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Connecticut is in line to receive an additional $5.4 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This places an enormous burden on the state to spend it all. A few of the issues to overcome include finding matching funding, CTDOT staffing retirements and construction labor shortages.
I never thought I would say this but....... I hope they put another lane on the Merritt Parkway through Fairfield County with some of that money. And btw there needs to be an exit/entrance 43 in the no exit zone. Please don't say "the wealthy won't allow it". I am sick and tired spending 1/2 of my drive from Trumbull to Norwalk in the no exit zone of 2 miles (which is a fraction of the total drive).
"F" those rich people in Fairfield and Westport near the Parkway!
And you know what really burns my azzzzz. When I take the back roads I have to see all the big massive homes and mansions on the back roads through Westport and Fairfield who won't let the exit/entrance 43 go in.
I never thought I would say this but....... I hope they put another lane on the Merritt Parkway through Fairfield County with some of that money. And btw there needs to be an exit/entrance 43 in the no exit zone. Please don't say "the wealthy won't allow it". I am sick and tired spending 1/2 of my drive from Trumbull to Norwalk in the no exit zone of 2 miles (which is a fraction of the total drive).
"F" those rich people in Fairfield and Westport near the Parkway!
And you know what really burns my azzzzz. When I take the back roads I have to see all the big massive homes and mansions on the back roads through Westport and Fairfield who won't let the exit/entrance 43 go in.
Fairfield and Westport residents will say it will decrease property value, more traffic, neighborhood values going down. Residents will be full in force in their Ranger Rovers, Tesla, S Class, Bentley to protest.
Was on MN New Haven line today, appeared no change vs few months ago. NYC corps ultra wary of variant. Many big ones pushed Labor Day idea to mid October at which time they will decide next fate. 60 to 65% down vs pre covid weekdays is the norm. Weekend drop less drastic.
More businesses by train stations appear closed permanently now, which is simply cash flow eventually ending their viability.
I doubt corps will punt on the decision past mid October, meaning they open quickly then, well before Thanksgiving or wait until Spring to consider it.
Big bank execs are livid at mask in office mandate as they correctly point out it makes mentoring ineffective, so with mandate their attitude is might as well go remote.
My office appears to be remote at minimum until 2022 now. I will be in 2 -4 days more for vital meetings/events, but we had <20 today in an office with ten fold plus that pre covid.
I did not forsee this duration 17 months ago, but wfh is a large part of a new normal.
Why would there be a major change compared to a few months ago? A lot of companies set up long-term targets for a gradual return and few if any announced returns to occur over the course of the summer, and so the gradual changes should be coming after that point, but it's still going to be gradual. There's a lot to work out in terms of how the market will adjust and leases come up for expiration or renewal. Some businesses will downsize their office space or get rid of them completely and the value of commercial real estate may come down a bit, but there's likely a pretty steep fall that would need to happen before prices would be below where there is any profitability at all and people set fire to the offices, so eventually the price point will be about right for actively used office space. It will take a while though. Three months ago, Metro-North had trumpeted a record post-pandemic daily ridership of 83k and even this past week MNR had a ridership notably higher at 103K but there was no need to trumpet that as pretty gradual uptick seems to be the general expectation anyhow. I think 2024 at earliest for MNR to reach its 2019 peak seems about right.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 08-25-2021 at 09:05 PM..
I never thought I would say this but....... I hope they put another lane on the Merritt Parkway through Fairfield County with some of that money. And btw there needs to be an exit/entrance 43 in the no exit zone. Please don't say "the wealthy won't allow it". I am sick and tired spending 1/2 of my drive from Trumbull to Norwalk in the no exit zone of 2 miles (which is a fraction of the total drive).
"F" those rich people in Fairfield and Westport near the Parkway!
And you know what really burns my azzzzz. When I take the back roads I have to see all the big massive homes and mansions on the back roads through Westport and Fairfield who won't let the exit/entrance 43 go in.
What gives you the right? Haven't the rich suffered enough here. A net worth could drop from $8.6M to $8.55M. That could have devastaing consequences. Exit 43 would have them all packing their Gucci luggage so fast. You'd see overcapactiy fleets of yachts, rich people grabbing on hangin off the sides, pulling out of Norwalk harbor heading back down to the promised land.
The highways around here need more lane capacity, no question. Some here say if you build it, they will come. Well guess what? doesn't matter, they're coming anyway, whether there's 1 lane or 20, they don't care. They're pouring in to FCounty, New Haven, Hartford day and night. Those guys on the airplane in Kabul thought it was coming to CT. NYers can't get out of bed fast enough, they run to the car every morning just to get to CT. It's unreal out there. The highways are unrelenting now.
CT sorely needs to upgrade but the Merritt won't happen and there isn't anything anyone can be done about it.
Why would there be a major change compared to a few months ago? A lot of companies set up long-term targets for a gradual return and few if any announced returns to occur over the course of the summer, and so the gradual changes should be coming after that point, but it's still going to be gradual. There's a lot to work out in terms of how the market will adjust and leases come up for expiration or renewal. Some businesses will downsize their office space or get rid of them completely and the value of commercial real estate may come down a bit, but there's likely a pretty steep fall that would need to happen before prices would be below where there is any profitability at all and people set fire to the offices, so eventually the price point will be about right for actively used office space. It will take a while though. Three months ago, Metro-North had trumpeted a record post-pandemic daily ridership of 83k and even this past week MNR had a ridership notably higher at 103K but there was no need to trumpet that as pretty gradual uptick seems to be the general expectation anyhow. I think 2024 at earliest for MNR to reach its 2019 peak seems about right.
Wondering if any offices will be converted to residential, especially smaller ones.
Or just that you'll see a stop/major slowdown in office space development in general in NYC.
Wondering if any offices will be converted to residential, especially smaller ones.
Or just that you'll see a stop/major slowdown in office space development in general in NYC.
I think it depends about how far it's going to go in the density. Converting an office in to apartments I don't think should be that hard. Converting Apartments to condos shouldn't be that hard and converting condos to single-family homes should not be that hard. But I don't think that we can go directly from offices to single family homes anytime soon. I would tend to wonder if the amount of utilities used would be the same and if the utility companies would have issues with that. To have trash and recycling pickup might require a certain amount being processed and its residential isn't producing enough they're going to have to raise rates.
Wondering if any offices will be converted to residential, especially smaller ones.
Or just that you'll see a stop/major slowdown in office space development in general in NYC.
There might be at some point for all of these, but it's hard to tell. A lot of the offices have floorplates and context that are may be unattractive for residential conversions especially the really bulky ones that are attached at the sides and mid-block with most interior space far away from windows, but it's still possible for some.
I think the main consideration is that class A office space is still quite expensive and with the cost of conversion and the potentially less conducive to residential use of the floorplans for several of these, the difference between the office use revenue which has been generally much higher versus residential use revenue would need to shift considerably. As NYC, especially Manhattan, had astronomical office space rents, there's probably a quite a ways down the building owner can adjust before it hits that point where residential makes more sense. As I understand it, thus far the more commonly applied tactic for office space has been for older office spaces to now invest in improving their offering but still as office spaces in order to attract tenants rather than convert to residential.
There was and continues to be a lot of ongoing office (and residential) construction in NYC through the pandemic and that will likely further pressure prices to go down and for building improvements for older buildings. The thing is there's realistically a lot of room to go down before the building is better razed or abandoned. Yes, building owners themselves can go underwater by having over leveraged themselves and acquiring loans for purchasing buildings at a very high price, but they can default or sell while the actual real operating and maintenance costs of the building for the next owner after that devaluation can still be profitable to run at much lower market prices.
What gives you the right? Haven't the rich suffered enough here. A net worth could drop from $8.6M to $8.55M. That could have devastaing consequences. Exit 43 would have them all packing their Gucci luggage so fast. You'd see overcapactiy fleets of yachts, rich people grabbing on hangin off the sides, pulling out of Norwalk harbor heading back down to the promised land.
The highways around here need more lane capacity, no question. Some here say if you build it, they will come. Well guess what? doesn't matter, they're coming anyway, whether there's 1 lane or 20, they don't care. They're pouring in to FCounty, New Haven, Hartford day and night. Those guys on the airplane in Kabul thought it was coming to CT. NYers can't get out of bed fast enough, they run to the car every morning just to get to CT. It's unreal out there. The highways are unrelenting now.
CT sorely needs to upgrade but the Merritt won't happen and there isn't anything anyone can be done about it.
Lol to paragraph one.
Here is irony for you. I started to go back to the locations in May of this year. Even during the middle of the day the no exit zone was terrible......however the entire ride coming and going from Norwalk to Trumbull TODAY was beautiful. 60 MPH the entire way with no slowdowns at all.
Here is what I think is going on. The $300 extra a week in over. Everyone now has to go back to work. I bet a lot of moms and teachers aides etc. at the schools were all taking time off to get the $300 a week. Now tha party is over.
I will give you my reports "from the field" and let you know how the traffic is going from Trumbull to Norwalk. Hopefully at least during non-rush hours the ride will be good.
Here is irony for you. I started to go back to the locations in May of this year. Even during the middle of the day the no exit zone was terrible......however the entire ride coming and going from Norwalk to Trumbull TODAY was beautiful. 60 MPH the entire way with no slowdowns at all.
Here is what I think is going on. The $300 extra a week in over. Everyone now has to go back to work. I bet a lot of moms and teachers aides etc. at the schools were all taking time off to get the $300 a week. Now tha party is over.
I will give you my reports "from the field" and let you know how the traffic is going from Trumbull to Norwalk. Hopefully at least during non-rush hours the ride will be good.
I had to run up to Monroe for something this morning, just got back awhile ago. Ride up 95 was fine except a slowdown around exit 17-18 for God knows what. Bridgeport to Stamford was solid standstill in the other direction at around 9:30ish. Everyones late to work I guess. GPS had me come back Merritt over 95. It was fine all the way down. The no exit zone is all grinded up. They must be repaving tonight.
I never thought I would say this but....... I hope they put another lane on the Merritt Parkway through Fairfield County with some of that money. And btw there needs to be an exit/entrance 43 in the no exit zone. Please don't say "the wealthy won't allow it". I am sick and tired spending 1/2 of my drive from Trumbull to Norwalk in the no exit zone of 2 miles (which is a fraction of the total drive).
"F" those rich people in Fairfield and Westport near the Parkway!
And you know what really burns my azzzzz. When I take the back roads I have to see all the big massive homes and mansions on the back roads through Westport and Fairfield who won't let the exit/entrance 43 go in.
The state has no plans to add a lane to the Merritt Parkway or to add an interchange in the “no exit zone”.
The only project they have besides bridge maintenance and repaving projects is the completion of the Route 7 interchange. The plan is to add a new ramp to connect northbound Route 7 to westbound Merritt; a new ramp from northbound Route 7 to the Merritt Parkway eastbound and a new ramp from Merritt Parkway westbound to Route 7 northbound. These new ramps require multiple bridges and levels to the existing interchange.
This has caused opposition to the project including from the Merritt Parkway Conservancy. They want to see Route 7 turned into a boulevard type road with traffic signals and at grade intersections. That would eliminate the new bridges but unfortunately would not serve the traffic. It will be interesting to see what happens if money becomes available to build it sooner than planned.
The state does have multiple plans to add lanes to I-95. None of them however are that comprehensive (they just add operational lanes between interchanges) or that far along in planning and design. Jay
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