The state Bond Commission is poised to authorize tens of millions in borrowing Friday to help fund multifamily developments throughout the state. Housing development is a big chunk of the $423.1 million borrowing package going before the bond commission on Friday. The agenda includes $50 million for the state Department of Housing’s Build for CT program, which helps developers finance affordable and middle-income rental housing projects. The state Department of Housing is up for another $20 million, which will pass to the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority to fund construction or rehabilitation of 186 housing units. The Bond Commission will vote on a proposed $6.5 million for CRDA, which the quasi-public agency would lend to Simon Konover to help the company finance an approximately 150-unit apartment complex in East Hartford. The development would be located on a 35-acre site at 341 East River Drive, near the Connecticut River.

https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/state-poised-to-borrow-tens-of-millions-to-incentivize-multifamily-development

Town officials are moving forward with a $16.7 million plan to protect the sewage treatment plant from powerful storms and rising sea levels by building a floodwall around the riverside facility. The town council voted unanimously this week to issue bonds and appropriate funds to pay for the construction project, which is now expected to start as soon as May and take about two years to complete. The treatment plant, which has the capacity to process up to 11.5 million gallons of sewage a day, sits in a flood zone on the banks of the Housatonic River, making it especially vulnerable to rising sea levels. At a Water Pollution Control Authority meeting last month, David Barstow of GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., an engineering firm hired to help lead the project, said the floodwall would be 18 feet high at its tallest point. Barstow said he hopes to get authorization to move forward with the project from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection by March and start construction in May. He noted the work is expected to take two years to complete.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/stratford-approves-16-7m-floodwall-protect-19978328.php

The proposed, block-size Village at Riverside mixed-use development, planned for property bordered by Court and Main streets and deKoven and Dingwall drives, is anticipated to help the city finally reconnect to its riverfront via a walking bridge over Route 9. The Village is expected to include “affordable, luxury” housing units, with some 19 townhomes, 258 apartments consisting of studios and one- and two-bedroom units, and about 56 new on-street parking spaces, Wonder Works Construction of New York has said. The city is applying for a $250,000 Community Investment Fund planning grant from the state, according to Economic and Community Development Director Christine Marques, who provided project updates during the Dec. 10 meeting. Work on the former Mattabesett Canoe Club at 80 Harbor Drive, occupied by Tate’s restaurant since early May, is nearly done, Community Development Specialist Brian Gartner reported.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/middletown-ct-river-redevelopment-parking-housing-19984206.php

The first 11 tenants have moved into The Anthem at Square 10, the first building to be nearly completed in a sweeping remake of the downtown commercial site where the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum once stood. An outdoor pool, gym and some co-working spaces also are ready, along with the second and third residential floors. Developer LWLP New Haven LLC is working to get the fourth through seventh floors of the $76 million “Phase 1A” building ready to be lived in this winter. The nearly complete building, development of which was aided by a $999,000 state remediation grant, is the first of several high-rise commercial buildings going up off South Orange Street as part of the project. The five-acre site, which has been a parking lot since the coliseum was imploded on Jan. 20, 2007, is at the city’s front door, where vehicles exiting Interstate 95 and Interstate 91 on Route 34 first enter downtown.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/square-10-former-new-haven-coliseum-19983459.php

The cold drizzle Monday was perfect for the groundbreaking for two elementary school projects — one in the north end of town and the second at Norton Elementary, according to Cheshire Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Solan. Costing $90 million, the north end school will be the largest capital project the town has ever undertaken. The reconstruction and modernization of Norton Elementary at 414 North Brooksvale Road is projected to cost $76 million. Officials anticipate the construction at both schools will be completed by fall 2026. For most municipalities, one school project is a massive undertaking and expense; it’s rare to see two school projects undertaken simultaneously. However, Cheshire has seen a steep increase in elementary school students in recent years, with enrollment at Highland Elementary alone increasing by 200 over five years ago when enrollment bottomed out for the district.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/cheshire-schools-north-end-norton-construction-19982314.php

The state awarded the borough a $3 million Community Investment Fund grant last year to advance the industrial park project – specifically the construction of infrastructure for the property at 280 Elm St. The borough is applying for another $3 million CIF grant to complete the road network for phase two of the subdivision of the 86.5-acre parcel. Lanxess Corp., a successor to Uniroyal, owned the site until it sold most of the land to the borough three years ago for $1 in a remediated condition with brownfield protection for all future purchasers. “Our entire effort in this project is designed to finish, get the site back on the tax rolls and take a nonproducing piece of property and turn into once again one of our better producing properties in the entire borough,” said Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess, the project manager at a Dec. 3 public information hearing at Town Hall. Lanxess has spent $20 to $30 million for remediation, while the borough’s obligation is to cap the site, manage the soils and develop the property under a stewardship permit, Hess said.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/12/15/naugatuck-seeks-additional-3m-grant-to-advance-industrial-park-3-development/

The executive board of the state’s AFL-CIO is asking Steve Schrag, a volunteer with the Naugatuck Valley Project, to voluntarily resign from the state’s AFL-CIO Health & Safety Committee because of his vocal opposition to a planned Amazon distribution center on the Waterbury-Naugatuck line. “Due to your opposition, you endangered the approval of this project, which would provide 1 million work hours for members of the Connecticut Building Trades,” the board wrote in a letter to Schrag on Tuesday. “This project has the potential to create thousands of good paying jobs with strong benefits for Connecticut workers.” The letter includes a notice for Schrag to cease and desist, halting all actions “opposing projects that would benefit the hardworking members of the Connecticut State Building and Construction Trades Council.” Ed Hawthorne, president of the AFL-CIO, said he wholeheartedly stood behind the contents of the letter and in full support and solidarity with “the hardworking men and women of the building trades. Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski Jr. said the site on which the planned facility will be built is in an industrial park. “It was always designated to be a property that was to be developed,” he said, adding that the city has extensive greenspaces including Washington Park, Bunker Hill Park among others that people can enjoy. He added that the development of the property will bring in 1,000 jobs and millions of money in tax revenue.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/12/15/afl-cio-urges-activist-to-resign-over-opposition-to-amazon-project-on-waterbury-naugatuck-line/

Two of Stamford’s five ailing bridges have reopened: West Glen Drive bridge and Lakeside Drive bridge in Stamford are back in service after being closed over the summer and fall. Both bridges were rated “poor” by the Connecticut Department of Transportation and both were closed in the spring for repairs. The CTDOT has 11 rankings for bridge conditions ranging from “failed” at one end to “excellent” at the other. The “poor” rating is defined as as a bridge with “widespread moderate or isolated major defects; strength and/or performance of the component is affected.” Eighty percent of the $3.9 million used to replace the Lakeside Drive bridge came from federal funds with the remainder from state funds. The West Glen Drive bridge, which was built in 1964, cost $2.1 million to replace and was 80 percent funded by federal funds with the rest covered by state funds. It closed around June 17 and reopened to traffic Dec. 6. Meanwhile, work is ongoing on other bridges in Stamford.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/stamford-west-glen-lakeside-drive-bridge-fixes-19971630.php

The town recently received a grant that will go toward helping install sewer systems for nearly 100 homes while also protecting the Long Island Sound. The $1.5 million grant, awarded through the Long Island Sound Futures Fund, will go to the town’s Water Pollution Control Authority for construction of a sewer extension in the Dean and Pocono Road area, said Alison Kennedy, operations manager of the Brookfield Water Pollution Control Authority. Kennedy said the extension will serve 91 residential homes and possibly the Town Hall campus. A complete design of the project is anticipated by July 2025. The $1.5 million is the maximum award of the grant, and the town’s match for the grant is $750,000, to total $2.25 million, Kennedy added. “This has been under consideration for a few years now. We’re very thankful that we got a grant,” he said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/brookfield-awarded-grant-towards-helping-sewer-19970894.php

Construction is on schedule at the sites of the new Norwalk High School and South Norwalk School, although it’s not certain if the latter will have solar panels or open in fall 2025 as expected. The new Norwalk High School is slated to welcome students in fall 2027, with the new sports complex atop the bones of the old school to be completed by August 2028, Lo said. The school’s tennis courts will come soon after in the fall of 2028, he said. At the South Norwalk School construction site, the building is framed out and interior partitions and masonry are being installed, Lo said. “I know we are scheduled to open (on time), assuming that everything (continues) to go smoothly,” Lo said. Nevertheless, the South Norwalk School’s roof is being installed soon, he said last Tuesday. But whether solar panels will actually go on that roof is unclear. Regardless, any solar would not be installed at South Norwalk until spring 2026 after it’s clear the school’s roof is stable, without leaks, and ready for installation, Lo said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/norwalk-schools-construction-solar-panel-19971622.php