99 Founders Plaza. Photo courtesy of Newmark Knight Frank

The developer behind a huge reimagining of East Hartford’s waterfront surmounted a major hurdle last week when it bought a big chunk of the former Founders Plaza office complex.

According to public records Port Eastside LLC, an affiliate of West Hartford real estate developer Figure Eight Properties, paid $4 million for 20 Hartland St., a 5-story Brutalist office building that also goes by the address 99 Founders Plaza.

No formal development proposal has been filed, but the grand plans have long been mooted – even causing East Hartford Mayor Mike Walsh to decline seeking another term so he could devote his full energy to shepherding the project through its approval process.

Developers, whose investors include a number of prominent local names, described an $850 million, 1,000-apartment vision to the Hartford Courant on Friday, saying the multi-phase development would also include a new pedestrian bridge linking the Colt complex across the Connecticut River in Hartford to the Port Eastside development and a promenade on top of the flood barriers that line East Hartford’s riverfront today.

The plan depends on a large amount of public investment, however, with the Courant reporting developers are seeking $100 million in direct state and federal funding for various parts of the project, along with a $45 million tax deal with the city of East Hartford. Developers also still need to buy even more of the Founders Plaza complex.