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Lawmakers approve bill allowing state comptroller to withhold payments for wage violations
State lawmakers have approved legislation giving the state comptroller authority to withhold payments on public projects when contractors violate prevailing wage laws. Senate Bill 268 passed the Senate in a 31-5 vote in April and cleared the House Monday, 107-40, with support and opposition largely split along party lines. The bill, which still requires approval from Gov. Ned Lamont, authorizes the comptroller to suspend payments to contractors or subcontractors found to have knowingly or willfully underpaid workers, after a stop-work order is issued by the labor commissioner. Contractors would have 10 business days to come into compliance after notification before payments can be withheld. Funds would be released once violations are resolved, penalties are paid or a settlement is reached. The bill faced opposition from some construction industry groups, which argued it could disrupt project cash flow and unfairly penalize contractors not directly responsible for wage violations. State Comptroller Sean Scanlon said the measure will help protect workers and safeguard taxpayer dollars.
New Greenskies CEO Singh eyes solar growth, storage expansion as federal tax credits phase out
The new CEO of North Haven-based renewable energy company Greenskies Clean Focus is Vijay Singh, but not the one known for playing golf. When asked about sharing a name with the longtime professional golfer from Fiji, Singh just chuckles. “I get asked that question a lot,” he said, “but I don’t play golf.” What Singh has done is spend more than two decades building and scaling renewable energy businesses, including managing multi-gigawatt energy portfolios. That includes launching the energy storage group at Florida-based NextEra Energy and helping grow it into a multibillion-dollar renewables and battery storage business. Now, Singh is tasked with leading Greenskies, which was founded in Westport in 2008 by Michael Silvestrini and former state Sen. Art Linares. They sold the company in 2017 to California-based Clean Focus Yield Ltd., and it was sold again in 2020 to JLC Infrastructure, a New York-based private investment firm focused on infrastructure projects. Singh succeeds Stanley Chin, who stepped down as CEO as part of a leadership transition, according to the company. Greenskies develops, finances and operates commercial and industrial renewable energy projects nationwide, with a focus on Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and California. Its clients include businesses, municipalities, schools, universities and hospitals. The company does not serve the residential market.
Officials celebrate start of Gold Star Bridge next phase
New London — In 1950, the Gold Star Memorial Bridge carried about 16,000 vehicles a day. Today, the now two-span bridge carries 60,000 vehicles in each direction, a traffic volume that exceeds what it was built to handle, state Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said during a news conference Tuesday. That shows the importance of a $900 million construction project to repair the northbound span, he said. The project will bring the bridge up to modern standards, extend its service life, lift load restrictions and restore full access for freight and oversized vehicles, and ensure the bridge continues to safely carry people and goods for decades to come. Federal, state and local officials gathered with construction workers and engineers to celebrate the start of this next phase of construction during a news conference at the Thames River State Boat Launch underneath the bridge. The project is expected to be completed in 2030. To do the work safely, the project will require a traffic crossover that will begin May 30 and continue throughout construction, Eucalitto said. The start of the traffic crossover was postponed from around May 9 to avoid introducing a new traffic pattern before the busy Memorial Day weekend.
https://theday.com/news/891139/officials-celebrate-start-of-gold-star-bridge-next-phase/
Manchester sells Broad Street Parkade site to developer of 232-unit mixed-use project
MANCHESTER — The town has sold the Broad Street Parkade site for $3.6 million to the prospective developer of an $80 million mixed-use housing and retail project with 232 apartments. After a 2022 request for proposals, Manchester selected Texas-based Anthony Properties to develop five properties formerly home to a blighted strip mall: 296, 324, 330, 334, and 340 Broad St. Under the developer’s site plan, approved in December 2025, the roughly 21.6-acre site will have a residential component accessed from Green Manor Boulevard with four 48-unit buildings and four 10-unit buildings, supported by a clubhouse and other amenities, and 13,000 square-feet of commercial “pad sites” with frontage on Broad Street. The housing portion would feature 96 two-bedroom units, 88 one-bedroom units, and 48 studios, with 381 parking spaces on-site and along Green Manor Boulevard. Director of Planning & Economic Development Gary Anderson issued a statement Thursday confirming that Manchester has closed on its sale of the Parkade site to Anthony Properties for $3.6 million, allowing the project to break ground “within the month.”
Naugatuck revives plan to create new campus for grades 5-8: ‘The time is right’ for $200M project
NAUGATUCK — School officials are seeking to build a new intermediate and middle school campus at the existing Cross Street Intermediate School site, according to education specifications for the project the Board of Education approved at a recent meeting. The proposal would relocate Hillside Intermediate and City Hill Middle schools to the Cross Street site, creating a new consolidated grades 5-8 campus, upgrading Naugatuck’s facilities for those grades. The proposal calls for the construction of two new buildings, at an estimated cost of around $200 million. The education specifications outlined a vision for two new buildings, with one housing grades 5-6 and the other grades 7-8. The two schools would share kitchen services, an auditorium and athletic space. The grades 5-6 school would be designed to house at least 638 students, and the 708 school would be designed to house 613, for a total of 1,251 students, according to the specifications that were approved April 16. https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/naugatuck-intermediate-middle-school-campus-22224212.php
ROTHA Begins $48M Putnam Memorial Bridge Rehabilitation Project in Conn.
ROTHA Contracting, Avon, Conn., is the lead contractor of the rehabilitation of the Putnam Memorial bridge in Wethersfield and Glastonbury, Conn., that started on March 16, 2026, and is slated to be completed by Nov. 3, 2028, according to CTDOT. “The purpose of the project is to increase the load rating factor for all legal, permit and emergency vehicles through strengthening and bracing of the existing structural steel,” said CTDOT. “The project will also include deck patching and new wearing surface installation, drainage repairs, inspection catwalk removal, substructure concrete repairs and full painting of the bridge.” The cost of the project is $48 million, which will be paid by 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent state funds. “We just started in the middle of March,” said Ryan Hawkins, ROTHA Contracting project manager. “We have constructed access roads on the east and west approaches under the bridge. We have also prepped some staging areas adjacent to the bridge. We installed E&S control, construction signs. We also installed VMS signs to post the bridge for a 20-ton weight limit during construction. Our painting subcontractor started mobilizing this week and will start installing safe span platforms starting next week.”
Massive new CT proposal would create 237 riverfront houses, townhomes, some dubbed ‘luxury’
After abruptly dropping a similar plan last year, Crown Equities is proposing a massive residential development that would create 237 townhomes and one-family houses. The homes would be along the Farmington River in the heart of Farmington. Named The Enclave at Farmington River, the complex would be built across sections of an 80-acre vacant parcel behind the Riverbend assisted living center. The Minnesota-based developer last spring informally put forward the idea of a nearly 300-unit plan for apartments and houses on the property. Public opposition appeared widespread; weeks later the company scaled that back to 228 houses and townhouses with no apartments. Just before it was to present that plan at a public hearing last July, Crown Equities withdrew altogether — until now. The company’s current plan is for 158 townhomes; 128 would be rentals and 30 would be for sale. In addition, the complex would have 79 one-family homes for sale. The site is just east of a planned 199-unit riverfront apartment project that stalled not long after the town’s zoning board approved it in 2022.
$712M overhaul of I-91, I-691, Route 15 interchange enters new phase: ‘Going to be worth it’
Joined by state officials, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal tried to assure Connecticut residents Monday that while backups will continue at the Interstate 91, Interstate 691 and Route 15 interchange for the next few years, “they’re going to be worth it.” Blumenthal, Gov. Ned Lamont, state Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto and other officials touted the progress made toward overhauling the interchange in Meriden, with about three years down and four to go. “Anytime we’re trying to do a project of this size while keeping lanes open is always going to be difficult,” Eucalitto said about the ongoing backups. “Traffic protection is one of the hardest parts of any project, especially something this large, with this many vehicles. So I think the team has staged it to the best of our ability to keep traffic moving.” State officials have long said the three-phase project will cost a total of more than $500 million, but on Monday they gave a new, more specific figure of more than $712 million.
https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/ct-road-project-i-91-i-691-route-15-interchange-22228657.php
Rejected: Large industrial, retail and hotel plan near I-84 in central CT
A prominent Connecticut developer who proposed building a 114-room hotel, big-box retail store and 100,000-square-foot industrial building in a Southington woodlands lost his bid for a zone change on Tuesday. Domenic Carpionato’s Southington 2 LLC told the town that in conjunction with an already-approved 283,000-square-foot warehouse and other buildings, the project could bring $2.1 million a year in new tax revenue to the town while creating 360 jobs. But neighboring homeowners were skeptical about any upside for the town, and hammered away at two public hearings on their concerns of worsened traffic and noise coupled with new demands on Southington’s public works and police departments. Opponents also said it would be a mistake to lose dozens of acres of space intended for industrial development in favor of adding more retail. The Planning and Zoning Commission agreed, voting down the zone change after the last hearing late Tuesday night. Engineer Kevin Solli spoke on behalf of Southington 2 LLC, saying the developer would bring nearly $15 million of infrastructure improvements to the sprawling parcel that’s just west of I-84 near Exit 31.
514 apartments, office building coming to Milford’s Wheelers Farm Road, just off parkway
MILFORD — What for 40 years or so has been one of Milford’s largest office complexes on Wheelers Farm Road will soon undergo big changes, as developers demolish three of the five office buildings and replace them with two types of apartments and a host of amenities. The new complex will include 514 apartments, including a 150-unit “age targeted” section for people 55 and up and 364 multi-family apartments in seven buildings, along with 160,000 square feet of office space. The offices will be in two remodeled existing buildings, representatives of the developers said. It will have 1,535 parking spaces. It also will have a central “town green” and various amenities, including a pool, an 8,750-square-foot clubhouse, restaurant, fitness area, yoga studio, outdoor pavilion, co-working spaces, a cinema, game room, golf simulator, outdoor fire tables, bocci courts, cornhole, badminton courts and a walking trail, according to a presentation this week. The change was prompted in part by a significant drop in demand for office space which developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, an attorney for the developers told the Planning and Zoning Board Tuesday night.
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If you believe you have been the victim of wage theft on a public works construction project, please feel free to contact our office. You can also visit the Connecticut Department of Labor’s Wage & Workplace Division’s website to file a complaint here.