After months of site preparation, the footprint of the city’s $40 million community center took shape Monday morning as crews poured tons of concrete to create the floors of the facility’s programming and gym spaces. The day’s action was largely centered on the southern portions of the 58,000-square-foot center, which will include the gym, recreation office and classroom spaces, a community lounge and a kitchen. Several feet away, more jets of concrete encased water pipes laid into a deep pit that will eventually become the pool. Work at the site began in July, six months after the original start date. City officials said the delay was largely due to waiting for state permits, which required crews to conduct site exploration and clearing work during the winter. City Office of Planning and Development Director Felix Reyes said the project is still set for a summer 2025 opening and is within budget. He said the site prep work at the former Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory property proved challenging.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240304/foundations-laid-for-long-awaited-new-london-community-center/

The Planning and Zoning Commission held an informational meeting last week to hear about the two road projects – Elm Street, from Main to Gay streets, and Hubbard Street, from Boyd Street (Route 263) to its dead end. Public works Director James Rollins told the commission both projects will improve the roads, sidewalks and drainage. His department intends to put the projects out to bid this spring and begin construction this summer, with completion by fall. Engineers David Battista and Robert Colabella designed the Elm Street project, which Battista said is estimated to cost $1.55 million. The town is paying for most of the project through an $18.3 million bond package voters approved in 2022, Rollins noted. There is some state grant money covering the cost of certain sections. Battista said motorists traveling through that area during construction should be aware the town will at times make the roads one-way or block them off entirely, “depending on the work they’re doing and what kind of equipment they need to bring in to do the work.”

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/03/02/ct-town-plans-summer-upgrades-for-elm-and-hubbard-streets/

The University of Connecticut is deepening its ties to the Capital City, with plans to grow its downtown campus footprint while connecting students to new research, employment, internship and even housing opportunities. The expansion includes UConn taking over 51,000 square feet of vacant space at the XL Center, where the school this fall will debut new research and clinical programs. University leaders are also strongly considering the addition of student dormitory space downtown. The effort would likely include a partnership with a private developer who would convert an empty or underutilized office building into student housing. UConn is finalizing a five-year lease for the XL Center space, which was previously occupied by the University of St. Joseph’s pharmacy school. UConn has set a tentative $1.2 million budget to retrofit the space, which will host a new agricultural and food science program, sports medicine center, mental health clinic and two badly needed lecture halls.

Set for Hartford growth spurt, UConn seeks to offer downtown student housing

When the call comes to set up an emergency shelter, Health and Human Services Director Lea Crown loads her car up with cots and supplies from the Health Department on Miller Street to set up at the Meriden Senior Center. Committee members were updated by Crown and Senior Center Director Rick Liegl about the value and potential of a gymnasium/all-purpose room for fitness, and public health uses at the planned facility. The city plans to use two grants to begin construction of an estimated $48 million new senior center, a new health department, and an all-purpose room to use for senior activities that can be shared for public health uses. The first grant is for $2 million to cover environmental cleanup and demolition of the vacant medical office building at 116 Cook Ave. The demolition and abatement part of the project is ready to be put out to bid for a contractor. The committee is also putting out requests for qualifications for an architect to design the new facility and provide a cost estimate.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/meriden-senior-center-and-health-department-18696356.php

The town will receive $1.9 million in federal funding for two of its “net-zero” elementary schools after the costs to renovate them exceeded the initial estimates. Manchester secured $81 million in bonds for the project, with roughly two-thirds sourced from the state’s Construction Grant Program, and allocated $5 million from the town’s reserve fund. Buckley Elementary School, the first of the three to be renovated, was completed in September 2022 and has since been verified by the state as its first “net-zero” K-12 school. Officials from Blumenthal’s office said the price of solar and geothermal energy equipment at Bowers and Keeney has increased, and the $1.9 million will cover half of the outstanding costs. Manchester recently received $800,000 for a sidewalk program that would help provide safe pedestrian access to and from Keeney, with construction expected in summer or fall 2024.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/journalinquirer/article/ct-manchester-keeney-bowers-solar-net-zero-18698330.php

Work to install water mains is scheduled to begin Monday, March 4, on Prospect Hill Road and Dorwin Hill Road, which will ensure continued water system reliability for customers, Aquarion Water Co. said. The project will install 8,296 feet, or about 1.5 miles, of water main, according to Aquarion. It is part of an ongoing program to improve Aquarion’s water distribution system and ensure the highest quality of water. The projects on Prospect Hill Road and Dorwin Hill Road are expected to be completed by July. Final paving will be then coordinated with the town and the state. Tolland-based Genovesi Construction is the contractor for the water main replacement project. Aquarion uses an Everbridge notification system to call affected customers and keep them informed about scheduled and unscheduled work.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/newmilford/article/aquarion-install-nearly-1-5-miles-water-main-new-18691614.php

The property is still not the kind of place children should frequent, or for that matter anyone other than construction workers wearing the proper clothing and safety equipment. But it is becoming easier to picture a day when it will be clean and ready for redevelopment. The initial work following delays began last April in response to a warning by the building department an “imminent danger” of collapse. First, though, crews will remove the foundations of the previously razed sections of the plant along Helen Street, which, thanks to the wet winter, have become concrete and twisted steel swimming pools ringed by fencing. It will likely be around 10 months before the property is completely cleared off at, so far, a total cost of $15 million, $5 million of which the city budgeted in 2020, the balance awarded from the state in 2021.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/demoltion-continues-at-bridgeport-remington-plant-18689212.php

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz joined local officials Friday to highlight the $8,707,755 recently awarded to the Town of Griswold through the Community Investment Fund. The money will be used for a municipal water infrastructure project that will support more than 325 acres of commercial land along Route 164 and facilitate the Heritage River Village development, which will consist of affordable and age-restricted housing, new public facilities plus a YMCA and child development center. Griswold First Selectman Tina Falck said the new sewer system will be installed in early spring. At the same time, installation of the water line and water tower will go out to bid. Bids for the water line and tower are expected to be awarded in late April, with construction slated to begin in June or July. Falck hopes construction will be completed by late fall.

https://www.norwichbulletin.com/story/news/local/2024/03/01/route-164-griswold-ct-water-infrastructure-project-money/72808082007/

The Shelton Planning and Zoning Commission at a hearing Wednesday heard plans from applicant F.S. Shelton LLC and principal John Abene for a five-story, multi-unit apartment complex at 745-801 Bridgeport Ave. The $25 million project, by developer Highview Commercial, would feature 170 apartments, a portion of which would be affordable. The development would feature nine studio apartments and 81 one-bedroom, eight one-bedroom with office, and 72 two-bedroom apartments, along with a pool, club house and other amenities. If approved, the apartment building would sit among several new commercial buildings, including restaurants, medical and retail sites that are a part of the multimillion-dollar Fountain Square development area that has been in the works since 2019.

170 units proposed for Shelton’s Fountain Square development 

Norwalk-based Spinnaker Real Estate Partners exercised its option on Tuesday to buy a 90,000-square-foot parking lot at Capitol Avenue and Hudson Street for $3.25 million, according to the Capital Region Development Authority. The authority voted in January to loan Spinnaker $3 million toward the purchase, which forms a crucial piece of the Bushnell South development and speeds development of the project. About 250 parking spots, billboards, and an auto shop currently occupy the newly purchased parking lot. The property will likely be developed as a parking garage for the larger Bushnell South project, which involves several developers and multiple phases. But Freimuth has said the lot Spinnaker purchased this week is often vacant due to the opening of two new parking garages in the area.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/hartford-ct-parking-lot-bushnell-south-plan-18696292.php