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Destination...Bridgeport?
Waterfront developer chosen
for $1 billion shopping and entertainment complex
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Business New Haven
10/20/1997
By: Albert S. Coppola
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The city of Bridgeport has given the green light to a bid for a $1 billion harborfront redevelopment project which city planners are betting will transform Bridgeport into an East Coast tourist destination.
In what would amount to a complete facelift for the city's waterfront, the Harbor Place project, which is to be developed by the Conroy Development Co. of Greenwich, calls for a sprawling 52-acre shopping and entertainment complex on the eastern edge of Bridgeport Harbor.
The centerpiece of the project is to be a luxury ocean liner refitted as a floating hotel. The hotel is to be teamed with a 1.5 million-square-foot factory outlet mall, a multi-screen cinema with an IMAX theater, a boardwalk with waterfront restaurants and shops, a concert amphitheater, a conference facility, fitness center and maritime museum and wooden boat workshop.
A high-speed ferry is planned to bring in visitors from New York City, Long Island and points south, while a rubber-tire trolley line is slated to shuttle tourists to other attractions in the city. Projected to take three to five years to complete, the development would create 12,000 construction jobs and 7,000 long-term jobs at the complex.
Located at Steel Point, a 25-acre parcel off Stratford Avenue and across from the Port Jefferson ferry terminal, the site will be expanded through acquisitions of additional property from United Illuminating and other nearby landowners, city planners say.
At an October 9 press conference, Gov. John G. Rowland, Mayor Joseph P. Ganim and other officials announced the selection of the Conroy Development Co. bid for Steel Point. Two less ambitious development proposals for the site - one for $400 million and one for $250 million - were passed over.
The move was heralded as a key component of Bridgeport's renaissance, to join construction of a minor-league baseball stadium and a series of industrial developments around the city. “We've been working toward this moment for six years,” said Ganim.
Developer Alex Conroy, whose company has built retail/entertainment complexes in Providence, R.I. and other East Coast cities, added that, “It will provide a physical image of the city that's brand new and exciting. It will be very visible from the highway and the water, and will create some action in the harbor.”
Bridgeport Regional Business Council President Paul Timpanelli had similar praise. “It will have a very significant impact, and it's in keeping with the vision of the waterfront.”
While optimistic about the project's prospects, Bridgeport Director of Economic Development Michael Freimuth did note that the city still has to acquire land to enlarge the site. “There are going to be difficult negotiations.” he said. “It's part of the job.” He said the city would first offer to purchase the desired parcels, but if that failed, the city would seek eminent-domain judgments in court.
Another sticking point could be the crucial issue of state and city aid. The proposal, as adopted, calls for a $200 million public contribution, which could take the form of tax breaks and/or bond issues for infrastructure work, according to Freimuth. At the press conference, Rowland indicated that a $100 million state contribution would be “do-able.”
Freimuth indicated that the city would seek to pick up the slack. “The sources are out there,” he said. Any incentives would have to gain the approval of the state legislature and the Bridgeport city council.
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