Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday announced $20 million in grants to support cleanup and redevelopment of blighted properties throughout the state. The funds will support remediation and redevelopment of 21 properties, consisting of 150 acres of contaminated land in 18 municipalities, according to Lamont’s office. The grants are being released through the state Department of Economic and Community Development’s brownfields program. The funds are expected to leverage approximately $530 million in private investments, creating 1,392 new housing units and prompting business growth, according to Lamont’s office. “All of these blighted properties have been vacant for years when we should be using them to grow new businesses and support the development of badly needed housing,” Lamont said.

$20M in state funding to advance redevelopment of ‘zombie properties’ across 18 CT cities and towns

The city and a renewable energy developer are proposing to construct a 991-kilowatt solar panel array on a 4.25-acre section of capped landfill surrounded by the sprawling Bates Woods property. The plan, which will be discussed at a Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing on Thursday, calls for building a series of ground-mounted racking systems holding 3,032 solar panels. The panels would be positioned on a portion of former ash and bulky waste landfill land used for about 30 years before it closed in 1991. The city will work with North Haven-based Greenskies Clean Energy LLC, a developer and operator of renewable energy projects, to build the system with a gravel access road constructed by city public works crews. “This was a dump, a landfill that was capped – we are not carving out any part of Bates Woods for this project,” he said. “This is a project that is in line with (state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) policies and will contribute to the state’s effort to de-carbonize our economy.” Public Works Director Brian Sear said Greenskies would be responsible for installing and maintaining the panels. He said the city expects to see a roughly $110,000 annual drop in its electric bills through a power purchase agreement involving the electricity generated by the proposed solar system.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20241204/solar-farm-with-more-than-3000-panels-proposed-for-capped-landfill-near-new-london-park/

Stroke experts are designing the center — now under construction at the hospital’s Saint Raphael’s campus in New Haven — to allow for a speedy response to strokes, which cause more damage the longer treatment is delayed. Gunel spoke Wednesday at the “topping off” ceremony for the $838 million Adams Neurosciences Center, marking a construction milestone on a building said to be the largest single health care project of its kind in Connecticut’s history. When it opens its doors in 2027, the 184-bed neuroscience hospital will feature an expanded emergency room and two new patient towers housing neurological intensive care units, treatment areas and rehabilitation services. A new parking garage is also planned for across the street. Cardiac and vascular care will also be bolstered at facilities surrounding the new center, part of the nearly $1 billion Yale New Haven Health has invested in the Saint Raphael’s campus since it purchased the formerly Catholic hospital in 2012.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/ct-yale-health-neuroscience-new-haven-adams-center-19958974.php

Heavily traveled Transylvania Road could reopen as early as Friday after having been closed since a section of it collapsed 15 weeks ago during the historic flooding Aug. 18. Woodbury public works Director Rich Lamothe said repairing Transylvania Road took longer than expected due to a lengthy permitting process that included both the state Department of Environmental and Engery Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Lamothe also noted the project required more engineering and design work because the damaged section acts as a dam between a wetlands area and nearby Raney Pond, which lies at the foot of Woodlake condominium complex. Woodbury sustained an estimated $1.1 million in flooding damage, though Perkinson said she’s not expecting to receive the full 75% from FEMA.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/12/03/woodburys-transylvania-road-set-to-reopen-after-flooding-collapse/

Featuring a 245-foot-tall clock tower adorned with gargoyles, the roughly 70,000-square-foot brick headquarters of the Republican-American newspaper in the center of Waterbury is among the most recognizable buildings in Connecticut. Now, the family-run company that owns the Meadow Street property and newspaper is proposing to transform the iconic, century-old building into a mix of 38 luxury apartments, office space and retail, potentially including a high-end restaurant. The American Republican Inc. has teamed up with Parker Benjamin Real Estate Services LLC, a Farmington-based investment and real estate services firm with expertise in renovation of historic properties. Now, the Waterbury Development Corp. is asking the city’s Board of Aldermen to endorse an application for $250,000 in state grant funds to pay for detailed architectural and site planning. The request is scheduled to go before the board on Dec. 9.

Mixed-use redevelopment proposed for iconic Republican-American newspaper HQ in Waterbury

The City Council voted 6-1 Monday night to purchase the Chelsea Groton Bank building on Main Street for $800,000 with a plan to seek voter support in November 2025 to renovate and expand the building for a new police station. After the hearing, Police Chief Patrick Daley said the architectural firm Hughes & Cronin of Old Saybrook has estimated the cost at $49 million to renovate and expand the building, the least expensive of three potential sites reviewed for the project. The design is expected to meet the department’s needs for the next 50 years, Daley said. Daley pledged to hold regular public meetings over the next 11 months to explain the project and receive public input on the plan before the planned referendum next November. He said the city also will pursue state and federal grants to offset the local taxpayers’ cost for the project.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20241203/norwich-to-buy-bank-building-seek-voter-support-for-49-million-police-station/

A prominent city-based architectural firm has agreed to pay nearly $600,000 to cover cost overruns ― ranging from site work to crew toilets ― at the new community center after its subcontractor failed to secure crucial state permits in the early stages of the project. The City Council on Monday approved a settlement that calls for Silver Petrucelli + Associates to pay $585,000 for “work not done by its subcontractor, Stadia Engineering Associates, Inc.” The permitting issues delayed the start of the project by six months, with crews finally breaking ground in July of 2023. Stadia Engineering, which operates from a Vauxhall Street office in New London, bills itself as a full-service survey and engineering consultant firm whose portfolio includes work at Mohegan Sun and Mystic Seaport. Change order documents from the Downes Construction Company, which is overseeing the entire construction project on the Fort Trumbull peninsula, list several instances of unplanned spending due to the failure of a Stadia engineer to obtain a state flood management certificate along with storm water and wastewater discharge permits.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20241203/architectural-firm-to-pay-back-600k-in-new-london-community-center-overages/

A section of Route 106 will be closed on weekdays as Aquarion Water Co. installs a critical new utility pipe. The closure between Old Boston Road and Old Kings Highway in Wilton began Monday and is expected to last for three to four weeks, according to the town’s Department of Public Works. Road work will occur from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, the department said. One lane of alternating traffic is permitted through the intersection during the closure, according to Public Works. “Given the pipe age, material and limited availability of 18-inch diameter pipe and fittings, failure of these pipes during or after construction of Aquarion’s project presents an unacceptable risk,” Aquarion said in an October statement.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/aquarion-route-106-wilton-closure-water-main-19945704.php

Connecticut will not offer a third round of school air quality grants due to “funding constraints,” the state says, despite $138.5 million remaining in a fund intended for that purpose. Created in 2022 after years of advocacy to improve school air quality amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Connecticut’s HVAC grant program has so far distributed $178 million to local school systems for new ventilation systems and other improvements, allowing districts to update infrastructure that was, in some cases, decades old. Still, the money spent through the program represents less than half of what state lawmakers have allocated for it over recent years. Asked this week about the decision not to distribute more grants, a Department of Administrative Services spokesperson repeated Gilman’s assertion about funding constraints. A spokesperson for Connecticut’s Office of Policy and Management said “additional allocations must be balanced with other capital needs” and said the state is constrained somewhat by a cap on bonding.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/school-air-quality-grants-connecticut-19953292.php

More than two years after breaking ground for the project, Yale New Haven Hospital will celebrate a milestone for the construction of its new Adams Neurosciences Center. The hospital broke ground in August 2022 on the $838 million, 505,000-square-foot center on its St. Raphael campus at 659 George St.. in New Haven, that will consist of two towers with 184 new inpatient beds. The new facility, the largest of its kind in state history, will offer the full spectrum of neuroscience treatment — from early diagnosis of neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease, ALS and stroke to advanced brain interventions and restorative care.

Yale New Haven Hospital to mark construction milestone for Adams Neurosciences Center