Hartford’s planning commission on Tuesday approved a new garage with an elevated walkway to span Washington Street as part of expansion plans for Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. The planned eight-story parking structure is key to Connecticut Children’s ongoing expansion, which includes a $326 million clinical tower now under construction. Engineers Fuss & O’Neill have designed an elevated walkway or skywalk would to connect the new tower with the garage’s second floor. Four buildings adjacent to the site will be relocated to make way for construction, and three other structures at 285 and 289 Washington and 5 Lincoln streets are set to be demolished. Carey Shea, co-chair of the Frog Hollow Neighborhood Revitalization Zone, said the hospital had worked with the nearby residents to ensure that concerns about the scope and impact of the project were addressed.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/connecticut-childrens-gets-ok-for-garage-skybridge-18151607.php

Back in May, Mayor Mike Walsh and MV Properties Principal Vincent DiCarlo pitched the project to the Town Council as a $10 million sports complex at McAuliffe Park on Remington Street. The proposal is a result of a non-binding public-private partnership with MV Properties, selected earlier this year through a town bidding process. Walsh said his philosophy is that the facility should be funded and owned by the town but developed with the help of a third party and operated under a long-term lease. Council Chairman Richard Kehoe said the group of elected officials doesn’t envision the project as a town government function. Town Council members have discussed a strong desire to make a youth sports facility accessible to residents, motivated by a lack of facilities in the area. Last week, Town Council members unanimously approved to allocate $150,000 of the impact funds for studies on the financial feasibility of a youth sports facility in East Hartford and on the town and school board’s programs for sports and physical activities.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/journalinquirer/article/east-hartford-sports-facility-18147513.php

Instead of hosting the media at his new Hamden headquarters, FullStack Modular President Roger Krulak chose another location for a big announcement in April — the Port of New Haven. There, he publicly revealed that he would be moving his company and more than 100 jobs from New York City to Connecticut. The company builds modular components for housing with an eye toward sustainability and efficiency, and requires dependable transport for both its raw materials and finished products. He added that the company had looked at ports up and down the East Coast and chose New Haven for its central location and responsive management. The news event’s location at Gateway Terminal reflects the growing importance of the Port of New Haven in the region’s economic outlook — and its impact on drawing new companies to the state.

As New Haven’s port grows, it’s drawing new companies to the region

A developer’s plan to build 500 units of housing, plus retail, restaurants, a grocery store and more at the former University of Connecticut campus, has caught the attention of town residents. West Hartford 1’s proposal to create Oakwood Park on the property that has been vacant since 2017 are still in the early stages, with plenty of town approvals needed to be gained before becoming a reality. Though the property’s marketing website does claim that over 44 percent of the property will be made available to the public use through its retail offerings and some open green space, some residents would like see even more opportunities for the public to make use of the property. The development stands to be the biggest West Hartford project since the creation of Blue Back Square, a similar property that received pushback at the time.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/westhartford/article/west-hartford-ct-uconn-campus-housing-development-18142766.php

Connecticut’s bridge inspection program, which monitors the condition of about 5,000 bridges statewide, won’t change after the collapse of a major highway in Philadelphia on Sunday, according to the CT Department of Transportation. The state is responsible for inspecting about 4,000 state-owned bridges across the state, along with another roughly 1,000 municipal bridges with spans longer than 20 feet. Over 3,000 municipally owned bridges and culverts fall outside the states’ inspection program, Morgan said. I-95 is a major artery for people and goods along the east coast, and the collapse could snarl travel plans for months. The accident may also hit pocketbooks. The I-95 corridor carries nearly 40% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to a 2010 estimate by the I-95 Corridor Coalition.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/ct-won-t-alter-bridge-inspection-philadelphia-18150651.php?src=sthppromostrip

The XL Center could get $20 million in private funding to put toward a renovation that would cost more than $100 million, according to the state budget passed by the Senate and the House before the end of the legislative session. The budget would allow for Oak View Group — the contractor that runs day-to-day operations in the arena — to invest $20 million toward the renovations. The state could invest up to $80 million, according to the budget document, for the much-needed repairs to the arena that hosts a variety of events in downtown Hartford. The push to get funding for the renovations comes as Hartford officials and Gov. Ned Lamont have been courting the Arizona Coyotes, the NHL hockey team that has struggled to find a permanent home in Arizona. Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said Monday that he hoped the renovations could happen soon.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/capitalregion/article/xl-center-renovations-downtown-hartford-18149862.php?src=sthppromostrip

Town and borough officials said they’re optimistic that the state Department of Transportation is paying attention to their questions about a $25.5 million plan to replace the Alpha Avenue viaduct. The plan to replace the 83-year-old bridge announced last month would require closing off Cutler Street as well as Mathews/Main Street as well as taking private property through eminent domain including parking lots, “a part of a building,” and portions of a boatyard. The replacement plan and three other repair options were detailed in a report produced by an engineering consultant the DOT hired for the project, CHA Consulting Inc. of Mansfield. The replacement plan would provide a 75-year life span with little required maintenance while the extensive repair option would come with higher maintenance costs and extend the bridge life span by only 50 years, making replacement a more cost-effective option in the long term. The consultant’s report recommends an extensive $13.3 million repair option that takes no land and leaves Cutler, Main and Mathews streets open.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230610/stonington-state-begin-talks-about-conroversial-viaduct-plan/

In a letter to City Council, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said public subsidies would be necessary to complete the Bushnell South project. The proposed agreement would allow the mayor to enter into tax-fixing agreements with developers of the project. The tax agreements can be up to 15 years and can have a two-year construction period, with the opportunity to extend that to three years with city approval. In order to qualify for the project, developments would have to have 30 percent of project hours worked by Hartford residents and 15 percent of hours worked by minority/women business enterprises, according to the resolution. Last year, the Capital Region Development Authority chose the Michaels Organization as the preferred developer for one of the parcels.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/capitalregion/article/bushnell-south-project-18147068.php

YMCA Camp Sloper secured $500,000 in additional funding this past legislative session, giving the East Street outdoor center the remaining money needed to dredge Sloper Pond. Sloper Pond has been naturally filling up with silt, and eventually would have turned into a shallow marsh — making it unusable for swimmers at Camp Sloper. The $500,000 gives the YMCA, which owns the pond, the final push it needs to complete the project. Dredging is expected to be completed sometime in the summer of 2024. Eventually the Y secured a contract with a company that would dredge the pond for $3.6 million. That led Southington-Cheshire Community YMCA CEO Mark Pooler to reach out to Poulos, bringing him out to the camp to discuss the possibility of securing the last $500,000 needed for the project. By the end of the project, over 125,000 yards of silt will have been removed from the bottom of the pond, not only deepening it but improving its overall health.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Southington/Southington-News/Sloper-Pond-secures-funding-to-finish-dredging-project.html

In coming weeks, the tops of enormous tower sections for offshore windmills — 300 feet tall and 20 feet around — will rise above the bridge from the harborside, the most visible component of an ambitious, $300 million commitment by the state not only to renewable energy but to Connecticut’s long-ignored maritime economy. After a rocky start, the Connecticut Port Authority is about to complete a redesign and rebuild that has transformed the decrepit Admiral Harold E. Shear State Pier and established it — and by extension New London Harbor — as a principal staging point for construction over the next decade of offshore wind farms on hundreds of thousands of acres of the continental shelf. More importantly, the rebuilt State Pier Terminal, with state-of-the-art infrastructure, heavy lift capacity and access to freight rail, will allow New London — Connecticut’s only natural deep water harbor — to compete into the next century against other East Coast ports for heavy cargo.

With a $300M pier overhaul nearly complete, Connecticut looks to put New London at center of New England’s offshore wind industry