Pratt & Whitney proposes nearly 50% increase in size of new East Hartford office building

Andrew Larson

Pratt & Whitney is proposing to increase the size of a new planned office building on its East Hartford campus by nearly 50%, with the addition of two stories, including outdoor amenities for employees and greenspace.

The jet-engine maker has submitted a revised zoning application to the town, which is on the agenda for the Planning and Zoning Commission’s meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

A spokesman for Pratt & Whitney's parent company, RTX, said the zoning application does not signal any commitment to build the new office, but is a required step as it reviews and considers real estate options.

"We continually assess our Connecticut campus and options to improve on our current footprint to meet the needs of our business," the company's statement said.

Pratt & Whitney originally received approval for a 313,00-square-foot building with five stories. The new plans call for a 465,000-square-foot building with seven stories.

The seventh story includes outdoor amenity areas for employees, including a patio and vegetated “green roof.” The footprint of the building will not change.

Under the proposal, an existing 249,847-square-foot office building, which houses design and engineering staff, will be demolished to make way for the new building and an adjacent employee parking lot.

Under the original proposal, the parking lot contained 1,347 spaces; the new plans show 1,458 parking spaces.

The increased size of the office building would not require any changes in the grading, drainage, utilities, lighting or landscaping from the original approval, the application states.

The project would result in a net increase of 215,143 square feet of office space at Pratt & Whitney’s 251.2-acre campus at 400 Main St. 

The original plan had a net gain of 63,143 square feet of office space.

The new building is located on a 17.75-acre portion of the campus, near Runway Road, which runs along the eastern outskirts of the property.

Pratt & Whitney is asking the town for zoning approval of the site plan modification.

The company has been redeveloping its East Hartford campus, which once spanned more than 1,000 acres, for years.

In 2014, Pratt & Whitney parent company United Technologies Corp. — which is now known as RTX Corp., following its 2020 merger with Raytheon Technologies — agreed to invest up to $500 million over five years to upgrade and expand its East Hartford research and development and manufacturing facilities. 

In exchange for that investment, state lawmakers — led by then Gov. Dannel P. Malloy — voted to allow the company to cash in up to $400 million in previously earned, but unused, tax credits to finance the construction projects.

One of the major projects, a new 425,000-square-foot engineering and technology building, debuted in 2017.

In January 2023, Pratt & Whitney sold 300 acres to Massachusetts-based National Development, which has since built two logistics warehouses on-site with a combined 2.5 million square feet.

The buildings have been fully leased to Lowe’s Home Improvement and online retailer Wayfair.

At the same time, Pratt & Whitney is continuing to invest outside of its home state.

In May, the company announced it would invest $20 million to expand a key plant in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Pratt & Whitney said the expansion would increase the capacity of the Florida maintenance, repair and overhaul facility for its GTF engine by 40% by the second half of 2025.

Construction hasn’t started, but West Hartford luxury apartments already selling

David Krechevsky

There is so much interest in living in West Hartford Center that people are willing to pay more than $1 million for the privilege.

Center Park Place, a mixed-use residential and commercial infill development to be constructed at Arapahoe and LaSalle roads and Farmington Avenue, will feature up to 58 luxury condominiums that are already listed for sale at more than $1 million. 

An infill development repurposes land in an urban environment. 

The project includes demolishing two buildings and erecting two new buildings. One of the new buildings will have four residential floors over three levels of parking, including one underground. That building will be located in the center of the property behind 53-65 and 27-43 LaSalle Road and 1001 Farmington Ave.

The development also will include a five-story building with 25 units of rental housing on the top four floors and 3,470 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. 

One of the conditions of approval for the development set by the West Hartford Town Council states that the second building will include “four residential rental units” designated as affordable for individuals or families with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income for the town.

The project will demolish two small buildings at 8 and 12 Arapahoe Road, but the large office and commercial buildings at 27-43 and 53-65 LaSalle Road and at 1001 Farmington Ave. will remain.

Condo unit configurations will range from one bedroom to three bedroom layouts, with prices ranging from $1.2 million to $1.8 million. Because construction has not started, buyers have the option to purchase two or more units and combine them. 

The unit listings, posted by Coldwell Banker Realty, went live on May 23 and have already drawn significant interest, according to agent Kate D’Addabbo.

“We have 12 units under reserve,” she said recently, adding that 46 units remain available. “You can do a 30-day reservation, and then we would deliver a contract in 30 days.” She declines to disclose sale prices because no sales had yet closed.

D’Addabbo said the demand reflects the desire of some homeowners to sell their homes but remain in town and be more centrally located, while also a sign that others who live outside of West Hartford are interested as well.

“I think a lot of people are really turning towards walkability and being close to town centers,” she said. “It’s a healthy lifestyle, just being able to walk everywhere, which I think is a huge reason that West Hartford is very popular, because it’s becoming more and more pedestrian friendly all around town.”

D’Addabbo described the project as a Class A building designed to be not only luxurious but offering many amenities. Those include secure parking, a lobby with a concierge, a community pool deck, a gym, and a roof deck. 

One of the developers of the project is Marc Lewis, the principal managing member of Lexham Realty Management based in Westport. Lexham owns the properties at 53-65 LaSalle Road, 27-43 LaSalle Road, and 1001 Farmington Ave. Another parcel, at 12 Arapahoe Road, is owned by The Arapahoe Group LLC. 

In addition to Lexham and the Arapahoe Group, developers involved in the project include the Manafort family and Figure Eight Properties, which is owned by Robert Simons and his family.

Lewis said the group of developers expect to close on financing in early August, when initial site work would begin. 

“Certainly, everything will start this year,” he said. “And the construction for the big main building in the back will take two years.” 

He said he expects the group to seek a permit for the second phase when the first building is in the “latter stages” of construction.

The building, he added, will be a concrete and steel structure. “It’s extremely high end in terms of its materials.”

The existing four-story glass, concrete and steel office building at 53-65 LaSalle Road was erected in 1978. It features more than 102,000 square feet of office and commercial space and is occupied in part by a Webster Bank branch and Becker’s Diamonds & Fine Jewelry.

Lewis declined to say what the current occupancy rate for that building is, though he said it is “very well occupied,” and added that its tenants will likely have to park in the nearby town garage during construction.

He also said it is typical for a luxury condominium project to list units for sale long before construction is complete. “It’s supply and demand,” he said, “but also financing requirements usually have a pre-sale requirement to get a construction loan.” 

He added that pre-sales draw interest because “as time goes by, the price will go up.”

D’Addabbo said she believes the project is important because there is a need for inventory on the housing market.

“We need all sorts of housing,” she said. “If we sell 58 condos here, that’s 58 homes that get freed up, which we are all desperate for.”

Lawmakers uneasy over special session bill on Aquarion sale

Mark Pazniokas

Without a public hearing or other vetting, the state Senate is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a measure that would allow a New Haven-based public water authority to acquire one of the nation’s largest investor-owned water companies, Aquarion Water Company.

The enabling legislation sought by the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority would allow it to bid on Aquarion, a Bridgeport-based company that Eversource Energy acquired for $1.675 billion in 2017 and is now attempting to sell in a volatile market roiled by Connecticut’s regulatory environment.

Public authorities are outside the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, so Aquarion’s operations, finances and rates no longer would be subject to the approval of state regulators if the company is obtained by the Regional Authority, or RWA.

The Regional Water Authority’s interest in Aquarion was not widely known until The Connecticut Mirror reported Friday that Gov. Ned Lamont and legislative leaders had agreed to include the topic in the call for a special session. The issue is one of several addressed in a single omnibus bill to be debated Wednesday.

“It was totally out of left field,” said Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, co-chair of the Energy and Technology Committee. “Obviously, there’s some measure of emergency if they want to bid in, but that’s not adhering to the typical process, and that’s a pretty big concern.”

“This is rather sudden, and it’s a major change in public policy. I’m open to it,” said Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich, the ranking Republican on the energy committee, but he wants to know more. “It’s not something we discussed in the past session.”

One question is why the authority did not seek the legislation, or at least broach its potential need, during the regular session that opened on Feb. 7 and ended on May 8. Eversource disclosed its intentions to explore an Aquarion sale on Feb. 13, the same day it posted a full-year loss of $442 million for 2023.

“In a better world, we’d have more time to vet it,” said Sen. Norm Needleman, D-Essex, the other co-chair of the energy committee.

In lieu of the formal vetting required in a regular session, Steinberg spoke Tuesday with Larry Bingaman, the president and chief executive of the RWA, quizzing him on governance, oversight and setting of rates, and other issues. Bingaman noted, among other things, that the bill would enhance the likelihood of Aquarion remaining under local control, Steinberg said.

“I’m certainly still on the fence,” Steinberg said.

The proposed legislation was not available Tuesday night, but CT Mirror obtained a draft bill that would create, if a purchase were successful, an Aquarion Water Authority with the nearly identical powers as the RWA, including the ability to purchase and condemn property and issue bonds.

Representatives of the member towns would sit on a 60-member policy council that would advise and appoint five people to the authority’s 11-member governing board.

Lawmakers and others were trying to assess whether the Regional Water Authority, whose rates would not be set by PURA, could afford to make a higher bid for Aquarion than regulated competitors.

The Connecticut Water Co. also is considering making a bid, said Craig Patla, its president. But a non-regulated bidder would have a clear advantage, he said.

“I would say that having having a non-regulated entity in the Regional Water Authority being able to bid and potentially pay a premium for this utility — and not have PURA oversight — would definitely put the thumb on the scale” in any competitive bidding, Patla said. 

PURA could review the terms of a sale of Aquarion but not its rates if purchased by RWA.

Kevin Watsey, the director of public affairs for the RWA, said the authority’s board would provide sufficient oversight of the new entity’s operations and rates.

“There is a voice of the people,” he said.

Aquarion is one of the seven largest investor-owned water utilities in the U.S., with 236,000 customer accounts in 72 cities and towns, most of them in Connecticut, and 13 in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. A key part of its business is supplying water to a small but densely population portion of Fairfield County, including Bridgeport, Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich.

It had net income of $33 million on a $1.3 billion base rate in 2023.

An Aquarion rate case was one of the early flash points in the contentious relationship between the state’s largest utility, Eversource, and PURA, a regulatory authority that has grown more aggressive in scrutinizing utility rates and expenses since Marissa P. Gillett was appointed as its chair.

Rather than grant an increase, PURA instead cut Aquarion’s rates. A Superior Court judge rejected the company’s administrative appeal, prompting a request for a review by the Connecticut Supreme Court. Wall Street has responded negatively to PURA’s oversight.

The Senate is scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. Wednesday to consider the single bill. In the draft reviewed by CT Mirror, 58 of its 139 pages involved the RWA and Aquarion. The House will convene on Thursday. Neither chamber is expected to be in session for more than a few hours.

A special session has been discussed since shortly after the regular session ended without passing a legislative fix needed to prevent an increase in motor vehicle taxes this fall, an unintended consequence of a 2022 bill.

The fix would continued to classify commercial vehicles as motor vehicles, and it would clarify that current law allows municipalities to establish mill rates on motor vehicles that are lower than mill rates on real property and personal property.

The agenda has steadily grown, mainly with technical proposals involving regulation of banking, insurance and the state’s publicly available retirement savings program.

At the governor’s request, the bill would roll back a liberalizing of school construction bidding rules that was included in a fiscal bill in the last days of the regular session.

A more contentious provision, which was floated only last week, would streamline the process by which the State Historic Preservation Office reviews the redevelopment of historic properties.

The leaders of the legislature’s Commerce Committee, who have sought the changes, did not return calls for comment.

House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, said the historic preservation issue was the only one to be taken up in special session that is not time-sensitive.

But Candelora said the issue had been publicly vetted by the Commerce Committee in regular session.

East Hartford park gets funding to renovate river walk and connect it to other trails in town

Jamila Young

EAST HARTFORD — The Connecticut River is no stranger to flooding, but the overseers of one town park hope that a recent state grant will help them to not only make needed improvements to keep its river walk safe for visitors, but connect it to other trails in the area.

East Hartford has received $262,750 through the Connecticut Recreational Trails Grant Program to help address erosion and flooding issues at Great River Park on East River Drive, part of $10 million in grants announced by Gov. Ned Lamont and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection earlier this month to make improvements to 45 multi-use trails across the state.

Marc A. Nicol, director of park planning and development for Riverfront Recapture, which manages the park, said that the funds will be used to hire a consultant engineer to do survey work and determine the elevations of certain areas of the river walk.

"Then they'll come back and design a river walk," Nicol said of the consultants, "and we're going to ask them to raise it as high as they can." 

He said that the project will start at the edge of the parking lot, where the amphitheater is, and go south toward Charter Oak Bridge.

"At high tide, the dirt along the river's edge becomes under water, and the whole park goes under water," Nicol said. "There's 5 to 6 feet of water across that parking lot in the spring. We've lost a lot of riverbank. The river's edge used to be quite a bit further away from the river walk." 

He said that along the river walk, there are areas where the riverbank has eroded to the edge of the walkway. 

"And there's some vertical drops, 6- to 8-foot drops," Nicol said. "If we don't address those, then we will lose the river walk. It will no longer be accessible."

The plan also includes new paths and connections to other areas of town, including American Eagle Federal Credit Union and area magnet schools, as well as future housing developments.

Great River Park includes amenities such as a boat launch, charcoal grills, a fitness station, fishing access, and a playground. It provides a view of downtown Hartford, and includes lighted walkways and a parking lot.

"We are happy to partner with Riverfront Recapture on this grant project. They are professional and effective, and have been a great organization and resource for the town on riverfront activities," East Hartford Development Director Eileen Buckheit said. "We are happy to strive to continue improvements for our residents and environmental benefit."

The grant, administered by DEEP, is awarded to private nonprofit organizations, municipalities, state departments, and tribal governments in support of recreational trail projects.

The state Bond Commission approved funding last October.

Grant amounts vary, but organizations that apply are asked to request less than $1 million. The grants can pay up to 80 percent of the total project cost with a required 20 percent match.

Funding can be used for "a wide variety of purposes," according to DEEP, including planning, design, land acquisition, construction, construction administration, and publications for bikeways, walkways, and greenways, as well as for equipment and trail amenities, such as parking lots, toilet buildings, signs, and benches.

Locally, Hartford received a $160,000 grant to assist with planning, design, and outreach for its Park Trail Connectivity Action Plan; New Britain was awarded $388,160 for the planning, design, and construction of its Stanley Loop Trail Neighborhood Connections; and West Hartford received $100,000 for the planning and design of for its multi-use connectivity and planning study. 

“These projects represent an investment in our communities, connecting our residents and visitors with open spaces, and providing equitable and accessible outdoor recreation opportunities,” DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said. “Connection to Connecticut’s natural resources benefit everyone physically and mentally and enhance our state’s overall economy.”

New Partnership Bets on Updated Mixed-Use Model for Southeastern Connecticut

Francisco Uranga

For the last decade, small towns across America have been pitched a vision of mixed-use development that too often falls flat for prospective business and tenants. A new partnership in southeastern Connecticut is looking to change that by betting on a newer model of retail and residential development. 

Old-Lyme-based READCO announced last week that it had sold its portfolio —more than two million square feet of commercial space— to Glastonbury-based Trio Properties, which manages about 2,500 multifamily units in Connecticut and 15 other states. As part of the deal, the companies’ owners decided on a partnership to jointly manage a real estate development and investment company that will operate under the READCO brand.

Jeremy Browning, co-founder and managing principal of Trio, will be READCO’s new executive director of development. Browning noted that the companies had a years-long history of working together – one focused on multifamily housing and the other on commercial development. 

“It made a lot of sense for us to bring management together and share some back-house corporate resources, to build a better, bigger platform,” Browning said. “Like a Swiss Army knife, it gives us the ability to mix and match community needs.”

Browning spoke on Thursday with CT Examiner in an interview that also included Michael Lech, former READCO president who will become chief investment officer for the new partnership. 

According to Browning, there is strong demand for housing and commercial development in southeastern Connecticut which hasn’t been met by the more familiar ground floor retail model..

“The only way to get a project developed was to have ground retail with residential above but a lot of those deals fell flat because the authentic need wasn’t there,” Browning said. “It was something done just to get approved. We want to be better than that.”

An example of the model they want to promote is the joint Trio-READCO development in Pawcatuck, where they are proposing to build a housing and commercial complex on the site of the vacant Hoyt’s/Regal theater on Route 2 which declared bankruptcy during the pandemic. 

The project contemplates separate living, shopping and recreational components, with the latter designed to serve the entire surrounding community, not just the complex residents. 

The nearly $90 million project calls for 232 residential units, 10,000 square feet of commercial space, 25,000 square feet for a YMCA recreation center and 30,000 square feet of medical offices, Browning said in a follow-up email. At least 20 percent of the units would be for people earning less than 80 percent of the area’s median income, which is $43,960 for a single person and $56,400 a year for a family of three. 

Adjacent to the complex is a Stop and Shop, Northeast Medical Group and Stonington Medical Center as well as a McDonald’s – all previously managed by READCO and purchased by Trio.

One of the Pawcatuck project’s strengths, according to Lech, is the proximity to Foxwood and Electric Boat, workplaces where employees have strong benefit packages that will attract medical and dental offices, said Lech. 

About 25 years ago, Lech founded READCO to manage his family’s real estate holdings. Now, Lech has decided to get out of the management business and focus on development. He told CT Examiner the deal with Trio will enable him to dedicate more efforts to the development pipeline. As a result of their new team’s skills, Lech said they will be able to manage a greater number of projects at the same time.

Lech’s job now is to look for potential development opportunities in southeastern Connecticut.

“The I-95 corridor, from New Haven to Pawcatuck, is an exciting place to be right now. There are a lot of opportunities. I think that the whole region is set to keep on growing substantially,” Lech said. “And I love Old Lyme.”