Three years ago, Felix Reyes, director of the city’s Office of Planning and Development, and other community leaders met with a group of sixth graders from the Bennie Dover Jackson Multi-Magnet Middle School to hear what was important to them in a community center. On Monday, several students from the same school signed the last piece of structural steel to be placed in the unfinished community and recreation center as part of a steel-topping ceremony. The ceremony marked the halfway point of construction, Mayor Michael Passero said. The 58,000-square-foot center in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood will include a gym, recreation office and classroom spaces, a community lounge and a kitchen. Construction is still on schedule for a summer of 2025 opening, Passero said. The project’s initial $30 million price tag, approved by the City Council in 2021, jumped by approximately $10 million as more detailed cost figures emerged. That funding gap was bridged with a combination of state and federal funding. The city was also awarded a $1.2 million grant through the state’s Brownfield Remediation program for pre-construction site work.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20241007/steel-topping-ceremony-held-for-new-london-community-and-recreation-center/

In a second trip to the polls, town voters overwhelmingly approved a proposal for a massive renovation of the Sherman School. In the referendum held Saturday, Oct. 5, residents voted 961-505 to approve a $43 million “renovate to new” construction project on the aging school building. The town will finance the project through bonds of about $32 million or less, according to a previous statement from the Sherman Board of Selectmen. Special state legislation passed last year guaranteed a minimum reimbursement rate of 30 percent by the state. Taxpayers will cover $30.53 million of the project’s costs. The project will take 18 months to two years to complete, Board of Education member Tim Laughlin previously said. Construction will begin next summer and is anticipated to be complete in late fall or early winter of 2026.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/newmilford/article/sherman-school-referendum-approved-voters-19820542.php

The state Department of Transportation is proposing to redesign the Route 44 intersection at Main, High and Ely streets in Hartford, located one block north of Dunkin’ Park. The project would improve the poorly aligned intersection and replace an antiquated traffic signal, which has reached the end of its service life and lacks the ability to detect vehicles. The intersection is prone to crashes. Between 2020 and 2022, there were 150 crashes at the intersection, 56% of which involved injuries, along with two fatalities, according to the DOT. Construction would take another one to two years after the design is finished. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $9 million, using state and federal funding. Preliminary plans show shorter pedestrian crossings, reconstructed sidewalks and parking spaces on either side of Route 44.

DOT plans redesign of busy intersection near Dunkin’ Park

Crews rebuilding the Fairfield Avenue bridge spanning Interstate 95 in Norwalk finished pouring its concrete deck Thursday and will install parapet retaining walls in the coming weeks, according to a Connecticut Department of Transportation spokesperson. Before crews could pour the bridge’s concrete deck, “every utility line you could think of,” including water, fiber, gas and electric lines, was installed in the last two weeks of September, Morgan said. Both hurdles are major milestones in the project, which has caused traffic delays in the area. DOT shut down I-95 in Norwalk, crippling the flow of traffic, for about 80 hours to demolish the bridge that was rendered structurally unstable when a gasoline tanker caught fire underneath it in after a crash on May 2. The bridge is slated for construction closeout in early spring — consistent with previous estimations so far, Morgan said. Before reopening, sidewalks will also be installed, he said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/norwalk-fairfield-avenue-bridge-reconstruction-19815657.php

Unlike the devastation caused by August’s historic flooding, flood control efforts are not always visible and can be a tough sell to the public, state officials said. To counter those challenges and others, state and municipals officials recently called for information from councils of governments and the public on ways to shore up their infrastructure before another catastrophic weather event using the Climate Resilience Fund. Dykes was joined by members of several council of governments, DEEP staff, educators, and municipal leaders at the site of the Meriden Green resilience project, a 14-acre flood control initiative that used natural features capable of withstanding severe flooding events. Part of the project meant joining three brooks, removing narrow or bent culverts and channel deepening and widening. The city also built a submersible amphitheater and purchased a steel and concrete bridge to move people from one side of the city to the train station should flooding prevent car travel. DEEP wants to know ways it can potentially use state bond funds to structure a Climate Resiliency Revolving Loan Fund, which was authorized by the legislature in the 2024 session. This fund is for low-interest loans to municipalities and private entities for infrastructure repairs and resiliency projects in response to unplanned climate events.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/deep-flooding-resilency-fund-meriden-green-19807511.php

An indoor ice rink sponsored by the family of the late co-founder of Stamford-based Conair Corp. is one step closer to completion. The demolition of the building makes way for the creation of an indoor ice rink facility at 50 Barry Place, which will sit behind the now-torn down Conair Corp. building. The facility will host youth ice hockey and figure skating clinics, educational programs, leagues and tournaments. The project was sponsored by the family of late billionaire businessman Leandro Rizzuto, whose family founded Conair Corp. in 1959. Manhattan-based American Securities, a private equity firm, acquired Conair Corp. in 2021, but the 11.7 acres of property on Barry Place — which borders the Metro-North Railroad to the south — remained with the Rizzuto family, according to previous reporting from February 2023.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/stamford-conair-ice-rink-19813906.php

The $745 million sale of Eversource’s stake in 132-megawatt South Fork Wind and 704-megawatt Revolution Wind to New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners was what Eversource President and CEO Joe Nolan, in a statement, called a milestone in the company’s “commitment as a pure-play regulated pipes and wires utility that delivers superior service and value to our customers.” Massachusetts-based Eversource is suffering major losses with the sale. In total, Eversource said it expects to incur an aggregate net loss of $520 million in the third quarter of 2024 due to its divestiture in the offshore wind industry, it said in a statement. Eversource had partnered with Danish company Ørsted on both projects and had contributed to the $310 million reconstruction of State Pier into a staging and assembly area for offshore wind projects. Ørsted is currently leasing the pier. Eversource announced more than a year ago it planned to withdraw from the offshore wind business to concentrate on its core utility business.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20241001/eversource-officially-exits-offshore-wind-business/

Located behind a residential neighborhood in South Norwalk, Manresa Island served as the home of a coal-fired power plant and later an oil-powered plant since the 1950s, until it was permanently shut down in 2013. Before its closure, the power plant sprinkled soot across the surrounding neighborhoods. However, under the latest plan from Norwalk residents Austin and Allison McChord, the once-hazardous site will be transformed to include nearly two miles of waterfront, a pedestrian bridge, a pier, and a 250,000-square-foot recreation center. According to Manresa Island Corp., the nonprofit organization created by the McChords, the 125-acre park is scheduled to open in 2030. A representative from the organization said it will acquire the property from the current owner, real estate firm Argent Ventures, in the fall. Over the next six years, Austin McChord said the project group has a lot of remediation work, community outreach and traffic planning to do.

Plans Unveiled for 125-Acre Park on Site of Former Power Plant in Norwalk

City Planner Jeremy Leifert has asked the Connecticut Siting Council to consider safeguards and conditions before it rules on whether to approve a solar farm proposed for a site on Lovers Lane in Torrington. Mayor Elinor Carbone also sent a letter to the CT Siting Council detailing her concerns about the project, saying three solar farms have been already been approved for the city. A fourth one would be excessive because it would use developable land that would result in lost tax revenue for Torrington, she said. The project, proposed by Lodestar Energy, would be built on a 54-acre property adjacent to the 80-unit condominiums on the west side of Torrington. The residents recently requested, and were granted, an extension of the public comment period on the project from Sept. 4 to Oct. 3.

https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/torrington-city-planner-solar-array-plan-ct-siting-19810873.php

The “Port Eastside” development partnership acquired a 5.7-acre parking lot at 321 Pitkin St. this week. “We have just cleared the most significant milestone in this project’s early lifespan to date,” said Bruce Simons, principal of Simons Real Estate Group in West Hartford. “Port Eastside” will blend 1,000 housing units — mostly apartments and a “small number” of condos — with a transportation center, 6.1-acre greenway and 400,000 square feet of entertainment, restaurant and retail space, according to a statement released by Port Eastside LLC. The partners are still working with the town of East Hartford to close and incorporate a stretch of East River Drive into the development. This will allow direct access to the riverfront near Great River Park. Harris Simons, who is also a principal at Simons Real Estate Group, said the group is in “very early stages” of a development that seeks to complement cultural, entertainment, recreational and retail offerings that can be found on the edge of downtown Hartford, just across the river.

Last key properties acquired for ambitious 1,000-unit, mixed-use redevelopment of East Hartford’s Founders Plaza