A development firm is seeking assurances it will receive nearly $6.5 million in tax breaks over 20 years before it will commit to constructing 500 new apartment units on sections of the Fort Trumbull peninsula that have been off the city tax rolls for more than two decades. Representatives of RJ Development + Advisors, LLC, on Monday presented members of the City Council’s Economic Development Committee with a proposed fixed tax agreement they said is needed to help defray unexpected site preparation costs on the two parcels slated for the the apartments. But since that development agreement was signed, new costs have cropped up, including those related to meeting state flood plain requirements, site clean-up and sub-surface issues, Sweeney said. Sweeney said a previous agreement with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection requires the site to meet 500-year flood plain thresholds, which will mean building the complexes on raised steel and concrete podiums.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240904/fort-trumbull-apartment-developer-seeks-millions-in-city-tax-deferments/

The team behind a proposed massive, mixed-use redevelopment of portions of East Hartford’s Founders Plaza has spent about $16 million so far as it closes in on final property acquisitions needed for the project. Christopher Reilly — president of Hartford-based real estate developer Lexington Partners – told members of East Hartford’s Town Council Tuesday that his team has a “total investment of about $16 million” in the project so far. The council, on Tuesday, unanimously signed off on agreements that will allow the town to spend up to $6.5 million in state funding to demolish a 189,890-square-foot office building at 99 Founders Plaza and a 180,000-square-foot parking garage at 111 Founders Plaza. East Hartford Director of Development Eileen Buckheit said she anticipates demolition will go ahead in the first quarter of 2025. This will provide a portion of the roughly 30-acre development site envisioned in the Port Eastside plan. The project, when complete, will blend hundreds of apartments with retail, office and recreation space along the Connecticut River.

$16M invested so far toward massive, mixed-use redevelopment of East Hartford office park

The three PURA commissioners released a 2-1 decision at the close of business Friday before the three-day Labor Day weekend that rejected a petition from the state Office of Consumer Counsel to reconsider its earlier rate increases for Eversource and Avangrid, the corporate parent of United Illuminating. PURA Chairwoman Marissa Gillett dissented as she did in April when PURA voted 2-1 to approve increases in the standard service rate and public benefit charges that sparked a public outcry after taking effect July 1. But Lamont appears more inclined to wait until 2025. He rebuffed House and Senate Republicans last month when the two minority caucuses appealed to the Democratic governor to recall the legislature in special session to approve short- and long-term reforms to better manage the cost of electricity. Democratic majority leaders also dismissed the GOP appeal. During a stopover Tuesday in Waterbury, Lamont confirmed he invited the four top Democratic and Republican leaders and the bipartisan leadership of the Energy and Technology Committee to meet with him today to discuss energy policy and electricity costs.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/09/03/leaders-to-discuss-energy-costs-lamont-invites-legislators-to-meet-after-outcry-over-rate-hikes/#google_vignette

The first offshore wind turbine has been installed at Revolution Wind, which is to be the first commercial scale wind farm to supply power to Connecticut and Rhode Island, Ørsted and Eversource announced this week. The project, whose turbine components are being assembled and shipped from State Pier in New London, consists of 65 Siemens Gamesa turbines and is expected to generate 704 megawatts of power ― 400 MW to Rhode Island and 304 MW to Connecticut, or enough electricity to power 350,000 homes. Governor Ned Lamont, in a statement, said the completion of this first turbine “represents a milestone as we work towards decarbonizing our electric grid while also creating new, good-paying jobs in this growing sector for Connecticut residents.” Ørsted and Eversource continue installation of the foundations for the Revolution Wind turbines and also are performing onshore construction work for the transmission system in North Kingstown, R.I.

https://www.theday.com/news/20240904/revolution-wind-project-hits-milestone/

In early 2023, NE Edge, led by President Thomas Quinn, began talking with Waterford about constructing two data center buildings and a switchyard at the Millstone site. The buildings would house thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs) that would be used to train and operate artificial intelligence. The discussions led to a unanimous decision by the Representative Town Meeting and First Selectman Rob Brule to enter into a host fee agreement with the company. The agreement set a payment to the town of $231 million in lieu of taxes over 30 years, and set forth guidelines on sound and environmental impact. Quinn has said the project would be powered by 300 megawatts of electricity from Millstone’s two operating nuclear reactors, which is approximately 15% of the plant’s output. None of the state’s existing data centers compare to the NE Edge project due to its much larger size, which Quinn and industry experts have said is necessary due to its intended use for artificial intelligence. But in recent years, data center demand both here and nationwide has been driven by a different technology ― the increasing appetite for artificial intelligence, which requires immense amounts of data. That has pushed the need for a new type of data center, ones that need bigger buildings filled with hundreds more servers, and require more power and cooling.
These kinds of data centers have been dubbed “hyperscale,” a term that reflects their supersized approach to data storage. There’s no industry-standard guidelines for what qualifies a data center as hyperscale.

https://archive.ph/eO16x#selection-1847.0-1851.210

The Connecticut Siting Council, which regulates utility projects, asked Eversource last month to address reports of trees and vegetation it cleared in Greenfield Hill for a project to build taller poles along more than nine miles of transmission lines from Weston to Bridgeport. Utility companies’ legal power has been a matter of public debate since UI’s proposal in Fairfield and Bridgeport set off a groundswell of public opposition last year due to private property access and potential damage to the local environment, economy and skyline. Roughly three months after the Siting Council approved the project, albeit a revised version affecting a new swath of properties that never had the chance to intervene in the process, state lawmakers passed legislation reforming the council’s proceedings that weigh project applications. The purpose behind Eversource’s project seems largely the same as UI’s. Ratliff said steel poles are replacing aging infrastructure along its transmission lines to ensure its electric grid is more resilient in cases of extreme weather. The Siting Council’s website states construction started last year, and neighbors said Eversource has since built the poles, which stand up to 100 feet high.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/eversource-tree-fairfield-ct-electric-utility-pole-19717361.php

While not a huge project, the nearly $5 million North Main Street redevelopment is significant because it’s an example of the broader steps the state has taken in recent years to encourage and invest in brownfield redevelopment. That includes state lawmakers’ 2017 passage of legislation that allows for the creation of brownfield land banks, which can take possession of polluted sites — and the accompanying liability for their environmental waste — and work to clean them up to a point developers are willing to take them on. The Southington property was the first acquired by the Connecticut Brownfield Land Bank Inc., which is managed by staff at the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments. The property has since been redeveloped by Southington-based Lovley Development into two retail buildings.

CT allowed the formation of brownfield land banks in 2017; one has helped redevelop a long-polluted Southington property

Following a lengthy due diligence review, Pennsylvania-based industrial real estate developer Bluewater Property Group is pushing ahead with plans for a massive robotic-assisted Amazon warehouse on a 183-acre site straddling Waterbury and Naugatuck. The wetlands applications are scheduled to be formally accepted for review by wetlands boards in Waterbury and Naugatuck this week, but these initial submissions are unlikely to spark much discussion or meet with approvals during the wetlands meetings in both communities this week. The applications are clear indicators that Bluewater has opted to push forward with development following a lengthy review. The original $2.5 million purchase agreement between Waterbury, Naugatuck and Bluewater required the developer to complete due diligence by last November. That deadline was extended by a year. Now, Bluewater is on a deadline to give notice of its intent to purchase the site in November and to complete the purchase in December.

Wetlands applications submitted for massive Amazon warehouse proposal in Waterbury and Naugatuck

“After consulting with the league and local officials, we have decided to debut the … team in 2026,” the organization, run by entrepreneur Andre Swanston, said in a press release. “This additional time will enable us to complete much-needed infrastructure work around the stadium site and continue to build out our talented staff.” Swanston had sought an initial $30 million in state aid. So far, only $16 million has been committed, mainly for cleanup of any contaminated soil on the construction site and to create public access to the waterfront, things that would need to be done ahead of any development on the property should soccer fall through. Half of that $16 million comes from the legislature’s newly-created Community Investment Fund, with the balance made up of grants from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development for cleaning up old and contaminated industrial sites.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/bridgeport-soccer-stadium-connecticut-united-19733322.php

Dan Sammataro, with his hard hat and reflective vest, was briefing DOT Inspection Team 1 one recent morning. It had been 10 days since the historic thunderstorms pounded parts of Southwestern Connecticut, flooding the nearby Stiles Brook that rose over a section of Route 6 and cascaded down the driveway of the adjacent 19th century farmhouse. The term of art for the bridge inspection teams is “scour critical.” When bridges and culverts are designed, the DOT’s hydraulics and drainage department estimates their structural capacities on a scale of one to nine. Those rated three or below are classified scour critical, requiring crews to inspect them after major rain events. Zach Lalima, a DOT bridge safety inspector with six years of experience, held the six-foot probing rod, with markings every 12 inches for measuring. Department of Transportation procedures kicked into place that Sunday night, as agency officials closed the region’s most-damaged bridges and roads, then set up detours for traffic. For many locations, the state’s seven bridge inspection crews made multiple visits.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/connecticut/article/connecticut-bridge-flooding-southbury-monroe-19725933.php