Connecticut Development News [Archive] - Page 6

Woonsocket54

August 28th, 2009, 10:47 PM

Connecticut Post
http://www.connpost.com/ci_13219675

New M-8 rail cars won't be ready for use until spring
Commuter group asks Rell to delay Metro-North fare hike
By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
Updated: 08/27/2009 11:29:32 PM EDT

State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Marie told local officials he is confident that passengers will be riding new M-8 train cars in the spring, though glitches could put off their use until later next year.

"Most of the adjustments will have to be in the car side, because we can't adjust the infrastructure," Marie said. "We will have cars in revenue service in 2010."

The first six pilot M-8s are almost completely built and are undergoing comprehensive testing by Kawasaki Rail Car Co., Marie told the chief elected officials and other representatives of the Southwestern Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization. Once the cars are fully vetted, they will be transported to New York City by late September or early October to begin testing on Connecticut tracks.

If tests on the cars run without a hitch, they could be ready within the early months of 2010, but Marie said there was no way he could assure the public that adjustments to software or other components of the M-8 cars to run in Connecticut wouldn't delay getting cars into service longer.

"We are introducing a 21st century train to a system that is primarily 20th century," Marie said. "... I can't guarantee you everything is going to go perfect."

Jim Cameron and other members of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council said they believe Marie's estimate is two to three months later than the initial August 2009 delivery date, which would have seen some cars in service by January. This delay, they believe, compels Gov. M. Jodi Rell to put off a fare increase until the cars are serving the public.

Later Thursday, DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said that the cars are on schedule, and that since February 2008, the department has estimated the new cars would arrive this fall.

Marie and the agency would not approve the cars for service until they were running optimally, Nursick said, but the agency has no position on the fare increase.

"Commissioner Marie is adamant that the systems and cars be tested and vetted thoroughly to ensure that the final product is exactly what the taxpayers of the state deserve and are paying for," Nursick said. "On that note, Commissioner Marie is fully intent on holding the contractor's feet to the fire on the testing and delivery of the M-8s."

Southwest Regional Planning Agency Executive Director Floyd Lapp and New Canaan First Selectman Jeb Walker said they were worried that necessary station improvements like extending platforms to accommodate M-8 cars be completed before the cars go into service.

"In a number of cases, the platform lengths at the stations will not be able to accommodate the new cars, which is a big concern," Lapp said.

Cameron said that in 2007, when the fare increase was adopted, he thought the state had set an overly optimistic schedule to get the new M-8 cars into service by the beginning of 2010.

Unless testing of the pilot cars is complication-free, Cameron said he doesn't expect the first cars to be cleared for service until late spring at the earliest.

"They absolutely have to test these cars to make sure they are going to be safe and efficient," Cameron said. "I would not want to in any way rush the delivery of those cars if they do not meet that standard."

As it became apparent that the M-8 cars would not be in service this winter, Cameron said he planned to lobby state officials to honor earlier statements from Rell that service on Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line should be improved before fare increases were enacted.

In 2007, the Connecticut General Assembly imposed a 1¼ percent fare increase each Jan. 1 between 2010 and 2017 to help pay for the rail cars as a compromise after there was widespread outcry against Rell's proposal to institute a $1 surcharge on all train trips.

Cameron cites statements by Rell in her February 2005 budget address on her surcharge proposal and the new rail cars, stating that commuters would not pay fare increases until the cars were in service.

"Our commuters have suffered long enough with unreliable, outdated train cars that should have been replaced long ago," Rell said. "They deserve quality service, clean stations, and adequate parking. And they should not be asked to pay for improvements until they actually see them, sit in them or park in them."

"It's not the money, which isn't very much, but more the principle of the thing," Cameron said. "That fare increase was the first time the state used the fare box to fund capital improvements, and it was because lawmakers upstate wouldn't support new cars for all the millionaires in Fairfield County unless we played a part in paying for them."

State Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, one of the legislators who negotiated a compromise with Rell to substitute the 1¼ percent fare increase for her unpopular $1 surcharge concept, said he believes delivery of the M-8s is behind schedule and that he thought the state should delay the Jan. 1, 2010, fare increase until 2011, after the cars have been in service for some time.

McDonald said that he and other legislators chose to set the Jan. 1, 2010, implementation date partially because the DOT seemed adamant they could have the cars in service months before then.

"There's no reason that, during this budget negotiation, that this increase couldn't be changed to become effective in the second year of the budget," McDonald said. "During negotiations, it was very clear that nobody should have to pay anything additional until they were sitting in the new cars."

Adam Liegeot, a spokesman for Rell, said that the administration was unable to comment whether Rell might consider delaying the fare increase.

"This surcharge has been set in statute and is due to take effect on Jan. 1," Liegeot said. "Soon, thanks to Gov. Rell, Connecticut will have world-class, modern rail cars that will be a model for the rest of the nation."

Woonsocket54

September 2nd, 2009, 06:50 PM

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/localnews/ci_13248849

Norwalk Transit District seeks state support for city bus hub
By Martin B. Cassidy
STAFF WRITER
Posted: 09/01/2009 10:01:46 PM EDT

NORWALK -- The Norwalk Transit District is hoping the state Department of Transportation will pledge $455,000 needed to break ground on a long-awaited project to revamp a city bus hub on Burnell Boulevard, which acts as a transfer point for all city bus lines.

This summer, Norwalk Transit and the South Western Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization have been lobbying the DOT to promise to supply the match funding. This commitment would permit authorization of federal earmarks already set aside for the district's Pulse Point Project, which is expected to cost about $4 million, Norwalk Transit District Executive Director Louis Schulman said.

The project includes a 14-foot high, 300-foot long canopy to shelter riders from rain and snow, improved lighting, and other upgraded amenities, according to plans.

Without the commitment, officials are concerned that the $2.5 million in federal transportation earmarks set aside to overhaul the facility adjacent to the Riverview Mall might expire if it is not used soon, Schulman said, jeopardizing improvements to what is now an inadequately equipped station.

Passengers complain about a lack of adequate shelter at the station, and safety concerns, Schulman said.

"It will encourage more people to use the system if the facility is nicer," he said. "It would be a first-rate transfer point for buses and hopefully spur ridership growth by making it more comfortable for all customers."

While the department now lacks the available funds, last week DOT Commissioner Joseph Marie said he would try to assist the district to finalize a commitment for the funds.

"We're going to do everything that we can," Marie said.

To help, the department is also putting $403,000 in state earmarks forward to the state Bond Commission for the work to be considered this fall, according to the DOT.

But Schulman said while those bond funds might become available, waiting until they are approved would keep the project on hold longer.

"If the bond funds do become available, we could use those and not state funds," Schulman said.

Other features of the project include open space for public art, bicycle racks, plantings, and a video security system.

Floyd Lapp, executive director of the Southwestern Regional Planning Agency, said that area leaders asked the DOT to fund the project because the facility would benefit commuters throughout the county who would pass through it.

"It's a very vital project for the area which provides benefits for riders radiating out from Norwalk to Bridgeport and to Stamford," Lapp said.

Staff Writer Martin B. Cassidy can be reached at martin.cassidy@scni.com or at 203-964-2264.

Woonsocket54

September 4th, 2009, 11:45 PM

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/localnews/ci_13265239

In a bid to expand Mill River Park, Stamford strikes deal with struggling developer to buy 2-acre plot
By Elizabeth Kim
Staff Writer
Posted: 09/03/2009 09:40:02 PM EDT
Updated: 09/04/2009 08:46:30 AM EDT

STAMFORD -- After more than eight years of delayed plans to build housing in a prime downtown corner, a real estate development company has decided to sell a nearly 2-acre empty lot to the city for a discounted price of $5 million.

Archstone-Smith, a Colorado-based firm with a national portfolio of apartment buildings, bought the property at 1050 Washington Blvd. several years ago for $8.2 million, according to Daniel Doern, Archstone's vice president of development. Including lease payments, project development and land-use approval costs, the company's total investment was more than twice that amount, he said.

"Every developer is in the same boat we are," Doern said. "It doesn't make sense to build an apartment building at this time."

The land is to be turned into additional open space for Mill River Park, which is now undergoing the first phase of an approximately $40 million renovation. When complete, the park would stretch about 28 acres, from Broad to Pulaski streets.

Money for the purchase is expected to come from the sale of bonds using tax increment financing, which sets aside 50 percent of additional property taxes generated from new developments in the Mill River corridor and uses them toward land purchases and infrastructure improvements.

Mayor Dannel Malloy Thursday applauded the agreement as achieving the city's goals of expanding the park, which he credited with attracting firms like RBS to the city's downtown.

"We came up with a home run of a strategy," Malloy said. Discussions about a possible sale intensified during the spring, he said.

"We have a funding source which is already established," he said, referring to the tax-increment financing district. "It could clearly fund this acquisition without impacting the taxpayers."

Archstone did not market the property to private investors, Doern said. He said the company has in the past turned down offers from several interested developers.

"I know for sure we wouldn't have sold at this price to a developer," he said.

Asked about the financial benefit of selling the property to the city versus a private entity, Doern declined to comment. But the deal, which is configured as a combined sale and donation, gives the company certain tax advantages, according to Michael Freimuth, the city's economic development director.

While the addition of public space potentially stands to benefit all residents, Archstone's sale marks an end to a housing development that had been expected to have a significant architectural and residential effect downtown. In 2001, Archstone received zoning approval for 244 apartment units. A decline in rental prices and escalating construction costs wound up stalling the project.

But as recently as October, Archstone submitted a revised version of the building that it boasted would serve as a gateway to downtown.

The elaborate plans were presented in an animated 3-D movie at a meeting before the Urban Redevelopment Commission, which oversees development in the Mill River Corridor. The five-story structure was to have a lit tower, a glass-enclosed play space where passers-by could watch residents playing virtual video game sports, and amenity shops serving an ice skating rink in the park, among other features.

"It would have been fine if they had been able to build the building," said Stephen Osman, chairman of the Urban Redevelopment Commission. "But we didn't know when they would be able to build it. It wasn't as if they had the money to build it. They were having their own financial problems."

The company was acquired in 2007 by Tishman Speyer and the now-bankrupt investment company Lehman Brothers for $22 billion. Prior to the transaction, Archstone had been among the largest apartment real estate investment trust in terms of real estate value and market capitalization, including the largest public owner of apartments in Manhattan.

A Wall Street Journal article last month reported that Archstone was in the midst of trying to unload its properties to pay debt.

The purchase of the Archstone property needs the approval of several city boards. On Thursday, the city's Planning Board unanimously approved he acquisition along with a contract for the city to buy a nearby residence at 1 Whitaker Place for $1.2 million.

Known as the Nojima house, the two-family home once belonged to Junzo Nojima, who famously planted, and cared for a grove of cherry trees in Mill River Park. All but a few of the trees were taken down in March to make way for redevelopment of the park.

The city has long wanted buy the property to further the park's expansion. It is owned by Sanford Yoshikami, a relative of Nojima.

Both proposals are set to go before the Board of Finance next week.

-- Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

StamfordCT

September 30th, 2009, 03:18 AM

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/ci_13434449

As Stamford's Trump Parc opens, developers and city hold their breath

STAMFORD -- Earlier this month, developer Thomas Rich decided on a hands-on approach to market his most ambitious project to date: Trump Parc, the luxury high-rise on Washington Boulevard that has reshaped the city's skyline.

Rich is part of a development team that includes Donald Trump, the celebrity real estate mogul, and Louis Cappelli, a developer who has overseen major projects throughout Westchester County, N.Y.

On an early weekday morning, the dapper Rich joined his staff in distributing brochures and complimentary umbrellas to commuters at the city's train station.

Rich, whose family has 100-year legacy of building in Stamford, later described the scene with a sense of wonder and half-disbelief.

"Hundreds of people, all coming to Stamford," he said.

The unspoken assumption was that somewhere among the hurried throngs lurked deep-pocketed professionals, ones who might see themselves living in a glass box in Stamford, with views stretching as far as Manhattan and the eastern edges of Long Island.

"The phone is ringing off the hook," he said afterward, adding that he has since doubled his sales staff from two to four.

As of last week, of 170 units, two have closed and about 68 are under contract to be sold.

For Martin Nirschel, a Stamford-based real estate agent for Sotheby's International Realty, Rich's numbers translate into the dispiriting reality that he has 100 more to sell.

"It's like a guy running a marathon who says, 'Look, I've finished one mile,' " Nirschel said. "But now I have 25 miles to go."

On the heels of a historic financial collapse and housing bubble, Trump Parc seems to be a victim of bad timing. In Stamford, condo sales have dropped 50 percent in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year, according to a recent market report by Prudential Connecticut Realty.

The test now is whether Trump Parc can pull off what few condominium developments downtown have managed: to make money for its initial owners.

"If you look at the track record over the last 30 years, the initial developers have not been the ones that have made significant profits," said Richard Redniss, a planning consultant who worked on Trump Parc and Highgrove, another luxury condominium property set to open on Forest Street later this year.

"In many instances, the initial developer has not made any profits, and the properties went back to the lenders," Redniss said.

Trump Parc is trying to avoid the storyline of The Classic, a cautionary tale in the history of downtown high-rise development. Completed in 1990, the highly anticipated 18-story condominium building at Forest Street and Greyrock Place was the city's first luxury high-rise, with 144 units and amenities such as a pool, 24-hour doorman, concierge and valet services -- even a private park.

City officials focused on the project as one that would revitalize the downtown and serve as a springboard for further housing developments. But The Classic flopped, in large measure because of a recession.

Before The Classic opened its doors, the development company, Caspi Development Corp. of Armonk, N.Y., switched units to rentals. Not long after, the building was sold to a Kawabe Bussan Co., from Japan.

Ultimately, the lessons to be learned from both situations is not so clear, said Norman Cole, Stamford's city planner.

"The Classic got caught in a recession and was a financial failure," Cole said. "Since then, we are now back 20 years later to a period of time when the developers' perception is that there is a significant demand for a luxury high-rise. Again, we have a mixed result. Did we prove it or disprove it?"

What worries Cole and others is whether Trump Parc will freeze other developments. Not far from Trump Parc, Rich and Cappelli have approval to begin building a Ritz-Carlton hotel and condominium complex at Atlantic Street and Tresser Boulevard. At 400 feet, the two towers would surpass the 350-foot Trump Parc to become the tallest buildings in Stamford.

Also nearby, another development company, Lowe Enterprises, is expected to build an enormous housing and retail complex between Tresser Boulevard and Bell Street. Known as Tresser Square, it would include a mix of condominium and rental units totaling more than 800 and involve the demolition of one of the buildings at St. John's Towers.

In the meantime, all eyes are likely to be on Trump Parc.

Rich has reacted to the marketplace, reducing prices on selected one-, two- and three-bedroom units by more than 15 percent and launching a campaign that targets renters, who are not burdened with having to unload a home.

Under the program, buyers are required to provide a down payment of 10 percent. An additional 20 percent is to be financed by the developers at an interest rate of 2.5 percent. On the building's lowest-priced units, the average monthly after-tax cost over five years would work out to roughly $2,000.

Ads for the program have appeared in newspapers and Metro-North trains. Rich himself recorded a sales pitch for radio ads. His office also recently blitzed thousands of rental dwellers living in Fairfield County, Westchester and Manhattan.

Nirschel said the strategy was smart, adding that, ironically, Rich's name may be more of a selling card than that of Trump, who in recent years has become known more for reality television and multiple bankruptcy filings.

"The Rich name has a certain cachet." Nirschel said. "They build good stuff, and they are here to stay."

Rich and the other developers are "certainly not going to walk away from this thing," said Jack Condlin, president of the Stamford Chamber of Commerce. "They have the ability to carry this thing. They will make it work. I'm 100 percent confident that this building will be successful, and there will be more of these."

Location appears to be on Trump Parc's side. Randy Salvatore, a developer who specializes in middle-end rental and condo buildings, said he sees the stretch along Washington Boulevard beginning at the train station as "the future of Stamford."

Salvatore, who recently received zoning approval to build a four-story 94-unit residential building on the block across from Trump Parc, pointed to the renovation of Mill River Park, the restaurants surrounding Columbus Park and the anchoring effects of UConn-Stamford and RBS.

"(Trump Parc) will succeed," Salvatore said. "It will just take a little bit longer."

From the city's perspective, the key is getting the housing built, according to Redniss.

In the case of The Classic, after being purchased by new owners, the building was renovated into luxury condominiums again in 2006, proving perhaps that among developers, there are no shortage of risk-takers.

Redniss recalled a recent conversation he had with one such individual.

"He said to me, 'You don't know anything until you've gone broke once.' That's the nature of development."

RPM

October 14th, 2009, 02:55 AM

I just moved to Hollywood Florida and 2 doors down from my apartment Building is a brand spanking new Trump building that is right on the beach. I swear there are only 4 condos occupied in that place, at night there are almost no lights on whatsoever. I think its just a sign that the real estate market is still dead.

Woonsocket54

November 19th, 2009, 06:25 PM

Connecticut Post
http://www.connpost.com/ci_13832917

Two downtown projects get $22M in development aid
2 downtown projects jump-started by aid
By Keila Torres
STAFF WRITER

Updated: 11/20/2009 09:29:41 PM EST

BRIDGEPORT -- Two downtown projects stuck in the development pipeline are getting an infusion of $22 million from a fund set aside by General Electric Co. for housing and mixed-use projects in the city.

Developer Phil Kuchma and 333 State Street Development, LLC, have been selected to receive the bulk of the $25 million fund, which is being distributed by the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority.

This month, Kuchma received confirmation on a promised $12 million allotment to be used to complete his stalled condominium building at the corner of Fairfield Avenue and Lafayette Circle. The developer had been assured of getting a share of the funds because he first applied for the money in 2007.

Kuchma said work on the condos will resume as soon as the paperwork is in order and the money is formally allocated.

"Everybody at the city and state has been extremely helpful and patient," he said. "They know we've been doing everything we can."

Kuchma's $24 million project is being funded by several other lending sources, including the Community Preservation and Development Corp. as lead financier. The developer said outside funding sources, like the GE fund, are essential for a Bridgeport developer.

"The (GE) funds are available at a lower interest rate than the conventional bank could offer," he said. "The actual costs of construction are relatively the same in Stamford, Greenwich and Bridgeport. But the rents we get are much lower (in Bridgeport). Even though it costs the same thing to build a project, we get less revenue."

This year, in an attempt to make the money available to more developers, CHFA issued a second request for proposals. The agency received nine other proposals by the June 15 deadline.

The partnership behind 333 State Street Development, First National Development and Carlson Construction, both of Bridgeport, was notified in September about a $10 million allotment for their plan to renovate the dilapidated office building at 333 State St., which is projected to cost an overall $12 million. Christine Schilke, CHFA's planning and communication coordinator, said the project was chosen because it was "ready to proceed."

The money will help kick-start First National Development principal Garfield Spencer's efforts to convert the vacant eyesore, just two blocks away from Kuchma's building, into a mix of housing, retail and commercial space. Spencer could not be reached for comment.

The GE fund is unique to Bridgeport. The money is not intended to fully fund a development project, but can round off the total financing needed for a job. The money is to be repaid by a developer over time, enabling the revolving loan program to continue. Schilke said CHFA will be accepting revised applications from the remaining eight applicants through Dec. 4 before allotting the remaining $2.9 million.

The other applicants were: Urban Green Equities; Clinton Managers LLC; Bridgeport Phase II Owner, LLC; 60 Main Street, LLC c/o Westport Property Management LLC; the Bridgeport Housing Authority; Community Capital Fund, Inc.; Spinnaker Real Estate Properties, Inc.; Cherry Street Developers, LLC.

Mayor Bill Finch on Friday thanked CHFA for funding "two critical downtown projects."

"Bijou Square, the first new downtown construction in nearly 25 years, is a crucial project that now can move forward to completion," the mayor said. "The 333 State St. project has languished for many years, and now, with the help of $10 million, the developer and the city have a clear path for completion."

Donald Eversley, director of the city's Office of Planning and Economic Development, said: "These are two major pillars of downtown development, and we're grateful that CHFA and other state officials were able to work with the city to provide the funding to enable these projects to move forward in this difficult financing climate."

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site96/2009/1120/20091120__cp1121bptmoney~001_GALLERY.jpg
Two downtown projects stuck in the development pipeline are getting an infusion of $22 million from a fund set aside by General Electric Co. for housing and mixed-use projects in the city. Garfield Spencer, of First National Development was notified in September about a $10 million allotment for his plan to renovate the dilapidated office building at 333 State St. in Bridgeport.

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site96/2009/1120/20091120__cp1121bptmoney~002_GALLERY.jpg
The entrance to the dilapidated office building at 333 State St. in Bridgeport remains padlocked.

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site96/2009/1120/20091120__cp1121bptmoney~003_GALLERY.jpg
Two downtown projects stuck in the development pipeline are getting an infusion of $22 million from a fund set aside by General Electric Co. for housing and mixed-use projects in the city. Developer Phil Kuchma will get a $12 million allotment is to be used to complete his stalled condominium building at the corner of Fairfield Avenue and Lafayette Circle in Bridgeport, CT.

The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704204304574545573480433170.html

Starwood Plans to Relocate to Connecticut
NOVEMBER 19, 2009, 11:35 A.M. ET

By CHRISTINA S.N. LEWIS

Lured by government incentives worth as much as $89.5 million, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. will move its corporate headquarters to Stamford, Conn., from New York's Westchester County, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Wednesday.

The relocation, slated to be completed in 2012, will bring an estimated 800 jobs to the state, Ms. Rell said. The incentives include a $9.5 million loan, as much as $5 million in sales tax relief and up to $75 million in tax credits.

State and local governments in the New York City region have regularly used these types of incentives to woo each others businesses. New Jersey earlier this fall used an $89 million incentive package to convince the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. to move 1,600 employees from New York City to Jersey City.

Starwood will move to Harbor Point, a large mixed-use real estate development under construction in Stamford's south end, which is currently home to accounting firm Deloitte. The landlord, a local firm called Building & Land Technologies will shoulder some of the cost of the estimated $40 million renovation of the 250,000-square-foot space. Starwood said the move would save 20% annually in rent. Brokerage Newmark Knight Frank represented the hotel company.

Starwood is one of the world's largest hotel companies with nine hospitality brands including Sheraton, Westin, St. Regis and W Hotels.

Write to Christina S.N. Lewis at christina.lewis@wsj.com

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/ci_13823971

Construction begins on Norwalk residential rental development
By Susan Nova
CORRESPONDENT
Posted: 11/19/2009 12:05:40 PM EST
Updated: 11/19/2009 12:05:41 PM EST

Groundbreaking took place recently for the first phase of Summerview Square, a residential rental community with 63 units in the area of West Main, Summer and Jefferson streets in Norwalk. Several of the units, identical to the others, will be reserved as affordable housing.

The project, which received unanimous approval from the Norwalk Planning and Zoning Commission last December, will be built on land owned by AG Phases 1 and 2 LLC.

The venture, with one- and two-bedroom units, some of which include a bonus room, and a number of townhouses, will occupy 20 buildings built in the Colonial, Shingle and Victorian architectural styles on four sites.

The team at Summerview Development Group, a local building and development firm, will be the owners' representatives and construction managers. The Summerview partners are both two-term past presidents of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Fairfield County -- Andrew J. LaSala Jr. of Wilton and Neal Berko of the Sandy Hook section of Newtown.

"Because Neal and I are past presidents of HBRA, we're using members as suppliers, subcontractors, for insurance, marketing, even a Web site designer," LaSala said. "We bring this network concept to spreading the work around."

LaSala said he believes this is the right time for the project.

"Summerview's research has shown that we are cycled correctly for the product we're building," LaSala added. "We have a strong indication that rental properties are strong. The consensus is that Norwalk's real estate numbers are better than others', since it is a diverse marketplace. We plan for the long term, and the decision to do rentals was made months ago. We were well received and had a lot of cooperation from the city. We have all our ducks in a row. The expectation today is that the first section will be ready next spring."

LaSala is the director of construction at Cannondale Building and Design in Wilton, winner of numerous HOBI -- home building industry -- awards from the Home Builders Association of Connecticut. The firm specializes in custom homes, luxury remodeling, structural renovation and construction management in lower Fairfield and Westchester Counties. Berko, co-founder of Four Square Builders in Sandy Hook, was named the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Fairfield County's "Remodeler of the Year" for 2008.

The development group of Summerview has included its neighbors in the project, sponsoring clean-up days in the neighborhood and conducting a series of meetings to keep everyone informed of the design concepts as they developed.

"I promised the neighbors that no matter what homes I build, I would live in them myself," LaSala said. "I understand that this is the first infill development in Norwalk in 60 years."

The LaSala family has been in construction in this country for more than a century. Andrew J. LaSala Sr. was a masonry contractor and owner/developer of the LaSala Contracting Corp., where he was a partner and secretary from 1935 until his death in 1999. At one time a semi-pro baseball player, he won the Cardinal's Committee of the Laity "Construction Man of the Year" award.

The LaSalas' grandfather came alone from Sicily to New York in 1884 at the age of 13. The eldest of 11 children, he needed a job to gain entry to the U.S. and worked in construction for a cousin in Purchase, N.Y. A natural at business, he went from being a stone mason to plastering to erecting buildings, and paid for all of his family to come here, according to LaSala.

The architect of Summerview is Raymond G. Sullivan, whose Norwalk firm carries his family name. Among his Norwalk projects are the Norwalk transit facility, the Stew Leonard buildings and Haviland Gates, consisting of 29 rental units, 19 of which are new with the other 10 housed within historic buildings. Sullivan has also designed high-end multi-family products in Westchester County.

"We've got four lots so it's almost like rebuilding the neighborhood fabric," Sullivan said. "The neighborhood will look old-fashioned, like it grew up over time. Front doors will face the street, and the majority will have old-fashioned front porches. Garages will hold 75 cars, one or two for each unit, and surface parking will be behind the units."

In this "green" era, Summerview will reuse the foundation stones of the old houses to create new stone walls.

"We'll be using precision-cut and engineered materials, so there will be little waste on site," Sullivan said. "The exteriors and details will be of finger-jointed lumber efficiently employed."

The energy-conscious buildings will have high-efficiency envelopes, a high level of insulation, Energy Star appliances and light fixtures and high-efficiency gas furnaces.

Many of the homes will have dens. The two-bedroom homes have 2.5 baths, the one-bedrooms have either 1 or 1.5 baths. Kitchens will have wooden cabinets, and most will feature eating counters.

LaSala said the one-bedroom homes will start at about $1,000 monthly.

Older buildings in disrepair, with some already razed by a prior developer, previously sat on the Summerview land.

It's a challenging market, so the developers plan to build and rent the 13-unit Phase I and then continue on. Terence Beaty of William Pitt Sotheby's International Realty in Stamford is the listing agent, along with Colleen Pickwick from the Norwalk Pitt office.

Summerview is not the only rental project under way in Norwalk. After years of litigation, AvalonBay Communities Inc., based in Washington, D.C., began a development in the parking lot of River View Plaza along Belden Avenue last fall. Two four-story buildings will include more than 300 units, retail space, an underground parking garage and a new riverwalk with public access. Although no affordable housing is included, AvalonBay will work with a non-profit group to develop moderate-income housing at a nearby site.

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/ci_13828146

Springdale rail riders to find long-sought relief
By Martin B. Cassidy
Posted: 11/19/2009 10:07:38 PM EST
Updated: 11/20/2009 07:43:07 AM EST

STAMFORD -- For years, regular riders from the Springdale Metro-North Railroad station coping with wind-blown snow and rain have waited for something better than the small vestibule shelter at the center of the platform, Phyllis Pugliesi said.

Pugliesi, a management consultant and member of the Springdale Neighborhood Association, said a new 400-foot, $1 million platform canopy will be well worth the inconvenience of construction next year, making it easier for riders to wait during rain, snow, and wind.

"I think it's great and a phenomenal improvement for riders," Pugliesi said. "We'll all be getting out of the weather and there isn't a negative I can think about."

Next year, the state Department of Transportation will spend $2 million to install the already designed overhangs at the Springdale and Stratford stations, DOT Public Transportation Bureau Chief Jim Redeker said, with much of the cost deriving from the engineering requirements to drill foundations and keep the station in operation while work continues.

The projects should go out to bid after the New Year, and completed in 2010, he said.

"It is a fairly basic, steel-framed construction with nothing really glamorous," Redeker said. "I think we found a bit more of the cost came from establishing the foundations to support the structure in such a tight space. There is nothing extravagant."

On Thursday a commuter who declined to provide his name questioned the canopy's cost and said he would have preferred a wider and longer train platform that could accommodate additional cars arriving at the station.

"I usually time my arrival so I am on the platform for only a couple of minutes so the canopy is not that important," the man said. "I would prefer having a longer platform so I don't have to walk back to find a seat."

Jill Holcombe, a Springdale resident, said the new shelter was a welcome addition, and that the existing shelter didn't remain dry in the rain or block the wind.

"I think it's great," Holcombe said. "The men may not particularly care about freezing, but I do."

Last year city work crews improved the Springdale train station, using a $5,700 state grant to install a dozen bike racks and place new shrubs on traffic islands and medians.

Pugliesi said another important long-term concern is providing enough parking for commuters at the station to accommodate an expected growing ridership in coming years.

"That is going to be important to think about," Pugliesi said.

Redeker said that the actual cost of the canopy could be less when the state bids the contract because of the slow construction market, which has led to lower bids in recent months.

"It isn't necessarily going to cost $1 million and it could cost less," Redeker said.

Staff Writer Martin B. Cassidy can be reached at martin.cassidy@scni.com or at 203-964-2264.

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site96/2009/1119/20091119__st1119stcanopy~01.jpg
An architectural rendering of a proposed canopy shown here for the Stratford train station. The state Department of Transportation will use the same design for Springdale. (contributed image)

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/ci_13828086

Subway will run Connecticut highway plazas
By Martin B. Cassidy
STAFF WRITER
Posted: 11/19/2009 09:55:32 PM EST
Updated: 11/20/2009 07:19:14 AM EST

The state has signed a 35-year contract with a regional Subway restaurant franchiser and private equity firm to supply food and fuel and overhaul the state's highway plazas, an agreement which will include for the state a combined $500 million in revenue and investment to make over the 23 properties on Interstate 95, the Merritt Parkway and I-395, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced Thursday.

The state Department of Transportation awarded the contract to Doctor's Associates-Paul Landino, of North Haven, which develops Subway restaurants in Fairfield, Litchfield, New Haven, and Middlesex counties, as well as New York City, and will be taking over the plazas in partnership with the Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group, a large private equity firm, according to the governor's office.

The Carlyle Group and Doctor's Associates will invest $178 million to modernize and upgrade the 23 plazas, according to the governor's office; Doctor's Associates will formally take control of the plazas on Dec. 7.

Last year the DOT said it began seeking a firm to fund the upgrades and run the plazas, which are outdated and have not been substantially improved for more than 25 years.

Paul Landino, who in addition to operating the Subway franchise is also president of Subcon Inc. in North Haven, said that the 23 plazas would undergo a series of renovations starting in 2011, with three of them, including both the north and southbound I-95 plazas in Darien, which will be replaced with new 24,000-square-foot buildings.

For the time being, few changes will be made to area plazas, which will begin to incorporate new vendors as facilities are remodelled, Landino said.

McDonald's, which has provided food at state plazas since 1985, will remain one of the restaurants in eight of the 23 plazas under the agreement. All plazas under the contract will include a Subway, a Dunkin' Donuts, and a convenience store, the DOT said.

"There will be a big transition but the change will be gradual," Landino said. "Our intent is to very gradually add the brands as we redevelop and really turn the rest areas more into service plazas and mini-malls. We're looking to give Connecticut great places for people who are motoring to stop, and diversity of brands and quick service food has really evolved."

State Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, a member of the General Assembly's Transportation Committee and the Finance, Revenue, & Bonding Committee, said the contract needs to be analyzed by the non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis to understand what share of the revenue the state will receive under the contract.

Under previous agreements, the state got too small a portion of millions worth of revenue, McDonald said.

McDonald said it is also unclear what funding arrangements the state has made with ExxonMobil to deal with any necessary environmental cleanup from their operation of gas stations within the plazas.

"This seems like a well-conceived and appropriate deal that will enhance our service plazas for decades to come," McDonald said. "Still, I would like to see more details and have a non-partisan analysis of the economic details behind the deal."

The contract was signed this week after more than seven months of negotiation between the state and Landino's firm.

The plazas sell about 50 million gallons of gasoline a year, and bring in about $56 million from food and other goods sold, according to the DOT.

Alliance Energy, a Branford fuel distributor, has contracted with Doctor's Associates to provide fuel for the stations, with ExxonMobil continuing to provide fuel on an interim basis, Landino said.

DOT Spokesman Judd Everhart said the state had sought a single entity to run and modernize the facilities because it wanted to move ahead with the upgrades, and to simplify their management and oversight of the plazas.

"It makes everything much more streamlined," Everhart said.

Rell said the agreement is consistent with the state's goals of upgrading the plazas to better serve tourists and travelers, create jobs, and generate more revenue.

"This is an unprecedented commitment to economic development, jobs, and meeting the needs of the travelling public," Rell said. "We are changing the face of our service plazas to make them as inviting, safe, and convenient as possible to the hundreds of thousands of daily travellers on our most heavily used highways."

Staff Writer Martin B. Cassidy can be reached at martin.cassidy@scni.com or at 203-964-2264.

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/localnews/ci_13826714

Preservationists sue developers of downtown Stamford project

Staff Report
Posted: 11/20/2009 07:32:43 AM EST
Updated: 11/20/2009 07:32:53 AM EST

STAMFORD -- A preservationist group suing developers of a historic church in downtown Stamford won an emergency injunction in court Wednesday to stop its demolition, an attorney said.

The group, Save Old Stamford Inc. claims the city's Zoning Board did not obtain an independent review of the rectory's ability to be saved before approving the project. The suit also states there are alternatives to the building's demolition and that tearing it down would violate the public trust.

Tim Schantz, a treasurer for St. Andrew's said, "The lawsuit represents the height of disingenuity. Obviously, the Zoning Board took into consideration the various studies about the rectory."

The church, which is struggling financially, had argued that the 1873 building could not be rented and was too expensive to maintain. "The key thing to keep in mind is that the whole intention of this development is to restore the church itself," Schantz said.

Developers could have gotten permission to demolish the rectory as soon as Dec. 1. The current injunction is effective until further notice from the court. Glenn Gazin, the group's attorney, said a hearing on the injunction is scheduled for Dec. 14.

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/ci_13824789

Stamford's Old Town Hall reopens for rededication ceremony
By Elizabeth Kim
Staff Writer
Posted: 11/19/2009 02:16:48 PM EST
Updated: 11/20/2009 10:01:37 AM EST

STAMFORD -- Old Town Hall, considered one of the city's greatest architectural achievements, was opened Thursday as part of a rededication ceremony that drew local and state politicians.

Thursday's event was in part designed to honor the efforts of Mayor Dannel Malloy, who made restoring Old Town Hall one of his administration's priorities. The building will not officially open to the public until spring.

"This is an emotional moment," Malloy said. "I deeply wanted to see this job done."

The mayor, who leaves office at the month's end, said renovation of Old Town Hall had begun with "laser-like dedication" to its preservation, spending city, state and taxpayer dollars to fix the building's drainage and roof.

He spoke on the building's steps to an audience of about 100 people, many of whom played a part in the roughly $15 million renovation project, which began in 2007. Since 2001, a total of about $20 million -- a combination of a city loan, along with city and state grants, and federal tax credits -- has been spent on Old Town Hall.

Joining Malloy at the podium were Old Town Hall Redevelopment Agency members and Richard Blumenthal, the state attorney general.

Blumenthal said Stamford was "providing a model for what a community can do when it recognizes that preserves some of its best."

Built in 1906, the Beaux Arts building had been where residents came in touch with city government, from applying for marriage licenses to egistering to vote. In 1963, most of the city's operations moved to a new municipal office on Atlantic Street. A few agencies remained until 1987, when it was shuttered.

The renovated building is expected to house an art museum spread across seven rooms.

The city is seeking tenants to occupy the remaining portions of the building, and help pay for its upkeep, which is estimated to cost between $250,000 to $300,000.

The Ballet School of Stamford is thus far the only committed tenant, but the city is in discussions with a law firm, an architectural business, and an organization that does counseling business, according to Michael Freimuth, Stamford's economic development director.

The festivities, which took place on an unseasonably warm November day, included performances from marching bands from both Stamford and Westhill high schools.

Prior to the ceremony, several members of the Old Town Hall Redevelopment Agency toured the building. They were led by Jeff Pardo, the construction manager for the city's engineering department who has worked on the project since 2001 and was credited by the mayor and others with being one of its most passionate custodians.

It was a relatively brief tour; many of the rooms are still being renovated. But the finished core of the building, with its marble painted columns, wooden floors, and grand entrance way, was enough to restore an atmosphere of elegance.

James Nixon, the agency's vice president, stopped to admire the winding staircase. He said that he had always envisioned it as a site for weddings.

"A great photo-op," he said.

Nixon was among those who recalled getting his marriage license at Old Town Hall in the 1970s. At that time, the building was "horribly run down," he said.

Throughout the day, people likened saving Old Town Hall to preserving a part of the city's past, or soul.

"It's important to convert history into legacy," said City Rep. Harry Day, R-13.

During his speech, Malloy said that in his waning days as mayor, he had been asked whether leaving a job he has held for 14 years felt bittersweet.

"With the completion of this building, there is no bitter-sweetness," he said. "It is all sweetness."

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site96/2009/1119/20091119__st1120stoldtown~03_GALLERY.jpg
Mayor Dannel Malloy and his wife Cathy Malloy join local politicians, city officials, residents and Old Town Hall Redevelopment Agency members as they cut the ribbon at the Old Town Hall Rededication ceremony in Stamford Thursday. (Kathleen O'Rourke/Staff photo)

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site96/2009/1119/20091119__st1120stoldtown~02_GALLERY.jpg
Local politicians, residents and members of the Old Town Hall Redevelopment Agency tour the newly refurbished building. (Kathleen O'Rourke/Staff photo)

Woonsocket54

November 23rd, 2009, 01:21 AM

Some nice shots of Stamford from www.panelson.com.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/9021/stamford1.jpg
Tresser Boulevard

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/9716/stamford2.jpg
UConn

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/7864/stamford3.jpg
West Park Place

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/2326/stamford4.jpg
Landmark Tower

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/3349/stamford5.jpg
Tresser Boulevard

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/6528/stamford6.jpg
Train station

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/366/stamford7.jpg
Note how Trump is still under construction here

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/8819/stamford8.jpg
Landmark Tower

Woonsocket54

November 24th, 2009, 01:20 AM

at one time they had big plans for the hole in the ground at Tresser Blvd & Greyrock Pl

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HbxfX4sSsyM/SvgOY0lLppI/AAAAAAAADpQ/eOY7-QEPaIk/s1600/ContemporaryPlanning.jpg

Woonsocket54

November 29th, 2009, 08:12 PM

Sure bring back a lot of memories - these are the apartment buildings at 300 Tresser Boulevard with the hole in the ground in the foreground (before it became a total hole in the ground).

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/969/002pg.jpg

Woonsocket54

December 7th, 2009, 06:39 PM

render
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StamfordCT

January 23rd, 2010, 02:44 AM

wow...unbelievable....seeing that there really wasnt anything there, and then looking at the St. John's Towers now, buildings everywhere....Stamford grew up very quickly

StamfordCT

February 1st, 2010, 02:53 PM

Route 7 towns exploring idea of multi-use trail

Linking a network of pedestrian and bike trails from Norwalk north to Danbury would not only improve access to the Norwalk River Valley's wooded shores, but also serve residents by allowing them to ride bikes to rail stations, stores and other destinations, said Patricia Sesto, director of environmental affairs for the town of Wilton.

The network, called the Norwalk River Valley Trail, would extend about 17 miles from its start in South Norwalk, linking with other existing and future trails in Wilton, Ridgefield and Redding into Danbury, though a routing study is needed to determine the specific location of the path, Sesto said.

"This is a long-running desire of the community that has been long-standing, but we need to know what this trail could look like," Sesto said. "It could serve to get people better connected to the natural environment or change the way they commute."

A coalition led by the towns of Wilton, Ridgefield and Redding, with assistance from officials and activists in Norwalk and Danbury, recently received approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection for its application seeking a grant of $180,000 in federal funds to conduct a feasibility and route study for the trail.

The request, made this fall, is now being considered by the Federal Highway Administration and state Historical Commission alongside requests from other towns seeking some of the more than $1.4 million in highway funds expected to be awarded this year by the DEP to various trail construction and maintenance projects in Connecticut.

Previously built paths in Norwalk, Ridgefield and Wilton could act as links in the trail, which could also include new segments built on state-owned land previously reserved as a right of way to build a long-debated highway along Route 7 from Norwalk to Danbury, Sesto said.

Gail Lavielle, of the state-appointed Connecticut Public Transportation Commission, said the study would take about 18 months once it begins and give the group a working plan for the trail network to be reviewed by the public.

"We know there is support for it, but we need to have a series of public hearings to see what the public will think of a plan," said Lavielle, a Wilton resident, said. "We think there are ways to have connecting paths to train stations and other destinations and still make sure it is usable for that, as well as a nice recreational experience."

The DEP has made developing multiuse walking and bike trails a priority as part of its efforts to address air quality and climate change.

Under the state's Global Warming Solutions Act passed in 2008, the state aims to reduce greenhouse emissions by 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 percent below 2001 levels by 2050, according to the DEP.

Transportation accounts for more than one-third of the state's annual greenhouse emission levels, according to the DEP.

Since the 1990s, Norwalk has paved about six miles of the Norwalk River Valley Multi-Use Trail at a cost of about $2 million. It is intended to run the length of the city to Wilton and interconnect with Route 7 and Main Avenue, said Michael Yeosock, a senior engineer for the city of Norwalk.

The segments include stretches from the Maritime Aquarium in South Norwalk to Crescent Street, and Mathews Park to Union Park near the Norwalk Public Library, Yeosock said.

"I think the project is a very feasible one, but funding is probably another story," Yeosock said. "If there is enough influence and people looking for the project out there, it could be a great thing."

State Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, a supporter of building the Super 7 highway, said he favors establishing an extended bike and pedestrian trail if it doesn't claim state-owned parcels that have been set aside for the four-to-six lane expressway linking Interstate 95 in Norwalk to Interstate 84 in Danbury.

Long-standing opposition to the Super 7 project from residents of towns along Route 7 has stalled the work for decades, though Duff thinks expanding the road will become an economic necessity to allow workers easier travel between Norwalk and Danbury.

"I've supported the bike pedestrian trail on the Norwalk River Valley for years and think it is a worthy goal, but that doesn't mean I support using land that was set aside for a highway," Duff said. "You don't need that land to do the trail, and I am concerned that someone will use this worthy idea to move ahead with an agenda that will not be beneficial to the economy."

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Route-7-towns-exploring-idea-of-multi-use-trail-345347.php

RPM

March 4th, 2010, 09:48 AM

Harbor Point developer applies for zoning approval for mixed-use development south of I-95
By Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 10:15 p.m., Wednesday, March 3, 2010

STAMFORD -- The developer of Harbor Point has requested zoning approvals for an $80 million mixed-used development on a roughly six-acre lot bordering Washington Boulevard and the Metro-North Railroad platform.

Known as Gateway, the project calls for 474,000 square feet of commercial space in two 10-story office buildings and 200 housing units, of which 25 will be built in the first phase. In keeping with the requirements of the zone, known as the Transportation Center Design District, 12 percent of the residences will be designated as affordable.

The property lies just south of Interstate 95, at a high-profile nexus of downtown Stamford that includes the RBS and UBS complexes.

"It is our view that this corner is a very important corner as you arrive in Stamford," said John Freeman, a spokesman for the developer, Building and Land Technology. "Our development will complement UBS, RBS and Metro Center by completing the fourth corner at this key intersection, with a development that creates a real destination for rail commuters and pedestrians."

Led by Carl Kuehner, the Norwalk-based development firm estimates that Gateway will generate about $4 million in annual property taxes and more than $1 million in zoning permitting fees.

Preliminary versions of the project were first unveiled last summer. In October, Building and Land Technology won a critical approval for a request to change the city's master plan after announcing that it had a potential tenant for 250,000 square feet of office space.

The firm's identity has been a closely guarded secret. At the time, the only city officials who met with the tenant were then-Mayor Dannel Malloy and former economic development director Michael Freimuth.

But just last week, representatives for the developer and prospective tenant met with Mayor Michael Pavia and his new economic development director, Laure Aubuchon.

Building and Land Technology has said the proposed tenant is expected to create about 800 jobs.

Aubuchon on Wednesday called the meeting "very positive," but stressed the tenant was, at this point, only a potential one. Although she would not reveal the firm, she said it was "certainly somebody we would be enormously proud to have as part of the Stamford community."

Asked if the presence of a potential tenant should be a factor in the city's land use approval process, Aubuchon said, "It certainly makes the project a lot more attractive, but clearly the project still has to be decided on its merits."

"It doesn't color or expedite the process. We have to follow the rules."

Aubuchon's tempered response suggests a divergence from the previous administration. Last fall, Malloy made a rare appearance in front of the Planning Board, urging it to expedite its approval of the master plan change in light of the possible tenant.

The developer is now awaiting a crucial report from Pavia and his administration on whether the city should discontinue a portion of Henry Street, which falls within the proposed development site.

Last July, when the proposal went before the Board of Representatives' land use committee, representatives from rival developer Malkin Properties and South End neighbor Pitney Bowes objected to the partial street closure, saying that it would pose negative long-term traffic effects.

Norman Cole, the city's principal planner who oversees the zoning approval process, said the developer needs to have the Henry Street issue resolved before the project goes to a public hearing before the Zoning Board.

City land use officials said they have not had time to review the final site plan, which was submitted on Tuesday.

But Robin Stein, the city's land use bureau chief, said Wednesday he could not complain about a mixed-use transit-oriented development.

Stein, noting that the developer had razed several residential homes, raised concerns last fall about gentrification in his report to the Planning Board about the project.

During the public hearing before the board, Stein asked whether Building and Land Technology might commit to providing an even greater level of affordable housing than was required.

Freeman responded Wednesday that a lot of housing that was demolished had been derelict and vacant.

He added that the South End development Harbor Point is to include 400 affordable units, which is the most thus far provided by any private developer in Stamford.

The buildings, like those in Harbor Point, have received a gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's initiative called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development, he said.

As part of its ongoing conversations with the state Department of Transportation, the developer is also setting aside up to 500 parking spaces for train commuters. Building and Land Technology has proposed extending the train station's southern platform and connecting it with a walkway to its parking lot.

Asked who would finance this portion of the project, Freeman said that the developer and DOT were "still in conversation about it."

He added, "Everybody has been in support of the project."

Pending zoning approvals, Building and Land Technology hopes to start construction as early as this spring, he said.

Staff writer Elizabeth

Kim can be reached at

elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

Woonsocket54

March 24th, 2010, 07:49 PM

a southend bldg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4017/4341873347_4e3ac85df1_o.jpg

StamfordCT

June 10th, 2010, 04:57 AM

Stamford Hospital Expansion Criticized

STAMFORD -- As Stamford Hospital undergoes a lengthy zoning approval process for a $575 million redevelopment plan, its officials have made an effort to stress that the organization has worked hard to develop relationships with its neighbors on the West Side.

But recent complaints by homeowners who have been asked to sell their properties to the hospital have raised questions over how the hospital went about amassing roughly 10 acres to add to its 19-acre campus and whether its intentions were always as good and fair as it claims they were.

Among the most troubling allegations is that Northstar Strategies, a company hired by the hospital, used improper tactics to pressure homeowners into selling.

In at least four cases, individuals claimed the company tried to mislead them into believing the private hospital could get eminent domain declared to seize their property without their consent.

"At that point, I escorted them out," said Marisol Carde, who owns a two-family on Wright Street and was approached by Northstar around 2008. She said she directed all further contact to her attorney. Since then, she has not heard from Northstar or the hospital regarding her property.

At a public hearing last month, which is set to resume Monday, Kathleen Silard, the hospital's executive vice president and chief operating officer, said officials immediately ceased the contract with Northstar once they learned the company was "not living our values as an organization."

But in response, Michael London, a spokesman for Northstar, said, "Everything that Northstar did was under the clear direction of Stamford Health Systems."

Stamford Health Systems is the parent company of the hospital.

The hospital has said that Northstar worked on its behalf between August 2007 and October 2009.

Within that period, the hospital spent $30.7 million for 42 properties, with the bulk of the purchases occurring in 2008, according to city land records. Not including a parcel which sold for $2.5 million, the average sales price was around $700,000.

Richard Zurkowski, who has been representing his two aunts, said even after the hospital learned about Northstar's conduct, it did nothing to correct the misperceptions concerning eminent domain that began to swirl among homeowners.

"If the hospital was in it just to acquire property and wanted to do it fair and square, they would have come up and said, `We can't use eminent domain, but we'd like to acquire their property,' Instead, they've used it in their favor by non-information."

The two women have lived on Wright Street for about 80 years and have no intention of leaving, Zurkowski said. Nonetheless, he said the campaign to convince them to sell had been relentless.

Zurkowski has also criticized the way the hospital has overseen its stable of acquired residential properties.

Its initial decision to board up homes only invited vandalism and crime, Zurkowski said.

After he complained, the hospital hired Knight & Grabowski, a real estate and construction firm in Stamford, to rehabilitate the properties and manage them as rentals.

But not everyone has been happy with the results.

Vincent Autore, a homeowner on Wright Street, recently slipped on a pair of sneakers and gave a tour. Across the street, where a house had been razed, was a makeshift parking lot that included a tractor-trailer cab.

Aside from being an eyesore, Autore said the more pressing concern has been around the men who gather there, mostly on weekends.

"They drink and urinate in broad daylight," he said, angrily adding that the behavior even occurred in front of his wife and toddler daughter.

"This neighborhood was not like that."

Steve Grabowski, one of the owners of Knight & Grabowski, said he checks on the properties a few times a week. The tractor-trailer, he acknowledged, was parked illegally and he asked the resident to remove it.

Regarding sightings of public drinking in the parking lot, he replied, "I have no control over that."

Grabowski added, "I think if you talk to our tenants, they will say they have been very happy with what we've done."

Scott Orstad, a spokesman for the hospital, said in an e-mail that the hospital security department patrols the campus and its perimeter every night.

Autore and Carde said they have never witnessed it.

Despite their frustrations, none of the homeowners have come out against the hospital's expansion.

Autore is in negotiations with the hospital. He, along with Zurkowski's aunts, have been the only two holdouts on the side of the block bordering the hospital.

"They just could have handled it better," Autore said. "They should have said, `We really need to further our plan,' and appeal to the better nature of a person."

The gradual extinction of the neighborhood is especially sad to Autore, a 57-year-old musician who works as a driver by day. He has lived in a modest Cape-style house on the corner his entire life, from the moment he was carried inside by his mother, who walked home from the hospital.

There was life on the streets during his childhood. Children played football; adults listened to music. On the corner, where a Domino's Pizzeria now stands, was the locally renown Hillcrest Variety Store. "Where you could not only get good food but you talk all about your issues," he said.

He was never approached by Northstar. In the beginning, he had conversations with an agent from GVA Williams, a real estate brokerage in Stamford, which the hospital said handled a smaller portion of its acquisitions. Now, hospital officials have been dealing with him directly, a move he credited as a significant improvement.

But why it took so long bewilders him.

"This is the hospital of all places," he said in a tone of disbelief. "Who were their contributors? They are people who are interested in the health care of this country."

StamfordCT

June 10th, 2010, 05:00 AM

Stamford Official Approve Eminent Domain for Transitway project

STAMFORD -- A month after concerns about eminent domain threatened to bring the Urban Transitway to a halt, the Board of Representatives approved land acquisitions for the project's second phase.

In a major turnaround, city representatives voted 34-2 Monday in favor of acquiring $8.3 million in land through negotiation or eminent domain. The $131 million roadway project seeks to relieve traffic downtown by connecting the Stamford train station and the East Side.

Under the proposed acquisitions, the city plans to buy six full properties on Myrtle Avenue and Elm and East Main streets, along with portions of 18 parcels on Myrtle Avenue, to make way for the 2.25-mile long commuter pathway between.

The project faced a major setback last month, when a bipartisan majority of the board voted against the city administration plan, with many members saying a $40 million funding shortfall and lack of a sufficient number of agreements with property owners made them uncomfortable authorizing the city to take property by force.

City Rep. Harry Day, R-13, chair of the board's Land Use Committee and a vocal proponent of the project, said Monday's decision was a relief. In the wake of last month's vote, Day warned the delay could jeopardize future federal funding and throw already negotiated agreements with property owners into limbo.

"I'm really gratified," Day said. "The people on the Board of Representatives really do have a lot of wisdom, and when they got the chance, they voted not to go backwards."

Representatives who previously blocked the acquisitions said they hope the city avoids eminent domain wherever possible.

"It is my hope that everyone will come out of this feeling like they were treated fair," said South End representative Terry Adams, D-3, who led the upset last month. "I'm hoping that eminent domain will not have to be used."

City Rep. Patrick White, D-1, who voted against the proposal Monday, said he has always believed the project will be detrimental to the neighborhood. City Rep. Joseph Coppola, R-15, cast the other vote against the proposal.

The turnaround came after administration officials worked hard to assuage board members' concerns.

During a second public hearing on the plan last month, Rachel Goldberg, the attorney handling negotiations for the city, told representatives she had increased the number of signed agreements with property owners to five of the six full acquisitions. She said the city had either drafted or signed term sheets for 10 of the 18 partial acquisitions.

Goldberg has said that without eminent domain, owners tend to draw out the process by stalling or raising demands.

Several property owners, who had willingly negotiated with the city, said the board's roadblock in May left them stranded. Bharat Desai, a Myrtle Avenue business owner, said at the time he was "disappointed" by the decision. Even those who oppose the project said they did not know how to interpret the vote.

The May upset was the first time significant opposition had emerged for the Urban Transitway, which former Mayor Dannel Malloy championed as one of his top accomplishments. The project, conceived in early 2000, has already received roughly $75 million in pledged federal funding. But doubts arose among elected officials about the immediate viability of the project after Connecticut failed to win a share of $1.5 billion in federal TIGER grants in February, including a $32 million request to build the second part of the transitway.

Stamford officials have said existing funding is sufficient for acquisitions and construction up to Warren Street **-- three blocks short of where some of the proposed purchases sit. But city Economic Development Director Laure Aubuchon has said the city is preparing to apply for federal stimulus funding later this year to cover the $40 million shortfall.

:ohno::ohno::ohno:

StamfordCT

June 10th, 2010, 05:05 AM

I live near the Transitway project, and I can tell you this, all the construction has made traffic WORSE.....and it hasnt even been completed yet...my street (myrtle avenue) is a 2 way street, now its gonna change to a 6 lane...2 lanes..2 HOV lanes...and bike paths.....heavy congestion will take place....

scalziand

June 13th, 2010, 12:09 AM

Renaissance Place gets boost

Federal help may advance $710 million project

BY PAUL SINGLEY

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

NAUGATUCK — The com*munity’s long-stalled Renais*sance Place redevelopment project won some key federal support last week.

Congresswoman Rosa De-Lauro promised to fight for money for the downtown revi*talization project, and a federal agency representative said the project meets some of Presi*dent Obama’s major goals for economic development.

At the same time, borough leaders revealed more about the anticipated, $710 million project than they had previous*ly.

It all happened during a meeting last week at Town Hall during which borough officials, Renaissance Place developer Alexius C. Conroy and others pitched the project to U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, and Willie C. Taylor, regional director for the federal Eco*nomic Development Adminis*tration.

Borough officials are focus*ing on Phase One of the four phase project, and they’re looking for some $30 million in public investment through state and federal grants. They say that money will unlock $152 million in private investments by Conroy for medical facilities, office space, retail outlets, restaurants, entertainment venues and condominiums in Naugatuck’s downtown.

DeLauro didn’t mince words when tossing her support behind the project, which will depend on a private and public partnership between the borough and Conroy.

“I’m going to fight like you know what to get that money through the Appropriations Committee,” she told Mayor Robert A. Mezzo, referring to a $3 million request the borough has pending to build a parking garage for Phase One. That money would come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Taylor said the Economic Development Administration wouldn’t necessarily fund a parking garage, but may be able to fund alternative energy initiatives such as solar panels on top of a parking garage, as well as infrastructure improvements such as roads and traffic lights. He said Renaissance Place appears shovel ready and would fulfill the Obama administration’s goals of creating alternative energy solutions, creating more health care facilities, working collaboratively to help the region and redeveloping old contaminated former industrial properties known as brownfields.

In his pitch for funding to Taylor and DeLauro, Mezzo said he doesn’t like asking for money or handouts.

But he said Naugatuck needs Renaissance Place. Economic impact studies suggest Phase One would bring in $4.4 million a year in net tax revenue and thousands of jobs to Naugatuck.

He also revealed new details about the project, stating that Conroy has had discussions with high-end restaurateurs who are interested in moving into the former train station at 195 Water St. That architecturally significant building is currently occupied by the Naugatuck Historical Society and the economic development corporation. Mezzo said a high-end restaurant there would create about 40 jobs.

And he discussed — in more detail than he has previously — a plan by Conroy to build a medical facility on the corner of Maple and Water streets that would be anchored by Saint Mary’s Hospital. Mezzo said the building would be about 40,000 square feet, would have a major focus on sports medicine and physical therapy and would create about 150 jobs.

When asked for specifics about Saint Mary’s plans to move to a new facility in Naugatuck, the hospital’s chief spokesman said Saint Mary’s, which has a small walk-in center on New Haven Road in the borough, is very committed to the Naugatuck community.

Joe Connolly, chief marketing and government relations officer at Saint Mary’s, said the hospital believes Renaissance Place “represents a fantastic opportunity not only for us but for all of Naugatuck, and we look forward to being a part of it.”

He said the hospital’s current walk-in clinic, which would be moved if the medical facility is built downtown, serves approximately 3,000 people a year. He said a building inside Renaissance Place would provide a chance to grow even more than that in the borough.

Currently, the site where the Saint Mary’s facility would be constructed, a vacant 2.2-acre lot known as Parcel C, is being cleared of contaminants through a $1 million cleanup project.

The project is halted right now because the people cleaning it found underground chemicals that they did not expect to find. Borough officials say they have figured out how to clean those materials, and that the cleanup process should continue this week.

..

Woonsocket54

June 17th, 2010, 04:16 AM

hmmm... I love me that Transitway. The section between Atlantic St and Canal St is sweet and fast.

StamfordCT

June 17th, 2010, 05:53 AM

it's fast, but on elm street and myrtle its a nightmare....

Woonsocket54

August 2nd, 2010, 08:01 AM

The Advocate
http://www.newstimes.com/default/article/Stamford-once-critical-of-the-idea-embraces-516478.php

Stamford, once critical of the idea, embraces housing for prominent downtown corner
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 09:48 p.m., Tuesday, June 8, 2010

STAMFORD -- Around 2008, developer Seth Weinstein approached the city with a plan to build housing on one of its most prominent corners: the roughly 3-acre site at Tresser and Washington boulevards that once housed The Advocate.

Adding more housing downtown had long been one of the Stamford's missions, and Weinstein was an established residential developer who said he had the funding to start construction immediately. But the plan, involving a midrise building with ground-floor retail, had a mixed reception at City Hall.

"It became clear there was a division of opinion," Weinstein said recently.

Some saw the former residential block, with its proximity to Mill River, as perfect for housing; others said the site should be reserved for commercial development. Yet another contingent complained the design was too small and boring for such a high-profile corner.

In the end, Weinstein decided not to pursue the project.

Now, after the property has remained dormant for more than a year, another developer is pitching housing.

Greenfield Partners, a Norwalk-based developer, has submitted a preliminary zoning application that calls for 350 rental apartments and 10,645 square feet of retail, commercial or live-work space.

This time, city officials appear to be on board. The difference, those involved said, is the building's unique design, along with a scaled-back economy that has all but eliminated the possibility for costly steel high-rises such as Trump Parc, and lessons from a never-realized residential downtown development known as Archstone.

Once city officials embraced housing as a use, the next challenges had to do with finding a suitable design for a site that faces two very different sections of downtown.

"It definitely wants to be a more modern building," said Norman Cole, the city's principal planner. "Just look at what it's surrounded by: new commercial office buildings in a corridor that's mostly new construction."

But its other frontage is on Clinton Avenue, a residential block near Mill River. There, the city recognized that it had another objective: to create "an in-town kind of feel," Cole said.

On top of all that, marketplace reality required architecture to be constrained to 4 1/2-stories.

As a result, developers came up with a plan that calls for two distinctively different facades that transition from a townhouse feel on Clinton Avenue to a more "edgy and contemporary" aesthetic along Tresser and Washington boulevards, according to Richard Redniss, the project's planning consultant.

Sketches show private, street-level entrances on the ground floor on the Clinton Avenue side, and duplex apartments and terraces along the commercial corridor.

At Washington and Tresser boulevards, the building will be capped by a light beacon that is meant to give the appearance of added height and modernity, as well as enhance the night skyline in a city that has realized one gradually.

"You have many times during the day when you don't think about what a building looks like at night," Redniss said. "The whole lighting element enhances that experience."

The concept had actually first been introduced to Stamford by Archstone-Smith. Up until late 2008, the Colorado-based real estate investment trust had been involved in lengthy discussions with the Urban Redevelopment Commission over a proposed residential development on yet another prominent downtown corner: West Park Place and Washington Boulevard.

In response to the URC's request for an iconic design that would serve as a gateway into Mill River Park, Archstone came up with a tower lantern that rose a story above the building.

Last year, citing the economic downturn, Archstone gave up on the project and wound up selling the property to the city.

Kip Bergstrom, the URC's executive director, said that had it been built, the Archstone building "would have fundamentally redefined the stick product in the East."

Bergstrom said that on the West Coast, developers have been more inventive with midrise construction. The tendency here, he said, has been to construct faux colonial clapboard buildings that lack "interest, texture, urbanity."

He added, "They all tend to look like each other."

Bergstrom said preliminary plans for the former Advocate site suggest a more elegant and street-focused design that would break that east coast trend.

"I think it appeals to a huge segment of the market, which is new workers, new families," he said. "Why not create a product that's appropriate for the people that you are selling it to?"

Yet despite positive early feedback, the project is still far from certain. Because the site lies within the Mill River Corridor, the developer will have to undergo a dual review process. Its applications must be reviewed by both the city's Urban Redevelopment Commission as well as the planning and zoning boards.

Cole said the Land Use Bureau hopes to complete its assessment of the project by mid-July.

On Thursday, the URC is to begin considering the developer's request to redesignate the parcel in the Mill River Corridor Plan, as well as amend its regulations on affordable housing.

There are significant stakes for both parties. For the developer, it represents a chance to develop a prime piece of real estate. For the city, a portion of property taxes from the site, which is part of the Mill River Corridor, would go toward funding redevelopment of Mill River Park.

Redniss, who had represented Weinstein during his failed bid to develop the site, said part of the city's newfound consensus had to do with the fact that several approved residential projects fell victim to the economy and never materialized.

"The thought that we can be really picky has kind of abated," he said. "It's a combination of wanting the housing downtown and capturing that design experience."

Staff writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

http://a.imageshack.us/img828/3649/75tresser1.jpg
looking south along west side of Washington Blvd btw Tresser Blvd and Division St (UBS bldg visible on west)

http://a.imageshack.us/img715/1069/75tresser2.jpg
looking west along south side of Tresser Blvd btw Washington Blvd and Clinton Ave

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Housing-project-at-former-Advocate-site-moves-598274.php

Housing project at former Advocate site moves ahead
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 09:17 p.m., Saturday, July 31, 2010

STAMFORD -- A developer is close to securing a critical zone change needed to build housing in a prominent corner of the downtown once owned by The Advocate.

The roughly 3-acre site at 75 Tresser Blvd. is currently categorized as commercial under the city's Mill River Corridor Plan, a section of the downtown roughly bounded by Interstate-95, Mill River Street, Washington Boulevard and the University of Connecticut parking garage. In addition to the city's Zoning Board, the Mill River Corridor is overseen by the Urban Redevelopment Commission.

Greenfield Partners, a real estate investment company based in Norwalk, has submitted plans to construct 350 apartments and about 11,000 square feet of retail.

As part of the approval process, the land use committee of the Board of Representatives and URC held a joint public hearing Wednesday night on a proposal to amend the Mill River Corridor zoning category to permit owners of commercial property in the area to develop residential uses.

"We are trying to spur the private sector to do what this developer is doing," said Rachel Goldberg, the attorney for the URC, who presented the amendment.

Under the current Mill River Corridor plan, residential developers are required to make 9 percent of their units affordable. The developer has additionally proposed widening the current range of affordability to match one adopted recently by the Zoning Board. It would allow developers to market their units to families who earn either 25 percent, 60 percent and 80 percent of the area median income.

Following the hearing, the Board of Representatives' land use committee voted 4-0 to recommend the amendments. On Friday, the URC also voted in favor of the changes. Final approval is subject to a Monday vote by the full Board of Representatives.

Wednesday's meeting did not involve any discussions about the project's design, but City Rep. Art Layton, R-17, suggested he was interested in the fate of a beech tree on the site that is estimated to be more than 100 years old.

Robin Stein, the city's land use bureau chief, has said he plans to ask about the possibility of saving the tree and hoped others might raise the issue as well.

In 1978, architects working on The Advocate facility successfully lobbied its then owner, Times Mirror Co., to design around it.

Before any questions about it could be asked, chairman Harry Day smiled and said, "It's too early to talk about the beech tree."

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

Woonsocket54

August 4th, 2010, 03:14 AM

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Board-approves-Gateway-deal-600852.php

Board approves Gateway deal
Magdalene Perez, Staff Writer
Published: 12:41 p.m., Tuesday, August 3, 2010

STAMFORD -- Despite continuing traffic concerns, the Board of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Monday to approve a deal that will allow developers to close a portion of Henry Street in exchange for $500,000 for South End infrastructure improvements.

The 37-2 vote was a crucial step for the mixed-use Gateway project, which Norwalk-based developers Building and Land Technology said they hope to have under construction by fall. If approved by the city Zoning Board, the project would have 474,000 square feet of commercial space and at least 100 units of housing on a 6-acre site along Washington Boulevard, south of the train station.

John Freeman, the spokesman for the Building and Land Technology, said firm was "very excited" about Monday's decision.

"We really appreciate the approval," Freeman said. "We think it's a great result for the South End and the city of Stamford."

Under the deal, the city agrees to discontinue a portion of Henry Street, appraised at a value of $900,000, in exchange for $500,000 to be applied to the Henry and Atlantic streets intersection "or other public infrastructure improvements" related to the development, to be paid prior to the road closing. The arrangement also calls for the developer to dedicate land along Washington Boulevard and Pulaski Street to road widening, and a to grant pedestrian access through the site to an overlook of the river. According to the agreement, endorsed by Mayor Michael Pavia, the easements and access agreements would serve to offset the appraised value of the land.

City Rep. Mary Uva, R-1, one of the two representatives to vote against the deal, voiced the most prominent criticism of the project, which is that the development would be detrimental to traffic in the South End. Contributing to such concerns are other ongoing and recently completed developments in the neighborhood, including Building Land and Technology's mixed-use Harbor Point project, which at more than 80 acres is the state's largest development.

"We're looking at over 4,200 parking spaces for all of the projects that are going in," Uva said. "I think we can expect more traffic in the South End and also more I-95 commuters."

City Rep. Harry Day, R-13, who shepherded the project through the city's Land Use Committee, argued the board would be overstepping its role by taking up traffic concerns, which are the purview of the Zoning Board, he said.

Day pointed to benefits of the project, including projected revenues of about $2 million in permit fees and about $3.5 million a year in tax payments, and the developer's agreement to dedicate 500 of the site's 1,799 parking spaces to commuter parking.

"We're looking a gift horse in the mouth here," Day said.

Given the approval, the developer can now seek zoning approval for its final site plan, the last step before proceeding with construction.

The Zoning Board is set to hold its next meeting in September.

Staff Writer Magdalene Perez can be reached at magdalene.perez@scni.com 203-964-2240.

Woonsocket54

August 4th, 2010, 03:57 AM

Stamford construction updates

One Harbor Point Square (8 floors; 260,272 sq ft)
Photo taken Aug 2, 2010
http://a.imageshack.us/img842/6332/1003064.jpg

Two Harbor Point Square (6 floors; 140,222 sq ft)
Photos taken Aug 2, 2010
http://a.imageshack.us/img832/1019/1003068.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img826/9760/1003065.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img841/9367/1003075.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img823/6899/1003070.jpg

The two office buildings together
http://a.imageshack.us/img841/442/1003067.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img823/2554/1003072.jpg

101 Park Place - 101 Washington Blvd (15-story, 336-unit apartments)
Photo taken Aug 2, 2010
http://a.imageshack.us/img827/4214/1003069.jpg

Also, you can rent this apartment on Dyke Lane in Stamford.
2-car garage. Door into thin air.
http://a.imageshack.us/img826/4030/1003080.jpg

Habitat for Humanity houses at Spruce St & W Main St on the West Side
Photos taken Aug 2, 2010
http://a.imageshack.us/img842/1531/1003082.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img716/3789/1003081i.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img826/1084/1003083.jpg

Slum clearance - this house at the end of Hanrahan St was supposed to be demolished a few months ago.
Photos taken Aug 3, 2010
http://a.imageshack.us/img826/4420/1003084.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img715/8928/1003085p.jpg

1231 Washington Blvd apartments - on site of old St Andrew's Rectory - 94 apartments
Photos taken Aug 3, 2010
http://a.imageshack.us/img827/4961/1003086.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img823/9716/1003087.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img827/3227/1003091.jpg
as seen from Franklin Street

UConn Garage renovation
Photo taken Aug 3, 2010
http://a.imageshack.us/img841/982/1003088.jpg

see anything wrong with this picture?
http://a.imageshack.us/img823/4434/1003090.jpg

Highgrove on Forest Street - not done yet because some of the ground-floor
doors and windows have plywood over them
Photo taken Aug 3, 2010
http://a.imageshack.us/img826/1631/1003094n.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img827/4995/1003096c.jpg

Woonsocket54

August 24th, 2010, 09:43 PM

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-simsbury-development-story-0824-20100823,0,1985641.story

Two Large, Mixed-Use Development Projects Underway In Simsbury
By RINKER BUCK and MELISSA TRAYNOR, rbuck@courant.com

August 24, 2010
SIMSBURY — — They stand on either end of town as monuments to Simsbury's past — one a renovated gristmill, the other a reclaimed gravel pit.

But in the next year they might come to symbolize that Simsbury and other Farmington Valley towns still have a vibrant economic future.

This fall, in the first major building project that Simsbury has had in three years, a developer plans to break ground on the first phase of an outpatient medical facility called Dorset Crossing. The site is along Route 10 about a half-mile south of the Granby line. And in the spring, another developer hopes to break ground for a 98-unit housing complex anchored to the historic gristmill on West Street near Hopmeadow Street. The pedestrian-friendly development — to be called Hop Brook — would be within walking distance of downtown.

Although their downtown streets and commercial malls continue to bustle with activity, Farmington Valley towns have been battered by the weak national recession in one important respect: Except for a few housing projects, new building has almost stalled, idling hundreds of local tradespeople and bedeviling the efforts of the towns to balance their budgets this spring.

Statistics from Simsbury tell the story. In 2006 and 2007, the town issued 98 building permits for houses, a number that shrank to just 11 permits in 2009 and 2010. For commercial buildings, Simsbury issued 11 permits in 2006 and 2007; since 2009, the town has issued two commercial permits.

"There's no question that new residential construction is still down, but at least this [Hop Brook project] begins to put us back on track," Hiram Peck, Simsbury's town planner, said last week.

"But what's most significant about the Hop Brook project is that it's a combination of uses that runs from residential development to historic preservation, exactly the kind of mix that we hoped for when we went through a very detailed process of looking at what the town should be."

Medical Care

The Dorset Crossing development is on Route 10 just north of the International Skating Center, in an area that Simsbury planning officials call the "northern gateway" into town.

Developer Anthony Giorgio, managing director of the Keystone Companies of Avon, said the new outpatient buildings are the first phase of construction on a 20-acre site that will eventually include a mixed-use complex of offices, retail and residential space. Giorgio said that one of the two buildings he hopes to begin this fall will be occupied by doctors with St. Francis Care, affiliated with St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford. He said he is negotiating with other doctors' groups for space in the second building.

The project reflects a national trend — accelerated by the passage of health care reform in Congress this year — of lowering medical costs by relocating services such as orthopedics and radiology out of hospitals and into suburban communities, closer to where many patients live.

"These are still extremely precarious times in real estate, and the banks have made it clear that the only areas they are really interested in are multifamily rentals, student housing and medical offices," Giorgio said. "So here we have the ability to take advantage of one of those areas and bring to the community a local place where both routine and emergency care can be offered."

Peck said that Dorset Crossing also offers the town an opportunity to create an attractive complex near the northern end of town at a time when Simsbury and the Capitol Region Council of Governments are jointly conducting a Route 10 "corridor study" to determine improvements that might be made to the road to accommodate growth.

"The project is putting back to productive economic use what was basically just a hole in the ground," Peck said, referring to the gravel bed that was once on the site. "The walk-in medical aspect that the project offers gives us a critical mass for activity in an area that's had little activity lately."

Mill Renovation

The Hop Brook project in the south end of Simsbury has been in the planning stages by Landworks Development of Farmington for more than a year. But plans were not submitted until this year, after Simsbury approved its regulations for so-called Planned Area Development zones that allow mixed-use commercial and residential sites. Plans are for the 20-acre site to be developed on three parcels owned by Ensign-Bickford Realty Corp., which Landworks will buy once the town approves its applications.

The plans at Hop Brook call for the renovation of the mill, the former location of the Hop Brook Tavern, which can be seen from West Street and is known for its red roof and siding. The developer hopes to make space for a 7,000-square-foot restaurant and about 6,000 square feet of office space. The 98 residential units would be built along Grist Mill Road; plans call for 20 townhouses and 78 rental apartments.

The new complex would be connected to the town's sidewalks, and the developers hope to attract residents who want both the convenience of living near town and easy walks or commutes to nearby businesses.

"We're trying to make it a pedestrian-friendly area," said Landworks partner Chris Nelson.

Activity In Avon

Although Simsbury appears to be the one Farmington Valley town with active commercial projects, there are two residential developments under construction in Avon.

Planning officials there say that a 103-unit senior apartment complex off Route 44, and a 20-home subdivision on Country Club Road, are being built. They said they are also aware of potential mixed-use and housing developments on Security Drive and behind the Avon Village center, but developers have not formally filed applications with the town.

Officials in Canton and Farmington say that they are unaware of any major projects in the near future. In Granby, construction has continued on two small residential subdivisions.

The two fledgling projects in Simsbury hardly establish a case that Connecticut and the Farmington Valley have turned the corner and are beginning a rebound from the recession. Connecticut Department of Labor figures show that the state's unemployment rose from 8.8 percent in June to 8.9 percent in July, amid national jitters that the economy is "double-dipping" back toward recession.

But the Simsbury projects are glimmers of a more robust economy that could position the area to begin a recovery in 2011 and 2012.

"In the midst of a recession, people tend to forget just how much activity still goes on," said Steven Lanza, executive editor of The Connecticut Economy, the quarterly magazine published by the economics department of the University of Connecticut.

"In the last recession, in the 1990s, when Connecticut took a huge hit and lost 150,000 jobs, we still made gains in other economic indicators like productivity and income levels" Lanza said.

"That could very well be what's happening now in towns like Simsbury and Avon, where green shoots like these development projects give us a truer picture of an economic vitality that is still very much there."

Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant

Woonsocket54

August 24th, 2010, 09:48 PM

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Downtown-conversions-Commercial-spaces-find-new-629664.php

The Advocate

Downtown conversions: Commercial spaces find new life
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 01:56 p.m., Tuesday, August 24, 2010

STAMFORD -- Two years ago, Naomi Rein spied a sign advertising a new apartment complex that was under construction on the corner of Prospect Street, a mostly tree-lined residential block that connects diagonally to the center of downtown.

Rein, who lived farther north off Washington Boulevard, happened to be on the hunt for a new place to live.

"Something just drew me here," she said.

For one thing, Rein, who has gone through several professional incarnations, had been inside the concrete five-story complex before. More than a decade ago, she worked as an attorney there when it served as one of the nondescript office buildings scattered around the downtown.

Today, after a $4.5 million renovation, the complex at 111 Prospect St. stands as a fully occupied apartment building that has 55 studios. Rein pays $1,100 a month for a 447-square-foot unit.

There is nothing to suggest its former use, except perhaps for the high ceilings. Rein, who does not have a car, walks to work several blocks away.

"I really love it here," she said.

In Stamford, conversions of modern-day office buildings to housing goes back to 1993, but they are becoming more common. Since 2006, a total of 251 residential units have been created as a result of office conversions, according to Stamford's Land Use Bureau. Recent units have mostly been rentals. Some, like those at 111 Prospect St., are skewed toward the more affordable end, while others target the kinds of higher-income professionals that work at companies like UBS and RBS.

At a time when the pace of new housing construction has slowed, the city has welcomed the renovations.

"From a planning standpoint, I like it because it puts a greater variety of housing in the market, and it's putting them in the downtown," said Norman Cole, the city's principal planner.

The city's Zoning Board has made conversions more appealing by loosening density restrictions and reducing the affordability requirements. Rather than the usual 10 percent, developers of conversions need to make only 6 percent of their units below-market rate.

From the perspective of property owners and developers, conversions make sense in light of the scarcity of land and the weak demand for commercial space. Although the figure is slightly down from last year, the overall vacancy rate for the city's central business district has been discouragingly high. It was 22.5 percent during the second quarter of 2010, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Randy Salvatore, a local housing developer, said candidates for conversions have tended to be smaller, older office buildings.

"The first to get hit are the (class) B and C buildings," Salvatore said. "That's typically what's been converted."

He recently partnered with Seaboard Properties for a $25 million luxury apartment conversion of an office tower at 100 Prospect St.

In the case of 111 Prospect St., Garden Homes Management Corp., whose core business is housing, had operated the building as office space for lawyers, accountants and similar professionals for about 15 years before deciding on a conversion.

Although the firm could see that the office market was dwindling, the process still came with significant risks and costs, according to Richard Freedman, president of Garden Homes Management.

For starters, there was the none-too-simple matter of evacuating the tenants.

"When you vacate, your income drops," he said. "Then you start to lose money. The question is, how long can you sustain that?"

And while there are savings associated with conversions -- such as not having to perform expensive site work -- there is still extensive construction involved, especially with older structures.

"You're rebuilding the building," Freedman said.

Salvatore agreed, saying, "When you start from the ground up, you can design whatever you want. There are no surprises."

But the gamble appears to have paid off for both developers.

Freedman said the apartments at 111 Prospect St., which opened in January 2009, were fully rented after five months.

His company has just completed another conversion of an office building it has owned since 1972, at 25 Third St. The 50-unit complex has studios and one- and two-bedrooms that rent for $1,100 to $1,800 a month.

Both of Freedman's conversion projects are furnished with basic appliances that are intended to be functional, not fancy. There are no granite countertops or stainless steel refrigerators. Residents share a laundry room. They also have a small exercise room.

The goal, Freedman said, is to provide the downtown market with apartments that are new but nonetheless affordable.

"That's our business," he said.

As a sign that he has tapped into a niche market, his company has another conversion under way at 800 Summer St. The building will have 89 units, entirely made up of studios.

Freedman said he hopes to court students at UConn-Stamford.

Although directed at a different market, 100 Prospect St. has also been viewed as successful. The building, which opened with 94 one-bedroom units last summer, took six to eight months to become fully leased, Salvatore said.

Rents range from $1,600 to $3,000 a month.

While office architecture can come off as somewhat cold, in that building, the developers took advantage of the 7-foot floor-to-ceiling windows that offer a view of the city's skyline. They replaced half the windows with new ones that opened, but they kept the windows the same size.

"It came out great," Salvatore said.

Noting that all of the conversions have been downtown, he added, "That's really what you want to see. You want housing, you want people to live downtown and experience downtown."

At 62, Rein does not fit with the described demographic of downtown apartment dwellers, who are said to be professionals under 35.

But she is among those who sought out Stamford for its affordability and its extensive network of community and social services.

Like the building she lives in, she has been through a conversion of her own -- from a corporate economist at General Electric with an apartment on Park Avenue to a homeless single mother who spiraled into a severe depression after a divorce.

In 2000, she was given housing assistance from St. Luke's LifeWorks, a Fairfield County social service agency that provides various kinds of outreach with a goal toward self-sufficiency. Rein, who has a master's degree in economics in addition to a law degree, was eventually hired as to work the front desk of its office in Stamford.

"They said I was the face of St. Luke's," she said.

She is now on its board of directors.

Having once been an overworked lawyer who found it difficult to turn away pro bono cases, Rein has become a recovery educator for the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. It is the same place that helped diagnose and treat her for bipolar depression.

Inside her apartment, she keeps several pictures of her son and surrealist works by the Israeli artist Arik Kilemnik. Near the door is a plaque of a 1970 New York Times article that featured her working as a tour guide for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She got the job at age 22 on a recommendation from an economics professor at Brooklyn College. Known then as Norma Zandman, she is sitting at her desk in the photo with her hair upswept, taking questions about bonds from a couple from Queens.

Although she spoke proudly about her accomplishments, there was no longing in her voice.

"I've gone full circle from being poor to very rich to middle class," she said. "It was all part of my journey. It's made me a stronger person."

Staff writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Angela-Carella-Only-memories-fill-hole-in-the-619756.php

The Advocate

Angela Carella: Only memories fill hole in the ground
Published: 10:41 p.m., Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The hole in the ground smells like pine now that the owner has planted some 50 evergreens around it.

The trees went in a week ago around the hole that was dug a quarter-century ago.

The pines could be a sign of resignation from the owner, Milstein Properties, and the city. It looks as though they think the 4.3 acres of downtown nothingness will remain for some time.

"As far as I know, there is no movement on developing it," said Laure Aubuchon, Stamford director of economic development. "I think the beautification was an attempt to make the best of the situation."

The situation is that the site at Tresser Boulevard and Greyrock Place, officially called Parcel 38, has been vacant since about 1970, when the city was in the middle of an urban redevelopment that razed 130 downtown acres, displacing 1,000 families and 400 businesses.

Everything was developed except Parcel 38, which only got as far as a hole.

It has bothered Jimmy Sparrow for years. At one time, Parcel 38 was the center of his world.

"You have no idea how much I think about the hole in the ground. It's where I grew up," Sparrow said. "If I had a billion dollars, I would buy it and resurrect it, build low-income housing and shopping, like it was."

For the first 12 years of his life, which began in 1947, Sparrow lived in an apartment house that had no heat or hot water.

"The apartments were what people call tenements, but I didn't see that," Sparrow said. "My mother was born there. It was working-class families, mostly Italian and black, some Polish. There were three-story and two-story buildings, with some single homes in the middle of it. My building had three floors and six families. There was a huge playground with two ballfields, big old iron swings and a basketball court."

When he looks at the hole in the ground, the Stamford Town Center mall, the Stamford Marriott hotel, and the surrounding apartment and office high-rises, Sparrow sees places that are no more: the Cottage Grill on Cottage Street, Comet Laundry on Comet Street, a big kosher poultry market, a black Baptist church where Barnes & Noble is now, Cardinal Place, St. John's Place, Chapel Street, Wall Street and his street, Brook Street.

He remembers the kind of adventure a street kid experienced, such as what happened on the day in 1960 that Stamford police Officer David Troy was killed during a robbery. Sparrow was not quite a teenager.

"The guy who did it hid behind the Skipper Bar & Restaurant on Main Street," Sparrow said. "They locked down the whole neighborhood and offered a reward if someone spotted him. Me and a bunch of kids roamed the rooftops for days, looking for the guy," but he had escaped to Chicago.

When he was a student at Stamford High School, not long before he joined the Marines and went to Vietnam, Sparrow's mother received a letter.

"It said you have to move because the city was taking down the neighborhood," Sparrow said. "So we moved to East Main Street. But then the city left the buildings there, and people who were new to Stamford, Hispanics and black families from the South, moved in. My mother was mad because they made us leave and then they didn't tear it down for seven or eight years."

That was four decades ago.

Surrounding parcels were redeveloped, but plans for 38 kept hitting snags: economic recessions, changing real estate markets, fickle corporations, stringent parking requirements.

Now the real estate market is stagnant again.

Six months ago, Finance Board Chairman Joseph Tarzia pointed out that the hole in the ground was growing increasingly unattractive. Chief Building Official Robert DeMarco then asked Milstein Properties to bury conduits, rebuild the pumps that drain water from the hole, and repair a fence so homeless people cannot sleep under the concrete shelves of a parking garage that was begun long ago but never got far.

"Milstein wants to sell the parcel, but this is not the market," DeMarco said. "They've been very cooperative about cleaning it up, but I'm still working with them."

Messages left for Nicholas Prezioso and Peter Ricker at their Milstein Properties offices in Manhattan were not returned.

In the spaces between the new pine trees, you can see that the grass and weeds have been cut in the hole, but the rim is littered with trash, tree stumps, broken pipe, and the rusted beams and rebar of old foundations.

Sparrow thinks about how his family and neighbors were forced from their homes 40 years ago to make way for something new.

"It's a shame. We all lived together, we all knew each other," he said. "That neighborhood has always stayed with me."

Angela Carella can be reached at angela.carella@scni.com or 203-964-2296. Her column runs Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/realestate/commercial/04leonard.html

The New York Times

August 3, 2010

Stew Leonard’s Halts 14-Year Battle to Open Store in Connecticut Town
By FRED A. BERNSTEIN

ORANGE, Conn. — The cornfield just off Interstate 95 in this town of 13,000 looks like any other in rural Connecticut. But hidden behind the rows of stalks are piles of steel girders. “They were going to be the new store,” said Stew Leonard Jr., whose father founded the Stew Leonard’s supermarket chain in Norwalk in 1969.

The metal beams have been waiting in the field for years. “Now we’re going to sell them for scrap,” said the younger Mr. Leonard, 55, the company’s chief executive.

That will be an inauspicious end to a 14-year quest by Mr. Leonard to build a supermarket here, about eight miles west of New Haven. The company bought the land in 1996 for $2.2 million and battled with the community for 14 years.

In that period the company expanded to four stores from two, adding operations in Yonkers, N.Y., and Newington, Conn. But the company could not crack Orange, Mr. Leonard said by phone from his Norwalk store, where, he said, lobster was at its lowest price in years. Along with the steel, Mr. Leonard plans to sell the 41 acres here, just a few hundred feet from the interstate.

Officially, Mr. Leonard’s reason is that his partners, who are also his siblings, decided that building a store here would take business from the store in Newington, 40 miles northeast of Orange. “I was outvoted,” Mr. Leonard said.

In fact, the Orange store would have been built years ago if not for community opposition that led to a series of legal setbacks.

Most notably, in 2008 the state Supreme Court overturned the company’s wetlands approval, citing problems with its filings.

“What it meant is, we would have had to go back through the permitting processes again, which would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Mr. Leonard said. “When you look at that, and you look at my sisters and brother saying it’s going to cannibalize the other stores, I basically had to put my tail between my legs and say, ‘I lost this battle.’ ”

If so, the winner was a group called Save Our Neighborhood, founded by Clem Evangelista, a former mayor of nearby West Haven who lives on a lake in Orange. Mr. Evangelista, a trucking company owner, said he fought Stew Leonard’s because it would have brought too much traffic to the area.

“There are places for that kind of store, like the Boston Post Road,” he said, referring to the thoroughfare that offers, among others, a Costco (in nearby Milford) and a Sam’s Club. “He could have gone there anytime he wished.”

Mr. Leonard dismissed the traffic concerns, saying the site was right by a Route 95 exit ramp that provided adequate vehicle access. Mr. Evangelista said, “That stretch is always congested. People would have gotten off the highway and taken side streets” to get to the store.

Mr. Leonard also said that his store would have contributed significantly to the town’s tax base. But Mr. Evangelista said that this small town, which has a volunteer fire company, would have had to spend more on additional services than it would have gained in taxes.

Mr. Leonard said that most residents here were in favor of the store; Mr. Evangelista disagreed, saying that most opposed it and that he once suggested the town hold a referendum.

Over the years, Mr. Evangelista said, he raised about $100,000 from 1,500 families and several local businesses to support his efforts to block the store.

“There was a rumor I was on the payroll of Stop & Shop,” he said, referring to a rival supermarket chain.

In fact, he said, “I would have taken money from them, but they wouldn’t give me any.”

Jim Zeoli, Orange’s first selectman (the Connecticut version of a mayor in some towns), said that he once spoke out against the store, thinking it would not be the best tax generator for the site, but that he later tried to broker a deal that would have satisfied Mr. Leonard and town residents.

He said that some of those residents were scared off by numbers on the Stew Leonard’s Web site, which said that the Yonkers store attracted about 18,000 customers a day. “Having a Web site like that can work against you,” Mr. Zeoli said. (Vince Summa, Stew Leonard’s chief financial officer, wrote in an e-mail that the company projected about 13,500 visitors a day in Orange and that “since we are a family store,” the number of projected cars was smaller — fewer than 8,000. But the point was already lost.)

Mr. Evangelista said the battle often came down to what experts said about environmental impact. Although his group sometimes hired its own experts, he said, he also used numbers provided by Mr. Leonard, who, he said, “did all the research.” He said he sometimes cited numbers the company provided to support his own conclusions.

Mr. Zeoli said that the area around the Stew Leonard’s site was booming: United Illuminating, a power company, is building offices on one large parcel, and Yale University is planning a research center for another. “We’ll find the right use for the site,” he said of the Stew Leonard’s property.

But the right user will have to meet Mr. Leonard’s $9.5 million asking price, which he admitted might be a little high in this market.

“It’s not a good time to sell anything,” Mr. Leonard said. “But we’re just going to sit and wait.”

Perhaps the high price reflects a reluctance to part with what he calls “the best piece of property left between New York and Boston.”

“It’s been a love affair of mine since we bought it,” Mr. Leonard said. “But now the story’s over.”

As for Mr. Evangelista, he is engaged in another fight, this time to prevent Hubbell Inc., an electronics company, from building 225 single-family homes on property it owns here. Of the Stew Leonard’s victory, he said, “This proves you can win if you stay in the battle.”

Woonsocket54

August 25th, 2010, 04:20 AM

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Postal-Service-lays-out-plan-to-move-two-Stamford-619734.php

The Advocate

Postal Service lays out plan to move two Stamford offices
Magdalene Perez, Staff Writer
Published: 10:24 p.m., Tuesday, August 17, 2010

STAMFORD -- Postal officials said Tuesday it is not yet known where the United States Postal Service would relocate two downtown post offices it plans to close as part of nationwide cost-saving measures.

Under a plan first made public last week, Postal Service facilities officials said they want to sell the historic post office at 421 Atlantic St. and move out of its leased space in the Ridgeway Shopping Center at 60 Sixth St. Both post offices would be relocated to nearby, smaller locations.

David Rouse, a real estate specialist in the company's Northeast Facilities Service office, said it is too early to say where the new locations would be. The Postal Service has not yet put the Atlantic Street building, constructed in 1916, on the market or approached the Ridgeway landlord about a possible move, he said.

Speaking before slightly more than two dozen customers at a public meeting at the government center Tuesday, Rouse said the changes are needed because the post offices are too large for their operations. While the Postal Service has 38,000 square feet at the Atlantic Street building, the agency estimates it needs only 3,600 square feet. In Ridgeway, the carrier has 6,800 square feet but needs only about 2,000, Rouse said.

Many of the functions that previously filled the spaces, such as carrier operations, are now handled out of the Camp Avenue station in Springdale, he said.

Rouse estimated that the government agency, which is not taxpayer funded, would save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year if the changes are carried out.

"If you think about all the excess space and the costs of heating and cooling and providing energy, it just makes more business sense for us to right-size the operation and relocate in the area," Rouse said.

If the locations were to move, post office box customers would be able to keep the same address, Rouse said.

Rouse assured residents the historic Atlantic Street building would be protected even if sold to a new owner. The neo-Renaissance Italianate federal-style building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. As such, the state historic preservation office would play a role in ensuring the building is not harmed, Rouse said.

However, the National Register of Historic Places does not restrict private owners' use of their property. Just six months ago, the owners of the 136-year-old St. Andrew's Episcopal Church rectory demolished the building to make way for development on the property, despite the building's status on the national register.

Postal customers who attended the meeting Tuesday said parking is their biggest concern if either of the two post offices are relocated. In addition, many complained the Postal Service had not done enough to publicize the meeting.

"The announcement of this meeting was the best kept secret in Stamford," said city Rep. John Zelinsky, who came on behalf of constituents in Ridgeway. "If you're going to have a public hearing, you've got to let the public know about it."

Irene Nasaduke, 64, said people should advocate for landmark status for the Atlantic Street building.

"This is a gem," Nasaduke said. "It should be saved. Maybe it should be a museum."

Developers have approached the Postal Service about purchasing the Atlantic Street property in the past, most recently in 2007, but those plans never came to fruition, Rouse said.

Staff writer Magdalene Perez can be reached at magdalene.perez@scni.com or 203-964-2240.

Woonsocket54

August 25th, 2010, 07:35 AM

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/ground_broken_on_tower_for_docs_the_disabled/

$36M Tower Underway For Docs & The Disabled
by Paul Bass | Aug 24, 2010 2:04 pm
New Haven Independent

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/images/sized/archives/upload/2010/08/Horace_Melton-550x534.JPG
Paul Bass Photo

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/images/sized/archives/upload/2010/08/rowe_plan-260x196.JPG
ICON Architects

Horace Melton watched movers and shakers break ground Tuesday on a new nine-story tower where he’ll be able to take a shower without anyone’s help—and where his neighbors may include not just other public-housing tenants, but hospital doctors as well.

Melton (pictured with his niece Nyaire) rents one of the 50 apartments occupied at the crumbling William T. Rowe public-housing tower on Howard Avenue across from Yale-New Haven Hospital.

He wheeled up to a tent erected a block away from his home Monday to join a crowd at a groundbreaking for a $36 million tower being built to replace the Rowe building. The new building will have 104 one- and two-bedroom apartments—78 subsidized homes for either elderly or disabled low-income tenants, including those currently at Rowe; and another 26 market-rate (i.e. non-subsidized private) apartments officials hope will rent to hospital employees for $1,100 to $1,400 a month. The complex is being designed by ICON architects (see rendering above).

The project is the latest in a parade of new buildings changing New Haven’s skyline and providing construction jobs (more than 100 in this case) during the recession.

It follows an unusual land-swap deal involving the Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH), Yale-New Haven Hospital, and a private developer, Trinity Financial. The tower will rise on the block next to Career High School, bounded by Sylvan Avenue, Ward Street, Howard Avenue, and Legion Avenue. Yale-New Haven owned that land. It’s trading it to HANH in return for the land on Howard Avenue, where the current largely vacant Rowe tower stands. Rowe’s tenants will stay in the old tower until workers complete the new one (projected finish date: fall of 2011); then, when they move into the new tower, HANH will turn the land over the Yale-New Haven for an unspecified medical use.

Tuesday’s groundbreaking, which was delayed amid City Hall infighting, also ushers in an era of hope for Rowe’s remaining elderly and disabled tenants. Only 50 of the rundown tower’s 172 apartments are occupied. Plagued by crime, leaking roofs, and cramped apartments, they have pushed officials for years to improve living conditions.

They celebrated Tuesday’s news.

Melton, for one, looks forward to having a big enough bathroom so that he can close the door, maneuver out of his wheelchair, and get himself into the bathtub without any help. Many of the current Rowe apartments are efficiencies, without closet space. The new one and two-bedroom apartments will run 700 to 900 square feet.

“I can’t wait” for the new building, Melton said.

Tenants such as Rowe Resident Association President Cameron Taylor participated with officials in planning meetings for the new tower.

“They took the time to listen to us residents,” Taylor, one of 11 speakers at Tuesday’s groundbreaking, told the crowd. “All we want is a decent life and a building to be safe in.”

The process began with less comity. Tenants criticized the housing authority and a private developer, Intercontinental, about their original plans for the block. Intercontinental bought the land behind the Rowe tower and razed all the houses, including a former Black Panther house that neighbors wanted to preserve as a community center.

Then, after tearing down the building, Intercontinental decided it wasn’t going to build the mixed-use development it originally planned. It sold the property to Yale-New Haven Hospital, which subsequently worked out the swap deal with the housing authority.

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/images/sized/archives/upload/2010/08/miller_and_young-550x398.JPG
HANH deputy Jimmy Miller & CHFA board Chair Rolan Joni Young check out the work site.

In addition to promising a happy ending for the tenants, the new tower represents a new approach to public housing in the neighborhood—aiming to mix wealthier tenants with public-housing tenants.

Housing Authority Deputy Director Jimmy Miller said residents, nurses, and doctors will want to rent the new tower’s 26 market-rate apartments, in some cases as second residences, because of their proximity to the hospital. “You might be working the graveyard shift. Who wants to drive to Wallingford at 3 in the morning? It’ll be great.”

He was asked if medical professionals might balk at living in the same tower as public-housing tenants with drug dependency. He responded that the new building’s quality will entice them. Also, the new tower will have more services on site to support disabled tenants, he said.

As for the $1,100 to $1,400 monthly rent? “You’ve got to look at the units downtown at 360 State,” Miller replied. “They’re going for $1,800.”

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/images/sized/archives/upload/2010/08/groundbreaking-550x352.JPG

The housing authority will own the land below the new tower. It will give Trinity Financial, the tower’s developer, a 99-year lease on the land. A private company will manage the facility.

Trinity is building the tower with around $8 million in federal money flowing through HANH, an additional $10 million in federal stimulus dollars, $4 million in city government capital projects money, a $7 million Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) mortgage, and $7 million in private investment by Enterprise Community Investment fueled by government tax credits purchased by TD Bank, according to Miller.

The project also includes first-floor space for stores and doctor’s offices.

Woonsocket54

September 12th, 2010, 04:38 AM

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Permit-filed-for-Harbor-Point-638240.php

Permit filed for Harbor Point
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 09:29 p.m., Monday, August 30, 2010

STAMFORD -- McKinsey & Co. appears headed to Harbor Point, an 80-acre mixed-use development in the South End, according to city documents.

The management consulting firm, which currently has an office in Landmark Square in downtown Stamford, recently filed a city building application for roughly 20,000 square feet of space on the fourth floor of a six-story office building at Pacific Street and Washington Boulevard known as Two Harbor Point Square.

The building is a couple of months away from completion, said Robert DeMarco, the city's chief building official. He said the application submitted by McKinsey initiates a review of the building's plans. The process is required for a building permit.

The filing comes after an announcement made in July by Harbor Point developer Building and Land Technology that it had signed a 10-year lease with a firm for Two Harbor Point Square. At the time, John Freeman, a spokesman for Building and Land Technology, said the tenant had requested that its identity be kept confidential.

Laura Schalekamp, a spokeswoman for McKinsey, declined to comment Monday.

Building and Land Technology did not return a request seeking comment.

McKinsey would represent the second commercial tenant to move into Harbor Point, after New York-based supermarket chain Fairway.

Designed by Perkins Eastman, Two Harbor Point Square is one of two office buildings currently under construction. The two buildings face the western branch of Stamford Harbor and are expected to feature an outdoor plaza.

According to the city building application, McKinsey's space includes about 1,000 square feet on a roof terrace.

In addition to two commercial buildings, Harbor Point is expected to include 4,000 units of housing, 400,000 square feet of retail space, two hotels, a school, marina and 11 acres of parks.

In May, residents began moving into the former Yale & Towne complex, part of the project that has been renovated into loft-style apartment units. Fairway is set to open an 80,000-square-foot store at Canal and Market streets in November.

Although McKinsey's application with the city puts to rest one mystery surrounding Building and Land Technology's properties in the South End, there is still no word on the secret tenant for its other mixed-use project known as Gateway. Plans for the roughly six-acre development site bordering Washington Boulevard and the Metro-North Railroad station are slated to go for final zoning approval next month. The undisclosed corporate tenant, which has been introduced to Mayor Michael Pavia, is said to be interested in leasing 250,000 square feet of space and expected to bring more than 800 jobs to Stamford.

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Planning-Board-supports-street-closures-near-640393.php

Planning Board supports street closures near Stamford Hospital
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 09:38 p.m., Wednesday, September 1, 2010

STAMFORD -- Stamford Hospital and the city's housing authority, Charter Oak Communities, have secured the Planning Board's recommendation to close sections of four city streets on the West Side that will provide the organizations with land needed for their respective developments.

The unanimous vote Tuesday night was the first of three needed to pass the plan. It will next go before the Board of Finance. Final approval is subject to a Board of Representatives vote.

The streets are Colahan Street and parts of Finney Lane, Shelburne Road and Edison Road. All of the properties are bounded by land owned by Stamford Hospital or the housing authority.

As part of the proposed agreement, the city would receive $2.8 million from the hospital for portions of Finney Lane and Shelburne and Edison roads. The hospital would also pay for the relocation of city utilities that result from the street closures.

Work on the first phase of the hospital's $575 million expansion and replacement plan is to begin as early as the end of the year, pending the final approval of the Zoning Board.

Construction is to begin first along Hillhurst Street, according to William Hennessey, an attorney for the hospital.

Charter Oak is to pay $90,000 for the closure of Colahan Street, which will be one of the areas used for mixed-income housing intended to replace Vidal Court, an aging public housing complex on Merrell Avenue.

But as recognition of the agency's role in creating affordable housing, Mayor Michael Pavia has said the city would eventually return the $90,000 through "in-kind" or cash grants, thus canceling Charter Oak's payment.

The Planning Board also voted to approve the realignment of Wright and Spruce streets, a measure requested by the city's engineering department after a review of the hospital's redevelopment plans. The intersection now has two right-angle jogs that make it difficult for vehicles to navigate. The realignment is to be paid for and coordinated by the hospital, and will involve redirecting Wright Street across a vacant lot it owns.

The board included a few caveats with its support for the closures. Members recommended the use of speed bumps on Wright Street following the urging of Robin Stein, the city's land-use bureau chief.

Stein, who cited the concerns of residents, said he sought to prevent the street, which sits in residential neighborhood, from becoming a "thoroughfare." On the urging of Lou Casolo, the city engineer, board members also recommended that the hospital and Charter Oak work with the city to coordinate the closures and the relocation of utilities.

Staff writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

Woonsocket54

September 13th, 2010, 05:23 AM

photos taken September 6, 2010

58 Progress Drive - a new housing project (Charter Oak Communities)

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Palmer Hill - a luxury condo on Havemeyer Lane

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Woonsocket54

September 15th, 2010, 03:45 AM

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Harbor-Point-developer-seeks-to-build-second-658247.php

Harbor Point developer seeks to build second housing complex at former factory site
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 05:47 p.m., Tuesday, September 14, 2010

STAMFORD -- After leasing most apartment units at a converted factory, the developer of Harbor Point has unveiled plans for a second housing complex at the Yale & Towne site near Pacific and Market streets.

Building and Land Technologies is seeking zoning approval to build a six-story building with 329 rental units comprised of studio, one- and two- bedroom apartments. The residences will face the loft-style apartments at 200 Henry St., a six-story complex made up of three connected factory buildings once belonging to Yale & Towne. Yale & Towne is one of several development sites totaling around 80 acres in the South End that make up Harbor Point.

The developer presented its plans for Yale & Towne during a public hearing before the city's Zoning Board Monday night.

In addition to apartments, the proposed residential complex is to include about 13,628 square feet of ground floor retail and a 555-space parking garage. It will be incorporated into a larger community at Yale & Towne that is to be anchored by Fairway. The N.Y.-based supermarket chain is to open an 80,000 square-foot store at Canal and Market streets in November.

The project, which has 41 more housing units than originally envisioned, builds on a momentum of residential construction at Harbor Point. Thus far, more than 500 housing units have been completed within the roughly $3.5 billion mixed-use development. In addition to the 225 loft-style units at the Yale & Towne site, BLT recently opened a 15-story residential building with 336 units at 101 Washington Blvd., a development known as 101 Park Place.

A total of 4,000 units of new housing have been approved, which are expected to transform a former industrial, blighted neighborhood.

Robin Stein, the city's land use bureau chief, said BLT's focus on housing reflected the marketplace along with the firm's ability to come up with a successful product.

According to BLT, 80 percent of loft-style units at Yale & Towne have been leased. The apartments start at $1,532 a month.

"It just shows that the assumed barriers of people not wanting to live in market rate housing below (Interstate 95) have been proven wrong," Stein said.

But as another indication of the marketplace, Building and Land Technology has decided to build slightly less retail than had been planned for the Yale & Towne site. As part of its zoning application, the developer is asking the city approve a change in its general development plan from 330,000 square feet to 296,000 square feet of retail, a decrease of 34,000 square feet.

"Right now the market is not as strong for retail as housing," said John Freeman, the spokesman for Harbor Point, during his presentation before the Zoning Board. "We think once we have the housing the retail will follow."

But the company is also seeking permission to include 34,000 square feet of commercial floor area within another rehabbed factory building near Canal and Henry streets, saying that it had found a commercial tenant interested in renting two floors. The building had been slated for only housing and retail.

The Zoning Board is to deliberate and vote on the changes and final site plan at its meeting next Monday.

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/HUD-secretary-visits-Stamford-tours-housing-663501.php

HUD secretary visits Stamford, tours housing authority development
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 09:58 p.m., Friday, September 17, 2010

STAMFORD -- Shaun Donovan, secretary of the federal Department of Housing and Development, stopped in Stamford briefly on Friday to tour one of the housing authority's developments and meet with a group of private and nonprofit developers, housing officials and Fairfield County mayors.

"Housing isn't just about bricks and mortar," he said. "Housing connects to so many issues."

"A region can't be economically competitive if you don't have reasonably priced houses close to where the jobs are," he said.

Donovan spoke to an audience of about 30 people who convened at Fairgate, a roughly $41 million West Side mixed-income housing authority development completed last fall as part of a federal program known as Hope VI.

In addition to Mayor Michael Pavia, the event was attended by area chief elected officials, including Bill Finch, the mayor of Bridgeport, and Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia.

The visit was arranged by U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Greenwich, who said he wanted to create a dialogue between local and federal officials on the significance of affordable housing in the region.

Himes, who previously worked for a nonprofit developer, has portrayed affordable housing as a crucial economic issue for the region.

"The housing shortage that this community faces is always number one or number two ... as reasons why people don't want to move into the area," Himes said.

Prior to the meeting, Donovan was taken on a brief tour by Vin Tufo, executive director of the city's housing authority, also known as Charter Oak Communities.

Donovan, Himes, and several others were taken to the construction site of one of the housing authority's upcoming mixed-income projects at 58 Progress Drive.

Come next summer, the development will be known as Westwood, a community of townhouses that will have 95 rental units, of which 60 percent will be affordable and the remaining will be sold at market rate.

The project is part of a broader initiative to replace Vidal Court, an older public housing complex on Merrell Avenue, with mixed-income communities spread across the West Side. Part of the land was obtained through a swap with Stamford Hospital.

Donovan later praised the project, adding he was impressed by the collaboration.

This was the first on-site visit by Donovan at the city's housing authority, which has in the past hosted several HUD secretaries, Tufo said.

During his talk, Donovan stressed that HUD had come a long way since it was established in the 1960s. Today, he said, HUD officials work with other federal agencies such as the Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency to distribute planning grants.

Donovan cited strong commitment by the Obama administration to the issue of affordable housing, saying that communities have an opportunity to seek federal support for their projects.

"There will never be a better friend to public housing than this administration," he said.

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

The Courant
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-aetna-middletown-demolition-0910-20100909,0,4286265.story

Aetna To Demolish Middletown Complex, Redevelop Property

http://www.courant.com/media/photo/2010-09/56068419.jpg
In 1983 Aetna built the massive 1.4-million-square-foot Middletown complex built at a cost of $170 million to house 4,500 employees. Today, the buildings sit empty with all the workers back in the Hartford headquarters. Once hailed as the largest construction project in the state, there is now talk about demolition. (Stephen Dunn / Hartford Courant / April 22, 2010)

By KENNETH R. GOSSELIN, kgosselin@courant.com
7:59 p.m. EDT, September 9, 2010

In the 1980s, Aetna Inc.'s mammoth, $170 million campus in Middletown was praised as the corporate office park of the future.

The future is here, but the 1.3 million-square-foot building won't be for much longer.

Aetna said Thursday it will demolish the sprawling complex in the next six to 12 months and redevelop the 260-acre property for another use. A separate data center on the property used by Aetna will remain, the Hartford-based insurer said.

The redevelopment would be one of the largest in central Connecticut in recent years. But the project would take years to complete while the state struggles to recover from the recession. The redevelopment would probably involve dividing the property into smaller pieces, Aetna said.

"Whatever the new use, it will have to be compatible with our data center," Aetna spokesman Fred Laberge said. "It is doubtful that it would be another enormous facility."

The demolition is a stunning example of how quickly a building can become outdated, even one that once accommodated nearly 5,000 employees.

In April, as Aetna completed moving employees out of the main building in Middletown, it confirmed that demolition was possible as it consolidated employees at its Hartford headquarters.

The decision to demolish the structure — hailed as a crown jewel of economic development when it opened in 1983 — reflects a dramatic change in corporate needs. Large buildings are no longer desired in most cases, and the trend is toward office parks with multiple, smaller buildings.

Corporations also are encouraging more employees to work from home, cutting down on the space companies need to lease or maintain.

Officials in Middletown and the surrounding region said they weren't surprised by the decision, given the challenges in reusing the building.

It was built with a single occupant in mind: Aetna's employee benefits division. Its irregular design, massive atrium and "pods," would make it difficult to divide into smaller spaces.

"I can totally understand Aetna taking it down," said Lawrence McHugh, president of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce. "To attract another user would be very difficult."

Aetna said it had explored selling or leasing the existing structure, but no viable alternatives emerged, Laberge said.

The insurer was also faced with the prospect of investing millions of dollars to refurbish the space and would have to maintain and pay taxes on a building that was empty. Laberge said he couldn't estimate how much the demolition would cost or how long it would take. But it could easily run into the millions of dollars and stretch on for months.

McHugh, who was chamber president when the campus opened, said the prospect of new economic development could generate the same kind of excitement that the Aetna building did a quarter century ago.

"It's a beautiful site," McHugh said. "There's a lot of opportunity there."

Aetna declined to speculate on future uses for the property.

Commercial real estate brokers said Thursday that the property, off Middle Street, is in an attractive location, close to I-91.

"If you look at the development off Middle Street, just to the south, there have been distribution facilities, showrooms and industrial space," said Jonathan Putnam, a commercial real estate broker at Cushman & Wakefield in Hartford. "There will be more demand for that space than [office] space."

It's possible that a smaller corporate headquarters could occupy a portion of the site, Putnam said.

Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said he supports future commercial development on the site for the tax revenue it would generate. But he cautioned that the town has to consider any proposals carefully.

"You can't replace something like that somewhere else in town," Giuliano said. "You don't want to panic and take the first thing that comes along, just because it's something."

When it was built, the main building was believed to be the largest ever constructed in the state, larger than Westfarms mall. It was also part of a trend by major corporations to establish sprawling campuses in the suburbs. The construction by Aetna followed a similar project in Bloomfield by CIGNA, Putnam said.

Although the exterior of the building appears the same, gutting the interior has been underway for months. There are extensive plans for recycling what's removed, including 800,000 square feet of carpeting and an equal amount of ceiling tiles, Laberge said.

Aetna's long-term lease on the space expired this summer, but under a complex legal arrangement from years ago, ownership reverted to the insurer. After Aetna completed construction in 1983, it sold the building — but not the land — to GE Capital and signed a 25-year lease for the space.

The sales agreement required that GE Capital lease the land under the building from Aetna. If that lease for the land wasn't renewed at the end of the lease, the building would revert to Aetna. In July, GE Capital declined to renew the lease.

Laberge said Aetna had anticipated GE's decision for some time. Even though Aetna had leased the space, it acted as though it were the owner, paying maintenance and taxes. GE would have had to take on those expenses, make improvements, and find a new tenant.

The Bristol Press
http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2010/09/15/news/doc4c90d99bd3fa7370593601.txt#photo1

"Big stuff' downtown

Thursday, September 16, 2010 12:37 AM EDT

By Jackie Majerus
Staff Writer

BRISTOL — With much fanfare and a big crowd of onlookers, Renaissance Downtowns officially opened its City Hall office Tuesday morning.

“This is big stuff,” said Don Monti, president of the Long Island development company, who was on hand for the speeches and ribbon cutting. “The enthusiasm to date has been unbelievable.”

About 60 people, including city officials and administrators, members of the Bristol Downtown Development Corp. and representatives from the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce, turned out for the event and applauded.

“It’s a positive step forward,” said John Lodovico, a BDDC member. Renaissance is “for real. They’re really making things happen.”

Renaissance had a meeting planned with private property owners later Tuesday and then will hold a three-day planning workshop next week.

Monti’s company is the city’s chosen developer to create a project that mixes retail, commercial and residential uses on what is now 17 acres of mostly vacant, city-owned land in the heart of downtown. If all goes well, the company would ultimately acquire the land.

“Bristol,” Monti said, “is really No. 1 on our radar.” He said he’s never experienced a municipality and mayor so ready to do business and work together, calling it “a wonderful experience.”

Monti said the project is going to come together.

“This is going to be an example for the country to follow,” Monti said. “Together we can make some really, really exciting things happen.”

Mayor Art Ward said given the tough economic times, the city is lucky to have Renaissance as a partner.

The talks among Renaissance, McDonald’s and the city about swapping land with the fast food restaurant, which is planning to move next door to Dunkin’ Donuts, are another indication that Renaissance is moving forward, Ward said.

The collaboration with the city, Monti said, is “exactly what it needs to be to get things done.”

Monti’s “vision plan” for the 17-acre former mall site is due next May and requires city approval.

“It’s going to be a little bit before there’s a spade in the ground,” said Ward, but Renaissance is “not letting any dust settle” in the meantime.

Monti said residents can get involved starting next month by being part of a subcommittee working on the plan.

Anyone who wants to take part in a subcommittee during the planning process, Monti said, should contact Brandon Palanker. He can be reached at City Hall at (860) 582-0030 or through the project website at www.RDatBristol.com.

Woonsocket54

September 19th, 2010, 05:55 PM

New Haven Independent
http://newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/building_collapses/id_29206

Steel Beam Collapses; Worker Dies
by Thomas MacMillan | Sep 13, 2010 10:17 am

http://newhavenindependent.org/images/sized/archives/upload/2010/09/TM_091310_0004-550x300.jpg
Thomas MacMillan Photo

(Updated Tuesday morning.) A steel beam collapsed at a building under construction at Science Park, injuring four workers, one of whom was pinned to the ground, in the second accident there in about a month.

One of the workers died. One was listed in “critical condition,” a third “serious,” said Yale-New Haven Hospital spokesman Mark D’Antonio.

The collapse was reported at 10:10 a.m. Monday at 275 Winchester Ave., by the corner of Division.

Workers from Shawmut Construction are building a chiller plant there to cool other buildings on the Yale campus. They’re currently erecting steel beams for the frame on the third floor.

One of those beams somehow collapsed Monday morning and hit a cherry picker on the ground.

Emergency crews arrived to find three male workers injured, according to Assistant Fire Chief Ralph Black.

One of the workers was still in a harness inside the cherry picker. A female coworker was attending to him.

Another was pinned on the ground under a beam laying on his body, from his hips to his knees.

Firefighters got the beam off him within five to ten minutes with the help of high-pressure lift bags as well as construction equipment, according to Black.

The firefighters then noticed that the female construction worker was moving oddly, and had her checked out. She, too, was injured. She told firefighters she had been in the cherry picker at the time of the accident.

She was transported to the Hospital of St. Raphael. The three males went to Yale-New Haven.

“There were serious crushing injuries” to the pinned construction worker, Black said. “He was conscious, but in a lot of pain.”

The female construction worker was in stable condition, reported St. Raphael’s spokeswoman Liese Klein.

Black said another accident occurred last month at the same site, involving a small cherry picker. One worker was injured in a basement. “That [having two accidents in a month] is concerning, and we’ll look into that,” Black said.

Eyewitness Russ Hentz, who works at Yale printing and publishing services in the Science Park complex, said he saw the beam collapse from the right-hand side of the building.

“All that steel came down, piece after piece,” Hentz said.

A dozen emergency vehicles were on the scene by 10:30 a.m., including a half-dozen police cars, ambulances, and a couple of fire trucks.

Police set up a mobile incident command center at the scene.

The building under construction is at the Newhallville end of Science Park, the former rifle factory complex that became a high-tech incubator in the 1980s and is now going through a new wave of reconstruction.

As of 11:30 a.m., officials were waiting for a team from Connecticut Occupational Safety and Health Administration to show up on the scene.

Tom Goemaat, CEO of Shawmut Design and Construction, released the following statement on Monday at 5 p.m.:

“Our primary concern right now is for the well-being of the workers involved in today’s incident. Our thoughts are with them and their families. Job site safety is always our top construction priority, and we will cooperate fully with OSHA and local authorities in reviewing this very serious matter.”

Kelli McLeod, a Shawmut spokesperson, later said the workers were subcontractors. She said she did not have their names.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro later released this statement: “My thoughts and prayers go out to the injured workers and their families. My office has been in contact with OSHA and Andy Esposito, head of Ironworkers Local 424, to offer our assistance after this terrible accident.”

http://newhavenindependent.org/images/sized/archives/upload/2010/09/TM_091310_0019-550x367.jpg

Woonsocket54

September 25th, 2010, 06:36 AM

The Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-hartford-public-safety-0924-20100923,0,3840024.story

Public Safety Complex Begins To Take Shape
Hartford Officials Say It's On Track For Spring 2012 Opening

By STEVEN GOODE sgoode@courant.com
6:15 p.m. EDT, September 24, 2010

HARTFORD — —
The concrete foundation has been poured and walls will go up soon.

Some contaminated soil still needs to be removed from the site, but city officials say the $77 million public safety complex under construction just north of downtown is on schedule for completion late next year and an early spring opening in 2012.

"At this point it's come out of the ground and you're going to see meat put on the bones," David Panagore, the city's chief operation officer, said Thursday.

When completed, the 150,000-square-foot complex will house the police department, fire department administration and 911 dispatch and include a two-level parking garage, separate, short-term lockups for men and women, the city's emergency operations center and the state's backup emergency operations center. The entire complex will be powered by fuel cells.

As of late August, Panagore said, the project had expended about $24 million of its $77 million budget. The project is being paid for through a $40 million bond issue from 2000 and a $37 million bond issue in 2007. Panagore said the project's total cost was reduced as a result of a $2.3 million federal grant. A separate $2.9 million federal grant enabled the city to upgrade some portions of the project.

City officials were criticized earlier this year by the failure of a plan to incorporate the brick exterior walls of the former board of education building, built in 1891, into the project. The walls were to have served as an exterior veneer of the new complex, but a section collapsed after the roof was removed to drive piles for foundation support.

Panagore said the architects and contractor inspected the remaining façade and determined that exposure to the elements over the years had caused moisture to soak into the bricks and mortar at the core and weakened the structure. Preservationists, however, questioned whether the decision to remove the roof had contributed to the deterioration and the city's commitment to saving it.

Panagore said the city initially resisted tearing down the remaining façade but eventually concurred with advice from architects and the contractor.

"We used our best judgment," he said.

Panagore said the city is also beyond its goal of maintaining a 20 percent presence of minorities and women in the project's workforce. Panagore said that by the city's calculation the project has 43 percent minorities and women working on it.

But city Councilman Larry Deutsch isn't so sure. Deutsch said minority contractors have been complaining to the council about a lack of opportunity to work on the project and he said he doesn't have enough details to support Panagore's numbers.

"Panagore felt he answered those questions, but many feel that those minority and women questions were not answered," said Deutsch, adding that he expected to get more detailed information next week.

Deutsch has also raised questions about the initial contracting process, language in the two bond issues and whether the city is due compensation from the demolition of the façade.

"There are many questions dating back to the initial conception and authorization," he said.

Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant

Fairfield County Business Journal
http://www.westfaironline.com/fairfield-county-business-journal/article/8567-starwood-mulls-hotel.html

Starwood mulls hotel
Alexander Soule
Sep-17-10, 02:06 PM

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. is looking to build a hotel in Stamford, according to the city’s mayor, possibly padding the 800-plus headquarters jobs the hospitality giant is bringing from New York in 2012.

Stamford Mayor Mike Pavia disclosed the hotel’s plans this month at an economic conference at the University of Connecticut Stamford sponsored by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and the Stamford Chamber of Commerce.

Starwood took nearly $100 million in state incentives to relocate its main offices from White Plains, N.Y., taking some 240,000 square feet of space at 333 Ludlow St., owned by Building and Land Technology.

The building is adjacent to BLT’s Harbor Point development, which has long been planned to include a hotel. While Starwood Hotels’ relocation has had many businesspeople assuming the new hotel would carry a Starwood brand, BLT has yet to reveal any deal. The developer would be unlikely to begin construction until it had a lease in hand.

Nothing is final yet, according to Pavia, but the company’s initial indications are positive – as are those of other hoteliers.

“They … are looking to build a hotel – ‘partnering’ a hotel in a joint venture or with a commercial developer – under the Starwood banner,” he said. “Not only is it Starwood that’s looking to build a hotel, but we see that the Hilton is going to be undergoing a major renovation very shortly, and there are other hospitality companies that are looking to raise their flag in the city of Stamford. We have at least two that we’re currently talking to now, that are looking around to find a good location to put their inn or their hotel.”

Occupancy rates at Manhattan hotels were close to 90 percent in July and August, according to surveys by the New York Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and an increase in business travel has also produced stronger-than-expected results in Massachusetts, according to the Boston Fed. Hotels have been able to charge more, as a result, further helping their bottom line.

According to Smith Travel Research, in the week ending September 4 average daily rates in New York City were up 13 percent from a year earlier, tops in the country.

“Hoteliers have raised their rates, and the consumer continues to travel,” said Chad Church, director of special services at Henderson, Tenn.-based STR, in a statement.

Despite the mini-renaissance in business travel, the tri-state area’s economy showed signs of decelerating since the last week of July, the New York Fed found, in part due to renewed weakness in the residential housing market due to the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit. That was offset somewhat by a steady commercial real estate market.

The Boston Fed, whose jurisdiction covers all of New England save Fairfield County, had a slightly more upbeat report, though it quoted one respondent quipping, “flat is the new up.”

Still, the second quarter was the fourth straight in which businesses increased capital spending, according to Steven Cochrane, managing director of Moody’s Analytics, who also spoke at the UConn Stamford economic conference.

“Business investment spending … has been remarkably strong,” he said.

At a separate CBIA conference in Rocky Hill, the U.S. economics editor with The Economist magazine said that recent bidding wars in mergers are one sign the economy may be coming back.

“That’s kind of a sign that the animal spirits are back,” said Greg Ip, who is based in Washington, D.C. “It may only be a matter of time before that filters back to hiring.”

The Bristol Press
http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2010/09/26/news/doc4c9ffc3276f32836324468.txt

Portion of Route 72 extension set to open today
Sunday, September 26, 2010 10:13 PM EDT
Staff Reports

BRISTOL — As of 11 a.m. today, after Gov. M. Jodi Rell opens up a section of the new Route 72, traffic will get off at Emmett Street.

The section from there west to Riverside Avenue won’t open until next spring, though Pine Street will remain available for use during construction.

Motorists can go north on Emmett Street to Broad Street (the old Route 72) and then west to Rt. 229 (King Street); or south on Emmett to Pine Street or further south to Redstone Hill Road, then west to Rt. 229, where it is called Middle Street near ESPN.

Officials are not predicting how smooth traffic flow will be, though Rell Friday said “by extending Route 72, we are not only helping central Connecticut commuters, we are providing a big boost for economic development for the City of Bristol, local downtown merchants and companies along this corridor.”

State Transportation Commissioner Jeffrey Parker said, “This will go a long way toward improving the flow of traffic and helping to rebuild Bristol.”

Mayor Art Ward was a little more cautious, noting that access to a section of the new four-lane street “will start the process of people accessing Route 72 and getting familiar with the roadway.”

The new section includes more than half the 2.2-mile roadway started in 2007 where the present Route 72 expressway ends in Plainville.

When it is finished next spring the new road will include 10 intersections with traffic signals, including one at Central Street and a pedestrian bridge overhead at Forest Street.

The total tab for the project exceeds $61 million, but state officials are pegging the cost of the new road itself at $46 million. That doesn’t count land acquisition, studies and other costs rung up before the project got the green light.

The federal government paid 80 percent of the expense while the state picked up the rest.

Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-bristol-highway-0928-20100926,0,1124435.story

New Route 72 Arrives In Bristol — Or At Least Gets A Bit Closer
By DON STACOM, dstacom@courant.com
7:09 p.m. EDT, September 27, 2010

BRISTOL — — After more than 50 years, the highway finally reached town Monday.

Almost.

Following a nearly hourlong ceremony, the freshly constructed Route 72 from the Plainville line to Todd Street opened to traffic at mid-day. Drivers got a faster, easier way to get from I-84 into the city — or least a bit closer.

The new four-lane boulevard isn't the superhighway that residents had talked about in the late 1950s.

Instead it has a 40 mph speed limit and a series of traffic lights. And Manafort Construction hasn't finished the last half-mile or so, so drivers get as far as Todd Street on the new pavement before the road merges into Pine Street. By Emmett Street, Pine narrows to two lanes, meaning traffic is still a slow go from there to Route 229.

But by next spring, the full 2.4-mile boulevard should be finished, transportation officials said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday morning. Surrounded by city leaders and state lawmakers, Gov. M. Jodi Rell predicted it will transform the city.

"By extending Route 72, we are not only helping central Connecticut commuters; we are providing a big boost for economic development for the city of Bristol, local downtown merchants and companies along this corridor," she said.

When it's finished, the new Route 72 will give Bristol its first relatively high-speed access to a major highway. For decades, business leaders have complained that the city was cut off from economic development because there was no easy way to get in and out.

"It's been such a long time coming; people have waited so patiently. This is a major step," Mayor Art Ward said.

"With the increase in traffic we have, this will help. Even if it saves just five minutes, it helps," council member Kevin McCauley said.

Renaissance Downtowns, the company planning a broad-scale rejuvenation of the downtown, has been eager for the new Route 72, Ward said. The old Route 72 was a twisting two-lane street with lots of driveways, a railroad crossing and a poorly designed five-way intersection in Forestville notorious for rush-hour backups. At Route 372 in Plainville, it becomes a high-speed, limited-access connector to I-84.

Michael Nicastro, president of the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce, said Monday that its replacement will help the city but cautioned residents and drivers against expecting too much too soon.

"We have to manage expectations here. We have to remember they're not done, so everyone has to be patient," Nicastro said. "And it's not the raised expressway that some people were thinking of years ago."

The governor's office estimated the cost of the project at $46 million, which includes a short bridge over the Pequabuck River and a pedestrian bridge over the roadway itself. Workers have cleared hundreds of trees and dug a trench for the boulevard for part of its length, and officials have said that moving utility connections delayed construction. In 2008, transportation department managers projected the cost at $40 million and expected work to finish in 2009.

This may be the state's last all-new stretch of highway for some time. The transportation department is widening and improving Route 7 and plans an extensive upgrade of the I-91 and I-95 interchange in New Haven but has shelved new construction proposals because of the budget crunch and a policy shift toward mass transit and away from more roads.

Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Proposed-mosque-in-Norwalk-draws-controversy-674743.php

Proposed mosque in Norwalk draws controversy
Kate King, Staff Writer
Published: 09:49 p.m., Saturday, September 25, 2010

NORWALK -- West Norwalk residents are protesting construction of the town's first official mosque, which they say will create neighborhood parking and traffic problems.

The Al Madany Islamic Center of Norwalk, which now worships in a private residence on Elton Court, has outgrown the space and wants to move to a bigger prayer hall. The congregation purchased a 1.5-acre property at 127 Fillow St. in 2008 and submitted a proposal in June to the Planning and Zoning Commission for construction of a mosque and community center.

Neighbors are concerned that streets are too narrow to accommodate overflow parking from the mosque and that the roads are already busy with the numerous school and city buses. Residents plan to voice their opposition to the proposal at a Wednesday public hearing.

"We are trying to prevent them from building a very large building on the corner here that happens to be a mosque," said Ray Mosser, who lives in the Fillow Ridge Townhouses. "Our biggest concern is the traffic and safety. We all have to pass by here."

Farhan Memon, a Al Madany congregation member who is serving as its representative during the zoning process, agreed that many residents are concerned about parking on residential streets. He, however, also believes the same undercurrent of anti-Islamic sentiment that has been sweeping the country lurks below the surface of the debate in Norwalk.

"I think that the majority of residents have genuine concerns about traffic and parking that we've sought to address," Memon said. "Having said that, we do recognize that in the comments made that people have expressed opinions that are, on their face, racial and prejudicial."

Stories about the proposed mosque printed on local newspaper websites have received racist online comments, Memon said. On Aug. 25, the owner of the house where the congregation is practicing received a phone call threatening him and his family. Local officers and the Federal Bureau of Investigation responded to the incident, Norwalk police confirmed.

"I think it was someone who, for lack of a better word, was a crackpot," Memon said. "But it points to the fact that when we have issues like this come up, both locally as well as generally in the country, there are people who go over the line."

Mosser said the debate is purely logistical and does not contain any elements of anti-Islamism.

"We have stayed above that so far," he said. "It wouldn't matter what would be there, if it was a church or a YMCA It's not a matter of intolerance. Our issue is that there are other properties in Norwalk that are not too far from here that are more commercial, have better parking and are more appropriate."

A small red farmer's house, built in 1859, on the 127 Fillow St. property will not be demolished. The proposed Islamic Center will be built behind the house in two stages, Memon said. The first stage is the construction of the 7,500 square-foot prayer hall. The second stage, a community hall and several classrooms, will also take up 7,500 square feet.

The mosque will provide 89 parking spaces, both above and below ground, which is in compliance with zoning laws, Memon said. There are 300 Muslim families in Norwalk, about a third of which regularly practice at Al Madany. Based on this number, he believes 89 parking spaces will be sufficient for the 100 people expected to attend Friday prayer services each week.

The mosque will have a capacity of 410 people to accommodate worshippers who wish to attend high holiday services. The two main holidays in the Muslim faith are Eid al-Adha and Eid ul-Fitr, the dates of which change each year because Islam follows the lunar calendar.

"Just like Jews and Christians, some people only show up on high holidays," Memon said. "It's at those two times of the year that we expect to be at capacity."

The congregation will hold two services on holidays to alleviate traffic volume and will also hire a police officer to conduct traffic during Eid, Memon said.

"People have an obligation individually to park legally," he said. "There will be enough police presence around to ticket and tow them if they don't. Someone who is not parking properly should be towed."

Nicole Lyons, who has been on North Taylor Avenue for 8 years, lives a few minutes' walk down the street from the site of the proposed mosque. Lyons said she supports the Islamic Center's construction.

"I think (the debate) is more because it's a mosque than anything else," Lyons said. "There are other religions that have buildings in residential areas. I believe everybody has the right to practice their faith and their religion."

Kathy Cossuto, who has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years, said she does not want a mosque built on the corner, mainly due to traffic and parking. She said she is also concerned about the proposed mosque's minaret.

"They're putting this minaret up but they say they're not going to put a horn on it," Cossuto said. "Well, then why are they putting it up?"

Memon said the minaret will not be equipped with a loudspeaker and calls to prayer will not be audible from outside the walls of the mosque.

Cossuto also expressed concern the mosque will be a very visible presence in the residential area.

"I don't think it's going to fit in with the area," she said. "We have churches and synagogues in the area and that's fine, but they blend in. It's always, you know, yeah build a mosque. Just not in my back yard."

The Al Madany congregation now worships in a house on Elton Court, a short, narrow street near the highway. There is a commuter parking lot at the end of the street, but the road still gets crowded during Friday services, said the mosque's next-door neighbor, Velma Young.

Young's husband, William, grew up in the house that serves as Al Madany's current location and sold it to the current residents. Parking on the street is only difficult for two hours during the day on Fridays, a time when many people are at work, Young said.

"It gets a little difficult," she said. "But they're close neighbors, they're very nice people. We've never had any problems with them. Everyone is free to practice his or her faith."

The Muslim community of Norwalk has been worshipping at the Elton Court home for 20 years; the group became a non-profit religious organization in 1999, Memon said. Since then, the number of Muslim families in town has grown and the house can no longer fit the congregation.

"It is pretty cramped," Memon said. "It only accommodates a set number of people in that basement. Every Friday, you either have people who are turned away or who have to pray outside in the back yard, which in the winter time isn't practical."

The house also lacks separate praying facilities for women, Memon said. Women either pray upstairs in the living room or don't come to worship at all.

"That's a problem," he said. "My wife and my daughter can't come with me to Friday prayers."

Memon said he fully expects the Norwalk Zoning Commission to approve Al Madany's proposal after Wednesday's public hearing. From there, the congregation will have to pass through the approval process and apply for building permits, said Michael Wrinn, assistant director of Planning and Zoning. "We're sort of right in the middle of the process," he said. "Until you get through the public hearing you don't know where it's going."

Many neighbors of the proposed mosque are hoping to block the proposal at Wednesday's meeting. The two condominium associations in the area, Fillow Ridge and Stonegate Apartments, have also hired a lawyer, Mosser said.

"We just felt that we needed expert advice on navigating this issue," he said.

Dozens of yellow signs appeared on the lawns of residences on Fillow Street and North Taylor Avenue more than a week before the public hearing. The signs depicted a sketch of the red house that now sits on the property of the proposed mosque next to the words "Keep 127 Fillow Street Residential!"

The purpose of the signs is to alert the neighborhood to the issue and encourage residents to attend the public hearing, Mosser said.

"The sign is to basically help raise awareness," he said. "We want people to be aware of it and come to the hearing."

Memon said the Al Madany congregation wants to be good neighbors to the residents of Fillow Street and North Taylor Avenue. But they also want a better place to worship than a cramped basement.

"Our congregation loves living in Norwalk," Memon said. "We love living in the town and having a mosque is just a natural extension of that. We're simply looking for a place where we can pray and educate our children about their religion."

Staff Writer Kate King can be reached at kate.king@scni.com or at 203-964-2263.

Zoning meeting The Norwalk Zoning Commission will hold a special meeting to discuss the Al Madany Islamic Center at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the Concert Hall on the first floor of Norwalk City Hall, 125 East Ave.

Woonsocket54

September 29th, 2010, 01:45 AM

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Amid-signs-of-a-strong-rental-market-another-676904.php

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/931/0928harborpoint.jpg

Amid signs of a strong rental market, another housing complex at Harbor Point opens its doors
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 10:01 p.m., Monday, September 27, 2010

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/3431/harborpoint09281.jpg
New housing development called Park Place at 101 Washington Blvd. in Stamford, Conn. on Monday September 28,2010 is part of the $3.5 billion mixed-use development Harbor Point in the South End. Photo: Dru Nadler / Stamford Advocate Freelance

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/8098/harborpoint09282.jpg
A park across from Park Place at 101 Washington Blvd. in Stamford, Conn. is part of mixed-use development harbor Point in the South End on Monday September 28, 2010. Photo: Dru Nadler / Stamford Advocate Freelance

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/6985/harborpoint09283.jpg
John Freeman stands in one of the 2 bedroom units in Park Place at 101 Washington Blvd. in Stamford, Conn. on Monday September 28,2010, the building is part of the $3.5 billion mixed-use development Harbor Point in the South End. Photo: Dru Nadler / Stamford Advocate Freelance

STAMFORD -- In a sign of growing demand for housing in the South End, developer Building and Land Technology this month unveiled a second new housing complex within Harbor Point.

The 15-story development at 101 Washington Blvd. has 336 rental apartments in one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Known as Park Place, the building is named after an adjacent and yet-to-be-opened 4.5-acre public green space called Commons Park. Once completed, the park will have a fountain as well as a playground.

The opening of Park Place comes on the heels of the developer's completed renovation of three connected former Yale & Towne factory buildings at 200 Henry St. Of the 225 loft-style apartments there, more than 180 have been rented, according to John Freeman, a spokesman for the developer.

Despite the weakened economy, residential construction in the South End has been proceeding apace, with all apartments targeted toward renters. A total of 4,000 housing units are to be completed in Harbor Point alone.

BLT is now seeking zoning approval to build a third housing complex -- a six-story building with 329 rental units at the Yale & Towne site near Pacific and Market streets. Closer to the railroad station, Metro Green Apartments, a housing complex co-developed by Malkin Properties and Jonathan Rose Companies, opened with 50 environmentally friendly affordable units last year. The developers are building a second phase of 50 units on Atlantic Street.

Freeman said BLT's plan was to refer interested renters to Park Place once Yale & Towne becomes fully occupied. He expects the demographic for both developments to be largely the same. Thus far, he said they have received inquiries from young professionals as well as empty nesters.

"It's a very diverse group," he said.

The two developments, though close in proximity, are different in aesthetics. One pays homage to its former life as a factory building with ceilings more than 11 feet high and exposed brick walls, while another boasts sweeping views of Long Island Sound and luxury-type amenities such as an outdoor pool and glass-enclosed clubhouse.

Monthly rents at Park Place start at $1,700. It includes 12 penthouse units on the 15th floor as well as 21 two-story townhouses that wrap around the building. Parking is fully enclosed.

Like Yale & Towne, 10 percent of the units at Park Place have been designated as below-market-rate as part of the city's affordable housing requirement. BLT is accepting applications for the 34 affordable units up until the end of the month.

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

Woonsocket54

September 29th, 2010, 06:21 AM

Second Avenue Sagas
http://secondavenuesagas.com/2010/09/28/amtrak-unveils-pie-in-the-sky-plans-for-ne-high-speed-rail/

Amtrak unveils pie-in-the-sky plans for Northeast Corridor high-speed rail route
By Benjamin Kabak
September 28, 2010
http://secondavenuesagas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/HighSpeedNortheastMap.png

By 2040, travel along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor could be among the pleasures of rail in this country. According to a report released by Amtrak today, if the agency has its druthers, high-speed travel between New York and Washington would take just 96 minutes, and the trip to Boston from New York would last just 84 minutes. It is the dream of rail planners throughout the region.

There is, of course, just one teeny tiny catch: This initiative would involve at least $4.7 billion in annual investments over the next 25 years for a price tag of over $117 billion. The project would involve new tunnels into and out of New York City, Baltimore and Philadelphia as well as extensive rights of way expansions in Connecticut and new station complexes from Washington to Boston. This Next-Generation High Speed Rail would improve speeds of commuter trains from today’s average of 75 miles per hour to 140 with a top velocity of 220 miles per hour, but the project remains unfunded. It’s future cannot be a bright one.

In an extensive planning document (linked above), Amtrak talks about the various routings and infrastructure that would be into such a plan. The rail company would have to build out various rights of ways to ensure that the train route from Washington to Boston is as straight as possible. The trains, says Amtrak, require approximately 5 miles of acceleration over 16 miles of straight, flat track to reach speeds of 200 miles per hour, and the alignment constraints are tremendous.

Despite the price tag, the economics, says Amtrak, would make a Next-Generation High Speed rail line profitable. The agency anticipates an annual operating surplus of $900 million as rail would overtake air travel as the fatest and most convenient form of travel between Washington and Boston. Construction over 25 years could generate 44,000 jobs and $33 billion in wages, and the line would see ridership increase from 12 million annually to 38 million. It would also help Amtrak meet capacity demands. Without a significant investment in rail in the northeast, Amtrak’s entire Northeast Corridor will be at 100 percent capacity by 2035. The routes from New York to Trenton and Baltimore to Washington, D.C., already are.

What next then for this ambitious plan? As this is just a “possible concept” for high-speed rail, much work needs to be done. Myriad environmental studies await, and planning meetings loom. The biggest concern, though, says Amtrak, involves identifying the funding sources. At a time when the public is wary of government investment, financial mechanisms must be identified that will lead to the funding of this integral project.

Over at The Transport Politic, Yonah Freemark is realistic about this project’s future as anything more than just a snazzy PDF. He writes:

But it is worth being skeptical of the political chances for the project’s implementation. The timing of the plan’s release could not be much worse. With anti-rail and austerity-focused Republicans likely to retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives in this fall’s elections and little serious talk of increasing funds for fast train projects in the immediate term at the national level, a vast increase in capital financing for Amtrak is hard to imagine…

The fact that the Congress has thus far only committed $10.5 billion total to high-speed rail projects across the country does not seem to have phased anyone in Amtrak management, though it may have resulted in the decision to propose spreading out spending over a 25-year period, rather than, for instance, building it all in ten years. Under the plan, the sections from Baltimore to Wilmington and from Philadelphia to New Rochelle would be completed by 2030, with the rest done by 2040.

Amtrak will need a massive and long-term commitment from the federal government to make this project possible. It will have to find a way to build a coalition between Republicans and Democrats on the matter, since each party will inevitably be in power at some point over the next thirty years. It will have to make a strong case for why investing in the system fulfills national objectives. In the report, it is clear that the agency hopes to portray the Northeast’s strong contribution to the overall U.S. GDP as one of the primary reasons to invest in infrastructure there.

Amtrak, Freemark says, has “basically no choice but to commit to the construction of an entirely new corridor…This will not be a simple project, either from a funding or construction standpoint. But for the nation’s densest and most economically productive region, it may be the best way forward.”

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/4248/amtrakne.jpg

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/386/amtrak2.jpg

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/2053/amtrak3.jpg

here's what the Next-Gen High-Speed Rail report says about Hartford

Economic Value of Next-Gen High-Speed Rail in Context: Hartford, CT

Hartford, Connecticut, is a city facing economic challenges and seeking a role in the larger economy of the Northeast. Despite its concentration of insurance firms, corporate headquarters and government agencies, Hartford’s employment declined 42% between 1970 and 1998 as jobs migrated to the suburbs and other metropolitan regions.

Hartford is strategically situated between New York City and Boston, but access to those key Hub Cities is hampered by often severe congestion. The rapid growth of those Connecticut cities with superior rail-based connections (e.g., Stamford) shows the benefit potential of such linkages. Hartford’s current rail service is relatively infrequent and too slow to meaningfully compete with other modes for major market share. Introduction of high-speed rail service to Hartford would provide travel times between Hartford and New York City almost comparable to what Stamford currently enjoys, with similar 1-hour access to downtown Boston. Expanding access to a larger workforce and more potential jobs via a rapid downtown-to-downtown connection would bring Hartford more tightly into the economic catchment areas of Boston and New York City. The population and
jobs within 90 minutes travel of downtown Hartford would be 4 to 5 times higher with Next-Gen High-Speed Rail, compared to the present transportation network.

Hartford would experience a resurgence, with smart, sustainable growth replacing the parking lots and low-scale buildings presently surrounding
Hartford’s Union Station. The planned commuter rail system along the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield route would extend the high-speed rail service’s
benefits to the north and south, allowing West Hartford, Newington, Berlin and many other areas to evolve into more viable, sustainable and livable
communities.

Woonsocket54

October 2nd, 2010, 03:23 PM

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Neighbors-oppose-proposed-home-on-Mianus-River-680340.php

Neighbors oppose proposed home on Mianus River
Magdalene Perez, Staff Writer
Published: 08:16 p.m., Wednesday, September 29, 2010

STAMFORD -- A group of nearly 50 Westover residents has petitioned against a proposed single-family development near Mianus River Park, saying they have environmental concerns about the project.

The new home would occupy a roughly one-acre lot abutting the Mianus River off Highline Trail. Neighbors say the proposed construction threatens to worsen erosion on the riverbank, causing runoff to public drinking supplies downstream. In addition, residents said they are concerned about the home's septic system, which would be within 100 feet of the river, an area regulated by the city Environmental Protection Board.

Part of the issue stems from the fact that the home would be located on a steep incline, necessitating the removal of trees and the installation of a retaining wall on the property, the neighbors said.

"It's awful close to the river and that river is drinking water supply for the town of Greenwich," Highline Trail homeowner Budd Tunick said. "And we're afraid that the runoff, the possibility of cutting down anywhere from 40 to 120 trees on a very steep slope, is going to compromise the soil there."

Hoping to halt the project, 47 neighbors filed a petition for a public hearing with the EPB. The board granted the request, with a hearing scheduled for Thursday evening.

Environmental Analyst Pamela Fausty, a staff member for the EPB, said although the home would not sit within the 100-foot "buffer" zone, parts of the development do encroach on regulated areas, including portions of the septic system and retaining wall, which are about 60 feet from the river. The land is owned by the Judith R. George Trust.

The project's surveyor, Rocco V. D'Andrea Inc., referred questions to the firm's lawyer, Joseph Capalbo, who did not return a call by press time Wednesday.

Diane Lauricella, an environmental consultant who is working with neighbors, said the land should be protected because of its close proximity to Mianus River Park, which lies both across the river and to the south; and to the Treetops Estate, a 105-acre parcel owned by the state Department of Environmental Protection and maintained by the Stamford Land Conservation Trust and Greenwich Land Trust.

The property also contains a hiking trail along the riverbank that connects parts of Mianus River Park, she said.

"This is part of a wildlife corridor up the east side of the Mianus River," Lauricella said. "This has already been deemed a very special natural resource area. It is contiguous with Mianus River Park."

"It really has a lot to do with the quality of life, the need to not harm the drinking water supply and preserving the open space ecosystem," Lauricella added.

Lauricella said nearby homeowners hope to convince the site's owner to donate the land as open space rather than develop the property, a move that would entitle the owner to a tax benefit.

Marina Shrady, who lives next to the lot where the home is proposed, said she was assured when she bought the property the land would never be developed. She said she has walked her dog along the river for more than 10 years, and has already noticed problems with erosion in the area, which she fears will worsen if construction is allowed to move forward.

"Every time I take walks down there, there is another tree down because of the banks being eroded," Shrady said. "I just feel that it will weaken the whole system here."

Staff Writer Magdalene Perez can be reached at magdalene.perez@scni.com 203-964-2240.

The Courant
http://articles.courant.com/2010-09-27/community/hc-new-britain-condos-0928-20100927_1_apartment-house-sixth-unit-condo-association

Vacant Building Eyed For Condo Development
September 27, 2010|By DON STACOM, dstacom@courant.com

NEW BRITAIN — — The city is preparing to remodel a vacant Washington Street apartment house into condominiums for first-time homebuyers.

The department of municipal development is using federal aid to redevelop the property as part of its effort to improve the neighborhood at Washington and Broad streets.

The building at 261 Washington St. had been a nine-apartment property owned by an absentee landlord before the city foreclosed on it, officials said. The city will remodel the interior, and create a yard and parking lot on the site of an adjacent, six-family apartment house that burned down, said Ken Malinowski, municipal development director.

"We'll remodel it from nine down to six, lessen the density, open up some green space and allow proper parking," Malinowski said.

"I am very pleased that we are making significant progress on this project which will turn this building, which is currently a neighborhood eyesore, into affordable condominium units," Mayor Timothy Stewart said in a statement.

The city plans a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the property, which is about a half-block north of Broad Street and a short distance from the center of downtown.

The city is calling the building La Rocca Commons, and will sell all six units to first-time homebuyers. The city will help them establish a condo association, and will turn over all operations to the owners after the sixth unit is sold. Each unit will probably be sold at below-market rate and buyers will be required to complete a class on home maintenance.

The city is using money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the work.

The Hour
http://www.thehour.com/story/492102

Neighborhood around train station may change
Posted on 09/28/2010

NORWALK

By ROBERT KOCH
Hour Staff Writer

Residents on Tuesday night weighed in on what they'd like to see change -- and what should stay the same -- in the neighborhoods around the South Norwalk Train Station.

About two-dozen people attended the community conversation held by the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency at Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now offices on South Main Street.

The conversation was part of a series arranged by the Redevelopment Agency. Information gathered will be included in a master plan that will define the future for the neighborhoods around the station.

Transit-oriented development is at the core of the master-planning effort.

Brad Schmidt, a South Norwalk resident, lent his support to the concept of transit-oriented development, but questioned development itself thus far in the area.

"I've watched the other development of South Norwalk, and the thing that seems to stick in my mind is it seems to be used as a push-out," Schmidt said. "It pushes low, to middle, middle-class people out."

Michael Mushak, a Golden Hill resident, told The Hour that he strongly supports high-density, mixed-income housing near the train station.

"There's plenty of room for everybody, and the trend across the country, supported by (President) Obama and his new HUD director, is to repair the damage that was done in the 1950s with poorly-designed housing projects," Mushak said. "We need stronger connections from the surrounding neighborhoods to the train stations."

The Cecil Group, the Boston-based urban design firm employed by the city in the Wall Street area, is spearheading the new planning effort.

"We will be shaping up ... and series of specific recommendation about what will happen in this part of Norwalk," Cecil said. "The opportunity to connect with the rail station and neighborhoods around it with bicycle trails and transit shuttles ... can actually change the dynamics of a neighborhood substantially."

The study area lies within a roughly half-mile area of the train station.

"How much impact will (public input) have on the final determination?" asked state Rep. Bruce V. Morris, D-140, in whose district the train station lies. "What's the strength of the input of these meetings?"

Answered Cecil: "A lot, a ton. ... What we need to know is how this community would like to shape itself."

Following the introduction, attendees were split into three workshop groups to identify problems and also what's right. Among those attending the conversation were NEON Executive Director and CEO Joseph E. Mann; Common Councilmen Carvin J. Hilliard and Travis Simms; and Jackie Lightfield, former chairwoman of the city's Zoning Commission.

"You can't talk about transit-oriented development without talking about transportation options in and out of the district," Lightfield told The Hour. "The focus truly needs to be on some sort of integrated rail system with Metro-North (Railroad), like we've seen with Arlington, Va., to spur economic development." The $103,970 study is in addition to the South Norwalk Planning Study, which was launched under former Mayor Alex Knopp and wrapped into the city's updated Master Plan of Conversation and Development.

Timothy T. Sheehan, Redevelopment Agency executive director, told The Hour that the new plan focuses on transit-oriented development near the train station.

zzibit

October 11th, 2010, 07:00 AM

Stamford looked pretty damn good, few empty lots though

Woonsocket54

October 11th, 2010, 04:38 PM

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Housing-Authority-seeks-approval-for-third-phase-697280.php

Housing Authority seeks approval for third phase of mixed-income plan
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 05:55 a.m., Monday, October 11, 2010

STAMFORD -- Charter Oak Communities, the city's housing authority, is proceeding with plans to build its third phase of mixed-income housing on the West Side.

The agency has submitted applications for zoning approval to build 45 rental units distributed among a mix of two- and three-story buildings along a roughly 3-acre stretch of Merrell Avenue. Of those units, 27 would be designated as affordable and 18 would be market rate.

The project will also involve rehabilitating four single-family houses on Broad Street and building a fifth one on a vacant lot owned by Charter Oak. All of the homes on Broad Street would be offered at market-rate rents.

The plan represents the third phase of a $135 million redevelopment plan to replace Vidal Court, a 216-unit high-rise public housing complex on Merrell Avenue, with mixed-income low-density developments spread across the West Side.

The first phase, consisting of 95 townhouse units at 58 Progress Drive, is expected to be completed in June. Meanwhile, Charter Oak is set to begin construction next week on 76 units at 26 Palmers Hill Road. That project is expected to be finished in 2012.

The city's Planning Board Tuesday night unanimously recommended approval of the plan.

It will next go before the Zoning Board, which will take final action on the applications.

During the meeting, Robin Stein, the city's land use bureau chief who advises the Planning Board, noted the "challenges" faced by Charter Oak in moving toward a new model of housing that is being adopted by cities around the country.

In Stamford, affordable housing developers are constrained by the "one-to-one ordinance," passed in 2001, which requires them to replace every affordable unit they either demolish and convert to market rate. In addition, they must try to place the units within the same neighborhood.

The process has not always been easy. In the case of the upcoming development at Palmers Hill, Charter Oak agreed to reduce the number of planned units from 85 to 76 after surrounding residents fought to stop the project, saying that it would negatively impact traffic, property values and crime rates.

The agency is still in the process of assembling additional sites for the Vidal Court replacement.

The first three phases are expected to accommodate about 75 percent of the residents who currently live in Vidal Court, according to Vin Tufo, the executive director of Charter Oak. Of the 216 units, about 170 are now occupied. The families who inhabit those units are in the process of filling out surveys, which will help determine where they will be relocated, he said.

Tufo said residents of Vidal Court will begin moving once construction at Progress Drive is completed. Because of the staggered development schedule, some families will be moved into temporary housing until their units are completed.

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

Woonsocket54

October 26th, 2010, 04:42 AM

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Mill-River-project-faces-skeptical-board-712257.php

Mill River project faces skeptical board
Magdalene Perez, Staff Writer
Published: 09:54 p.m., Monday, October 18, 2010

STAMFORD -- With the renovation of Mill River Park awaiting the most central aspects of its construction, the project's organizers are suddenly facing a skeptical Board of Finance whose budget-hawk majority threatens to hit the brakes on the project.

A year ago, the $21 million Mill River restoration seemed poised to come to fruition. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had just completed demolition of the 87-year-old Main Street dam in September 2009, the culmination of the Army Corps' $8 million portion of the project, which also included removing the river's crumbling concrete walls, rebuilding the river bed, and installing native plants at its banks.

With the Army Corp having completed that portion of the work in June, members of the Mill River Collaborative hope to move forward with the roughly $13 million next step, which would redevelop the park from Broad Street to Main Street, installing new utilities, promenades, lighting, landscaping and hundreds of trees. A second phase, from Main Street south to the cemetery at Richmond Hill Avenue, would be contingent on future financing.

That vision hit a roadblock Thursday, when the Board of Finance failed to vote on a request for an additional $108,000 for a redesign of the city's first phase of the project. Republican Board of Finance Chairman Joe Tarzia held a decision whether to approve an amendment to the agreement with the project's contractor, Olin Partnership Ltd., until next month after board Independent Kathleen Murphy raised questions about the city's financing of the project and questioned whether the city should be prioritizing the Mill River restoration over other capital projects.

"We have drains collapsing, schools are in terrible conditions," Murphy said. "Should this be our priority?"

The need for the redesign came after the city added two acres to the park with the purchase of a developer's property on Washington Boulevard last year, Mill River Collaborative Project Coordinator Milton Puryear said. Puryear said the $5 million purchase will likely reduce the cost of the first phase of the project, as it reduces the amount the city will spend on installing utilities and grading material. Adding the Washington Boulevard lot will simplify the park's design, because the city will no longer have to design around what was expected to be an eight-story residential building, he said.

"It's really a question of making sure you modify the plan so you don't have to change it later," Puryear said.

Puryear warned that the delay has the potential to derail the project's schedule if the Board of Finance does not approve the request by next month, possibly escalating costs in the long run. Currently, the collaborative hopes to break ground by the spring, with construction complete by summer 2012. If orders for granite are not in by April 1, the project would be set back seven months, at an increased cost of about 20 percent to the city, he said.

"We're trying to do this as efficiently as possible, but we won't be able to do it if we don't start before the first of April," Puryear said.

Murphy questioned why the city has given money to the Mill River Collaborative in advance of bonding for the project. However, city officials said the Board of Finance should separate the larger issue of the project's financing from the Mill River Collaborative's current request, as city boards have already approved funding for the overall project.

"I don't think its unreasonable to segregate these two issues and let them go ahead with the project," city Director of Administration Fred Flynn said.

Murphy said Monday the city has to start making tough choices when it comes to capital financing.

"If you want to do Mill River, I guess how long to you wait to do the schools?" Murphy said. "The infrastructure is falling apart because we're not dealing with it. What projects are we not going to do because we're going to do Mill River? We cannot do everything."

But Mill River Collaborative Chairman Arthur Selkowitz said it is incorrect to believe the city would be able to use money saved from Mill River to finance other projects, as the way the project's financing has been structured would not allow it. In addition, he argued it would be a mistake to delay progress on the park, as it is an investment which will eventually create returns.

"We're not just after a beautiful park, we're after an improvement that will add value to the city around it," Selkowitz said. "This park will pay for itself if it gets built. This is an investment. It's an investment that will benefit the city, and it's an investment that if delayed will cost the city."

Staff Writer Magdalene Perez can be reached at magdalene.perez@scni.com 203-964-2240.

New Haven Register
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/10/25/news/shoreline/doc4cc5eb76311f8889889125.txt

Costco withdraws application for Guilford zone change

Published: Monday, October 25, 2010

By Susan Misur, Register Staff

GUILFORD — Costco has withdrawn its application to change zoning on the "rock pile" and build a warehouse store, the Planning and Zoning Department said this afternoon.

Officials did not say why the company withdrew its request to modify existing zoning regulations prohibiting stores of 150,000 square feet, which Costco planned to build. The store also hoped to build a gas station on the site.

Public hearings set to begin Wednesday on the proposal have been canceled.

The big box chain's plans riled the town since they were announced in May. Many residents have been protesting the development, saying it would bring too much traffic and not enough taxes to offset costs the town may incur as a result of the store's opening.

Town officials said they were very surprised and disappointed when they got a letter late Monday afternoon from Costco's attorney. It said the store was withdrawing the application, but didn't specify a reason.

First Selectman Joseph Mazza said Costco representatives told him the site wouldn't work and that he has put a call into the owner of the property to see what else may be proposed for the site.

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/City-wins-federal-funding-for-study-on-East-Side-710860.php

City wins federal funding for study on East Side train station
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 10:38 p.m., Sunday, October 17, 2010

STAMFORD -- The city is set to receive federal funds to pursue a feasibility study for building a new train station on the East Side.

The money, the exact amount of which is yet to be determined, is part of a larger $3.5 million grant that was awarded Friday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to a consortium of nine cities, two counties and six regional planning organizations in the metropolitan region. The group, known as the New York-Connecticut Sustainable Communities Consortium, had initially applied for $5 million in funding from HUD's Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program.

A total of nearly $100 million will be available for regional planning initiatives related to affordable housing, economic development and transportation in areas surrounding commuter rail networks.

Laure Aubuchon, the city's economic development director said that as a member of the consortium, Stamford had requested $225,000 for the feasibility study. However, it will be up to the Consortium on how to divide the funding. She added that there may also be opportunities to collaborate on similar studies being pursued by neighboring cities.

"I think it's the kind of collaboration that certainly HUD likes to see," she said about the overall grant. "We keep saying we have transit-oriented development and it's all along a spine called I-95. Wouldn't it be great if we all worked together?"

For several years, the city and the East Side Partnership have been exploring the possibility of creating a Metro-North train station on East Main Street. Although the project does not rank as high in priority as redeveloping the existing downtown train station or widening the Atlantic Street railroad bridge underpass, Aubuchon said it would be good to commission "an objective study on what the merits would be."

The proposal for an East Side train station gained steam last year during a series of public discussions called Reinventing Stamford.

Organized by the Stamford Urban Redevelopment Commission, members involved in Reinventing Stamford have taken part in several brainstorming sessions to come up with projects designed to make the city more sustainable and competitive.

The creation of a regional consortium to apply for federal funding was one of the ideas that came out of the events. Kip Bergstrom, the executive director of the URC, said the coalition resulted after about six months of meetings between municipal and planning groups stretching from as far north as New Haven and as far south as Newark. The latter city, however, did not apply as part of the consortium.

In addition to Stamford, other participating cities are: New York, New Haven, Bridgeport, Norwalk, Yonkers, White Plains, New Rochelle and Mount Vernon. The group also includes Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

Hartford Courant
http://articles.courant.com/2010-10-12/community/hc-new-britain-police-hq-1013-20101012_1_police-station-groundbreaking-council-police-headquarters

Police Station Groundbreaking? Council Says 'Stop The Shovels'

October 12, 2010|By DON STACOM, dstacom@courant.com

NEW BRITAIN — — Surrounded by dozens of business leaders and municipal officials, Mayor Timothy Stewart led a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday to celebrate construction of the new $35 million police headquarters downtown.

But city council leaders say it's not time to dig yet.

"A groundbreaking is a little premature," council Majority Leader Phil Sherwood said Tuesday. "We haven't approved a design or a final location."

Sherwood said nearly all of the council's majority Democrats have agreed it's too soon to decide whether the building should be constructed at Chestnut and Main streets downtown.

"I've told the mayor it was a little too early for this. The design, the facility, the location — none of that is approved yet," council President Michael Trueworthy said.

Stewart, a Republican who has battled with the Democratic council for years, blamed the latest dispute on politics.

"The bonding is in place, the funding is in place, the plan is designed. This is just politics, 100 percent," Stewart said. "I challenge them to try to stop this now. There are millions of dollars in grants approved for this, and if you want to play politics, we'll lose all that."

Trade union officials and downtown merchants attended the groundbreaking to support Stewart's plan, and Police Chief William Gagliardi emphasized that the 150-member department is overdue for a replacement of the outdated, asbestos-filled Columbus Boulevard headquarters.

"If it had been a school, it would have been shut down by now," Gagliardi said.

Last-minute opposition is "disheartening," he said.

The council has discussed the proposal to build at Chestnut and Main for years after rejecting other possible locations, but Sherwood said new properties have become available in recent months. He said the committee that's dealt with specifics of the Chestnut and Main plan has nothing in writing, and that the entire council has been given only the barest of details.

"Ultimately we may very well build at Chestnut and Main, but there hasn't been a hearing, we haven't seen a plan," Sherwood said. "The conventional wisdom has been that this is the best site, but why should we want to put this in the spot where we want to grow business? We should be marketing that space to business."

Stewart dismissed the argument that the council wasn't kept up to date.

"For those people to play stupid — that's the biggest lie I ever heard," Stewart said.

Stewart stressed that New Britain was allowed to seize the property through eminent domain based on the guarantee to use it for a public building, so suggestions to use it for commercial development are impossible.

Trueworthy predicted that few council members would attend the groundbreaking, saying "We all have jobs." Stewart, who repeatedly has called the police headquarters a key to a large-scale renewal of downtown, went ahead with the ceremony anyway.

"It's the fundamental basis for the downtown project — on that specific site," he said. "Contrary to the opinion of recent nay-sayers, this isn't a roadblock to economic development, it's a catalyst."

Rep. Betty Boukus, D-Plainville, was the only New Britain-area legislator to attend. But six Common Council members turned out, including Democrat Adam Platosz.

"We need a police station. I had hoped it would be a different site. But now it's starting," Platosz said. "This is it."

The council approved a $35 million bond authorization earlier this year, but hasn't signed off on an actual construction contact. It has construction management and architectural contracts with Downes Construction Co. and Kaestle Boos Associates.

Bidding is under way for excavation and other site preparations. That should begin by early November, and the building would take 18 months or longer to complete, according to Stewart's staff.

Danbury News Times
http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/State-gets-121-million-for-New-Haven-to-722931.php

State gets $121 million for New Haven to Springfield line
Martin B. Cassidy, Staff Writer
Published: 09:00 p.m., Monday, October 25, 2010

The state has been awarded $120.9 million in federal high-speed rail grants toward double-tracking a passenger rail line between New Haven and Springfield, Mass., an $880 million project designed to shorten commuter trips between upstate and lower Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who announced the funding Monday at the Meriden train station, hailed the development of more frequent and speedy service between New Haven, Hartford, and Springfield as a potentially economic transformational step for central Connecticut cities such as Meriden, North Haven, and Newington that would ease access between Bradley airport in Windsor Locks and the rest of the state.

The state Bond Commission approved Rell's request for $260 million in borrowing over the summer, a commitment intended to bolster the state's original $220 million request for funds. A total of $446.9 million has been committed to the project so far, $286 million in federal money and $160.9 million in state matching funds.

"This is truly a great day for Connecticut -- and this is a hard-earned and well-deserved celebration," Rell said in a statement. "It's a great day for commuters, a great day for business and economic development along the central Connecticut corridor and a great day for the future of transportation -- not only here but throughout New England."

Speaker of the House State Rep. Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, said a faster commute from cities such as Meriden and North Haven to job centers such as Stamford and Bridgeport would reduce road traffic and make the corridor more hospitable to new businesses.

Donovan said that when the line is built in five years it could potentially create more than a thousand jobs in central Connecticut a year.

"A lot of those cities along the line were built along the railroad so there is already a business infrastructure in addition to the railroad infrastructure," Donovan said. "Industry and housing are what we want to bring back to the area and if businesses can get their workers and supplies there easily it would be certainly more convenient."

The state Department of Transportation has begun design and construction of a second track from the Meriden-Berlin town line to Newington using the $40 million grant, which was part of an earlier $8 billion pool of competitive high speed rail grants proposed by President Barack Obama.

The state DOT estimates the 62-mile line could reduce the number of cars on state highways by 4,000 a day and generate an estimated 4,000 construction jobs to build, while creating opportunities for transit-oriented development near stations in municipalities such as Windsor Locks, Newington, Hartford and Windsor.

Transportation Committee Vice Chairman State Sen. Bob Duff-D-Norwalk, and South Western Regional Planning Agency Executive Director Floyd Lapp said the federal funding was good news, but said the size of the state's commitment to the line raised questions about priorities as the state has put off economically important projects to improve Metro-North's New Haven line and to ease congestion on Interstate 95 for lack of funding.

Besides needed rail improvements, last year the state DOT postponed work on a project to add speed transition lanes between exits 14 and 15 on Interstate 95 in Norwalk, a major bottleneck to commuters between Bridgeport and Greenwich, Duff said.

"I do support the New Haven to Springfield line in the long term but my fear is that we're stretching ourselves so thin without any real plan to address the needs of commuters down here," Duff said. "With everything having been neglected as it has been for 30 years it really takes some vision and discipline to appropriate money for the projects that meet the greatest need and provide the most benefit, and quite frankly that is down in Fairfield County."

Lapp said the state has yet to appropriate $50 million needed for improvements identified in the DOT's New Canaan and Danbury branch line studies, including an $8 million passing siding at Springdale that would allow two-way traffic on the New Canaan line, which carries about 2,800 passengers a day.

"The long-term American future is in a network of high-speed rail systems, much like the future during the second half of the 20th century was the establishment of the national highway network," Lapp said. "But in all the hoopla of high speed rail we shouldn't forget the nitty gritty work that needs to be done on the three branch lines, particularly the two in the southwestern part of the state, New Canaan and Danbury."

Joe McGee, vice president of public policy for the Business Council of Fairfield County, said he was glad the state was able to capitalize on available federal funding, and said the 62-mile line would strengthen economic ties between different regions by enabling skilled workers to travel greater distances.

"The project really expands the rail transit backbone of the state," McGee said. "We're building a system and this is a very important component of expanding the system, which is an important goal."

Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/community/manchester/hc-manchester-library-fundraiser-102720101026,0,1768014.story

Opponents Of Library Expansion In Manchester To Hold Fundraising Dinner
By JESSE LEAVENWORTH, leavenworth@courant.com

5:30 p.m. EDT, October 26, 2010
MANCHESTER —— A group opposed to expanding the main public library into Center Memorial Park is hosting a fundraising dinner on Saturday at the American Legion hall on Legion Drive.

Organizer Joe Hachey said that members of Save the Park acknowledge the need for a new public library, but oppose any construction that affects the historic downtown park. The primary reason for the fundraising dinner is to gauge residents' views on the issue, Hachey said Tuesday.

"We want to see how much support is out there against the idea of ruining that park," he said.

The group wants to raise money to purchase lawn signs and newspaper advertisements, Hachey said.

The current 26,000-square-foot Mary Cheney Library — which has the fourth-highest circulation in the state — lacks space for books and other materials, quiet study and meeting rooms. Expanding the library to about 58,000 square feet would cost $19 million to $22 million, according to the most recent estimate. This project could include its own auditorium, which would boost the required space by about 6,000 square feet, or it could be paired with the renovation of the auditorium at the Whiton Memorial Branch Library.

The town also could build a new library, which would cost $27 million to $30 million, according to recent estimates. The third option would be to spend no money and maintain the current main library and its branch.

Tickets to the dinner, scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m., are $10. To purchase tickets, call 860-647-9272 or 860-646-7961. Hachey also may be reached by e-mail at hachey6@cox.net.

Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/community/enfield/hc-enfield-loaves-and-fishes-1027-20101026,0,6210734.story

Food Shelf To Celebrate Purchase Of Building
3:15 p.m. EDT, October 26, 2010

ENFIELD — — The local food shelf has purchased the Prospect Street property that it is already headquartered in, and it's planning a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 9 at 10 a.m.

The Loaves and Fishes pantry invites community members to celebrate the purchase of its 28 Prospect St. home, the building formerly occupied by St. Andrew's Church. The church's parish consolidated with Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on Hazard Avenue in 2007, leaving the Prospect Street building available for purchase.

The group has been based at the church building for 28 years, and purchased the property on June 29 after placing a $50,000 deposit on the church when it went on sale. The ribbon cutting will take place on the lawn, and refreshments will be provided after the ceremony.

Those interested in attending should RSVP by Nov. 5 to Prisicilla Brayson at pbelf@aol.com or 860-741-0226.

—Melissa Traynor

Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/community/middletown/hc-middletown-senior-center-1027-20101026,0,6986860.story

Middletown Considers Buying Former School Building
By SHAWN R. BEALS, sbeals@courant.com
6:19 p.m. EDT, October 26, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — — The city is considering a proposal to buy the old St. Sebastian School building for use as a senior center and city hall offices.

At a special meeting Monday night, the economic development committee recommended a "needs assessment" that would give a rough price estimate for renovation and a detailed review of the 14,000-square-foot building, on Durant Terrace near Hunting Hill Avenue.

The finance and government operations committee might also consider the purchase tonight before the proposal goes to the common council for approval.

Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said that buying the building could cost the city about $800,000.

"The reality is if you were buying a house, you'd do this [study]," said Councilman Gerald Daley.

Giuliano said the city's lease for the current senior center with the Middletown Housing Authority ends July 1. He said that costs could go up for another lease.

He said that St. Sebastian parish offered the building to the city last year at $1.3 million, but the city was not interested then. Recently, Giuliano asked if the price was negotiable, and the two parties began discussing a price of $800,000.

Planning Director William Warner said the second floor of the building could also be used for some city offices and meeting space, and the building could also house a museum for local veterans.

"Today's senior centers are no longer senior centers, they're community centers," said Edward Dypa, chairman of the senior services commission. "It's got mutiple uses and that's what it should be."

Dypa said the current senior center on William Street is too small, and the former school would offer nearly triple the space.

The public works commission asked for more information last week on the building's condition, and Warner prepared a report.

"We were asked to investigate the building to see if there were any land mines [like asbestos or structural defects] that would make it unwise for the city to buy the building," Warner said before the meeting.

"That it was a school and that it has accreditation should make you feel good about it," Warner told the economic development committee.

He said that a $190,000 budget earmark and $60,000 given by the council — both targeted for senior center renovations — could be used for the project, and grants could be available. The common council is scheduled at its meeting Monday to consider changing the appropriation of the $60,000 so that it could be used for the new project.

Giuliano said the city has $800,000 available from a bond sale last year that could be used if the common council wants to buy the building.

Hartford Courant
http://blogs.courant.com/cityline/2010/10/butt-ugly-building-demolition.html

Butt Ugly Building Demolition Begins Wednesday
By Jenna Carlesso on October 25, 2010 4:34 PM

The city will begin to knock down the infamous "Butt Ugly Building" on Main Street this Wednesday at 4 p.m. The demolition method will be a claw, according to city spokeswoman Sarah Barr.

Preparation for the demolition began in September. The city council approved it in August.

Barr said the building is expected to be completely torn down by mid-November.

http://blogs.courant.com/cityline/butt-ugly-building-mcandrews.JPG
(Photo by MICHAEL McANDREWS / HARTFORD COURANT)

Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/health/hc-hartford-hospital-1026-20101025,0,486282.story

Hartford Hospital Opens New Oncology Unit
26-bed Unit Features 'Hospital Rooms of the Future'
10:07 p.m. EDT, October 25, 2010

A new, 26-bed inpatient oncology unit opens at Hartford Hospital today.

The unit is part of the hospital's Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Center; patients will be moved there Wednesday. Construction took just under one year to complete, and cost $11.5 million. The new unit features what Hartford Hospital spokeswoman Rebecca Stewart calls "hospital rooms of the future" — designed to be safer environments. The rooms are also larger than average to better accommodate family visits.

More than 50,000 patient visits are made annually to the center, which opened in 1990. Because it provides cancer treatment to traditionally underserved populations, the center has been selected as a National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program.

The National Cancer Institute recently selected the center as one of 14 to take part in a three-year program designed to find new ways to treat the needs of members of certain demographics, including racial and ethnic groups particularly prone to cancer, as well as the elderly, rural, inner-city and low-income patients.

—William Weir

http://www.courant.com/media/photo/2010-10/57050392.jpg
Mary McClintock, a patient at the Helen and Harry Gray Cancer Center at Hartford Hospital, had an early view of the center's new, 26-room unit Monday. McClintock, who will be admitted to the new unit in a couple of weeks, shared a few words with one of her physicians, Dr. Andrew Salner, director of the Gray cancer center. (Mike Townsend, Fox CT / October 24, 2010)

Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/community/rocky-hill/hc-rocky-hill-food-1026-20101025,0,3344538.story

Packaging Facility Gets Planning Approval
12:39 p.m. EDT, October 25, 2010

ROCKY HILL — — The town's planning and zoning commission has approved a proposal from Inner Circle Fresh Foods.

The company wants to open a new food-packaging facility at 525 Brook St. and 125 Henkel Way, and it asked the town if it could combine the two lots and add on to an existing building.

With the commission's approval, Inner Circle Fresh Foods can now move forward with its project. It hopes to open the facility next summer and anticipates that the new company will create 160 jobs in Rocky Hill.

—Amanda Falcone

Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/community/southington/hc-southington-bids-1025-20101024,0,6750106.story

Four Developers Submit Bids For Southington School Project
By KEN BYRON, kbyron@courant.com
9:31 p.m. EDT, October 24, 2010

SOUTHINGTON — — A town plan to turn a vacant old school into offices for staff has drawn interest from four developers.

The town wants to sell the North Center School to a developer, who would renovate the building for use as offices and lease it back to the town. Officials are pursuing the idea in part because they have had no luck getting voters to approve an expansion of town hall. Selling the school and then leasing it back would not require voters' approval.

Staff now working in town hall and the town hall annex, which officials want to tear down, would move to North Center School. The board of education's central administrative offices would also go there.

Town Attorney Mark Sciota said a committee of town and school staff will review the bids and make recommendations that will first go to a facilities committee and then the board of education. Final approval is up to the town council.

Sciota said the town is hoping to choose a contractor within two months; work would begin early next year.

Developers submitted bids for the project earlier this month. They include Matthew Florian, who has already redeveloped a number of properties downtown. He would buy the school for $1.2 million and lease it back to the town for $75,000 per month. The town would have a 10-year lease and at the end of that period could renew for another 10 years or buy the building back for $6.5 million.

Downes Construction of New Britain, which has done a considerable amount of work for the state at Central Connecticut State University, submitted another bid. The team includes Patrick J. Delahunty Jr., who was a deputy commissioner of public works during the administration of former Gov. John G. Rowland.

The Downes group would buy the building for $1 and lease it back to the town for $378,600 per year. At the end of the lease, the town could buy it back for $2.96 million. Alternatively, the group would buy North Center School for $1.5 million, lease it for $564,900 per year and sell it back to the town for $4.18 million.

Borghesi Building & Construction of Torrington has offered to buy the building for $10,000 and lease it back for $465,000 per year for 10 years. The town could buy back the building for $4 million.

The fourth bidder is Landmark Properties, a local firm that is offering to buy North Center for $101, lease it back for about $30,000 per month. The town could buy the building back for $998,000.

Woonsocket54

October 28th, 2010, 02:31 AM

it's coming down....

Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-butt-ugly-building-1028-20101027,0,6116643.story

Demolition Begins On 'Butt Ugly Building'

http://www.courant.com/media/photo/2010-10/57112936.jpg
Mayor Pedro Segarra smiles as a claw begins to tear down the old H.B. Davis building, known as the 'Butt Ugly Building' on Main Street. The demolition is being done by Manafort Construction, and is expected to be finished by mid-November. The city has not yet decided what to do with the land. (BETTINA HANSEN / HARTFORD COURANT / October 27, 2010)

By JENNA CARLESSO, jcarlesso@courant.com
7:09 p.m. EDT, October 27, 2010

HARTFORD — — A towering, mechanized claw reached up Wednesday and took its first bite out of the "Butt Ugly Building," a once-flourishing department store that became a symbol of the city's decline.

Demolition of the dilapidated former H.B. Davis Building at 1161 Main St., close to I-84, is expected to be completed by mid-November.

"The building did serve its purpose, but I think we're willing to part with it," Mayor Pedro Segarra said just before the claw hit the building.

"Just picture yourself driving by," he said. "I think it's going to have a big impact."

Segarra said in July that the city would move to acquire the five-story building and knock it down. The Hartford Redevelopment Agency later purchased the property for $625,000. Demolition will cost an additional $312,000. The entire project was paid for with city bond money.

City council members said it would have cost more to acquire the property through eminent domain.

"It's a total facelift," said Sean Arena, chairman of the Hartford Redevelopment Agency. "This will be a major catalyst for future redevelopment."

The city is looking at tearing down a second building, too. Officials are negotiating with the owners of the deteriorating Capitol West Building on Myrtle Street, near the Asylum Street exit of I-84 west, about purchasing the property, Segarra said. No deal has been reached.

The "Butt Ugly Building" is widely known for its role in the corruption case against former Mayor Eddie A. Perez. Prosecutors said Perez held up a city project involving the building to help former state Rep. Abraham Giles solicit a $100,000 payment from a developer, Joseph Citino, in return for Giles vacating a parking lot he was operating. The payment was never made and the development — which would have replaced the building with a commercial and residential project — was never completed.

Perez was convicted in June of five felony corruption charges and later sentenced to three years in prison. He resigned and was replaced by Segarra, the city council president.

Giles was charged with first-degree attempted larceny and first-degree conspiracy to commit larceny. His case is pending in Superior Court in Hartford.

Though regarded as an eyesore for years, the "Butt Ugly Building" has a long history with the city. Built in the 1920s, it was once home to a thriving department and catalog store and later turned into offices. It had adjoining buildings, a row of them on the west side of Main Street that stretched north to the intersection with Albany Avenue — an area known as "the tunnel."

While there are no specific plans yet for the Main Street property, Segarra said he hopes a mixed-use development eventually will be built there.

The city's redevelopment agency has reached out to developers as far away as Atlanta and Los Angeles to let them know about the property. Arena said he has received some phone calls from interested developers.

A portion of a $4.2 million federal planning grant will be used to research how the site can best be used, Segarra said. Demolition of the former H.B. Davis Building is part of a larger redevelopment plan for the city's downtown.

"The economy limits us, but that doesn't mean we can't move forward and do the things that are preparatory for the better days to come," Segarra said.

scalziand

November 3rd, 2010, 02:37 AM

I hope they can get the capitol west building torn down too. What an eyesore!

Woonsocket54

November 9th, 2010, 01:45 AM

Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-rocky-hill-veterans-1105-20101104,0,5882091.story

Work To Begin On State Veterans Memorial
Rell To Preside At Groundbreaking In Rocky Hill

By DAVID DRURY, Special to the Courant
5:18 p.m. EDT, November 5, 2010

ROCKY HILL — — As organizers continue to push for private donations, plans are now set to break ground Monday to begin work on the Connecticut State Veterans Memorial.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell will preside at the 3 p.m. ceremony to be held at the Col. Raymond F. Gates Memorial Cemetery on the south side of West Street, across from the State Veterans Home.

The nonprofit Connecticut State Veterans Memorial Inc., headed by Veterans Affairs Commissioner Linda S. Schwartz, has stepped up fundraising in the past few months to raise about $500,000 still needed to cover the private share of the $1.2 million project.

Two dozen state banks and credit unions are accepting $1 donor cards from individuals who want the name of a veteran or current service member inscribed in the "Honor Roll of Heroes" kiosk planned for the site. A listing of participating financial institutions, along with a donor card, can be found at http://www.cthonorsvets.org.

In addition, Rell has designated state armories in Hartford, Enfield, New London, Stratford and Waterbury as drop-off sites for donations, which will be accepted from 9 a.m. to 12 noon Nov. 13.

Planning for the memorial has been underway for two years. A design submitted by two landscape architects from Collinsville, Dean Adams and Robert C. Schechinger Jr., was selected from among 12 designs in a competition held earlier this year by the state's Commission on Culture and Tourism.

The winning entry features a tree-lined walkway leading to an amphitheater, with a speaker's platform and foundation, enclosed by a semi-circular remembrance wall.

The State Bond Commission authorized $500,000 for the project in July, an amount in addition to the $100,000 the state had spent for the design.

Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant

Woonsocket54

November 11th, 2010, 02:46 AM

another new station for Connecticut (there's already one under construction in Fairfield known as Fairfield Metro Center)

New Haven Register
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/11/10/news/metro/doc4cdaf0415c5aa995748114.txt

http://www.nhregister.com/content/articles/2010/11/10/news/metro/doc4cdaf0415c5aa9957481141.jpg
Gov. M. Jodi Rell, left, West Haven Mayor John Picard, third from left, Connecticut Rail Commuter Council Chairman James Cameron, second from right, and U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, right, as the renderings for the West Haven train station are unveiled at a groundbreaking ceremony in West Haven. Photo by Mara Lavitt/New Haven Register

http://www.nhregister.com/content/articles/2010/11/10/news/metro/doc4cdaf0415c5aa995748114.jpg
Gov. M. Jodi Rell, left, and West Haven Mayor John Picard, second from left, watch Wednesday as state Transportation Commissioner Jeffrey Parker unveils drawings of the planned West Haven train station during a groundbreaking ceremony at the site. Photo by Mara Lavitt/New Haven Register

ALL ABOARD: Ground broken on much anticipated West Haven rail station
Published: Wednesday, November 10, 2010

By Amanda Pinto, Register Staff
apinto@nhregister.com

WEST HAVEN — Gov. M. Jodi Rell led a group of state and city officials who plunged gold shovels into the soil at the site of West Haven’s much-anticipated commuter rail station during a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday morning.

The 3,000-square-foot station will include parking for 660 cars, and will be the first new station on a 10-mile stretch of track between Milford and New Haven, currently the Metro-North New Haven Line’s longest span without a station.

The new station, on Railroad Avenue, will cost about $118 million funded through state bonds and is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.

“What we (see) here are jobs and a huge catalyst for Connecticut’s economy,” Rell said. “It’s not just the jobs the construction will create… it’s the new businesses, the new foot traffic, the new opportunities for entrepreneurs.”

Read more in tomorrow’s New Haven Register or here at www.newhavenregister.com.

Woonsocket54

November 11th, 2010, 02:55 AM

the other station being built in southern Connecticut - Fairfield Metro Center in Fairfield near the Bridgeport corporate limits

these pix are from James R Anderson (http://www.photog.com). He also has photos of other construction projects on his site such as the Q-Bridge

October 2010 photos
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Woonsocket54

November 14th, 2010, 06:13 PM

Stamford Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/City-considers-SoTo-name-for-commercial-811696.php

City considers 'SoTo' name for commercial district north of Shippan
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 05:57 p.m., Saturday, November 13, 2010

STAMFORD -- In Norwalk, there is SoNo for South of Norwalk.

Further north, Southie and Eastie are short for South and East Boston.

And in New York City, where neighborhood nicknames abound, the trendy sections of Lower Manhattan consist of Soho, TriBeCa and NoLIta, otherwise known as South of Houston, Triangle Below Canal and North of Little Italy.

Now, a proposal to name a commercial district between Canal Street and Magee Avenue as SoTo, which stands for South of Town is expected to go before the Board of Representatives' Land Use Committee this month. If approved, it would go for a vote before the full board.

"We need some kind of moniker to define us as a cool place to be," said Regina Kirshbaum, who conceived of SoTo more than five years ago. Along with her husband, Michael, she runs Agabhumi, a chain of retail stores that sells handmade clothing and accessories from Bali.

Over the eight years they have been in business on Magee Avenue, their bohemian-looking clothes and accessories have appeared in several high-profile fashion magazines including InStyle, Glamour and Marie Claire.

"Yet we still had customers coming in and saying, `Why are you here?' " she said. The bewilderment might stem from the area's lack of cohesion. Nestled among a hodgepodge of seemingly unrelated businesses that include a toy store, a ceramic tile importer and car wash dealer, their store Agabhumi -- which means ancient earth in Indonesian -- lies in somewhat of a no-man's zone. Although some may refer to the enclave as the South End, it sits east of the South End peninsula but west of the East Side and well north of Shippan.

"This is an area that is nebulous right now," said Michael, who grew up in Stamford. "It's a place that you go to get to Shippan."

Despite the efforts of merchants like themselves, the area has struggled with a bad connotation. For some, it has simply been known as "the dump," an unfortunate label made worse by the prolonged construction of the Urban Transitway.

For Regina, who used to live in New York City, a new name is exactly the lift that businesses who have held on there desperately need.

"When you have an area that has a clear perception by name, defined by a moniker that is comfortable and familiar to people, then you have the beginnings of a marketing opportunity to draw a crowd," she said.

The promotion of "Destination SoTo" began around 2005 as a singular effort that started with large advertisements that the couple placed in The Advocate.

But Regina soon realized that renaming a district was not something she could do alone -- she needed city hall to give it official recognition. The arduous task of lobbying city officials and nearby businesses has taken her about four years. In the office room of her store, she keeps two overflowing file folders stuffed with petitions and newspaper clippings.

Although she said reaction has been mostly positive, it is not clear whether all city residents will warm to a new neighborhood name.

Last month, she stood before members of the South End Neighborhood Revitalization Zone and presented a broader plan to include the entire South End as SoTo. As the spiky-haired fashion entrepreneur smilingly tried to convince the group that a new name would make the South End trendier, several longtime residents who had spent their entire lives there appeared offended.

Around the room, several people said, "What's wrong with the South End?"

She has since gone back and put back the original boundaries of the plan. "Let's do it for the area where people want it," she said. Those onboard include Mayor Michael Pavia, who said, "If it helps economic development, then certainly that's something I'm in favor of."

The mayor added that he could not think of any drawbacks to the proposal.

"It's a little enclave unto itself and that's the reason why people who live and work there want to give it its own special designation," he said.

City Rep. Robert "Gabe" DeLuca, R-14, the minority leader on the Board of Representatives, led the effort to get the issue on the board's agenda.

"It's going to draw people in," he said. "A lot of people don't even realize there are a lot of businesses along Magee, Jefferson and Shippan."

Recalling the branding of South Norwalk as SoNo, the 80-year-old DeLuca said, "Years ago, we never even heard of South Norwalk."

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

Woonsocket54

November 17th, 2010, 04:01 AM

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Zoning-Board-OKs-housing-authority-development-817294.php

Zoning Board OKs housing authority development
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 09:28 p.m., Tuesday, November 16, 2010

STAMFORD -- The city's housing authority, Charter Oak Communities, has received preliminary zoning approval for its plans to build mixed-income housing on the West Side as part of an effort to tear down and replace the aging Vidal Court housing complex.

The development is to consist of 45 rental units spread across 10 two-and three-story buildings along a roughly 3-acre stretch of Merrell Avenue. Of those units, 27 are to be affordable, while 18 would be rented at market rates. The agency also plans to rehabilitate four single-family houses and building a fifth one on Broad Street, all of which would be made rented at market rates.

On Monday night, zoning board members unanimously approved the general development plan, which provides the city with a template of where building is to occur. Charter Oak has indicated that it needed approval of the general development plan this month so as to be able to apply for tax credits that would provide financing for the roughly $15 million project.

Officials said final plans could be submitted to the city as early as next summer.

The Merrell Avenue and Broad Street plan represents the third phase of Charter Oak's redevelopment on the West Side. Another yet-to-be introduced phase is expected on Stillwater Avenue, where the housing authority plans 60 units of mixed-income housing.

About 160 families who live at Vidal Court are expected to be relocated beginning next summer. Demolition of the six-story housing complex on Merrell Avenue, however, would not occur until 2012. As part of the city's one-to-one housing ordinance, developers must replace every affordable unit they either demolish and convert to market rate. In addition, they must try to place the units within the same neighborhood.

Unlike a prior Charter Oak project involving mixed-income townhouses in Westover, public hearings on the Merrell Avenue redevelopment proceeded without neighborhood controversy or objections. Each of the five board members who voted Monday expressed strong support for the plan.

The only wrinkle came during the board's review of a zoning approval stipulation that sought to have Charter Oak identify and preserve existing significantly-sized trees outside the areas of development. Zoning Board chairwoman Audrey Cosentini and member David Stein argued for stronger language that would give the Zoning Board more discretion over which trees were razed.

Stein at one point suggested that any tree demolition plan be approved by the board, much to the visible frustration of Charter Oak representatives in the audience.

Norman Cole, the city's principal planner, reminded the board that approval of a general development plan would entitle Charter Oak to build in the areas that had been indicated, thus giving it the right to proceed with site preparation that could involve removing trees.

"What would be the point of usurping their right if they have an absolute right to put a building there?" Cole said to Stein, adding that in such cases, "That tree's a goner."

Both Stein and Cosentini eventually settled on weaker language that would protect significantly sized trees located within the front yard area of Merrell Avenue, but not apply to places where development was approved.

Despite Cole's warnings, the issue managed to prolong the board's deliberations, which included an interruption by anxious-looking Charter Oak officials wanting to conference privately with Cole.

Of the members, Harry Parson, expressed the most annoyance with the hold-up.

When Cosentini thanked Stein, saying, "He always gets my support when he does this," Parson witheringly replied, "I wish he wouldn't."

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

The Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/City-asks-downtown-developer-to-replace-trees-814386.php

City asks downtown developer to replace trees slated for removal
Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer
Published: 11:08 p.m., Monday, November 15, 2010

STAMFORD -- The city is urging the developer of a proposed high-profile downtown housing project to provide compensation for the planned razing of several trees, including a historic copper beech.

Greenfield Partners, a real estate investment company based in Norwalk, has applied for zoning approval to construct a five-story building with 350 apartments and nearly 11,000 square feet of ground floor retail at 75 Tresser Blvd.

The 3.3-acre site at Tresser and Washington boulevards houses the former headquarters of The Advocate and is home to a towering copper beech tree estimated to be over 100 years old. Additional plantings of river birch, maple and pine trees were done during the late 1970s, when the property was developed for The Advocate.

From his windowed office overlooking Tresser Boulevard, Robin Stein, the city's land use bureau chief, noted that there were yellow leaves still hanging off the limbs of the river birch trees.

"It's a little pocket urban forest, which you ought to have," Stein said on Monday. "It's a lot more than street trees."

Under the developer's plans, all the trees are to be removed. An arborist hired by Greenfield Partners has determined the copper beech suffers from significant decay and would have to be removed within 10 to 15 years.

The company has offered to pay $25,000 to allow the replanting of a large beech tree in Mill River Park.

But in his written assessment of the project issued last week, Stein suggested that Greenfield Partners also be required to replace the younger trees by planting comparably sized specimens in approved settings in the downtown.

On Monday, he added that an analysis performed by the Stamford land use department determined that the value of those trees is at least $50,000.

Stein, who has been trying to get the city to adopt more sustainable and environmentally sensitive building standards, said he wished developers would make a greater effort to incorporate the existing natural landscapes of development sites.

Such considerations are not unprecedented in large-scale projects.

During construction of The Advocate building, a team of architects lobbied to save the copper beech tree. Times Mirror Co., then-owner of the newspaper, agreed.

Richard Redniss, a planning consultant representing Greenfield Partners, said the developer is looking into the possibility of planting trees downtown for the city. He added that a landscape architect has been involved since the inception of the project.

But preserving the trees, he argued, would come at the cost of creating a significant amount of housing in the heart of the downtown as well a pedestrian-friendly streetscape.

He noted that just a few blocks away, Mill River Park, is expected to have a wealth of trees.

"What we've been trying to do for over 30 years is to get downtown housing," Redniss said. "It's a balancing act. We're going to balance these issues out. That's the way it should be done with each application."

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.

Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-the-harford-capitol-west--1117-20101116,0,1107101.story

The Hartford Will Help City Buy And Demolish Capitol West Building

http://www.courant.com/media/photo/2010-11/57675965.jpg
A massive eyesore near I-84, the Capitol West building in Hartford has been vacant for years. On the heels of the "Butt Ugly Building" demolition, The Hartford, which owns property nearby, committed $2 million to buy it, tear it down and redevelop the property. (MICHAEL MCANDREWS, Hartford Courant / October 6, 2008)

By KENNETH R. GOSSELIN and JENNA CARLESSO, kgosselin@courant.com
3:45 p.m. EST, November 16, 2010

Hartford's efforts to remove one of the most blighted buildings in the city — the Capitol West building near I-84 — got a big boost Tuesday as The Hartford committed $2 million to buy it, tear it down and redevelop the property.

The Capitol West property is the centerpiece of a five-year, $7 million grant by The Hartford Financial Services Group to invest in the Asylum Hill neighborhood, where the insurer has been headquartered for nearly 100 years.

Capitol West on Myrtle Street, which has been vacant for a decade, is at the eastern edge of The Hartford's campus.

For the city, it's one of four buildings at high-profile, gateway locations that local officials have wanted to redevelop. Capitol West is considered crucial because it is in full view by motorists on I-84 westbound, including thousands traveling to work at The Hartford and Aetna, key employers in city.

"I won't be sad to see it go," Mayor Pedro E. Segarra said Tuesday. "It's a blighted property. It's a bad way to welcome people to the neighborhood."

Two of the blighted buildings — Broadcast House on Constitution Plaza and the H.B. Davis Building on Main Street, known as the Butt-Ugly Building — have been demolished, the latter just in the past week. One other building, the former Clarion Hotel, also on Constitution Plaza, is on the city's list for redevelopment.

As the Butt-Ugly was being knocked down into rubble, Segarra had already turned his attention to Capitol West.

The city has been negotiating with the owner, Joshua Guttman, since late August, but no deal has been reached. Guttman's attorney, Coleman Levy, could not be immediately reached Tuesday. Guttman paid $1 million in cash for the building in 2004.

The property's appraised value is $448,000.

At a press conference Tuesday, Segarra praised The Hartford's commitment to the Capitol West project and other initiatives in the Asylum Hill neighborhood.

"Capitol West has stifled the growth and connection between Asylum Hill and adjacent neighborhoods, especially our central business district, for more than 10 years," Segarra said. "Taking down this building and not seeing this eyesore from I-84 will be a symbolic step towards the positive and creative uses we could have in store for this land."

Segarra said he hopes the $2 million contribution from The Hartford would cover the full cost of the acquisition, demolition and redevelopment. If the overall cost exceeds $2 million, city bond money would make up the difference, said David Panagore, the city's chief operating officer.

Capitol West is a 170,000-square-foot building that was a car dealership in the 1950s. The upper floors — most of which are now missing windows — were added later after Capitol West was converted to an office building. In the past, it was used by Pratt & Whitney and Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance.

In the early 1980s, it was owned by Sam Zell, the Chicago real estate mogul who is now chairman of Tribune Co., the parent of The Courant and Fox CT.

Panagore said the city over the next several weeks would continue to negotiate with the owner of Capitol West. If no deal is reached, the city could move to take the property through eminent domain, he said.

"If there's no resolution within the next couple of weeks we're going to have to examine our options," Panagore said, but added: "We're hopeful that our negotiations can bear fruit."

Once the building is acquired, the city will move to demolish it immediately, officials said.

It is unclear what the property will be used for, Panagore said, but the city is exploring a range of alternatives, including the possibility of building a large, concrete staircase on the hillside. The outdoor performance space at Riverfront Recapture in the city's downtown could serve as a model, he said.

The city has bonding capacity for three areas — downtown north, downtown west and Constitution Plaza east, Panagore said.

"Constitution Plaza east is the next area we're going to be looking at," he said. "Looking at how to work with the Clarion [Hotel] has been part of our planning strategy."

Panagore noted that the city would have to take a different approach in redeveloping the area. Unlike the Butt Ugly Building and Capitol West, the Clarion Hotel is part of a plaza.

"It's not just a vacant building that needs to be removed. With Constitution Plaza, we've got something to work off of," he said.

The Hartford's $7 million investment in Asylum Hill includes a broad range of initiatives, including continued support for the Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance. The alliance, known as NINA, has been purchasing and rehabbing residential buildings throughout Asylum Hill. One of its latest projects, a "Perfect Six" on Atwood Street is now for sale.

The Hartford's commitment also includes support for The Shelter for Women, and after-school programs at West Middle School and Junior Achievement.

"In collaboration with other Asylum Hill community leaders, we want to make a difference for the families that live here, the children who study and play here and for the people who work here," said Liam E. McGee, The Hartford's president and chief executive.

The Hartford also drew praise from U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, D-Conn, for the broad scope of the company's investment in the Asylum Hill neighborhood.

"I applaud The Hartford's commitment to the economic and social development of our capital city and the Asylum Hill neighborhood," Larson said. "For too long, Capitol West has been a blemish on a city whose future is as vibrant and alive as the spirits of its residents and businesses."

Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant

Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/community/west-hartford/hc-west-hartford-busway-1117-20101116,0,4621829.story

DOT Says At Public Forum On Busway Plan That It Is Moving Forward

By AMANDA FALCONE, afalcone@courant.com
5:02 p.m. EST, November 16, 2010

WEST HARTFORD — — Although many still oppose the proposed $572 million New Britain-to-Hartford busway, the state is moving forward with the project and hopes to begin construction in West Hartford next spring.

Representatives from the state Department of Transportation and engineers from URS Corp., the Rocky Hill-based company working on the project, went to the Elmwood Community Center on Tuesday to talk about plans for the 9.6-mile busway, which will run through West Hartford, New Britain, Newington and Hartford.

West Hartford would have stations at New Park Avenue at Flatbush and New Britain avenues.

The officials also spoke about plans for a $60 million Flatbush Avenue flyover bridge that would carry traffic over the busway.

The Flatbush Avenue area is expected to be under construction for two years. Detours will be limited, and drivers will probably be asked to go through the nearby Walmart shopping plaza to avoid construction, URS engineers said.

The engineers said they were trying to minimize the impact of construction. For example, plans now call for a substantial amount of work to be done at night, except in residential areas.

Tuesday's meeting was attended by more than 50 people, and most were concerned about how construction would affect local businesses. Flatbush Avenue is a main road in West Hartford that has an average of 20,000 vehicles a day.

Jodi O'Connor, general manager of Jo-Di's on New Park Avenue, wondered if the construction would hurt her family's mobile electronics business.

"Now that I know more, I'm more concerned," she said, after hearing about detours, seeing a construction schedule and learning that the town might get more train traffic because of a state proposal for commuter rail.

The state still has to secure funding before it can start construction, said state Rep. David McCluskey, D-West Hartford, an opponent of the busway, but a supporter of the flyover bridge project.

The bulk of the funding would come from the federal government and more than $240 million has not been approved yet, he said. With new leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives, McCluskey questioned whether Connecticut will ever get that money.

Once work in West Hartford begins, Stephanie Brooks, of Michael Baker Engineering Inc., which is also working on the project, said she, or an appointed community liaison, would keep the community informed about the project. Brooks also said she would communicate with people through social media and the project's website, http://www.ctrapidtransit.com, which is not yet active.

A citizens' advisory group for the busway project will also meet regularly, and signs letting people know that businesses are still open will be strategically placed in town, she said.

Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant

New Haven Independent
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/new_metro_north_m-8_fleet/

All Aboard The Gov. M. Jodi Rell!
by Allan Appel | Nov 16, 2010 7:21 am

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/images/sized/archives/upload/2009/10/aa-nov15-2010-railcars-01-550x413.JPG
Allan Appel Photo

Riders noticed the spiffy self-flushing toilets, the doors between cars that open two-at-a-time at the touch of a button, five audio and visual location displays in every car, and bright new crimson-and-tan seats with headrests for all and a grip material that keeps your tush from slipping onto the floor.

Meanwhile Motoki Nagano and the Kawasaki engineers wrestled with their most difficult technical challenge ever in the hundred-year old history of the company: 22 miles of wire and cable in every one of Metro-North’s new M-8 train cars.

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That’s what riders learned on the inaugural voyage of “The Governor M. Jodi Rell.”

Monday morning the governor took reporters out on a test voyage of the train named in her honor, one of the red-and-steel-painted fleet of 300 about to roll out 10 a month beginning in December if tests continue go well. The demonstration trip started at New Haven’s Union Station and ended in Fairfield.

Rell, the engineers, and state Department of Transportation (DOT) officials who accompanied her were so pleased with the new trains that the state is ordering 42 more. The first 300 cost $760 million; the next 42 will cost $100 million. All the money was bonded back in 2005, Rell said.

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As the train accelerated smoothly out of the station, Nagano demonstrated (with the help of a translator) ergonomically designed seats made of a silicone fiber firmer. They’re firmer than the old seats. He showed off a vinyl exterior that’s altogether more stable.

There was less squealing and katchunking and rocking too. That was due to a new truck design: the underside of each car is designed with rubberized airbags between wheel and chassis, along with individual axle control at each wheel.

The biggest challenge, according to Nagano: “[all] the specs, AC and DC.”

He meant that the electrically complex cars need to be able to run on the overhead wires with AC current as well as the DC current of the third rail. Plus they are designed to be utilized in Shoreline service as well as in New York City. The Metropolitan Transit Authority owns 35 percent of the fleet; Connecticut owns 65. According to DOT’s Rail Administrator Gene Colonese, much of the testing has been about seeing how compatible the multiple power capabilities are with the various subsystems along the track and the existing signals. And so far so good.

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DOT’s Rail Operations Project Engineer Charles Clark liked both what he could see and not see. “The audio adjusts to the ambient noise,” he said, meaning passengers had complained of not hearing announcements in current trains. Now they’ll hear them from every seat. If the car is noisy, volume can be raised.

He also figured the conductors as well as moms with their hands full would love the doors that now open, both the door to the car you are leaving and the one you are entering, with the touch on the “press” sign. They’re pocket doors. They slide, as opposed to the current fleet, whose doors take up space by opening inward as well as require a Herculean arm.

Clark pointed out that not only do the new seats contain a “little grip in the material,” a noticeable texture to keep them from becoming slippery too soon; but the center seat in the three-seater is somewhat bigger than in the previous design.

Why? “To entice” American riders who, unlike Europeans, seem shy to take that center seat, said James Fox, also with DOT rail operations.

“All the bells and whistles” end up on a central diagnostic system touch screen console for the operator of the train, said Clark, which to him was the technological wonder.

That explains those 22 miles of wire and cable.

Deputy Assistant Chief Mechanical Officer Frank Schweithelm, whose job it is to fix these trains, agreed. The screen provides so much info through so many sensors, “We can trouble shoot repairs en route,” he said.

The ride for him was a quiet thrill. When the train pulled into Fairfield – it brakes using motors first, which process regenerates electricity, before actual brakes kick in —he pronounced the trip absolutely “smoother and quieter.”

He said he was very happy at this. Like Governor Rell, it was his first ride on the new M-8. “I spend all my time fixing these,” he said, with the implication that there would be a lot less of that to do.

When she stepped out in Fairfield, Rell pronounced the trip “absolutely fantastic.” She said she had ridden part of the journey in the front car and it was as exciting as being a kid in the cockpit of a plane for the first time.

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The first 30 Kawasaki cars were built in Japan. U.S. Kawasaki’s Chief Executive Officer Hiroji Iwasaki (pictured with Rell and DOT Commissioner Jeffrey Parker) said the next 300 or so will be built in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Of the 25 sub-suppliers, only the lighting contractor, Translite of Milford, is Connecticut based. Its work, however, in all the new fluorescent overheads and ambient fixtures is significant making the short trip to Fairfield seem bright and maybe even optimistic.

Colonese said, however, that the “runs will not be faster” because we’re “tied to the constraints of the infrastructure.”

DOT Engineers said the new New Haven rail repair shop would cut the ribbon at the end of 2012; it’s being designed with fixing the new M-8 fleet in mind.

Woonsocket54

November 20th, 2010, 03:32 PM

New Haven Register
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/11/20/news/doc4ce7567f418ff001683233.txt

Developer seeks to expand Bella Vista
Published: Saturday, November 20, 2010

By Mary E. O’Leary, Register Topics Editor
moleary@nhregister.com

NEW HAVEN — Carabetta Enterprises wants to expand housing at the Bella Vista complex for the elderly in Fair Haven Heights by almost 400 apartments.

The proposal would add two towers of housing to the five on the 22 acres Bella Vista occupies on Eastern Street that already support 1,412 apartments.

Carabetta first needs approval by the Board of Aldermen to modify the planned development district first approved in 1971. It will also go before the City Plan and Economic Development commissions.

In the application, attorneys for the developer point out that senior citizens are the nation’s fastest-growing segment of the population, with one in eight Americans older than 65.

The latest Census data for Connecticut shows that residents 65 and older made up 13.9 percent of the population, slightly higher than the nation as a whole.

Developers said the growing numbers of elderly, combined with the downturn in the economy and stressed housing market, points to the need for more affordable housing for seniors.

There are about 2,000 residents in the current buildings, with more than 100 households on a yearlong waiting list for affordable units. The wait for market-rate units is two to three months.

The plan calls for one tower with 133 dwelling units and the other with 266, both of which would be built on top of three-level parking structures. With the additional parking facilities, there will be 994 spaces on site.

The additional 17-story towers will include a water therapy center, day care, a health clinic, community rooms and a rooftop garden.

Call Mary E. O’Leary at 203-789-5731.

Woonsocket54

December 8th, 2010, 01:39 AM

The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/realestate/commercial/08harbor.html

December 7, 2010
A Sprawling Development in Stamford Is Filling Out
By SANA SIWOLOP

STAMFORD, Conn. — When the sprawling, mixed-use Harbor Point project in this city’s South End changed hands in September 2008, it wasn’t immediately clear what would happen to the 80-acre site, one of the largest and most ambitious redevelopment efforts in the country.

At the time, Harbor Point’s new and more experienced owner, Building and Land Technology of Norwalk, Conn., said it planned to keep the $3.5 billion project going as a major part of the revival of the 322-acre peninsula south of Interstate 95, which was once largely industrial.

Still, the ownership of Harbor Point changed hands just as many development projects, battered by the economy, were being shelved. And in the exchange, Building and Land Technology inherited an assortment of properties — old factories, modern office towers, a boatyard and vacant land — scattered across the peninsula, complicating plans for a cohesive development. Those properties had been assembled, starting in 2005, by Harbor Point’s original developer, Antares Investment Partners of Greenwich, Conn.

Two years later, Harbor Point has two new residential towers, two new Class A office buildings and a large retail anchor store, an 85,000-square-foot Fairway Market that opened on Nov. 3. Walls are going up as well for the Waterside School, an independent school that serves lower-income families. And while leasing at the office towers remains fitful, brokers say momentum is picking up.

The long-term plan for Harbor Point is still for a transit-oriented community that would have some two million square feet of space for a range of office and retail tenants, 4,000 units of housing, restaurants, a full-service marina, new parkland and a public river walk along the Mill River on the western side of the development. So far, residential development has been a surprising area of strength at Harbor Point.

“The rental market has exceeded our expectations,” said Carl R. Kuehner III, the president and chief executive at Building and Land Technology.

Mr. Kuehner said leases had been signed for more than 210 of the apartments at the 225-unit Lofts at Yale & Towne complex that opened in May, on property that once was part of the Yale lock factory. He also said the company had leased about 20 percent of the 336 apartments at 101 Park Place, a tower that opened in October on the western side of Harbor Point.

Because of the strong rental market, Building and Land Technology is now proceeding with plans for an additional 329 apartments near both the loft building and the new Fairway.

On the office market side, the hospitality company Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, based in White Plains, will move next December to some 270,000 square feet of space at the Stamford Harbor Park office complex.

Starwood’s decision did not come lightly: it took three years of negotiations and a hefty package of financial incentives from the state of Connecticut to cinch the deal. Still, since Starwood agreed to move, two other commercial tenants have signed on nearby.

One of them is the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, which is building a large specialty and emergency care center at a site between Starwood’s new headquarters and the new Fairway. Design Within Reach, the modern goods retailer based in San Francisco, is coming to the area as well. In October the company announced plans to move its corporate headquarters to Harbor Point and open a large retail store in another old Yale lock building.

Design Within Reach is heading to a part of Harbor Point where antique and furniture retailers have already leased an estimated 150,000 square feet of warehouse and retail space over the last 14 years, said David Johnson, the president of the Connecticut Antiques Center on Canal Street on the peninsula.

“We think the area is going to turn into a design district,” said John Edelman, the president and chief executive of Design Within Reach, and a resident of Ridgefield, Conn.

So far, only two leases have been signed for the two new office towers at Harbor Point, known as One and Two Harbor Point Square. Together, they are expected to offer more than 400,000 square feet of Class A office space.

McKinsey & Company, the management consulting company based in Manhattan, signed a lease last summer for 24,000 square feet at Two Harbor Point Square, and Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy, an energy merchant based in Wilton, Conn., signed a lease in October for the top two floors at One Harbor Point Square.

Real estate executives say leasing at the office towers has been slow both because the buildings are just finishing construction, and also because asking rents are about 20 percent more than what similar space might fetch in downtown Stamford, where the Class A office space vacancy rate is 16.7 percent, according to Newmark Knight Frank, the real estate services company.

Traffic congestion and narrow roads are still issues in the South End. But real estate executives say some prospective tenants are more willing to look in the area because of improvements like the widening and repaving of Canal Street.

“A lot of the interest in Harbor Point is being driven by the ability it now gives for company employees to more easily get to work,” said John D. Goodkind, the managing director of the Westchester-Connecticut office of Newmark Knight Frank.

One of the drawbacks to Harbor Point has been a lack of integration of the commercial, residential and transportation components. A new complex called Gateway is trying to address that issue. The project, on a six-acre site next to the Stamford train and transportation center, is to include new housing, 474,000 square feet of office space and nearly 1,800 below-street parking sites. It would both expand Harbor Point’s footprint and make it almost instantly visible to train riders.

Mr. Kuehner said his company planned to spend an additional $73 million in infrastructure improvements at Harbor Point, for example on walking trails, parkland and more waterfront access.

“The initial challenge we faced with Harbor Point was how to create a sense of place with multiple product types,” he said. But now, he said, “it’s becoming a neighborhood.”