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And Then There Were Two
Miami, N.Y. firms vie for Steel Point project
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Business New Haven
6/18/2001
By: Linda Mele
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The two finalists chosen to develop Steel Point got a chance to show off their proposals to Bridgeport City Council members earlier this month and, by all accounts, picking one may be a difficult choice.
The two finalists are RCI Marine/Bridgeport Landing Development, LLC of Miami, and Center Development Corp. of New York. The project would be developed on a 50-acre peninsula that extends into Bridgeport Harbor.
Prior to this round of bids, a $1 billion failed proposal shackled the project for almost three years. That's why Park City officials are eager to move forward as quickly as possible.
“Our plan is ready to go,” says Center Development attorney Raymond Rizio of Fairfield. “We have Benchmark Hospitality on board and as soon as the city delivers a site, Benchmark is ready [to break ground].” Center's proposal would cost $295 million over five years.
Based in Woodlands, Tex., Benchmark Hospitality has an extensive property portfolio in the U.S. and abroad which ranges from the 60,000-square-foot Del Lago Resort in Houston to the 18,000-square-foot Tokyo Conference Center in Japan.
Benchmark has “set the standard for integrity, quality and service in management and marketing services for resorts, conference centers, conference hotels and golf clubs” for 20 years. Its trademarked motto says that each of its projects incorporates a balance of “living, learning and leisure.”
Benchmark would build the project over a five-year period, Rizio says. It features a conference center and 225 residential apartments as well as retail and office space, a marina and parks. Allowances to expand the residential housing later on would be made.
RCI has joined with LNR Property Corp. of Miami, a company “specializing in the development, redevelopment and financial repositioning of commercial, office, hotel and multi-family properties,” according to RCI President Robert Christoph.
In addition, Christoph says the company, and its related companies, “are widely regarded in the southeastern United States and the Caribbean for providing a full, first-class array of real estate services to a select group of developers specializing in creating unique, luxury, multi-dimensional marine-related waterfront destinations.”
RCI's proposal is for “an $862 million, mixed-use project which opens up and enters from [Bridgeport's] waterfront and expands in several phases,” Christoph explains.
“It is our intention, upon designation as the preferred developer, to be able to immediately renovate Riverside Marine and the on-site outdoor advertising to highlight the plans for Bridgeport Landing and open a community-outreach, worker-training and real-estate sales facility,” Christoph adds.
RCI attorney Jay Levin of Hartford says RCI has successfully completed projects from the 58,000-square-foot Miami Beach Marine Center to the 55-slip Conch Harbor Marina in Key West and a host of other large projects.
LNR owns and manages “more than 70 apartment complexes, 17 shopping centers, 16 office buildings, nine industrial properties, five hotels, a mobile-home park and more than 1.5 million square feet of commercial land,” says Christoph.
Some of the costs in both proposals would be in the form of public subsidy.
Apart from the particulars of each bid, the biggest question on everyone's mind is how long it will be before the property begins generating taxes for the city.
A recommendation from Mayor Joseph Ganim's office is due to be forwarded to the City Council shortly.
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