ inspection program, Morgan said.

The collapse happened early Sunday morning after a tanker truck carrying fuel caught fire, sending flames and thick, black smoke underneath the bridge.

Experts told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the steel and concrete most bridges are made of lose their strength quickly in the intense heat of a fuel fire, which can reach over 1,000 degrees.

“You can think of a blacksmith forging something,” Andrew Bechtel, chair of the civil engineering department at the College of New Jersey, told The Inquirer. “They heat it up, and it becomes pliable.”

Officials recovered a body from the site on Monday, but they have yet to identify the remains.

I-95 is a major artery for people and goods along the east coast, and the collapse could snarl travel plans for months. 

The accident may also hit pocketbooks. The I-95 corridor carries nearly 40% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to a 2010 estimate by the I-95 Corridor Coalition.

At a press conference in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said longer shipping times could drive up consumer prices while the highway is being repaired.

“Here on the East Coast, there’s no doubt that the effect will be upward pressure until it can be completely resolved,” Buttigieg said.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said it could take months to rebuild the collapsed section of I-95. Officials have said they’ll release the reconstruction plan on Wednesday.

Previous fire-related bridge failures

The most recent comparison might be I-85 in Atlanta, Georgia, which collapsed in March 2017 after construction materials stored underneath an overpass caught fire. The highway reopened six weeks later.

But other sections of I-95 have collapsed after fires before, including here in Connecticut.

It took four months to fully repair a one-mile stretch of I-95 in Philadelphia that was damaged in a tire fire in 1996.

Two years later, another tanker truck fire on I-95 in Pennsylvania buckled a bridge over Chester Creek.

A tanker truck fire in Bridgeport in 2004 caused a one-mile stretch of I-95 to close for six days while workers installed a temporary, prefabricated bridge.

Thirty bridges failed due to fire from 1980 to 2012, a 2013 study found.

But fires on bridges don’t always cause major damage or collapse.

In April, a heating oil truck caught fire on the southbound span of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge, which carries I-95 over the Thames River between New London and Groton.

Hours later, officials were able to reopen four lanes after determining the bridge was still safe for traffic.

“This fire did not burn hot enough, and it did not burn long enough, to cause any damage to the structural steel,” Morgan, the Connecticut DOT spokesperson, told CT Insider at the time.

West Hartford residents on proposed development of former UConn campus: 'We have to get it right'

Michael Walsh

WEST HARTFORD — A developer's plan to build 500 units of housing, plus retail, restaurants, a grocery store and more at the former University of Connecticut campus, has caught the attention of town residents.

West Hartford 1's proposal to create Oakwood Park on the property that has been vacant since 2017 are still in the early stages, with plenty of town approvals needed to be gained before becoming a reality. But early responses from residents show support for more housing, though there may be some concerns with how the development group plans to construct and implement its 58-acre property into the existing neighborhood.

Mary Donegan, a West Hartford resident who's also a member of the Vision Zero task force, is all for 500 units of housing being added through the development, which could see the construction of 17 buildings across the property that is divided by Trout Brook Drive.

"I’m glad to see the housing there," said Donegan, who is also a professor at urban and community studies at UConn. "I’m glad there’s a nod to mixed-used development there. I feel like it has potential because of those elements."

Her concern, though, is the overall design of the property.

"It’s like if you looked it on a checklist, I would say this is good," Donegan said, adding that she's appreciative that they plan to connect their property to the town's growing Trout Brook Trail and retain the youth baseball fields. "But the design elements aren’t there. It’s almost like an island and there really hasn’t been much thought with how it connects with the rest of the town."

Donegan said she's disappointed to see how car-oriented the proposal is. Developers are planning to create 1,900 parking spaces, more than the 1,792 the town would require under its current ordinances.

"It doesn’t look like a particularly inviting place to walk," Donegan said about the surface lot parking. "If you think about West Hartford Center, there’s a lot of parking there, but it’s off to the sides or surrounded by buildings. It could be good, but when we think about what actually makes people want to walk, it's feelings of safety and feelings of enjoyment. People don’t feel safe walking through big parking lots. It’s not going to encourage walking and biking."

Bike West Hartford, an advocacy group Donegan is a member of, recently published an open letter to the town asking them to consider eliminating parking requirements all-together in town. A report from Stantec released in February as part of the West Hartford Center Infrastructure Master Plan showed that there's over 5,000 parking spaces in the center of town, with much of it utilized at 30 to 60 percent during the afternoon period in 2019.

Tom Martin, another West Hartford resident, also appreciates the investment in housing the developers has showed, but has similar concerns as Donegan.

"I encourage mixed-use development in our town, and I'd like to see more housing proposed for the former UConn campus," Martin said. "However, we should not entertain 1,900 parking spaces plus a four-story parking garage which combined takes up over half of the developable land on the site. Such a magnitude of parking induces demand for trips in a car. This site sits on the bus line, is walking distance to Bishop's Corner, and along the Trout Brook Trail. For the sustainability of our community, we should leverage this central location and develop the site to be less car-oriented."

Heidi Adams, a West Hartford resident, said the type of housing that's being proposed doesn't seem aligned with larger families. Developers are currently planning a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom rental units, along with 21 townhouses. She also has affordability concerns. Representatives for the developers were not able to comment yet on how many units will be considered affordable housing.

"It doesn’t seem to apply to me, because the units won’t be big enough," Adams said. "I need a four-bedroom or affordable enough to accommodate my family. I don’t think I’m the kind of person that the new UConn development is even aimed at. I think they are aiming for, like, a different demographic, maybe young college grads or very small, better-off families. It’s just, no one in the planning and zoning office thought of families like mine."

Though the property's marketing website does claim that over 44 percent of the property will be made available to the public use through its retail offerings and some open green space, some residents would like see even more opportunities for the public to make use of the property.

Gabriel Knight, a West Hartford resident, is one of them — though his former career as an environmental scientist also has him understanding why the developer, which still needs wetlands approval, would want maximum return on their investment.

"I understand the complications with developer interest in the property, so I get it, any developer handing over cash for the environmental cleanup wants the biggest return on investment," Knight said. "However it is the last large 'open' space in central West Hartford, so I get both sides. I just think consideration for some public equitable use needs to be made, maybe in conjunction with condos."

Knight mentioned the desire for more open green space, a dog park, disc golf or even the creation of a sports bubble to host indoor sports.

"I think it would be a shame to just jump in solely on condos," Knight said.

The development stands to be the biggest West Hartford project since the creation of Blue Back Square, a similar property that received pushback at the time.

Dan Frees thinks the proposal at the former UConn property is in line with where West Hartford is headed.

"I'm in favor of new plans for the property," Frees said. "There are a lot of complaints about ruining neighborhoods and ruining the vibe, but most of what people love about West Hartford is what 25 years ago people stated would ruin the vibe and feel. It is a necessary and appropriate economic advancement for the area and will have no real effect on the community."

Melanie Newport, who is an urban historian, is also in favor of adding housing to West Hartford.

"As somebody who has been on the rental market and experienced the West Hartford single family home market, 500 units is amazing to me," Newport said. "I felt a lot of enthusiasm."

Newport said this most recent proposal is more exciting than the previous tech campus that was pitched. All that housing, she said, will allow others to move into West Hartford and take advantage of what the town offers — which is much more than just good schools.

"It’s useful to revisit the narratives of why people want to live in West Hartford. It’s not just the schools," Newport said, giving praise to the town's diverse religious and ethnic communities, its restaurants, shopping, events and more. "This is a really lively place to live. The tech campus was disappointing. After COVID, that seems even more outmoded."

Some, like Carol Poehnert, are concerned with the way the massive development will fit in with the surrounding neighborhood.

"I don't have an issue with development on the property, but it needs to make sense and preserve the integrity of the neighborhood that so many residents have chosen to invest in," said Poehnert, a lifelong resident. "The UConn property is one of the few 'green spaces' left in West Hartford. The project is described as a neighborhood village. They plan to add hundreds of residential units to this area. Five story buildings will tower above all the existing neighborhood housing. How is this harmonizing the area?"

Poehnert is also concerned that the development will bring more vehicle traffic to town, contradicting West Hartford's own Vision Zero efforts that plan to eliminate all roadway fatalities and serious injuries by 2033.

"With Blue Back Square, we were promised no impact on traffic," Poehnert said. "We have all experienced the traffic jams and back-ups around the Center. The town seems to be contradicting itself when it says they are putting an emphasis on safe traffic flow and calming methods but then seems to be on board with adding this significant amount of traffic to what is currently a residential neighborhood."

As the proposal moves along, and likely changes with feedback from the town's various committees and boards, the last thing housing advocates said they want to see is a removal of units, which they said are needed to support the businesses taking residence on the property. Donegan said doing that could lead to a failed development.

"The number of the units can be managed and beneficial," Donegan said. "The moment they scale back those units, you’re making those businesses flat footed, and we’ll have a failed development."

And considering the property is currently the last large open space available for the town to develop, one thing residents can agree on is that this development needs to be done just right.

"This is a huge development and we have to get it right," Donegan said "It really needs a lot of thought."

As New Haven’s port grows, it’s drawing new companies to the region

Liese Klein

Instead of hosting the media at his new Hamden headquarters, FullStack Modular President Roger Krulak chose another location for a big announcement in April — the Port of New Haven.

There, he publicly revealed that he would be moving his company and more than 100 jobs from New York City to Connecticut.

With massive bulk cargo ships looming in the background, Krulak and a bevy of state and local officials gathered at the port’s Gateway Terminal to discuss the motivation and economic impact of FullStack’s relocation.

The company builds modular components for housing with an eye toward sustainability and efficiency, and requires dependable transport for both its raw materials and finished products.

“We’re super excited about the partnership with Gateway Terminal and the logistics side of our business,” Krulak said.

He added that the company had looked at ports up and down the East Coast and chose New Haven for its central location and responsive management.

“This port is a huge deal for transporting materials and finished products to places all over the United States,” Krulak said. “It’s such an integral part of moving large pieces of a building, … and so we’re super excited that I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

Gov. Ned Lamont praised the efforts of the port operators in helping FullStack make its decision to move to Hamden, noting the company depends on logistics and “requires easy access in and out for the supply chain.”

“Gateway made such an enormous difference putting that relationship together,” Lamont said.

The news event’s location at Gateway Terminal reflects the growing importance of the Port of New Haven in the region’s economic outlook — and its impact on drawing new companies to the state.

Already New England’s second-largest commercial port by tonnage, New Haven is expected to grow in importance in tandem with increased manufacturing and construction activity in the region.

Ports like New Haven, which handle bulk cargo, have also benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic, due to a shift away from the container transport of goods because of the supply-chain crisis, according to the American Journal of Transportation.

Breakbulk — or bulk cargo shipped in discrete units like bags or barrels without use of containers — recorded double- and triple-digit growth in volume at ports across the nation in 2022, including at East Coast commercial ports like New Haven, the journal said.

The recent growth in demand for timber and breakbulk cargo may offset the drop in shipments of fuel oil and other petroleum products due to recent warm winters as the port tallies its tonnage, said Sally Kruse, executive director of the New Haven Port Authority.

New Haven’s appeal as a port is projected to only grow when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finishes a planned $63 million dredging project, a multiphase effort slated to start by October 2025.

A deeper port is projected to generate $99 million in additional revenue, about 1,000 new jobs and $51 million more in wages and benefits, according to the Corps’ economic analysis.

The dredging, which will take New Haven Harbor’s navigation channel from its current depth of 35 feet to 40 feet, will allow for larger vessels to bring in more product per voyage, and fewer overall trips.

“It will be a much more efficient manner of getting the same amount of product into New Haven,” Kruse said.

Statistics on recent tonnage at the port aren’t yet available, Kruse said, but she expects to see steady increases in volume of both imports and exports for the past year.

Port occupants that have seen growth and increased demand include biofuel maker American Green Fuels and the main cargo operators.

American Green Fuels secured approval from the city last year for a 1,400-square-foot addition and is expected to benefit from recent state laws requiring expanded use of biodiesel.

The New Haven area’s recent housing development boom has also helped fuel demand for the port’s bulk cargo products, Kruse said.

“The more we get in the way of construction, the more activity there is,” Kruse said. “We have a housing shortage, and that’s one of the reasons it’s so exciting to have FullStack Modular in the port.”

Weeks after FullStack’s announcement, another construction-related company, Blueprint of Baltimore, announced it would open a major facility in Windsor.

The company said it would use state-of-the-art engineering to both build its facility and produce housing components there using mass timber, a new method of creating thick, compressed layers of wood that can serve as load-bearing elements in construction.

Although Blueprint officials didn’t single out access to ports, they did cite the Windsor location for its “ease of distribution” and “support infrastructure” in announcing the construction of a new 450,000-square-foot plant to build wood-framed building components.

Taking market share

As New Haven’s port continues to grow, Gateway Terminal, its main cargo operator, is seeking to expand, said Matthew Satnick, co-CEO of Enstructure, Gateway’s parent company.

Based in Wellesley, Mass., Enstructure runs 20 terminals in nine states — making it the largest bulk and breakbulk terminal operator in the nation. The company also runs New London’s port on contract with the state as a hub for offshore wind construction.

Gateway Terminal’s facilities in New Haven include a 750-foot finger pier, two docks and a 225-foot wharf, along with a tank farm with a capacity of 650,000 barrels of fuel. The company currently occupies 60 acres of land and is looking for more, Satnick said.

“Whenever there’s available, industrially-zoned property that’s port-centric, we look at it very closely,” Satick said. “The restriction is always land availability.”

Piles of scrap metal and de-icing salt take up lots of real estate at the port and need to turn over to make room for other cargo storage, he added.

Demand for the New Haven port’s main bulk cargo — concrete raw materials, fertilizer, salts, scrap steel and lumber — has been steady even with recent supply chain disruptions and economic swings, Satnick said.

Demand for lumber, when used by specialty companies like FullStack Modular, doesn’t necessarily track with macroeconomic trends, he added.

“With FullStack, you’re going to continue to take market share, even in a slower market,” Satnick said. “You’re going to have growth, which is why we’re excited to welcome FullStack.”