City officials unveiled the renderings for a new development downtown. Stewart unveiled the first of the three renderings, which displayed the façade of the apartment building. “This building will compliment The Brit. We want buildings that will complement each other and not to be in competition with each other,” said Amit Lakhotia, developer. “So if people can’t find an apartment at the Brit they can come here and vice versa. So there are options for people and they are similar style apartments with a similar feel to it.” Lakhotia and George Taweh, of TLong Construction LLC, have been involved in many projects in town. Lakhotia was approved for a $4 million Community Challenge Grant. This will be put toward the $17.5 million project. Demolition inside is already complete and Lakhotia says they are now waiting on the permit to increase the foundation for the addition of the two floors. “Once we get that we should be able to start construction next month,” he added. The project is estimated to be completed in early 2024.

http://www.newbritainherald.com/NBH-New+Britain+News/411749/new-britain-officials-unveil-renderings-for-newest-downtown-development

Kenny, owner of Hartford-based real estate investment and development group Lexington Partners, has had a hand in developing more than 2,000 apartments in 18 significant projects over a career spanning more than three decades. Also by his side is his longtime business partner and friend Alan Lazowski, head of the LAZ Parking empire and a prominent investor. Lazowski has invested in each of Kenny’s multifamily projects since 2006. Kenny and Lazowski partnered with Shelbourne Global Solutions — the city’s largest landlord — on the project, dubbed the Sage Allen Apartments. A far larger project will come to fruition in 2023 as Kenny completes a $70-million development of 292 apartments at the 22-acre Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery convent in West Hartford. Avon-based Corridor Ventures is the primary investor in the project.

Prolific Hartford area developer Kenny will debut, kick-start major apartment projects in 2023

West Hartford Fellowship Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing group in town, is planning to rebuild its Starkel Road campus, adding 95 more affordable units to the property. The plan would go ahead should the Town Council grant Town Manager Rick Ledwith the ability to execute a 99-year lease agreement with West Hartford Fellowship Housing Development Corporation, a new branch of the nonprofit. The resolution will go to the Town Council at its Jan. 24 meeting. Affordable housing can be scarce in West Hartford, though the Town Council recently took steps to entice developers to include more affordable housing units in developments. Currently hundreds of approved housing units are either being built or approved to be built in town. Garilli said construction would be done in phases. West Hartford first approved plans for the redevelopment of the property in 2019. The Town Council delayed its decision on the resolution regarding the lease until its Jan. 24 meeting to let the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission do a standard review.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/west-hartford-ct-fellowship-affordable-housing-17711363.php

Dodge expects civil construction starts, such as public transit, roads, bridges, EV charging stations, water-related projects and power plants, to total $281 billion in 2023, a 16% jump from last year. That’s because infrastructure funds will steadily flow into the market in 2023. As of July 2022, only a small fraction of IIJA dollars had entered the market, according to Dodge. Out of all the IIJA dollars already allocated for projects, 19% has made its way to road and bridge projects, 21% to public transit projects, 15% to EV charging stations and 14% to water infrastructure, said Branch. Dodge’s forecast assumes that 85% of infrastructure money will be spent by 2027.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/2023-outlook-public-funding-will-jumpstart-civl-activity/639951/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-01-11%20Construction%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:47226%5D&utm_term=Construction%20Dive

The group’s initial meeting of Dec. 5 saw new members sworn in and briefed by Town Attorney Jeffrey Donofrio about some of the legal aspects of their duties. On Dec. 14, the group made a visit to the two properties where the new buildings are slated for construction. The first stop was the undeveloped parcel of land once owned by the Casertano family, located at Marion Road and Jarvis Street. The current plan calls for the new school to be constructed on existing fields, while the current Norton building will be demolished after the project is complete. Solan acknowledged that construction work would impact the neighbors, but he said steps will be taken to minimize and mitigate that. The meeting then moved to the task of developing the Requests for Qualifications (RFQs) for architecture and construction services.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Cheshire-Citizen/Cheshire-News/Building-Committee-Takes-First-Look-At-School-Locations?

The town bought the property at 100 Barnes Road and is planning to renovate the former 3M office building into a new police station. At the Oct. 13 meeting, architect Brian Humes of Jacunski Humes Architects gave a report on environmental testing of the building. Jeffrey Anderson is the vice president of preconstruction at Downes Construction, the project’s construction manager. Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are a manufactured group of organic chemicals consisting of carbon, hydrogen and chlorine atoms, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection website. Fishbein, an attorney and state representative from the 90th House District, said the wording in the minutes opens the town up to future litigation should anyone working in the building be diagnosed with cancer. Humes responded in an interview Wednesday that the comment reflected the fact that there are no requirements to test for PCBs and he does not recommend such testing. “PCB investigations are a requirement for federally funded and federally supported projects. There is no federal funding which is being utilized for the renovation of the building for the Wallingford Police Department,” he said.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Wallingford/Wallingford-News/Wallingford-council-member-questions-report-on-contaminants-at-building-to-be-renovated-for-new-poli.html

Amid the uncertainty, the IIJA provides a welcome stable infusion of $1.2 trillion in funding to a variety of construction sectors over five years. The legislation will boost a wide range of infrastructure work, from bridges to broadband, as well as bolster industries focused on low-carbon and American-made materials. However, there are a number of headwinds that could hamper the rollout of federal infrastructure work in 2023, and overcoming them requires careful planning. The challenge will be for the primes to find enough subcontractors to staff them. The IIJA stipulates a certain number of MWBEs to meet its inclusion goals, which adds to the difficulty of finding enough of the right subs. Although supply chains have bounced back somewhat since the early part of the pandemic, COVID-19-related shocks look set to continue and obtaining certain materials in a timely fashion will likely still prove challenging in 2023. This strain may be particularly noticeable in the spring, when construction season begins in the Midwest and Northeast, according to Callahan.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/new-year-challenges-for-iija-infrastructure-act-projects/640021/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-01-11%20Construction%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:47226%5D&utm_term=Construction%20Dive

Norwich Public Utilities, the entity that manages the city’s water supply, estimates there are at least 800 private water service lines in the city with pipes that contain lead, and an upcoming survey is expected to reveal more. The water is protected with corrosion inhibitors, but the utility plans to begin replacing those lines this summer. In December, the utility received $600,000 from the state bonding commission to replace 70 lines to private homes and businesses. While this first phase will be finished by Labor Day, it’s part of a larger project to eliminate all lead water service lines in the city within five years, according to a press release. This money comes from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in Nov. 2021, which has a $15 billion section for replacing lead service lines across the country, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website.

https://www.norwichbulletin.com/story/news/2023/01/12/npu-to-begin-replacing-norwichs-lead-water-service-lines-this-summer/69786208007/

Depending on her ruling it could be one of the longest and most complex criminal trials in the state’s history, but a Superior Court judge is deciding whether to hold one trial or three for the six defendants in the Fairfield illegal dumping case. Five former senior Fairfield town officials, a prominent developer and the head of an environmental waste disposal company are accused of one of the largest environmental crimes in state history — dumping truckloads of contaminated fill on town property and then constructing a scheme to cover it up. The cleanup of the contaminated soil, discovered in town parks and under the Penfield Pavilion, has already cost town residents millions of dollars. In 2013, Julian Development was hired by the town to manage a pile of debris next to the public works garage with the prohibition that it was to accept no contaminated material there and was to eventually clean out the site. But over the next three years, the site went from 40,000 cubic yards of material to approximately 120,000 cubic yards, covering nearly three acres. Subsequent tests found the pile contained high levels of PCBs, lead, and other hazardous materials, according to court documents.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/State-seeks-one-big-trial-in-Fairfield-dumping-17711605.php?src=rdctpdensecp

The town was awarded $1.425 million to cover the design and construction costs of a storm mitigation system for the high school sports complex, Department of Public Works head Frank Smeriglio said.
Smeriglio said the town will work with Boston-based athletic vendor Stantec for the design phase, although the price has not yet been finalized. Once the design for the project is complete, the contract for construction on the high school complex will go out to bid. The total will be used strictly to address storm mitigation in and around the high school complex, according to Smeriglio. The need was first determined after Hurricane Ida severely damaged the turf football field and then-newly unveiled track worth nearly $1 million. The DPW director said Friday the project will be completed in coordination with the Parks and Recreation Department and its director, Steve Pierce.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Wilton-High-School-field-flood-prevention-grant-17699399.php