fits and starts

[The Voice of Reason]

Sorry for posting the whole article at first. I was at work and saw this at the very end of my day on a Bloomberg search and did not have a link at the time. so here goes

this is a recap of the major projects going on in new haven according to their busines journal.

I have chopped a ton out but there was a lot there.

The plans for the fire site was the most interesting to me. I wodered what was planned there

http://www.conntact.com/article_page.lasso?id=42220

Fits & Starts & Stops

Midyear update on signature downtown development projects

Business New Haven

08/18/2008

by Karen Singer

360 State Street (Shartenberg Site)

Suffolk has redesigned 360 State Street with staggered steel truss frame construction, a faster method lowering steel and foundation costs by using lightweight, prefabricated steel trusses in a staggered pattern.

The revised plans were submitted to city officials on July 15.

At 32 stories (but no 13th floor, which building owners often skip because the number 13 is considered unlucky), 360 State Street will be five stories shorter than originally envisioned and powered by a 400 kw fuel cell providing electricity and heat for the building and its hot water.

Because the Connecticut Clean Energy Commission recently approved a grant for the fuel cell (see related story), geothermal wells, which Becker had been considering, won't be needed.

"We'd love to have solar panels," he says, but the high price of attaching the panels, which will produce "only about ten percent" of the building's electricity needs, may be cost-prohibitive.

The plan contains four levels of parking over street-level retail. Above that is a landscaped terrace with an outdoor swimming pool (heated by the fuel cell) and a floor of amenities including a gym, reading room and screening room. Atop the terrace are 22 floors of studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments and three floors of penthouse apartments.

Says Becker, "If we start by September 1 [of this year] and complete it in two years as planned, we'll be way ahead of schedule."

Residences & Shoppes at College Square

In March of this year developer Robert Landino announced a change of plans for his downtown project, first announced in 2006 as a single 19-story mixed-use complex with condos, to a building with two towers likely built in two phases. Landino expected to finalize a deal by May 1, with a hotel operator for one of the towers, which would house a full-service luxury hotel with 240 rooms. The other tower was to have 80 residential units.

Landino, president of Centerplan Companies of Hartford, did not returns calls for comment on the current status of the project, designed by Robert A.M. Stern architects.

If it comes to fruition, the Residences & Shoppes on College Street will be situated across from the new arts magnet school, which is scheduled to open in January 2009. The project received an extension of its zoning approval several months ago, according to city officials.

"I believe the hotel concept is still part of the plans," says city economic development director Kelly Murphy.

One of the remaining tenants, Sanjay Patil, owner of College Wine at 212 College Street, received a letter in mid-July saying, "You are hereby notified any payment you attempt to make may not be used for rent but for occupancy of the premises only."

"It's a month-to-month thing," says Patil, who is relocating to 68 Church Street and who also opened a wine store in Westville several months ago.

Gilbane Construction received a similar letter, according to company vice president Tom Roger, director of New Haven's school construction program. Gilbane is occupying a temporary office in Landino's building for the arts magnet school project.

"This does not cause any sort of problem for us," he says. "We were originally going be out by August 1, and could move in [to the arts magnet school building] now if necessary."

Ninth Square Development Phase II

Nyberg, who also owns the S.Z. Field Building at 40-46 Crown Street, took over the second phase of the Ninth Square development project from McCormack Baron Salazar in 2004. He has since changed his concept from 100 units of housing with at least 40 affordable units to all condos, and most recently, has city plan approval for apartments and a new building.

Lower Chapel Street Fire Site

Last December a three-alarm fire ravaged about a third of block between Center and Chapel streets and resulted in the demolition of the Kresge and Spector buildings.

Alex Marathas, a project manager for Dentz, says preliminary plans include developing the vacant Kresge site into a six-story building with four floors of residential (80 apartments), one floor of office (around 25,000 square feet) and one floor of retail (around 25,000 square feet) and possibly underground parking. Second-floor upscale apartments "with parking as an amenity" may be added to the Grant building, and 91 Church Street will likely house a mix of retail and residential components.

Dentz is currently embroiled in litigation with the city, which has $1.8 million in demolition liens against his property, according to city corporation counsel John Ward.

Recent amendments to the suit filed by Dentz's Mid Block Development, LLC against the city and building official Andy Rizzo appealing the Kresge building demolition order allege the bar where the fire began had an improper sprinkler system and the city used a demolition contractor without a proper license.

Ward denies the allegations.

Dentz acknowledges the lawsuit "would have to be ultimately resolved," for redevelopment plans to move forward.

"My intention is to explore all the possibilities associated with developing the property into retail, office and apartments," he says. "I'd like to talk to the city about redeveloping the property, and I would hope as one displaced business they would talk to me.

"Otherwise we're going to be looking at an empty lot for a long time," Dentz adds, "and that doesn't do anyone any good."

[The Voice of Reason]

The CT Business journal has an article today about all of the work happening in NH.

1.5Billion not counting Yale.

City Projects Weather Wall Street Woes

"We're experiencing one of our largest development booms in years, with over $1.5 billion in construction, and that's not including Yale," crows city economic development director Kelly Murphy.

The Blue Mother is itself engaged in a multi-million dollar capital construction program with two new residential colleges, a new home for the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and an expansion of the School of Management among its development plans (see story, page 14). Michael Morand, the university's associate vice president for New Haven and state affairs, recently told a group of NAACP members that construction projects are moving forward despite the economic downtown.

Off-campus, recent citywide development includes 360 State Street, a multi-use building on the site of the former Shartenberg department store; Yale-New Haven Hospital's new Smilow Cancer Center; hospitality industry enhancements such as the new Study at Yale, an upscale hotel replacing the Colony Inn; a $4 million renovation to Premiere Hotel and Suites at Long Wharf and a 47-room expansion underway at Marriott's Courtyard New Haven at Yale.