The city on Dec. 22 posted a request for proposals to prepare for the abatement and demolition of eight homes on six streets located as northerly as Brown Street and as southerly as 3rd Avenue Extension. The other streets with at least one home cited for abatement and demolition are Jones Street, Peck Avenue, Marshall Street and Marion Street. The purpose of the demolition will be to provide extra space for drainage basins and to encourage water flow away from other homes in the area, but Borer said there are certain deed restrictions that the city must navigate as a condition of accepting the federal funds — namely that the city cannot erect fencing and there are restrictions on tending the growth on the property. The RFP details that the purpose of the demolition of the eight single-structure homes came about by offering residents in flood-prone homes federal buyouts so the properties could be used for flood mitigation by encouraging regrowth and open space, disallowing future development.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/west-haven-flooding-demolition-open-space-18584383.php

It has been a year since the owner of the former Bristol Myers Squib property on Research Parkway in Wallingford got approval for a 440,000 square foot warehouse and 10,000 square feet of office space, but it doesn’t appear that construction of the facility is going to start anytime soon. A Framingham, Mass.-based company, Calare Properties, owns both properties created by the subdivision.
Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Jim Seichter, as well as Town Planner Kevin Pagini, said that officials with Calare have indicated they want to sell the day care center. But both men said Calare officials haven’t divulged who they are building the warehouse for or indicated when the facility might be built. Plans approved by the PZC in December 2022 for the warehouse include 105 loading docks, 96 tractor-trailer parking spaces and 530 regular parking spaces.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/former-bristol-myers-property-remains-undeveloped-18566129.php

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for Norwalk’s long-awaited new Merritt 7 train station will officially welcome commuters to the completed project within the next week, a Connecticut Department of Transportation spokesperson said. Work crews completed construction between Christmas and New Year’s Eve for the project that the state approved funding for in 2017 — although part of the new station has been open to commuters since June, said Josh Morgan, CTDOT communications manager. Now that the construction work is finished, Morgan said the station needs final inspections. The Merritt 7 train station, which is on the Danbury branch of Metro-North’s New Haven Line, offers direct access to New York’s Grand Central Terminal. The project was initially slated for completion in fall 2022 but supply chain, underground utility and drainage system issues delayed the work.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/norwalk-merritt-7-train-station-metro-north-18585247.php

Two large construction projects in the Norwalk Public Schools were ready for public use in 2023, and there are plans to begin work on two new projects in the New Year. Cranbury Elementary School welcomed the inaugural classes at its new campus this past fall, with athletic facilities due to be completed this coming year. The new driveway and parking lot at Silvermine Dual Language Magnet School, a much smaller endeavor, were completed in August before the school year began. The groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Norwalk High School and South Norwalk School — that neighborhood’s first elementary school in over 40 years — will be held in 2024. The biggest construction project coming around the bend in the Norwalk Public Schools is the new Norwalk High School, which is slated for a February groundbreaking. The next project slated for groundbreaking is the South Norwalk School — a $76 million elementary school that will be the neighborhood’s first in 40 years.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/norwalk-schools-construction-break-ground-projects-18578194.php

State transportation officials have quietly ramped up work on a nearly $500 million project overhauling one of central Connecticut’s most congested and headache-inducing highway corridors. On Thursday, the state Department of Transportation opened bidding for the second of three construction phases on the Meriden interchange formed by the merger of three highways — Interstates 91 and 691, as well as state Route 15 — that collectively carry around 260,000 vehicles every day. Work began earlier this year on the initial, $85 million phase of the project to repair bridges, add one lane of traffic to I-91 north and make related road improvements, according to DOT spokesman Josh Morgan. The final two — and largest — phases of the project, however, will begin early next year and work is scheduled to last until 2029. Both of those phases will focus on restructuring the northbound and southbound interchanges between I-91 and the other highways. In October, the State Bond Commission agreed to borrow $31.7 million toward the second, northbound phase of the project, which is also slated to receive $220 million in federal funding.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/connecticut/article/ct-meriden-interstate-91-691-route-15-interchange-18553771.php

The once-troubled State Pier project in New London is on track to show a $1 million dollar profit over its first year in operation, a departure from its rocky start when construction costs ballooned to more than three times the original estimate. After four years of construction, the massive but long-neglected state pier on the state’s only natural deep water harbor has been reconfigured as one of the nation’s premier, heavy lift cargo terminals and is now the principal supply site for billions of dollars of offshore wind energy construction south of Block Island. The Connecticut Port Authority, which owns the pier, said its outside auditors projected the $1.1 million operating profit for the fiscal year ending June 30. “The surplus is the result of new revenue sources flowing consistently and secure for the next decade,” said David Kooris, who was appointed authority chairman after a disastrous start that resulted in overruns that tripled the cost of the reconstruction project from the original $93 million estimate.

CT Port Authority’s New London pier, once mired in cost overruns, projects profit as wind energy hub

A husband-and-wife team of entrepreneurs from Farmington paid $1.2 million Wednesday for a 47.3-acre property straddling the Manchester/East Hartford border, with plans for a large-scale residential development. Viswanatha Nayunipati and his wife, Radhika Nagineni, plan to build a large-scale multifamily residential development on the wooded property. Nayunipati, on Wednesday, said he is working with local officials to develop plans that best fit the site and community, but expects to build hundreds of units. Those could be townhouses or apartments, he said. Most would be market rate, and some would be developed as affordable, he said. Nayunipati is the founder, and his wife is an executive, of Farmington-based Niktor LLC, a company that provides computer and internet services and staffing. Nayunipati said his company employs about 400, most of whom are embedded in client companies. The limited liability company used for Wednesday’s purchase – Saina Homes LLC – is headquartered at the same Farmington address as Niktor.

Husband-and-wife team buy 47.3 acres in East Hartford/Manchester, plan ‘hundreds’ of housing units

From the air, Great Neck Elementary School looks like a puzzle with one rectangular piece missing. That missing piece is at 8 Goshen Road. The town is now looking to finish the puzzle, so to speak, by buying the 0.46-acre piece of property bordered on three sides by the school. The contract of sale between the estate’s executor, Matthew Joyce, and the town has yet to be signed by Brule. The purchase still needs to be authorized by the Board of Finance, Representative Town Meeting and Planning and Zoning Commission. Brule called the property important for improving traffic patterns near the school, safe pickup of students and security measures the town has been working on.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20231227/waterford-seeks-to-complete-the-property-puzzle-at-great-neck-elementary-school/

The developers behind a 129-unit apartment building proposed for Hawley Lane have submitted a new application for the project, more than a year after local officials rejected the controversial building over environmental concerns. Mountain Development Corporation, a New Jersey-based company responsible for the Merritt 8 Corporate Park, is seeking the town’s approval to construct the four-story building on a largely undeveloped plot of land off Hawley Lane. After the denial last year, Mountain Development sued the commission in state court and asked a judge to reverse the decision, claiming the board failed to consider expert testimony that the project would have no significant impact on the local environment. Since then, Mountain Development and land use officials have discussed reaching a settlement in the case that would allow the project to move forward, though no official agreement has yet been made.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/developer-new-plans-129-unit-stratford-hawley-lane-18574833.php

A Connecticut truck driver who was hauling a large dumpster died after his construction vehicle snagged some low-hanging cables and pulled down two utility poles, authorities said Saturday. Both poles snapped, and a transformer on one of them fell on top of the vehicle’s cab, Connecticut State Police said in a statement. Gary Pizzo, 61, of Norwich, who was the only person in the truck, was pronounced dead at William W. Backus Hospital. The crash occurred Friday morning in Franklin, a small eastern Connecticut town of less than 2,000 people.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/connecticut-man-is-killed-when-his-construction-18572459.php