The delivery of the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s (CTDOT) I-91 Charter Oak Bridge (COB) Project, a large-scale initiative that combines two projects to reduce congestion and improve safety in the city of Hartford, and towns of East Hartford, and Wethersfield, is less than two years away. The contract, administered by CTDOT, District 1 and the […]
The Connecticut Department of Transportation’s (CTDOT) $54.6 million I-84 Safety and Operational Improvements project in West Hartford, awarded to O&G Industries Inc., is based upon the mitigation of traffic congestion and safety concerns that can arise in heavy traffic situations. Stage 1A of the project, which was just completed, dealt with the first half of […]
House Bill 6514 would waive state sales taxes for 20 years on any company that invests at least $200 million on a data center in the state, or invests $50 million if the data center is located in a designated enterprise zone. The bill was approved 133-13 on Wednesday. “We need to approach emerging technologies […]
A planned $30 million community recreation center received two key endorsements this month. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously agreed to issue a positive referral on use of land at Fort Trumbull for the planned facility. The City Council already has approved the bonding for the estimated cost of the facility, which is still […]
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a measure Wednesday that effectively promises $110 million to $120 million in new annual aid to cities and towns — but doesn’t officially fund the initiative just yet. Legislatures and governors have struggled to maintain their commitment to PILOT over the past two decades as surging pension and other […]
President Joe Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress — where he is expected to outline specific goals and priorities for measures like an infrastructure package — will not occur this month as was expected. The coronavirus package is legislators’ top priority, as they eye a March 14 deadline on unemployment benefits. Biden’s […]
A developer’s plan for 146 apartments near the UConn Health Center is drawing stiff neighborhood opposition. Farmington-based Metro Realty Group is presenting its plan as a way to bring modern apartments to a stretch of Route 4 that has become a medical and technology jobs corridor. The property is behind the Hartford Health Care Medical […]
The trail has had various additions through its construction phases. The final leg of the planned 30-mile stretch of recreational path beginning in Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk and traversing north through areas of Wilton up to Danbury was agreed upon in a $2.9 million bid late last year. Friends of NRVT will be responsible […]
As the administration readies those big-ticket legislative proposals, which would increase government investment in projects developed by private companies, the department has begun preparations to expand its investigative capacity under two statutes that require government contractors to pay workers prevailing wages and benefits, as determined by the DOL. The building trades and service unions have […]
Construction is expected to start in the spring on the first phase of a roughly $12 million project to upgrade the sidewalks and install amenities to make the downtown more pedestrian friendly and appealing to shoppers, diners and developers. The first phase includes redoing the Danbury Green and installing streetscape on Delay Street, National Place, […]
The House of Representatives is expected to approve an omnibus bill Wednesday that commits more than $100 million in new aid to municipalities, shields thousands of residents with out-of-state employers from double taxation, and ends the controversial practice of placing liens on the homes of former welfare recipients. Legislative leaders also were considering a proposal […]
Saffan and his partner in the venture, veteran concert promoter Jim Koplik of Live Nation, were on hand at the amphitheater with other officials Tuesday to celebrate another milestone in their joint venture: The announcement that Hartford HealthCare, which in 2019 acquired Bridgeport-based St. Vincent’s Medical Center, had purchased the naming rights to the amphitheater. […]
The city’s Economic and Community Development Commission reviewed Carrier’s letter of intent earlier in the month, planning to send them on to the council for action. The letter said Carrier intended to buy Parcels 6, 7, and 8 – a total of 3.44 acres – for $172,000. Carrier’s original plan was to build at least […]
The town is planning to build a new community and senior center sometime in the near future, but the “when” and “how” are still uncertain. No referendum date has been set and community information sessions are not yet in the works. Public forums initially gaged interest in 2018, with residents expressing excitement about the possibility […]
Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association, the trade group representing the region’s power producers, said the widespread power outages in Texas are a product of the state’s grid not being prepared for the extreme and prolonged temperatures that the state is experiencing. In New England, power producers invest in winterization, Dolan […]
As home hunters pounce on listings nearly as fast as sellers are putting them onto the market in Connecticut, construction of single-family homes is shaping up as the state’s next boom following a decade of apartment construction. The last burst of new construction in Connecticut in 2008 ended up with many homes built “on spec” […]
Municipal officials are tentatively looking for a townwide vote June 3 on whether to tear down the high school and build a three-story replacement for $137 million. If voters approve the idea, architects would start work this summer, construction could begin in early 2022 and wrap up in mid-2025, Finance Director Joseph Swetcky told the […]
Currently, the United States has more than 28 gigawatts of offshore wind in development. According to the Department of Energy, offshore wind has the potential to generate more than 2,000 gigawatts of clean, renewable power per year, nearly double the nation’s current electricity use. In Connecticut, a redeveloped State Pier will be one of these […]
Krohn, of New Britain’s Jasko Development, and Zelman, of West Hartford’s Zelman Real Estate, said in a recent interview that they’ve named the project The Residences at Wash Brook, after one of several nearby brooks at the 20-acre site located midway between Routes 178 and 218. Fresh project renderings show a two-story atrium with a […]
On Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen approved a bid from Mohawk Northeast, a construction company, to conduct the dock removals. The project represents a partnership between the state, the town and the Navy. The Navy has long wanted the remnants of the abandoned marina just past the train tracks to go because it’s across from […]
The city’s Economic and Community Development Commission reviewed Carrier’s letter of intent earlier in the month, planning to send them on to the council for action. The letter said Carrier intended to buy Parcels 6, 7, and 8 – a total of 3.44 acres – for $172,000. That means Carrier would acquire the entire remaining […]
With electric locomotives that top 200 miles per hour, travel time between New York and Boston would be slashed to 100 minutes — two hours quicker than current Acela service, the fastest train that Amtrak now runs. Construction would consume 20 years and require building the largest underwater tunnel in North America. The price tag: […]
Among those present were several heads of construction-related unions including Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO; Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions; and Lonnie R. Stephenson, the international president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who served on Biden’s transition advisory board. “I said from the beginning of my campaign, […]
Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, the new House chair of finance, is spearheading the property tax cap, which he says was inspired in part by Massachusetts’ Proposition 2 1/2, a statute that has drawn national attention since Bay State voters enacted it by ballot in 1980. The poorest people in Connecticut in terms of adjusted gross […]
Gov. Ned Lamont promised Wednesday that increases in gasoline prices will not exceed a nickel a gallon in 2023 or 10 cents a gallon by the end of 2023, under the state’s participation in a regional climate consortium, as part of Connecticut’s multi-prong effort to mitigate the effects of climate change. During a virtual news […]
Connecticut could receive more than $4 billion in federal coronavirus aid if Congress passes President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. An estimated $2.7 billion would be allotted to the state and $1.6 billion to cities and towns, Courtney said. Courtney said Democrats see mid-March as the deadline for Congress to pass the legislation given that’s […]
The city has taken the next step in the creation of a new middle-high school building by hiring a manager for the $159 million project. Members of the City Council voted to hire Construction Solutions Group LLC of East Hartford during this week’s council meeting. Residents 9,524 to 6,204 had approved the proposed $159 million […]
State Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, has introduced a bill that requires the state Department of Economic and Community Development “to develop and issue a request for proposals to develop or dispose of the former Seaside Sanatorium facility in the town of Waterford and to preserve the adjacent area for a park with public access.” […]
Construction firms received $13.7 billion in loans under the latest version of the Paycheck Protection Program, making the industry second in total loan amounts received after restaurants and hotels, which got $18 billion in funds so far. Construction was also one of the top industries to receive funds in last year’s two PPP rounds. The […]
Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly of Stratford and Deputy Senate Republican Leader Pro Tempore Paul Formica of East Lyme on Tuesday formally requested an investigation of CPA business in a letter to Gov. Ned Lamont and Attorney General William Tong. The request is a response to revelations by the State Contracting Review Board of a […]
The City Council has approved contracts to begin the design process for renovating City Hall, something council members said was long overdue. The contracts are for $175,770 to D’Amato + Downs Joint Venture to be the construction manager and for $760,750 to Quisenberry Arcari Malik for architectural engineering services. It’s important to improve the appearance […]
Across Connecticut, Vasaturo’s story is retold thousands of times in automotive garages, machine tool factories and scores of other trades where the path to good-paying jobs is not college but the “earn as you learn” apprenticeship track that was launched in 1937, when the nation was in the grips of the Great Recession. A $3.5 […]
The first phase of the $26 million Park and Main mixed-use development — 39 mixed-income studio, one- and two-bedroom rentals — is expected to begin leasing in April. A second phase of 87 apartments on the northern side of the intersection is scheduled to break ground next month. Park and Main is far more modest […]
The tolls would have made it more costly for out-of-state drivers than in-state ones to use our roads, and it would have meant that each and every driver would at least think about the cost before heading out on the interstate. It also would have caused people to seriously think about eco- and urban-friendly public […]
City officials on Friday awarded a Massachusetts company a $1 million contract to demolish eight buildings of the former Anaconda-American Brass site on Freight Street. Costello Dismantiling Co. has six months to clear eight buildings on 10.5 acres at 130 Freight St., according to its contract with the Waterbury Development Corp. Eight companies bid on […]
Biden met with lawmakers from both parties at the White House to discuss infrastructure on Thursday, even as the Senate is holding impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump where partisan divisions are on full display. “I’ve been around long enough,” Biden said, “that infrastructure wasn’t a Republican or a Democratic issue.” “The American people […]
Requests for proposals for the project are being accepted through March 9, and city officials hope to have the buildings razed by spring, with the majority of the costs being shouldered by the state. The site is the former home of Thames River Apartments, a 124-unit federally subsidized housing complex for low-income families. For years […]
The state Department of Consumer Protection imposes a so-called “hiring ratio” on contracting companies in electrical, plumbing and metal-working trades. The rule is a bit technical but it essentially requires contractors to have a certain number of licensed journeymen on staff for each apprentice they hire. State Sen. Julie Kushner (D-Danbury) chairs the General Assembly’s […]
The two-year state budget Lamont proposed Wednesday includes a new highway mileage fee on trucks and includes Connecticut in a regional initiative to control greenhouse gases by changing transportation policy — a program that also would boost gasoline taxes. For years Connecticut has relied chiefly on fuel tax receipts to support the Special Transportation Fund, […]
The state’s special transportation fund is facing a deficit of more than $60 million in the current fiscal year, and could face larger deficits in the future if moves are not made to shore up the fund. Connecticut has joined a regional climate initiative with nearby states, but Lamont’s chief spokesman says that does not […]
At the third Project Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting in September, committee members were asked a series of questions about needs for the I-84 corridor in greater Danbury. The exercise provided the Project team with local insights and input towards the Project’s Purpose. Primer Multimodal planning considers many types of transportation including cars, buses, trains, bicycles, […]
Gov. Ned Lamont will propose a $46 billion, two-year budget Wednesday that relies heavily on federal aid and state reserves to close a major deficit without tax hikes and bolsters funds for cities and towns. The package would channel more than $400 million in emergency federal relief to low-performing school districts, according to several sources […]
The town of Ledyard has ordered DRVN Enterprises to remove road salt that the company was storing in a building at 20 Lorenz Industrial Parkway, a site within 900 feet of the Ledyard Reservoir, Ledyard Mayor Fred Allyn III said. Allyn said DRVN Enterprises President Steve Farrelly was very understanding and mobilized trucks to move […]
For the past several years, a great deal of debate has taken place when the state legislature introduced bills proposing electronic tolls on various major highways in Connecticut. The new highway bridge, ultimately named the Gold Star Memorial Bridge, opened to traffic in November 1943 and the established tolls for using this bridge included: 15 […]
By redefining “employees” and “employers” in revisions to the National Labor Relations Act, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act grants benefits to workers previously classified as independent contractors. Additionally, the way in which unions and employers collectively bargain and agree could be altered in states where unions have little to no say in the […]
Gov. Ned Lamont is expected to propose a lean budget Wednesday that averts tax hikes while closing a major deficit and positions Connecticut’s economy to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Analysts say state finances, unless adjusted, will run about $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion in the red, both in the fiscal year that begins July […]
The owners of Ryders Landing want to put a new coffee shop on Main Street as the first phase of a development that could ultimately include retail and office space, a restaurant and a 105-room riverfront hotel. The Sbriglios own five properties totaling roughly 5.5 acres off Main Street immediately south of the Ryders Landing […]
The $20 million project will bring another 52 mixed-income apartments to the mile-long stretch between the Elmwood and Flatbush CTfastrak stations. The “workforce” housing is expected to be ready for occupancy in May, 2022. Trout Brook Realty Advisors, the development arm of the West Hartford Housing Authority, planned both projects and sees a dual purpose. […]
By measures of population alone, the U.S. Census Bureau reported the city went from 117,083 residents in 2000 to 129,638 in 2019. Stamford is the third largest city in the state, only 618 behind New Haven, and the city’s Department of Economic Development expected to surpass that figure in 2020. That question guided Catalyst for […]
The state Department of Transportation has been laying the groundwork for a comprehensive study ever since it made the startling announcement at the end of 2019 that the state would put a hold on replacing the viaduct and include it in a larger regional transportation plan. A broader array of transportation options are seen as […]
Speaking on Wednesday, Feb. 3, on Connecticut Public Radio’s Where We Live, Lamont said, at this point, there might not be a lot he can do to stop a proposed natural gas plant in Killingly. The proposed 650 megawatt plant would provide enough power for about 500,000 homes annually. But the proposal has drawn the […]
Born in Boston, Walsh joined Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 223 in 1988 and worked his way up through the ranks to lead both Local 223 and the Boston Building Trades Unions before being elected mayor in 2013. Walsh also served in the Massachusetts legislature. Labor organizations hailed Walsh’s nomination as a win […]
Industry and elected leaders praised Pete Buttigieg’s confirmation as Transportation Secretary after his nomination passed the U.S. Senate 86-13 on Tuesday. Buttigieg’s confirmation could be a boon for investment in the nation’s infrastructure, which has been called for on a bipartisan basis for many years, according to experts. During his nomination hearing before the U.S. […]
The latest draft of Connecticut’s Integrated Resources Plan — a semi-annual assessment of the state’s electric supply needs and possible sources of energy supply — is being touted by the department as the first to identify sources of supply to meet the state’s goal of zero-carbon electric generation by 2040. Already, 65 percent of the […]
Construction of a $20 million mixed-use retail/residential project on West Hartford’s New Park Avenue is set to begin this month, with developers projecting a completion date of May, 2022. Trout Brook Realty Advisors, the nonprofit development arm of the West Hartford Housing Authority, is set to break ground on the transit-oriented development project located on […]
The number of those represented by unions, including those under project labor agreements, was about 1.1 million in 2019 (13.6% of total workers) but decreased to just over 1 million in 2020. Nonunion median weekly wages in 2019 were $868, almost 29% less than than the average union and union-affiliated wage but increased to $920 […]
Major Wall Street firms and publicly traded construction companies are eagerly awaiting President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better infrastructure plan, which he said he will detail in his first State of the Union address scheduled for Feb. 23. While the plan is forthcoming, the president pegged it at as much as $2 trillion in the […]
Renovation work on the Derby-Shelton Bridge is moving forward, as the state has tapped a contractor for the project which should begin by April 1. The $6.3 million contract was awarded to Mohawk Northeast, Inc. Construction. The bid was almost $1.5 million below its pre-bid estimate on the work, completion of which should be December […]
For the last three years, another high-speed rail concept has been quietly germinating, one that would go inland through Connecticut instead of along the shoreline. Called North Atlantic Rail, the plan originated at University of Pennsylvania planning studios directed by highly regarded planner Robert Yaro, former president of the Regional Plan Association and advised by, […]
The City Council on Monday unanimously approved funding for the construction of a $30 million community recreation center, an idea talked about for decades. The new 62,000-square-foot facility would be built on 6.8 acres at Fort Trumbull, a site that has illicited some push back from residents who have argued the city is using prime […]
A cadre of Westwood Road residents claim the noise, dust and fumes generated by one of the city’s largest taxpayers is making their lives unlivable. And residents of the city’s Westwood Road neighborhoods also say they believe that Burns Construction is violating city zoning laws by crushing rock on the company’s Woodlot site. The association […]
The town plans to present the design for the $3.6 million fourth phase of its downtown revitalization project for approval at an upcoming special town meeting. Brookfield has completed two of five phases of the Four Corners streetscape project, and will start construction on its third phase this summer. Now, at 7 p.m Tuesday in […]
With new information in hand that depicts a project that is not only feasible but financially sustainable, the City Council on Monday is poised for a vote on the $30 million cost to build the center with 265 parking spaces at Fort Trumbull. The analysis by Brailsford & Dunlavey, however, shows Fort Trumbull, which is […]
The City Council has approved an agreement with New Colony Development Corp. that will bring the Sessions Building one step closer to being cleaned up and redeveloped into apartments. New Colony will act as a brownfield land bank to clean up the industrial property at 273 Riverside Ave. and eventually transfer it to a public-private […]
Work to complete a $29 million reconstruction of the Interstate 95 Exit 33 interchange near the Milford border is ramping up — literally and figuratively. The new ramps will correct a quirk in the state’s highway history dating back to the days when toll plazas dotted I-95 and the Merritt Parkway. Removing the toll plazas […]
