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What Goes Up
A lot, as our regional construction roundup illustrates
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Business New Haven
5/4/1999
By: Linda Mele
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If the number of construction projects in the works or nearing completion is any indication of the economic health of a region, greater New Haven is doing very well, thank you.
Area towns and cities report a substantial number of projects on the drawing board or in the works:
Ansonia
Spectrum Plastics is constructing a new facility in the Fountain Lake Industrial Park, and the new Ansonia High School off Pulaski Highway is in the works.
Branford
A Harley-Davidson dealership is slated to occupy a new $1 million facility on Main Street, Freight Line of Southern Connecticut plans a new trailer-truck repair facility, and a $7 million rehabilitation of Branford High School is in the works. Hair on Main, one of the businesses destroyed in the devastating downtown fire earlier this year, is rebuilding, but the fate of the others is still undecided.
Cheshire
Plans for a new 25,000-square-foot post office and 60,000-square-foot Super Stop & Shop on Route 10 are on the drawing boards. In addition, a 150,000-square-foot warehouse/distribution facility is under construction by General Medical Corp.
Clinton
MJM Construction is building a new 8,700-square-foot building on Nod Road. Ethan Allen furniture has plans for a 7,000-square-foot retail showroom on Killingworth Turnpike. The town also has a senior housing project in the planning stages.
East Haven
A new Chili's Restaurant will help the revitalization of the Frontage Road strip, while East Haven Building Supply is constructing a new 60,000-square-foot facility in the industrial park off Hemingway Avenue. A new Rite-Aid Pharmacy is also slated for Hemingway Avenue.
Guilford
Two new medical facilities are in the works: a 35,000-square-foot office building on Durham Road, and a 50,000-square-foot complex on Route 1.
Hamden
Three assisted-care living facilities are currently under construction, while Quinnipiac College has several expansion projects in the works. The old IBM office building on Whitney Avenue is being converted to medical offices and a clinic. Shaw's Supermarkets opened in April at the renovated Hamden Plaza.
New Haven
The biggest news is the firming up of plans for the $430 million, 1.125-million-square-foot Marketplace at Long Wharf mall project, construction on which may begin this fall. Mayor John DeStefano Jr. announced that Nordstrom's and Macy's have signed on as anchor stores and talks are continuing with Bloomingdale's, Saks and Filenes for the third anchor slot. The New Haven Post Office will move into the Pirelli building and construct a distribution center in the back of that facility.
Renovation projects at 80 Temple Street, 152 Temple Street, and 300 George Street continue. All the residential space in Ninth Square is rented (there's now a waiting list) and a new Venetian bakery/steakhouse is planned for 84 Orange Street. Plans for expanding the Ninth Square district into the upper block of Chapel Street between Orange and Church streets are also under discussion.
Work on the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale on College Street is nearly finished, and the $9 million Temple Street garage project is awaiting bonding approval.
Williams Specialty Steel is still looking for alternate sites in the city since its deal to build on Conrail property in Cedar Hill fell through. Meanwhile, work on the $1 million courtyard/public plaza linking Temple Street to the College Street arts district has a July 1 start date.
Demolition of the former Edw. Malley building is complete and landscaping is scheduled to begin in May while the city continues negotiations to put a cinema complex in the old Macy's building.
New commercial/industrial projects include Shaw's Supermarket on Whalley Avenue, a Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse (which opened in April on Route 80), Harty Press, FoodTech International, Associated Packaging and Onofrio Brothers.
Several million dollars worth of neighborhood improvement projects are also on the drawing board.
A $7 million renovation/new building plan for Science Park is under consideration, while Yale University is working on long-term plans to renovate at least six historic buildings on campus as well as the Sterling Memorial Library, Yale Law School and Payne Whitney Gymnasium.
Madison
Super Stop & Shop wants to build a new store on Sampson Rock Road. Two large office buildings are underway on the corner of Mill and Cottage streets. BLR Business & Legal Reports is constructing a new office building and warehouse on Route 1, and a small retail/office center is also planned for Route 1.
Meriden
A number of projects are in the works, including a Super Stop & Shop at East Main and Broad streets, Rite-Aid and CVS pharmacies, and two new hotels. Meriden Square Mall has also proposed a 167,500-square-foot expansion.
Milford
An assisted-care living facility with several hundred units is planned for Wheeler's Farms Road.
Orange
A 115,000-square-foot Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse is nearly complete on the Boston Post Road, work on the On the Border Restaurant in the Christmas Tree Shops Plaza on Indian River Road has begun, and a new 25,000-square-foot retail/commercial complex has been approved for 285 Boston Post Road.
Wallingford
Construction on a new Shaw's Supermarket on Route 5 is underway, a Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse project is pending, and Home Depot has received approval for a new facility on Route 5. Delia Corp. is planning a 60,000-square-foot office/showroom/warehouse complex on Laser Lane. National Filter Media Corp. will move into a 32,478-square-foot building on Fairfield Boulevard in the Centract Corporate Park as soon as it is built.
West Haven
The first phase of the $9.1 million Saw Mill Road Redevelopment Project is well underway with plans for a 175,000-square-foot retail complex moving along. The city is also working on redevelopment of the 44-acre Water Street area with plans for a hotel, restaurants and retail shops and is searching for a site for a new police station.
Cosmo Food Products is constructing a 10,000-square-foot addition on its Callegari Drive facility, Watson Foods on Heffernan Drive is working on a 38,000-square-foot expansion, and Bayer Corp. has about $150 million worth of expansion plans projected over the next three to five years.
The University of New Haven is also planning a $450,000, two-phase renovation of its Robert B. Dodds stadium.
Construction employment is also up.
According to the Connecticut Economic Digest, the state's construction and mining employment (they're lumped together in the statistics) rose 8.4 percent between January 1997 and January 1998, from 49,400 workers to 53,500, while construction contracts between December 1996 and December 1997 were up by 25.4 percent.
New Haven County showed a 3.7-percent increase in construction/mining jobs from 8,100 to 8,400 during that period.
Residential construction in the region is also on the rise. New housing permits in the state increased by 72.6 percent from January 1997 to January 1998, according to the Digest, and New Haven County saw a 10.9-percent increase during that period.
Department of Economic & Community Development Commissioner James Abromaitis says the February 1997-February 1998 stats showed a 24.4-percent increase statewide. New Haven County, he notes, “documented the largest number of new authorized units in February [1998] with 163.”
Year-to-date stats show permits are up from February 1997 to February 1998 by 46.1 percent, even though the February 1998 numbers are 12.2 percent below January 1998 permits.
“The first two months of 1998 indicate that strong growth in the housing sector continues,” says Abromaitis. “We now have sustained 14 months of rising permit activity.”
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