After years of delay, a Connecticut town’s biggest new mixed-use project in recent memory is taking shape in its center with nearly 100 apartments expected to be finished this year and about 140 more to follow. Contractors started clearing the long-empty Elmcrest Psychiatric Hospital grounds last year, and are now putting up the first of several buildings on the site. “It’s one of the biggest development projects in Portland in many years, and it’s going to create a huge economic spike,” he said. Danbury-based Bright Ravens Development Group and The DiMarco Group from Rochester, N.Y. are jointly developing Brainerd Place, a project they envision having retail and commercial businesses including a restaurant, a Starbucks outlet and medical offices along with 240 apartments. Contractors are putting in the foundation for a second apartment building, which will be the next phase. That will probably have its first tenants moving in by mid-2025, Bertram said. The third phase is a large commercial building, and the specifics of that are still being revised.

Large mixed-use project with 100 apartments and retail to replace CT vacant hospital

Over and over again, municipal leaders and school construction teams said they were instructed by state officials to hire one of two contractors: AAIS Corp. of West Haven or Bestech Inc. of Ellington. The actions of Diamantis and Sanders have been under a microscope since early 2022, when news broke that a federal grand jury was investigating the school construction office. The CT Mirror reviewed more than four years’ of emails that were sent to and from Sanders, a veteran state employee who died of a drug overdose in December 2021 shortly after the state received the first subpoena from federal authorities. Those communications outline repeated efforts within the school construction office to assign contracts for local schools directly to AAIS or Bestech, both of which were on a short list of state approved hazmat companies. The documents show Sanders’ influence on school projects began in the second half of 2019, and by early 2020, he was personally selecting which company was paid to perform the demolition and abatement work on multiple schools. The records also indicate that Diamantis, who stepped down from his government office shortly after the state was subpoenaed by federal investigators, allowed Sanders to take the lead when it came to the hazmat contracts for local schools.

Emails show extent of influence on school construction projects

Construction’s labor struggles will continue in 2024, and it’s not just due to the number of new jobs set to break ground. The reasons for a lack of skilled applicants this year are many. For instance, even as the industry’s workforce ages, it fails to draw in new workers to train. Hard-to-reach jobsites create challenges for workers in need of transportation or childcare, and some craftworkers fail drug tests, making them ineligible for work. Another major factor that limits workers is the need for flexible, quality childcare. Available services don’t always meet the needs of construction workers, who may need to arrive early or stay late. One in four respondents to the AGC survey reported workers needed flexibility with work schedules to help them with childcare or care of another family member. Regulations legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana use have put employers in a tricky position, Harshman said. Owners or contractors may mandate drug tests if they choose, but they are not required to do so. Even though federal government contractors performing work for $100,000 or more must have a drug-free workplace policy, that doesn’t require drug testing.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/construction-labor-hiring-trends-2024-outlook-workers/703940/

Canton is moving forward with a development that includes 54 new multifamily residential units and will be located on the north side of Dowd Avenue. After an hours-long public hearing on Jan. 10, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved two separate site plans for the 3.1-acre site at 38 Dowd Ave. and 42 Dowd Ave. The mixed-use development is not subject to the affordability requirement, according to Town Planner Neil Pade. The property is owned by Canton resident Frank Zacchera, who also owns and lives on the abutting land to the north. He indicated that the project will be up for sale so there is no timeline or schedule for construction at this time, according to the town planner, and it will be up to the developer to decide which one to build. The development will comprise three buildings, two facing Dowd Avenue and one interior building behind the front buildings.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/farmingtonvalley/article/canton-ct-development-dowd-avenue-apartments-18602711.php

The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday approved a mixed-use development project on Boston Post Road that would include 150 residential units and ground-level retail space. The proposal approved Tuesday did not request any incentive housing and will add 150 units of market-rate housing in addition to retail space closer to the Boston Post Road. Engineer Robert Wheway told commissioners that the development would take place on about one-third of the site. Yisroel Teitelbaum, a member of developer 855 Orange Avenue LLC, said the housing would be a benefit to residents seeking different housing options, such as downsizing retired couples. However, he said the development is intended to be especially attractive to retail clients. Teitelbaum said he would be “flexible” on commercial clients and is working to find tenants.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/west-haven-post-road-mixed-use-housing-project-18599660.php

A Connecticut businessman wants state money to fund a new waterfront professional soccer stadium in Bridgeport, and local lawmakers say they’re firmly behind the project. At least one important decision-maker, however, isn’t quite convinced — Gov. Ned Lamont. On Tuesday, tech entrepreneur Andre Swanston announced he’d been awarded an MLS Next Pro franchise, as part of a long-term plan to bring high-level professional soccer to Bridgeport first announced in October. The team, called Connecticut United Football Club, would play in a new stadium Swanston hopes to build on the lower East Side along along the Pequonnock River, currently home to the vacant Winners Shoreline Star off-track betting facility. In announcing the new team, Swanston cited an estimate from the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at the University of Connecticut that the proposed stadium would generate over $4 billion in economic impact over the next 25 years, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/politics/article/ct-bridgeport-soccer-stadium-funding-lamont-18602668.php

Crews on Thursday morning began installing a temporary barrier at the Fitchville Pond Dam to allow for the inspection of the damaged structure ahead of Saturday’s incoming storm. Contractors and heavy equipment were staged across from Stockhouse Road where they expected to spend the next two days constructing a cofferdam, a waterproof enclosure made of industrial-sized sandbags that will safely allow inspectors to view a section of dam that failed Wednesday. Charles Lee, assistant director of dam safety for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said the cofferdam’s placement will also relieve water pressure being exerted on the approximately 180-year-old dam. Bozrah First Selectman Glenn Pianka on Thursday said the river water had receded and there were no further reports of dam leakage. State officials said the dam owners have a history of not complying with state regulations to inspect the dam every two years and have not filed a recent required emergency action plan.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240111/barrier-expected-to-be-placed-at-damaged-bozrah-dam-by-friday/

Train riders getting off at Norwalk’s Merritt 7 station are now steps away from Main Avenue and the Merritt 7 office complex, thanks to the opening of a new pedestrian bridge. After months of delays due to supply chain issues, the pedestrian bridge opened on Wednesday, according to Connecticut’s Department of Transportation spokesperson, Josh Morgan. Along with the pedestrian bridge, a new 500-foot, heated platform at Merritt 7 opened in June 2023. The glass enclosed bridge’s opening was stalled because of missing glass panels that enclose the bridge and equipment for the elevators that connect people to the bridge and platform. Construction on the bridge wrapped up in December, but CDOT was waiting on official sign-offs before opening access to the public. Supply chain issues slowed progress throughout the entire project since the groundbreaking in 2020. Originally slated to be complete by fall 2022, both the material for the platform and bridge were tied up in supply issues. Underground utilities and drainage system issues also stalled the projects.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/cdot-completes-footbridge-merritt-7-advocates-18602740.php

A section of the Pameacha Pond dam broke open Tuesday night during a storm that battered the state with heavy rain and wind, officials said Wednesday. City Public Works Director Chris Holden said a 4- to 6-foot section of the wall broke along the approximately 80-foot dam. He said they were getting equipment together to patch it up Thursday, including concrete road barriers they would use to replace the missing section. Howard Weissberg, the city’s deputy director of public works, noted the city already had approved the replacement or restoration of the 150-year-old dam earlier this year. He said they are requesting $5 million for the construction component of that work, and design will cost more. “Repair would be the ideal,” Mayor Ben Florsheim said in April, “but it’s not likely that that’s going to be feasible. This is a dam that is far gone and needs to be fully replaced,” referring to advice from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which issued the city a consent order to do the dam work in 2018.

https://www.middletownpress.com/news/article/middletown-pameacha-pond-dam-breaks-storm-18600826.php

Eversource Energy expects to write off as much as $1.6 billion against its 2023 fourth quarter earnings once it completes the sale of its ownership stake in three offshore wind projects, company officials have said. Eversouce is looking to sell its 50 percent ownership stake the company has in three wind projects it is doing in partnership with Danish wind power developer, Orsted. The three wind power projects Eversource is selling its ownership stake in are South Fork Wind, Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind. The charge-off is required to account for the difference in value between when the project was first announced and what it is worth now. A variety of factors, including increased project costs and any constriction delays, can cause a project’s value to change. Erin Baker, an industrial engineering and operations research professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and faculty director of the school’s Energy Transition Institute, said companies like Eversource are selling their ownership stakes in wind power projects “because of a mismatch between the current interest rates and inflation and the negotiated long term contracts, at least in some cases.”

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/ct-eversource-wind-power-costs-18600365.php?src=sthpbusiness