Marcia Chambers Photo
Construction is progressing at the Army Reserve Training Center near Exit 56 on the former Bittersweet Farm property in Branford.
“They’re in full swing,” said Carol Labashosky, public affairs specialist with the Louisville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Labashosky told the Eagle that the project could be complete by February or March. The original completion estimate was November, but Labashosky said the New England winter took a toll. “The project is a little bit behind because of the weather in the winter,” she said.
The 36,887 square-foot training center is taking shape along Route 1, just past the town’s Transfer Station, and not far from the proposed Costco site.
With Permission
The building is slated to include administrative offices, a library, learning center, weapons simulator and physical fitness areas. There will also be a separate maintenance shop and an unheated storage building.
The training center will serve about 300 reservists, mostly on weekends, and include about five full-time employees.
It’s been a little more than a year since the Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $13.5 million contract to Carothers Construction Inc., of Oxford, MS, one of seven bidders for the project.
Preliminary architectural and engineering plans for the project were submitted to Branford’s Planning and Zoning Commission and other local entities in 2012, even though federal projects do not require local zoning approvals.
The Army purchased 15 acres of the former 86-acre Bittersweet Farm property for $3.7 million in March 2014. Click here to read that story. The property was sold by Bittersweet Partners LLC, a partnership between Al Secondino and Michael Belfonti, who maintain ownership of the remaining 71 acres.
Secondino’s family has operated A. Secondino & Sons Inc. general contracting company in Branford since 1929. Belfonti is president and CEO of Belfonti Associates in Hamden, a real estate development and investment company founded in 1980.
The Army’s training center will be accessed by a 450-foot road leading from Route 1 to the Army complex. The road is now under construction. Bittersweet Partners were responsible for constructing the access road and will retain ownership it.
Secondino previously told the Eagle said he hopes the Army’s project could lead to other development on the Bittersweet property and an adjacent 50 acres at 21 Sycamore Way, which is owned by Secondino and Belfonti through their Alterra Holdings LLC. The combined properties stretch from Route 1 southward toward East Industrial Road. Click here to read that story.
In 2011, Secondino and Belfonti made informal presentations to the Inland Wetlands Commission concerning a master plan for the combined Bittersweet properties which would have included offices, residential areas and possibly a Costco store. Those plans were never submitted for formal approval.
Secondino is one of the owners of the 44-acre site which just received approval for a Planned Development District (PDD) that would include Costco and seven other commercial buildings at Exit 56. Click here to read that story.
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