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

Old Lyme officials will decide in January on the controversial self-storage proposal, which if approved would be the third such facility on a stretch of Shore Road near million-dollar homes and the town’s iconic Soundview Beach. But a range of other self-storage projects have been approved with little fanfare across the state in recent months, as towns seek low-impact development and Connecticut residents continue to acquire more stuff. Post-pandemic, towns and cities are looking for broader tax bases and most have pulled back on moratoriums on new self-storage projects. Self-storage developers have also made their projects more attractive to towns by limiting their footprint and upscaling design. The last holdouts against self-storage expansion are Connecticut’s larger cities, where officials often cite the need for more housing or development that creates more jobs in turning away developers. (A typical storage facility employs only a handful of people at most.)

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/ct-self-storage-developers-bet-on-design-18556629.php?src=sthpbusiness

As the cost to renovate three elementary schools crosses $100 million, Darien officials appear poised to grant them the extra money — but not without questioning if it’s worth starting over with new buildings instead. Because of additional work and unfavorable market conditions, the cost to renovate Hindley, Holmes and Royle elementary schools rose to $101.5 million, requiring the building committee to request an additional $19 million on top of the $82.25 million appropriated from the town. The three elementary schools are slated for extensive renovations including adding new building wings, removing portable classrooms and redesigning the libraries, among other updates. Construction was set to begin this past summer but was delayed nearly a year so the building committee could rebid the project following higher-than-anticipated bids from the first attempt.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/darien-hindley-holmes-royle-renovations-100m-18553828.php?src=sthpdesecp

The last five years have seen relatively steady numbers of new housing permits issued in Connecticut — hovering between about 5,000 and 6,500 each year — but experts say this is only a fraction of what’s needed to meet the growing need. Still, officials and experts say there’s more housing needed across the market, especially in buildings that can be home to up to four families and lower-cost starter homes. During the last legislative session, lawmakers passed a bonding package that included about $1 billion toward housing, and some of those programs are in the process of rolling out. Residential construction in Connecticut didn’t bounce back completely after the 2008 housing crisis, experts said. And now the state faces a shortage of construction workers as well as rising costs of land and materials. Many construction projects are also slowed or halted by what experts say are restrictive local zoning ordinances. These types of zoning ordinances have been a politically contentious issue for many years in Connecticut. State and local leaders across the country are in the midst of heated debates about the best ways to increase housing stock as rising rents push many out of their homes.

https://www.theday.com/state/20231225/conn-added-more-housing-in-2023-but-experts-say-its-not-enough/

On Bridgeport’s harbor on the East Side is Steelpointe where 2024 should be when construction finally begins on the 1,500 luxury apartments the development team there have been planning. Anthony Stewart’s Honey Locust Square aims to revitalize Bridgeport’s East End with a mix of residential and retail, including a supermarket. Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration tapped Stewart’s firm Ashlar in 2018 to redevelop a dilapidated stretch of Stratford Avenue between Newfield and Central avenues. Commuters using Interstate 95 and the Stamford train station have probably seen the city’s largest development opening in 2024 inching upward recently. The Signet at 18 Dock Street, a 395-unit apartment building, is expected to open during the summer with street-level retail and residential amenities like sports simulators, co-working spaces, a home theater, a makers’ room, a library, a test kitchen, an outdoor pool, a jacuzzi and spa, a wellness center, and open space for varying uses possibly to include food trucks and a farmers market.

https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/ct-stamford-bridgeport-hartford-haven-norwalk-18560849.php