Salvatore closed a deal this week to buy the former Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduate campus at 275 Windsor St. for $3.82 million. The building’s property abuts Dunkin’ Park, home to the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats. Earlier this year Salvatore said he planned to build up to 269 apartments on the RPI property, which housed the New York-based university’s graduate programs in Hartford. Now Salvatore is moving full speed ahead on Parcel B, planning to break ground within 60 days to replace the parking lot with a structure housing 237 apartments and a 522-car parking garage, the $120 million first phase of a complex that could eventually house 1,000 units. At the same time, he intends to start demolishing the 1970s-era buildings at the RPI lot within 30 days. The only structure that will be left standing is a 450-spot parking garage, which would be part of any future development at the site. An initial estimate of the cost of the first phase of redeveloping the property was $67 million.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/hartford-ct-rpi-dunkin-park-salvatore-18526720.php

City officials have been planning to build a new police station for at least 25 years, but even one of the idea’s biggest supporters said it probably won’t happen anytime soon because “the price is shocking.” Updating the Police Commission on the situation during a Nov. 14 meeting, police Chief Keith Mello said the new station would cost $81 million. He revised his estimate to $77.5 million in a follow-up email on Tuesday. Either way, it’s funding that Mello doesn’t see going toward a new station in the foreseeable future. Mello’s $77.5 million estimate comes from a construction contractor that the city selected in 2018 to provide the original design development estimate. Additional design costs are possible. The drawings date to 2018. The city will probably continue to fit out the existing building.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/milford-police-chief-new-police-station-cost-18516138.php

After months of supply shortage issues, the final pieces needed to finish the new pedestrian bridge at the Merritt 7 train station are expected to arrive, according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation. CTDOT is aiming for a mid-December opening for the new train station, with two weeks budgeted for the contractors to finish the work on the pedestrian bridge, he said. The bridge structure has been up since the summer; however, large sections of the glass are missing, which could cause safety issues in inclement weather, Morgan said. “There’s a lot of glass still missing from the bridge zone,” he added. Final pieces for the bridge’s elevators are also missing. Supply chain issues have affected other projects for CTDOT, including a parking garage in Stamford, on a project-by-project basis, Morgan said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/merritt-7-pedestrian-bridge-train-station-metro-no-18522197.php

By the time the Springside Middletown complex off Newfield Street is complete, developer Bob Dale hopes, it will contain 486 apartments, which Mayor Ben Florsheim says makes it one of the biggest construction projects of its type in the state. Construction of the complex began about eight and a half months ago, Dale said. He said he hopes to have apartments ready to occupy by about Memorial Day, with completion of the first 240-apartment phase of the construction project by mid-2025. After that, he said, he hopes to secure financing for the second 246-apartment phase of the project. The city is supporting the project through tax incentives. Among the things it is receiving in return, Florsheim said, are “a strong commitment to local hiring” and to use of minority contractors.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/middletown/article/middletown-springside-apartments-bob-dale-18532940.php

Six months into construction of phase two of his massive Perkins Farm development, local developer Dave Lattizori is preparing to begin lining up tenants. Harbor Heights II, which broke ground in June on 123 luxury apartments, including 32 fourth-floor penthouse apartments, will begin pre-leasing early next year for the planned September opening of the new four-story apartment complex. The first phase of the project, valued at $85 million, contains a 50,000-square foot Hartford Health Care medical building that opened in January 2020, as well as 121 luxury apartments known as Harbor Heights and 50 townhouses. It generates $1 million a year in tax revenue for the Town of Stonington and created 100 permanent jobs.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20231203/second-phase-of-luxury-apartments-being-built-at-perkins-farm-in-mystic/

The city is applying for an $8 million state Department of Economic and Community Development Community Investment Fund grant that Mayor Michael Passero said would cover the remaining costs of an anticipated $25 million plan to expand and overhaul transportation options in the city. Passero said the federal Department of Transportation Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant awarded to the city in June will pay for the bulk of several downtown transit-related infrastructure improvements. That federal funding will help add 400 parking spaces to the five-story, 910-space Water Street garage; create a new on-site transit hub; pay for a restoration project at the Union Station and Cross Sound Ferry’s new high speed ferry terminal; and support the building of a $20 million pedestrian bridge to connect the National Coast Guard Museum to the parking garage.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20231204/new-london-seeking-8-million-state-grant-to-complete-funding-for-downtown-transit-improvements/

Only a stone wall separates Cerveney’s property from Mount Decatur — the site of a fort built during the War of 1812 — where Quincy, Massachusetts-based Cashman Dredging is proposing a five- to 10-year “industrial regrading” project to turn much of the hill into a flat, 40-acre pad ready for industrial businesses. The proposal is the latest idea Cashman has floated for the Thames River industrial property long associated with Dow Chemical, and now home to an Americas Styrenics plant. A conceptual plan from February showed the space being filled by a 100,000-square-foot building, a 80,000-square-foot building, and twin 40,000-square-foot buildings. But what would actually be built would depend on demand. Having the pad ready for development would be key when an opportunity arises, the company said, adding that the land has limited potential for development without grading.

Fears Mount Over Industrial Project’s Impact on Ledyard Neighborhood

Connecticut’s already diminished hydropower industry is at risk of further losses due to aging infrastructure and poor economic conditions, industry leaders told a state hydropower task force on Friday. Hydroelectric power accounts for less than 1 percent of the electricity generated in Connecticut, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. State lawmakers established a task force earlier this year to study Connecticut’s existing hydropower assets, as part of a broader goal of obtaining all of the state’s energy needs from renewable sources by 2040. Connecticut is home to 32 powered dams, according to the National Hydropower Association. The highest concentration of those dams are in the eastern half of the state, as well as in the northwest corner. Thousands of other dams — ranging in use from flood control, to supplying water and powering mills — exist elsewhere in the state, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Dozens of dams that are currently undeveloped for hydropower are capable of supplying electricity to the region, according to a 2006 report by the U.S. Department of Energy.

https://www.ctpost.com/connecticut/article/ct-hydropower-task-force-dam-closures-18527317.php?src=rdctplocal

The demolition of Watrous Nursing Home this week will make room for a three-lot subdivision on the 2.96-acre parcel, with lots ranging in price from $775,000 to $795,000. The Planning & Zoning Commission had approved the plans, submitted by Mady Devel III LLC, at their meeting early spring 2023 for the development in a R-3, residential district. Mady Devel III purchased the property from Watrous Realty, LLC in September for $1.15 million. The lots can be purchased, and luxury homes built by Wesbuilt Modular, LLC or any other builder, according to Kacy Caviston, a partner with Mady Devel III and Webuilt Modular. The houses will be priced in the $2 million range, which includes the cost of the land, said Caviston. One lot will come off the market as soon as the property is cleared and ready for construction.

https://www.nhregister.com/shoreline/article/demo-madison-s-watrous-nursing-home-make-way-2-m-18524284.php?src=nhrhpdesecp

After proposed new regulations were derailed, Gov. Ned Lamont and the state legislature are now shining a spotlight on electric vehicles as they plot the future path for the state in a fast-moving industry that is already being driven by market forces. In the coming weeks and months, lawmakers will flesh out the details of a plan as they intend to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and smooth the transition away from gasoline-powered cars. Legislators have raised questions about costs, charging stations and infrastructure, among others. But for some legislators, a key issue is that the electric batteries sometimes catch on fire and have been difficult to extinguish. Electric car advocates, however, say that the fires are highly unusual and the batteries are less likely to catch on fire than conventional batteries. The problem, though, is extinguishing the blaze once it starts. Out of more than 3 million vehicles registered in Connecticut as of July 2023, only 36,000 were electric, according to state statistics.

CT has an electric car problem. Here’s what’s driving delays, debate and new economic inequality.