The activity at the pier on this late summer Wednesday is related to the remaining construction projects needed to complete the $309 million in upgrades to the 40-acre site. But the wind industry has moved in, dominating the grounds of the pier with massive wind turbine components being prepped for shipment to the waters 35 miles off the coast of Montauk Point in New York. It is expected to be operational by the end of the year. Though the occupation of State Pier is a sign of continued progress, Ørsted’s continued commitment to its wind projects and the viability of Revolution Wind has been called into question as the company faces surging costs to build those projects.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230909/wind-industry-comes-to-new-london/

Before the city council meeting Tuesday, NPU gave a presentation on their Wastewater Treatment Plant replacement. The project, expected to cost $200 million, will largely replace the facility on Hollyhock Island. The current treatment plant was built in 1955, far beyond its intended lifespan, said Craig Wagner, engineer for CDM Smith. Construction work is expected to start this fall, and will go for five years, Wagner said. Funding for the project will come from Connecticut’s Clean Water Act. $72 million is grant funding, and the rest is from a 2% interest loan. Two challenges during the construction process includes creating all new structures on a pile system, and maintaining the function of the current wastewater plant through the process, an overview from NPU states.

https://www.norwichbulletin.com/story/news/local/2023/09/08/norwich-public-utilities-pursue-funding-for-wastewater-plant-ct-clean-water-act/70776995007/

More than 10 gigawatts of offshore wind projects along the U.S. East Coast — the equivalent of roughly 10 nuclear power reactors — are at serious risk as higher costs force developers to re-crunch the numbers for proposals originally modeled years ago, before a runup in interest rates and material costs. Orsted A/S, the Danish wind giant, said this week it’s prepared to walk away from projects unless it gets even more government aid. Other developers are already paying tens of millions in penalties to exit contracts they say no longer make financial sense. Orsted’s warnings are the most concrete example yet of the limits of the IRA, which was hailed as a key driver for America’s nascent offshore wind industry. While the law provides at least $370 billion in grants, tax credits and other incentives for climate and clean energy projects, that’s proving no match for rising inflation and borrowing costs. And by dangling higher incentives for companies sourcing U.S.-made parts, it’s fueling demand before the domestic supply chain catches up, driving prices higher still.

https://www.theday.com/nation/20230907/u-s-offshore-wind-slammed-by-runaway-costs/

The study says expanding commuter rail service ― which the state currently operates between New Haven to New London ― to Westerly, R.I., and to Norwich would allow people to better access jobs and recreation. It adds that while the expansion could be possible to implement in the long term, it would require more planning, permitting and costly infrastructure upgrades. Preliminary cost estimates show the capital costs for the Shore Line East extension to Westerly, R.I., could be $243 million, while the extension to Norwich could cost $635.7 million, though costs could fluctuate by more than 30%. While the state has not decided whether to move forward, the potential expansion would call for proposed new train stations in Groton, an alternative to the existing station in Mystic, and Stonington Borough along the Northeast Corridor.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230907/potential-shore-line-east-expansion-calls-for-new-stations-across-the-region/

The owners of the old Dictaphone Corporation property off Broadbridge Avenue want to transform the vacant office park into a 234-unit housing complex, the latest in a flurry of newly proposed local apartment projects. The project is a part of a larger push by developers to convert unused office space into more profitable residential rentals, a trend that has accelerated in recent years amid a nationwide housing shortage and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered scores of offices. Architectural plans show the two new buildings, designed by Beinfield Architecture, would have a parking garage on the lower level. The entire complex, which sits near a bus stop, would include more than 300 parking spaces.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/stratford-dictaphone-234-apartments-18351623.php?src=rdctpdensecp

Urban Mining CT has developed a concrete additive made of recycled glass. The company — based out of its Beacon Falls waste-gloss processing facility — breaks down, cleans and then transforms glass into a product called Pozzotive, which can be added to concrete mix in place of other compounds like cement, which is more costly, both environmentally and economically. Torrington-based construction and general contracting firm O&G Industries has used Pozzotive in several of its Connecticut projects, too. O&G also partnered with Pozzotive inventor Louis Grasso to build Urban Mining CT’s Beacon Falls manufacturing facility.

From glass to concrete, CT company offers construction industry environmentally conscious cement alternative

Developers and city officials this week marked the progress of The Residences at Canal Place, a new $50 million, mixed-income project that will bring 176 apartments to New Haven’s Science Park area. The project, at 222 Canal St., borders the Dixwell and Newhallville neighborhoods, and is a prime location across from the Farmington Canal Trail, said developer Yves-Georges A. Joseph II, founder and principal of RJ Development and Advisors along with Jason S. Rudnick. The project is a public-private partnership between the development team and New Haven, with $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds from the city, and work by the Local Initiatives Support Corp., a nonprofit community development financial institution.

$50M apartment development taking shape near New Haven’s Science Park

The City Council unanimously voted this week to move ahead with the senior center project at 116 Cook Ave. The site’s blighted medical office complex which has stood vacant for 25 years will be demolished to make room for a modern, centrally located community center. The council plans to establish a building committee in late October or November and begin toward a tentative timetable, with ground being broken some time in 2025. The estimated $48 million project will see the reclamation of the 5.6-acre parcel and the construction of a 33,000-square-foot building that will serve not only as a senior center, but as a consolidated office space for the city’s health and human services divisions, with an 8,000-square-foot multipurpose gymnasium that can be used for events or disaster relief.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Meriden/Meriden-News/Council-Slates-Cook-Ave-for-Senior-Center-site.html

In fact, in Bridgeport, per municipal regulations, the elected members of the 20-person City Council have final say over which streets get improved, a power their peers in Hartford, New Haven and Stamford lack. And it will remain that way for the foreseeable future. The council has shot down a proposal to instead give the public facilities director authority over “pavement activities.” But others question whether it is the most objective, most efficient way to take care of Bridgeport’s 278 miles of municipally maintained thoroughfares and byways and the estimated $92 million backlog of fixes and upgrades. City Engineer Jon Urquidi that night argued that the current process — divvying up the annual allotment of budgeted paving dollars among the 10 council districts and obtaining council representatives’ lists of priorities — is not the best approach.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/bridgeport-council-road-paving-18349106.php?src=rdctpdensecp

The city is poised to begin a multi-million project to eventually replace more than 3,000 lead-lined residential drinking water lines with copper versions. The nearly $32 million project, anticipated to be paid with a combination of state subsidies and low-interest loans, represents a “monumental” step toward providing residents with better quality water, Barry Weiner, Water & Water Pollution Control Authority chairman, told the City Council on Tuesday. The three-phase project is anticipated to cost $31.6 million for the replacement of 3,279 lines, though that number could change. Lanzafame said the number of replacements needed is based on an examination of 150 resident basements that was then extrapolated with statistical models.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230906/new-london-ready-to-replace-more-than-3000-residential-water-lines/