he historic former Shlien’s Furniture Co. building, located at 584 Main St. in the city’s North End, was razed Saturday to make way for living and retail spaces, all part of $20 million in projects underway by developer Dominick DeMartino. DeMartino, who is using funds provided by the city, the American Rescue Plan Act and the state Department of Economic and Community Development, plans to have a new structure in place there by the end of the year. DeMartino acknowledged that the complexity of the developments is challenging, but praised city officials for both financial support and making the process as friction-free as possible. Middletown is supporting the projects with $2.54 million in grants that flowed from the federal government’s COVID-19 pandemic funding, as well as $2.6 million from the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/latin-market-housing-speakeasy-part-20m-18291327.php

As expected, the new owner of the former Testo’s restaurant has formally asked the city’s zoning board of appeals to restore a permit for a controversial 177-unit apartment complex with underground parking issued last fall and cancelled in late July. At issue is the July 27 decision by Paul Boucher, head of the municipal zoning department, to revoke the authorization his office issued last October for Lakhotia’s development, located at Madison and Westfield avenues in the North End. The sale to Lakhotia and subsequent closure of Testo’s was announced last November although that $3.5 million deal did not close until April. It also included a handful of neighboring vacant residential properties owned by Testa and Giacobbe. As a result, neighbors of Testo’s and elected officials and activists from that North End area pressured Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration to intercede and either reduce the development’s size or stop it altogether.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/bridgeport-testos-177-apartments-madison-ave-18295101.php

If Darien wants to fix all of its flooding issues across town, it may have to face a nearly $10 million price tag to do it. A drainage study conducted by Tighe & Bond and posted on the town’s website last month revealed a too-small, easily overwhelmed pipe and channel system serving the Grove Street and the Tilley Pond area as well as their $3.4 million recommended replacement. The results come right on the heels of a similar study into the Salt Box Lane neighborhood, which, based on Tighe & Bond’s recommendations, would cost $6.4 million to fix. Drainage near downtown consists of a combination of underground piping and open channels collecting water from sources including Tilley Pond, commercial businesses south of the Metro-North Railroad and residences on West Avenue and Squab Lane. The most critical areas for flooding were Grove Street Plaza and the West Avenue parking lot, the latter of which sits at a low point between Tilley Pond and the railroad.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/darien-tilley-pond-flooding-3-4m-18291286.php

Park Avenue will be home to a new location for a budding Connecticut industry. Michigan-based C3 Industries had its plans for a $12 million facility approved by the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday, paving the way for East Hartford’s first approved cannabis facility. The PZC approved cannabis facility regulations in November and revised some regulations for retailers in June. The planned facility at 221-241 Park Ave. in East Hartford was approved unanimously Wednesday night by the PZC as a cannabis cultivation facility, prohibiting any retail sales by C3 Industries from the location. Marc Okun, council representative for Carpenters Local 326, said the developer has a project labor agreement requiring that local carpenters work on the project, and that C3 has proven to be a great partner.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/journalinquirer/article/east-hartford-cannabis-grower-approved-18284920.php

“It’s a micro community… it’s an ecosystem within itself,” said Kathy Ekstrom, development manager for Quarry Walk’s developer, Seymour-based Haynes Group. “It’s a simple formula: You build what people need and want. And that’s exactly what we did.” Quarry Walk’s last available apartments are expected to be leased up this month, even as its developer moves forward with plans for two new versions of the Quarry Walk model in Naugatuck and Beacon Falls/Seymour. With four of the state’s 10 largest shopping malls changing hands in recent years and many of Connecticut’s shopping plazas aging and emptying out, talk of a “retail apocalypse” has been widespread. But some retail experts have argued that the “town center” model exemplified by Quarry Walk and many newer developments in the Sunbelt is the future of shopping ‒ and dining and living. With older generations downsizing and younger generations less willing to drive, in-person retail can thrive in a walkable cluster of housing, shops and services.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/oxford-s-quarry-walk-blends-retail-and-residential-18282454.php

Aquarion Water Company was planning to start a major water main replacement project on Greenwich Avenue this spring, but work has yet to start. The company is now saying that the water main replacement work, which is expected to take about a year to complete, should start in September. Aquarion spokesperson Peter Fazekas said they are awaiting final permit approval and the start was delayed to ensure less disruption for people on the Avenue. The Department of Public Works confirmed that it is working with Aquarion to get permits to start the project, but did not say when work would begin. The full project area spans about 1,500 feet of the Avenue. Crews will be replacing old six-inch and eight-inch water mains with new 12-inch lines, according to plans Snyder shared with the selectmen in April.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/greenwich-aquarion-greenwich-avenue-18287077.php

The LWV, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that promotes civic engagement, recently published a Capital Projects Funding Study which reported that the town’s historic policies and norms have meant low taxes for residents, but a slow building process that delays needed work. These projects tend to get more expensive over time, so delaying work ends up costing the town more money in the long run, the report said. There are nearly $1.6 billion in construction projects that Greenwich will need to undertake in the coming years, but the process for picking and executing the projects needs to improve, according to the report. The LWV gave a public presentation on the report online on July 25. Steve Waters, co-chair of the committee that drafted the study, said past practices have contributed to a huge wish list or backlog of work. Upgrades, like repairing schools, replacing infrastructure and more, becomes more costly over time, he said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/greenwich-lwv-building-projects-backlog-18274329.php

Once a top manufacturer of ball bearings, bicycle spokes and a long list of other items, the Torrington Company is coming down. The eight- to nine-month project to demolish 22 of the 25 buildings on the site, which sits on North Street and encompasses parts of several other streets including East Elm, Prospect and Field Street, will hopefully begin on Labor Day, said Glenn Carbone, who owns the property under Torrington Standard, LLC. While the contract has not officially been signed, Carbone said the plan is for Manafort Brothers Inc. Construction of Plainville to do the work. In January of last year, some demolition work, such as taking out windows, was completed in preparation for the larger grant-funded project.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2023/08/13/nearly-two-dozen-torrington-company-buildings-to-be-razed-to-make-way-for-redevelopment/

More than $1 million in state funds will be used to help refurbish the historic Day newspaper building in anticipation of it being transformed into a residential and commercial complex, Gov. Ned Lamont announced on Thursday. The $1.23 million Connecticut Communities Challenge Grant award to the City of New London will in part pay for façade and window repairs, energy system upgrades and roof replacement work at the 116-year-old building at 47 Eugene O’Neill Drive. Leaders of Maine-based High Tide Capital development group, which specializes in restoring historic structures, late last month announced they had entered into a purchase and sales agreement to buy the four-story building for $1.875 million.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230810/rehab-of-day-newspaper-building-to-be-aided-by-1-2m-state-grant/

The Department of Labor announced Tuesday that it will publish a rule updating the Davis-Bacon Act, which sets the prevailing wages contractors must pay workers on federal projects. The rule, first announced in March 2022, will restore the DOL’s definition of prevailing wage to make it equivalent to the wage paid to at least 30% of workers, rather than 50% of workers, in a given trade in a locality, according to a White House fact sheet. The Davis-Bacon Act, originally passed in 1931, uses pay surveys administered by the DOL to set the prevailing wage in a federally funded project’s location. The new rule also makes the process of updating prevailing wage rates easier, according to the DOL, by giving the department the authority to adopt prevailing wages determined by state and local governments, issue wage determinations for labor classifications where insufficient data was received through its wage survey process and update outdated wage rates. Lastly, it adds an anti-retaliation provision in contract clauses to protect workers who raise concerns from being fired or punished.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/labor-dol-update-davis-bacon-prevailing-wage-laws/690226/