Development on the peninsula, until recently, has long been hindered by restrictions the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has placed on the number of residential units. Mayor Michael Passero on Friday said the city negotiated with DEEP in December and the state modified the certificate to allow a total of 604 multi-family housing units on the peninsula. Last year the city approved a site plan by Optimus Construction Management to build a 100-unit apartment complex and 100-unit extended stay hotel inside the peninsula. In January, three properties totaling 6.28 acres were sold to RJ Development + Advisors LLC for $500,001. The company is the same developer building 203 apartments on Howard Street called “The Beam.” Passero said the city has used RCDA’s expertise on projects outside of Fort Trumbull and he anticipates RCDA will have an ongoing role with the city. He said RCDA will be in a transitional period for the next years as it finishes its business in the Fort Trumbull area and moves on to other functions within the development of the city.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230203/once-envisioned-for-commercial-development-fort-trumbull-is-now-filling-up-with-housing/

If someone compiled a list of dream projects for this city, a casino and high speed ferry service to New York City would be in competition for the top slot. That was when the Bridgeport Port Authority, with no fanfare, began construction of a new dock city officials say is aimed at attracting a private company interested in providing regular commuters as well as tourists high-speed ferry service between Connecticut’s largest municipality and New York City. Tom Gill, Bridgeport’s economic development chief, confirmed in an interview, “We’re going to build the facility and put out an RFP (request for proposal) for an operator.” The effort, according to Mayor Joe Ganim’s office, is being paid for with nearly $8 million in federal aid awarded years ago and administered through the state’s transportation department, $2.5 million out of the city’s share of the American Rescue Plan that federal lawmakers passed in 2021 to help bolster the national economy during the global coronavirus pandemic and $700,000 from the Bridgeport Port Authority.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/bridgeport-finally-get-high-speed-ferry-service-17759927.php

A 200-space Munson Street parking lot could be the site of New Haven’s next biotech lab building — according to a Winchester-factory-redevelopment zoning update that received a favorable, if still skeptical, recommendation from the City Plan Commission. The vote was in support of a request submitted by the redevelopment team behind the so-called ​“Winchester Center” project in Science Park. The proposal gained a vote of support Wednesday night alongside a few other changes to the self-described neighborhood reinvestment project. The requested PDD update now heads to the full Board of Alders for further review and a potential final vote. Twining Properties founder Alex Twining, whose company is one of the lead co-developers of the ​“Winchester Center” project, pitched the PDD expansion and amendments on Wednesday as part of the ​“making of a neighborhood place” that would see the ​“replacement of parking lots with places to work and live.” Walter Esdaile, the managing director of the New Haven Regional Contractors Alliance, complimented the developers’ commitment to engaging minorities and local businesses in the development of Science Park. Esdaile said the developers have agreed to participate in city programs to hire both minority-owned conrtactors while also helping with a student contractor program operating out of 30 different New Haven schools.

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/pdd

After considering opening a boutique hotel or market rate apartments, Brown, Vallone and the rest of WHI Camelot LLC settled on creating a mixed-income affordable housing development. Brown and his Honeycomb partner Steve Caprio, along with Vallone, the Simsbury-based Vesta Corporation and his brother Hagan Brown’s Avon-based Corridor Ventures, are planning to transform the property into 44 units of mixed-income affordable housing by renovating the hotel building and constructing a new building at the site of the restaurant, which most recently was occupied by Los Imperios. And housing — particularly the kind defined as affordable — is what West Hartford town leaders say they need more of right now. They recently set aside $6 million of its COVID relief funds to encourage developers to build more affordable units. Before Brown and his associates can break ground, the West Hartford Inn site will undergo remediation with the assistance of a nearly $1 million Brownfield state grant to help clean up the property, which has some environmental issues.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/west-hartford-ct-inn-hotel-affordable-housing-17756691.php

Contractors are reviewing their budgets to find creative ways and additional financial incentives to retain workers in today’s inflationary environment, said Misha Nikulin, managing director at Deloitte’s engineering and construction practice. Average hourly earnings for construction workers climbed 6.1% from December 2021 to December 2022, exceeding the 5% rise in average pay for all private sector production workers, according to Associated General Contractors of America’s 2023 Construction Hiring & Business Outlook. The construction industry’s long and well-documented struggle to find workers shows no signs of slowing down and is widely believed to have become endemic. Workforce shortages, which make projects take longer and cost more, will likely intensify, according to AGC, with 69% of contractors expecting to need more workers in 2023.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/inflation-is-pushing-wages-higher/641566/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-02-01%20Construction%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:47736%5D&utm_term=Construction%20Dive

A plan for Seaside State Park will include “the removal of the deteriorated buildings,” the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said Wednesday in its announcement that the state has committed $7.1 million to implement a “passive park” design using federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars. The plan will also include new restrooms and walking trails, picnic areas, improvements to the shoreline, parking upgrades and historic interpretation of the property, according to a news release from DEEP. DEEP will convene a working group in the coming months to start planning for the park design, with input from the public. The $7.1 million is part of $21.5 million in ARPA funds that Gov. Ned Lamont and the legislature authorized for infrastructure improvements at state parks, as part of the $51.5 million Restore CT State Parks initiative. The other $30 million is bonded.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230201/state-plan-for-seaside-demolish-buildings-spend-7-1-million-on-passive-park/

Joined by Gov. Ned Lamont, Mashantucket tribal leaders, Foxwoods officials and local dignitaries, Great Wolf Resorts executives officially broke ground Wednesday for the $300 million indoor water park resort that’s about to rise adjacent to Foxwoods on 13 acres of Mashantucket-owned land off Foxwoods Boulevard. Lamont thanked Chicago-based Great Wolf for showing “confidence in the state of Connecticut,” citing the 450 construction jobs tied to the project as well as the 500 permanent part- and full-time positions the water park resort will provide when it opens. The new jobs will range from senior management, engineering staff and IT professionals to lifeguards, guest service agents and housekeepers. The main features of the resort will be a 91,000-square-foot indoor water park heated to 84 degrees, with a variety of body slides, tube slides, raft rides, activity pools and splash areas, and a 61,000-square-foot family entertainment center known as the Great Wolf Adventure Park, which will include MagiQuest, a live-action game.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230201/groundbreaking-held-for-great-wolf-lodge-at-foxwoods/

If all goes well, city officials are hoping to break ground on a sorely needed, multilevel municipal parking garage downtown sometime this spring. The delay in announcing the developer selected for the garage project mostly is due to staffing challenges in the office of Economic and Community Development, as well as behind-the-scenes activity, including negotiations, design plans and paperwork, he added. “We are very engaged with the developer. We are very pleased with the way these conversations have been going for the past couple months,” Florsheim explained. The hope is to create 600 more spaces, a number of which will be reserved for tenants of several new apartment projects, the mayor explained. Adequate spaces for new residents to leave their cars overnight downtown will become all the more important when other Main Street housing projects are completed over the next few years.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/middletown-garage-project-add-600-spaces-downtown-17753547.php

Bloomfield’s planning and zoning commission unanimously approved a nearly 46,000-square-foot cultivation center Thursday night, with members mostly complimenting Fine Fettle for planning to build it.
Fine Fettle Chief Operating Officer Benjamin Zachs quickly did away with two common objections to indoor marijuana farms: The risk of offensive odors to neighbors, and the possibility of future conversion to retail sales instead of commercial production. A marijuana-growing center proposed in New Britain has drawn fire from some residents who fear odors as well as traffic from retail sales. The proposal goes to a hearing Tuesday night by the city’s zoning appeals board. Fine Fettle runs medical dispensaries as well as recreational marijuana outlets, but at the Bloomfield site will only grow, process, package and ship commercial quantities of marijuana to sell elsewhere, the company said.

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-connecticut-bloomfield-cannabis-20230131-crfupjrojrfphje4bonxeo3uqu-story.html

Two separate projects to improve sports fields and outdoor recreation facilities in the city’s north end are now moving forward. One of those projects is a roughly $2 million upgrade to the North End Field Little League complex at 234 Britannia St. That facility currently includes fields used by the Jack Barry and Ed Walsh leagues, which combined to form Meriden Little League. The other project, northwest of the existing fields, will convert a neighboring full-size basketball court into a half-court with the addition of a new playground next to it. In October 2021, Meriden Public Schools officials announced the complex would be among a group of athletic fields in the city that would be upgraded with new turf surfaces, through the school district’s American Rescue Plan Act monies. It is being funded through $1.8 million of the school district’s ARPA funds, along with another $400,000 from the city, Grove explained. Officials expect contractors to begin the field reconstruction work in April.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Meriden/Meriden-News/Meriden-officials-provide-update-on-North-End-Field-project