In a situation similar to what Granby faced this summer, New Milford residents are balking at a proposed 140 megawatt battery energy storage farm less than 2 miles from the center of their town. Homeowners have created New Milford Guardians Against Flatiron to organize opposition, with many warning that a fire at the lithium battery facility could be a serious hazard to firefighters and neighbors as well as environmentally dangerous for the town. With two important public meetings on the topic coming in January, local environmentalists two weeks ago launched an online petition drive to stop the project. “This project plans to bulldoze roughly 10 acres of our precious land to make room for what they call progress — a term that, in this context, seems to equate to environmental degradation,” the petition on change.org states.

https://www.courant.com/2026/01/04/western-litchfield-county-town-balks-at-prospect-of-10-acre-battery-energy-storage-farm/

Prolific apartment developer Avner Krohn has sold his freshly completed 107-unit apartment building in downtown New Britain and is negotiating to sell its twin next door, saying he’s focusing more attention on the planned Concourse Park mega-project in East Hartford. “We are all in on East Hartford, we’re fully ramped up and ready to make it happen,” Krohn said Monday. “We feel very strongly that East Hartford will do very well.” Krohn confirmed that his Jasko Development recently sold The Brit, a six-story, modernistic glass-faced building in the heart of downtown, to a partnership of Reliant Partners LLC and Investment 360. Krohn did not disclose the purchase price, and Solomon Katz, listed as a key official in Reliant and Investment 360, could not be reached Monday. When it was proposed in 2021, The Brit was revolutionary for the city’s ailing downtown, and represented the first large-scale infusion of market-rate housing in decades. Then-Mayor Erin Stewart’s administration granted a 26-year tax incentive worth more than $300,000 a year to get Jasko to demolish the abandoned Burritt Bank headquarters at Main and Bank streets and replace it with an amenity-rich apartment complex.

https://www.courant.com/2026/01/06/developer-sells-the-brit-in-new-britain-promises-concourse-park-still-on-track/

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is highlighting the progress made in 2025 to improve safety, accessibility and reliability across the state’s transportation networks for drivers, transit riders, cyclists and pedestrians. From upgraded bridges and repaved roadways to new bus shelter installations and advanced safety systems, CTDOT’s 2025 projects strengthened infrastructure, expanded mobility options and made travel safer and more dependable for millions of residents and visitors. “2025 was a transformative year for Connecticut’s transportation systems,” said Garrett Eucalitto, Connecticut Department of Transportation commissioner. “We completed key bridge rehabilitations, accelerated transit-oriented development and expanded the nation’s largest wrong-way driving detection program. Supported by our federal, state, and local partners, these projects are helping make travel across Connecticut safer and more reliable for everyone.”

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/ctdot-delivers-major-infrastructure-upgrades-safety-innovations-across-state-in-2025/70019

NAUGATUCK — On the banks of the Naugatuck River, a vast parcel of land sits overgrown with trees and strewn with rubble. Little remains of what was once the beating heart of the town’s industry: the factory for the Uniroyal Chemical Company, a sprawling 86-acre complex that once prospered by producing both chemicals and rubber-based products. No evidence remains of it now, beyond heaps of old concrete and retaining walls. Yet the land may again become the heart of Naugatuck’s industry, as Mayor Warren “Pete” Hess has an ambitious plan to turn the disused property into a vast industrial park. Hess said the property was primed for large-scale development opportunities with the revitalization of the rail network, which is ongoing and would see freight moved onto the line for the first time since roughly the 1950s. He said the project could meet a growing demand in the region.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/waterbury/article/naugatuck-uniroyal-industrial-park-pete-hess-21258002.php

STAMFORD — The new year will bring a new school leader to the Stamford Public Schools as well as the start of construction on a brand new Westhill High School. Here’s a closer look at some of the biggest developments coming to the local school district in 2026. Shovels will be hitting the ground for the long-discussed Westhill High School project, estimated to cost $446 million. Limited construction work is expected to begin in April, including the demolition of the campus’ vocational-agriculture building. That work will result in the closure of certain student parking areas. Work on the new building is expected to begin in June immediately after graduation. The new Westhill is expected to open in 2029. Once complete, the high school campus will have 513 parking spaces, up from the current 475. Enrollment at the school, the largest in Stamford, is expected to be 2,458 students in eight years.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/stamford-schools-superintendent-2026-westhill-ct-21268200.php

EAST LYME — Traffic on Interstate 95 will be briefly halted twice a day for several weeks starting Monday as crews working to realign the highway use explosives to blast away a rock ledge, officials said. The daily closures will take place for about five to 10 minutes between 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday on the northbound and southbound lanes, according to the state Department of Transportation. The agency said the blasting is expected to take around six weeks to complete, but could require up to eight weeks to finish. The explosives will be used to remove a rock ledge on the northbound side. “It will take time to blast these rocks and for the safety of the traveling public, the short closures will need to take place,” officials said. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to your commute.” The work is part of a $148 million effort that began in 2023 to improve the https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/i-95-east-lyme-close-twice-day-construction-blast-21269027.php“vertical geometry” of the interstate, replace the bridge over Route 161 and construct new on and off ramps at Exit 74, which currently have very tight turns.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/i-95-east-lyme-close-twice-day-construction-blast-21269027.php

Walk by 64 Pratt St. and there’s little sign that major construction in full swing, so much so that some have wondered whether a new residence hall for the University of Connecticut will actually be ready for the fall of 2026. But inside, the impression is far different: dozens of framers, electricians, plumbers and others are carving 50 suites, for up to 200 students, out of former, long-vacant office space in downtown Hartford, all headed to a hard-and-fast deadline at the end of July. “It’s actually a compliment we’re quiet,” Igor Stojcevic, project manager for InnoConn Construction Management, said. “We’re kind of staying in the background.” The new residence hall for UConn’s Hartford regional campus makes The Courant’s 7 Hartford Projects to Watch in 2026, a list drawn from interviews with developers, business groups, public officials and others. While new projects strike a note of optimism, the challenges faced by the city remain significant. Office vacancies — a consequence of corporate lease downsizings after a major shift to remote work following the pandemic — still dog the downtown. A recent study by major developers downtown found a 40% vacancy rate in prime office space among the some of the most recognizable towers in the city’s skyline: CityPlace I, 20 Church St. — the “Stilts Building” — and two skyscrapers in Constitution Plaza. The same study estimated that $450 million in public subsidies over three years would be needed to convert to new uses, including apartments and hotel rooms.

https://www.courant.com/2025/12/28/7-massive-ct-development-projects-to-watch-in-2026-housing-hotels-retail-and-redevelopment/

HARTFORD — The State Bond Commission faced a standing room only crowd of happy, smiling faces while approving $1.4 billion in new bond issues Thursday during its final meeting of the 2025 calendar year. Commission members unanimously approved $985.3 million in new general obligation bonds, $374.6 million in special tax obligation bonds for transportation initiatives, and $73 million in Clean Water Fund bonds. The governor chairs the 10-member panel of state officials and legislators in charge of state borrowing. The latest funding round brought approved allocations for general obligation and transportation bonds to slightly more than $1.9 billion each for the calendar year. For general obligation bonds, the new issues authorized Thursday were slightly less, $660 million under the $2.6 billion bond allocation cap for 2025. This budget control sets an inflation-adjusted amount of general bonding for the calendar year. There are also caps on the amount of bonds the state treasurer may issue and the bond requisitions the governor may authorize.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/connecticut/article/state-borrowing-bond-commission-uconn-2000-fazio-21250131.php

Connecticut will defeat what Attorney General William Tong called “a new brazen attempt” from the administration of President Donald Trump to block construction of the Revolution Wind project on national security grounds. The U.S. Department of the Interior on Monday announced the federal government is pausing leases for Revolution Wind off the coast of southern New England and four other offshore wind projects under construction along the East Coast over Pentagon concerns they would interfere with military radar systems. The pause announced Monday comes three months after a federal judge overturned a stop-work order on the Revolution Wind project that the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued in August. Construction on Revolution Wind, an offshore wind farm located 15 miles south of Rhode Island and 32 miles southeast of Connecticut, resumed in October. It is nearly 85% complete. When up and running, the wind farm is expected to produce enough electricity to power about 325,000 homes.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/connecticut/article/ct-revolution-wind-pause-trump-national-security-21256990.php

WATERBURY — The Board of Aldermen voted last week to spend another $5.44 million on removing foundations and cleaning the former Anaconda American Brass site, and readying it for redevelopment. At its Dec. 15 meeting, the board voted 11-4 to approve hiring Manafort Brothers to get rid of the foundations and slabs that remained after demolishing the former brass complex. Manafort was the contractor for the demolition. Once the building’s remains are removed, the Waterbury Development Corporation will conduct testing under the soil to better characterize the site for future development, said James Nardozzi of the WDC. The city used millions of state and federal grant dollars to acquire and raze buildings in the complex. The latest round will come from a pool of money already available and won’t require bonding, city officials said. The envisioned Freight Street Corridor District will be anchored by transit-oriented development of residential, retail and commercial properties on the site of the former brass factory complex.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/waterbury/article/waterbury-aldermen-freight-street-21248255.php