An updated plan for the town-owned 517 & 529 Gold Star Highway properties, along with adjacent privately-owned parcels, calls for 390 apartments, housed within five, five-story buildings, and amenities that include a clubhouse and pool. The Town Council at its Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday evening approved the updated concept plan and a one-year extension to the option agreement, which was set to expire in September. Jon Reiner, the town’s director of planning and development services, said this week that in 2019, the town started working with PJ&A LLC as the preferred developer for the town-owned properties. Recently, PJ&A entered into an agreement with Orr Partners, a Virginia-based developer. Orr Partners has developed about 5,000 multifamily units in the eastern part of the country. Orr Partners has an office in Groton and has overseen the construction of facilities for Electric Boat, according to the letter from Sweeney.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240627/updated-plan-for-gold-star-highway-properties-calls-for-390-apartments-realigned-entrance/

he school construction project will cost at least $50 million more than the $385 million approved by voters in 2022, due to increased construction and labor expenses, project officials said. According to updated estimates provided by Mike Faenz, the city’s owner’s representative from Construction Solutions, Inc., the cost of the four new elementary schools now total $310.8 million. Adding the final two projects ― the $99 million overhaul of the Teachers’ Memorial Global Studies Middle School and a $25 million renovation to Samuel Huntington School as the new central office and adult education building ― increases the total to $434.9 million. Inflation and widespread construction cost increases have spiraled beyond expectations for the John M. Moriarty and Uncas schools as well, far exceeding the 8% escalation factor in the original budget.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240627/norwich-new-schools-project-50-million-over-budget/

For the high school, the council approved a supplemental appropriation of $189 million to have the full $239 million project cost authorized. The council also issued $15 million in general obligation bonds as “cash on hand” for the project, according to Chief Financial Officer Jared Schmitt. The state plans to reimburse the city for 80 percent of the cost of the high school, meaning taxpayers are responsible for $47.8 million, but the city still needed to authorize spending for the full amount. Additionally, the council moved $19 million from the South Norwalk School project to the high school. The South Norwalk School is slated for completion in August 2025 and the new Norwalk High School should welcome its first class two years later.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/norwalk-high-sono-schools-construction-19541111.php

Old-Lyme-based READCO announced last week that it had sold its portfolio —more than two million square feet of commercial space— to Glastonbury-based Trio Properties, which manages about 2,500 multifamily units in Connecticut and 15 other states. As part of the deal, the companies’ owners decided on a partnership to jointly manage a real estate development and investment company that will operate under the READCO brand. An example of the model they want to promote is the joint Trio-READCO development in Pawcatuck, where they are proposing to build a housing and commercial complex on the site of the vacant Hoyt’s/Regal theater on Route 2 which declared bankruptcy during the pandemic. The project contemplates separate living, shopping and recreational components, with the latter designed to serve the entire surrounding community, not just the complex residents.

New Partnership Bets on Updated Mixed-Use Model for Southeastern Connecticut

East Hartford has received $262,750 through the Connecticut Recreational Trails Grant Program to help address erosion and flooding issues at Great River Park on East River Drive, part of $10 million in grants announced by Gov. Ned Lamont and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection earlier this month to make improvements to 45 multi-use trails across the state. Marc A. Nicol, director of park planning and development for Riverfront Recapture, which manages the park, said that the funds will be used to hire a consultant engineer to do survey work and determine the elevations of certain areas of the river walk. He said that the project will start at the edge of the parking lot, where the amphitheater is, and go south toward Charter Oak Bridge.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/journalinquirer/article/ct-east-hartford-great-river-walk-grant-19525191.php

Without a public hearing or other vetting, the state Senate is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a measure that would allow a New Haven-based public water authority to acquire one of the nation’s largest investor-owned water companies, Aquarion Water Company. Public authorities are outside the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, so Aquarion’s operations, finances and rates no longer would be subject to the approval of state regulators if the company is obtained by the Regional Authority, or RWA. A special session has been discussed since shortly after the regular session ended without passing a legislative fix needed to prevent an increase in motor vehicle taxes this fall, an unintended consequence of a 2022 bill. The fix would continued to classify commercial vehicles as motor vehicles, and it would clarify that current law allows municipalities to establish mill rates on motor vehicles that are lower than mill rates on real property and personal property. At the governor’s request, the bill would roll back a liberalizing of school construction bidding rules that was included in a fiscal bill in the last days of the regular session.

Lawmakers uneasy over special session bill on Aquarion sale

Center Park Place, a mixed-use residential and commercial infill development to be constructed at Arapahoe and LaSalle roads and Farmington Avenue, will feature up to 58 luxury condominiums that are already listed for sale at more than $1 million. The project includes demolishing two buildings and erecting two new buildings. One of the new buildings will have four residential floors over three levels of parking, including one underground. That building will be located in the center of the property behind 53-65 and 27-43 LaSalle Road and 1001 Farmington Ave. One of the developers of the project is Marc Lewis, the principal managing member of Lexham Realty Management based in Westport. Lexham owns the properties at 53-65 LaSalle Road, 27-43 LaSalle Road, and 1001 Farmington Ave. Another parcel, at 12 Arapahoe Road, is owned by The Arapahoe Group LLC.

Construction hasn’t started, but West Hartford luxury apartments already selling

Pratt & Whitney is proposing to increase the size of a new planned office building on its East Hartford campus by nearly 50%, with the addition of two stories, including outdoor amenities for employees and greenspace. The jet-engine maker has submitted a revised zoning application to the town, which is on the agenda for the Planning and Zoning Commission’s meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday. A spokesman for Pratt & Whitney’s parent company, RTX, said the zoning application does not signal any commitment to build the new office, but is a required step as it reviews and considers real estate options. The project would result in a net increase of 215,143 square feet of office space at Pratt & Whitney’s 251.2-acre campus at 400 Main St.

Pratt & Whitney proposes nearly 50% increase in size of new East Hartford office building

Environmental workers recently began clean up on the former Aeolian Organ and Music Co. factory as the first step in a $56 million housing development for 82 low and moderate-income families. The adaptive reuse project will convert a historic player piano factory at 85 Tremont St. into an apartment community and is expected to revitalize an under-utilized complex in the city’s north end. Boston-based Trinity Financial is the project developer who secured local approvals and state housing and environmental grants to do a gut renovation of the 120-year-old factory. Approximately 65 percent of the project’s funding will come from low-income housing tax credit equity and federal and state historic tax equity. Last month, Trinity closed on $24.5 million from KeyBank, $13.4 million from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, $9.5 million from the state Department of Housing and $4 million from the state Department of Economic and Community Development, including $1.5 million in brownfield funding, officials said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/meriden-piano-factory-apartments-aeolian-19525494.php

In grant requests submitted Friday, Norwich is seeking a total of $23.3 million in three requests, topped by the $17 million request to complete the demolition and cleanup of the partially collapsed and abandoned former Capehart Mill in Greeneville. Norwich last week received approval for a $4 million state brownfields grant to begin the massive cleanup project to create a riverfront park. Norwich also requested $5 million to convert Fontaine Field on Mahan Drive into an artificial turf multi-use field with a running track and handicapped access to the Rose City Senior Center next door. The third Norwich request is for a $250,000 planning grant for an environmental assessment of the 49-acre former Norwich Hospital property in Norwich, owned by Thames River Place LLC. Unlike neighboring Preston, which has nearly completed cleanup of its 393-acre former Norwich Hospital property, Norwich never took ownership of its portion of the campus. It remains dominated by decaying buildings and overgrown vegetation.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240622/norwich-new-london-preston-seek-state-funding-for-major-local-projects/