The Stamford Zoning Board on has approved a proposal to build a 31-story high-rise apartment building in downtown’s Landmark Square. The residential tower will replace an existing office building built in 1977 as part of Stamford’s urban renewal era. The new project will be the city’s third-tallest building. The developer, White Plains, N.Y.-based Cappelli Organization, also developed Stamford’s tallest building, the 350-foot Park Tower Stamford — formerly known as Trump Parc Stamford. The height of the building exceeds the maximum of 290 feet allowed in Downtown Stamford under the city’s zoning regulations. But according to Land Use Bureau staff, the additional 30 feet of height was permissible if the developer made contributions to the streetscape and surrounding area, such as new public space, awnings, canopies and other pedestrian amenities.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/stamford-landmark-square-zoning-board-18196688.php?src=sthpdesecp

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on Monday pledged to do his best to secure federal funding for three Northwest Corner towns where roads sustained heavy damage in flooding July 9-10. Blumenthal stopped in Colebrook first, followed by Norfolk, where several roads and two bridges on Route 272 were damaged, before moving on to Goshen and a tour of town roads led by First Selectman Todd M. Carusillo. Once Gov. Ned Lamont, as expected, issues an official request for federal disaster relief, Blumenthal said he will be poised to present information he collected during Monday’s tour to President Biden to show the president how badly aid is needed. The estimated cost of rebuilding the North Goshen Road bridge is between $800,000 and $1.3 million, according to Carusillo, a cost Goshen can’t afford on its own. Fortunately, traffic can still cross the bridge, beyond which there are 16 to 18 homes.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2023/07/17/blumenthal-seeks-funds-to-repair-roads/

Many of the infrastructure improvement projects that resulted from the mega bipartisan IIJA program will be under scrutiny this year by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). The agency is increasing its focus on companies receiving those IIJA federal monies. The OFCCP released a list of 250 construction contractors and subcontractors that the agency has on the audit radar. The OFCCP has a list of 16 mandatory affirmative action steps, contained in a guide published by the agency. Marsh points to five major categories included in OFCCP’s Construction Contractors Technical Assistance Guide. These categories are recruitment practices, training, implementation of EEO policy, analyzing personnel activity and solicitations/contracts with subcontractors. The increased industry attention is part of a move by Director Jenny Yang, to reinvigorate OFCCP’s oversight of affirmative action compliance efforts. The agency plans to engage contractors and subs at the pre-bid and post-bid stages to provide ongoing compliance assistance.

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/agency-begins-scrutinizing-federal-contractors-for-compliance-on-ilja-projects/61729

Revolution Wind, the offshore wind farm project southeast of Block Island that could power more than 350,000 southern New England homes, moved significantly closer to completion Monday when the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced it had completed the project’s final environmental review. Revolution Wind, a joint venture by regional electric utility Eversource and the North American division of Orsted, a Danish multinational and global leader in offshore renewable energy, proposed a 100 turbine project capable of generating up to 880 megawatts of electricity. The construction and supply base for Revolution Wind, and two other offshore wind projects, is the State Pier in New London, which has been rebuilt at a cost of more than $300 million. The Eversource-Orsted partnership called issuance of the environmental analysis a “major milestone” and praised the administration of President Joe Biden for “its unwavering commitment to building the critical renewable energy infrastructure necessary to achieve our clean energy goals.”

Off shore wind project to supply CT energy gets environmental green light from federal regulators

Waterbury officials are asking the city’s Board of Aldermen to sign off Monday on a contract paying Plainville-based Manafort Brothers up to $3.6 million to demolish a former brass factory in the heart of the city. Waterbury paid $2.3 million for the 138,304-square-foot building on 6 acres at 170 Freight St. in December, planning to demolish it, clean the soil and market it for redevelopment. Manafort was the lowest of three bidders for the demolition work at 170 Freight St. Stamford Wrecking and Bestech also applied. The company will have 154 days to complete the project and will be paid using a portion of the city’s federal American Rescue Plan Act grant funding.

Manafort Bros. up for $3.6M contract to clear massive industrial building from Waterbury center

Flooding during significant rainfall events historically has been an issue in Meriden. But officials say ongoing efforts during the yearslong Harbor Brook flood control project, which is ongoing, have reduced the severity of those such storms. The Meriden Green is a cornerstone of those efforts, as it is capable of storing some 58 acre feet of water during a 100-year storm event, officials said. One acre-foot equals 326,000 gallons. City Engineer Brian Ennis described the Meriden Green as a bowl flood storage facility that is slightly elevated along its perimeter. The Green allows for smaller brooks that feed into Harbor Brook to have places to drain more freely, instead of topping over onto roadways, Ennis explained. Improving those catch basins is a project officials are planning for when the Harbor Brook project is complete.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Meriden/Meriden-News/Harbor-Brook-banks-topped-off-but-officials-report-no-flooding-after-weekend-storms.html

The town is roughly a year behind on its upgrades to its sewer system, a project that when completed would improve the water quality in the Norwalk River. The project cost has grown 15 percent to $57.1 million due to inflation and supply chain woes, and involves decommissioning the Route 7 treatment plant and upgrading the South Street plant. When the Route 7 plant is decommissioned, the town will go from two wastewater treatment plants to one, Marconi said. A bigger pump station will be constructed at the Route 7 site, and wastewater will be pumped from there to the South Street plant. The sewer project is with the WPCA, which is a separate authority from the town, Marconi said. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection told the town it would need to upgrade the Route 7 treatment plant if it were to remain in operation, Marconi said. Those improvements would cost at least $12 million to $15 million — millions more than the current project, he said.

https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/ridgefield-route-7-sewer-project-delayed-costs-18198484.php?src=nthpdesecp

Demolition of the former Testo’s restaurant, where Bridgeport’s long-time Democratic Party chief for years cooked for patrons and concocted political recipes for the city, could begin this week to make way for a 177-unit market rate apartment complex. The municipal building department on Monday issued the $4,440 worth of necessary permits to tear down the Italian eatery and catering hall on Madison Avenue in the North End, and two neighboring homes. Testo’s, run by Democratic Town Committee Chairman Mario Testo and his nephew, Ralph Giacobbe, shuttered last New Year’s Eve with the sale to out-of-town developer Amit Lakhotia pending. Lakhotia closed on the deal, announced last November, in April. Lakhotia’s contractor, Bridgeport-based John Guedes, in an interview Monday afternoon said he hoped the demolition would begin as soon as Tuesday.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/demolition-permit-issued-closed-testo-s-bridgeport-18204704.php

A developer with a growing roster of apartment developments and renovations in a long-struggling corner of Hartford has proposed a $30.4 million project mixing 78 apartments and 12,000 square feet of commercial and office space on two city-owned properties. Now, Bronin is proposing to grant a 49-year lease – with options to renew – of 88 Magnolia St. and 614 Albany Ave., two blighted properties totaling nearly 1.2 acres to Andaleeb Enterprises LLC. The developer proposes a four-story building of apartments over commercial and office space. The city would also provide an unspecified amount of financial assistance for the project, according to a letter Bronin sent to the City Council. The Magnolia/Albany project would be the most ambitious yet for Andaleeb Enterprises, a vehicle of family investors that got its start in Hartford with an Albany Avenue convenience store. In the past three years, the Andaleeb family has – either independently or with investors – committed more than $6.3 million buying at least a dozen commercial and mixed-use apartment properties in Hartford – eight of them along Albany Avenue.

Growing Hartford-focused developer lines up 78-unit development on city land

Construction is about to commence on the Southington Library site, following nearly two years of planning by the Library Building Committee. Contractors at Whiting-Turner planned to move their trailer on site Friday, and erecting a fence around the construction area on either Monday or Tuesday early next week. Having met with all the different contractors, Eversource, and the Planning and Zoning Commission, the first steps for the team will be ripping up the larger parking lot adjacent to the library and laying the piping and power infrastructure before laying out the building’s foundations. The board plans to make a list of all the sub-contractors brought on to work on the library available to the public in the coming days as they finalize all the work contracts ahead of work commencing next week.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Southington/Southington-News/Southington-library-to-break-ground