The Steel Point peninsula on the east side of Bridgeport, which has been vacant for around 30 years, will finally be redeveloped if New York City-based Midtown Equities and Miami-based RCI Marine have their way.
Its developers think of it as the most exciting project on the East Coast, but it may also be the most challenging. Developers and city officials have been trying to redevelop the Steel Point peninsula on the east side of Bridgeport for around 30 years. But the 52-acre parcel of land that once housed a United Illuminating power plant, waterfront industrial development and some houses has remained vacant.
That challenge, however, is what Michael Stone and Dan Pfeffer, the vice president and president, respectively, of New York City-based Midtown Equities, find exciting. Their company specializes in diving into projects that have failed, or that have not gotten off the ground, according to Pfeffer.
“We like challenging projects,” he said.
The city of Bridgeport has designated Midtown Equities, along with Miami-based RCI Marine, as the developers of the project. The firms are proposing to turn the peninsula – some of which is a brownfield – into $1.2 billion worth of retail shops, restaurants, offices, housing, a hotel/conference center and a marina. The project also includes a streetcar loop that will connect it to Bridgeport’s Intermodal Center and downtown, and is located close to Interstate 95.
The firms have taken time to decide on the best mix of uses, and are planning for 2,500 residential units, with a mix of condominiums and apartments, Pfeffer said. They will be priced in the mid to upper ranges, and every building that houses residences will be unique, incorporating different heights and styles.
“Each of the buildings will be distinct,” Pfeffer said.
There also will be a public promenade that is intended for 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week use, and 1.2 million square feet of retail. There will be space for all sorts of retail, Pfeffer said, from big box stores to smaller boutiques. There will be a small amount of office space, Stone said.
‘Gateway to Bridgeport’
The project will be a difficult one to pull off, especially as Bridgeport’s current stock of available commercial space isn’t exactly flying off the shelves. Michael Dillon, a broker with CB Richard Ellis in Stamford, has been trying to market 50,000 square feet in the People’s Bank building in Bridgeport – a building widely regarded as the premier office space in the city – but hasn’t had any luck leasing it.
“The question mark is, will any commercial tenants commit to this space?” Dillon asked.
Steel Point also will have to compete with a development in neighboring Fairfield, where a new train station that will include about 1 million square feet of office and restaurant space is under construction.
But if Steel Point does get off the ground and if a big, well-known tenant signs a lease on the peninsula, it will only help attract more businesses to Bridgeport, Dillon said.
“It can only help,” he said. “I definitely think it’s going to help [improve] the image of Bridgeport.”
It will take some time for that to happen. Developers hope construction will begin sometime after next summer, but because companies have been trying in vain for so long to develop the area, many people and businesses will not believe in its progress until they see it happening, Dillon said.
City officials also hope the project will help revitalize Bridgeport. Mayor John Fabrizi and the city councilors have been supportive of the development, according to Pfeffer.
“This whole area is nearly the gateway to Bridgeport,” Pfeffer said. “[City leaders] know what it means in terms of Bridgeport’s future.”
The project will be a catalyst for development in the rest of the city, he added. In the past, he noted, there have not been many reasons to develop there.
Pfeffer and Stone have expressed confidence that the project will work. Midtown Equities recently worked on a successful development in Miami that was similar in size and scope, and have worked on others in places such as Baltimore. And Pfeffer credits the company’s involvement in Steel Point for finally making it a reality.
The company has started working with the city to change the zoning so the development is possible, since the area is not yet zoned for the specific uses planned. The city has set up a special taxing district for the development, but because the development is on the waterfront, the companies involved also are dealing with federal agencies for permits.
The developers estimate the project will provide more than $25 million of annual tax revenues to the city and create thousands of jobs.
