BRIDGEPORT – With the news over the past week about the on-again, off-again Revolution Wind project in New London, it’s easy to forget about Bridgeport’s involvement in the state’s offshore wind farm located at Barnum Landing.
Even more important to Brian McAllister, president of McAllister Towing, and the thousands of passengers who ride the Bridgeport to Port Jefferson ferry each week is that a new ferry terminal located next to the new multi-billion-dollar Steelpointe Harbor development may officially get started in the not-so-distant future.
And it has nothing to do with the fate of the state’s offshore Revolution Wind energy project, which has faced fits and starts between Avangrid’s power purchase agreement pullout in 2023 and the recent resistance by the Trump administration. While the pullout led to Bridgeport’s Park City Wind’s temporary halt in the wind project, the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) suspension order on Dec. 22, 2025, stopped construction of the Revolution Wind project in New London.
The new Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry terminal has not been affected by the political wrangling of the offshore wind project because of legislation that was advocated by U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Greenwich, and signed into law by President Biden in late 2024.
The law allows McAllister Towing – owner of the 130-year-old Bridgeport and Port Jefferson Steamboat Co. –to expand its terminal and add a fourth boat without any involvement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
New Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry terminal
That bill included Himes’ request to deauthorize part of the federal navigation channel in Bridgeport Harbor, clearing the way for construction of the ferry terminal.
“They shifted their jurisdiction of the channel so we could build the pier,” McAllister told the Fairfield County Business Journal. By doing so, the ferry company could move forward with its expanded terminal without federal government approval although it still needs state and local permitting approval.
“The plan is to have a larger terminal building than what is there now” (at 1 Ferry Access Road), McAllister said. “The bottom line is the ferry we have now has been there for 70 years. Plus, such a project would qualify for state funding.”
So far, the ferry boat company has hired the world-renowned infrastructure consulting firm AECOM to draw up plans for the new terminal, McAllister said. AECOM provides professional services like planning, design, engineering, and construction management for projects in transportation, buildings, water, energy, and the environment.
McAllister’s company cleared another hurdle in the ferry project when it was permitted to run utilities to the Seaview Avenue site. “That will take about a year to get the utilities there,” he said.
The plan to move the ferry terminal to Barnum Landing dates back to 2013 when Barnum Landing II LLC (McAllister Towing) purchased the Seaview Avenue property for $2.63 million from Coastline Terminals of Connecticut. The new home for the Bridgeport ferry terminal is at the former Turbana Corp. site. McAllister’s company purchased the former Dolphin’s Cove Restaurant & Marina in 2023 for $3.3 million, according to city property records.
McAllister doesn’t want to put a definitive timeline on the construction of the new terminal just yet. “It will take a long time,” he said. “But it will create a lot of jobs. We are excited about that.”
Once the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins dredging the silt from Long Island Sound to create a serviceable channel for the wind power project, McAllister says his company will do what it can to allow equipment to be stored at Barnum Landing.
“We are hoping to work with offshore wind power companies,” he said.
Offshore wind assets
Considered one of the real estate assets along with Bridgeport Boatworks across from the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry terminal, the former Park City Wind project awaits Avangrid’s decision to go forward. The parent company of UI, SCG and CNG power utilities had been an integral part of the Park City Wind project, now known as New England Wind.
Bridgeport’s connection to the wind project includes an 18.5 acre site at 567 Seaview Ave. that includes more than 9 acres of land to be used by companies in the wind industry looking to build turbines. The rest of the site will become the future home of the Bridgeport and Port Jefferson Steamboat Co.’s new terminal that will include four boats.
“This project should have never been shut down the first time or second time by the White House,” Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday. “Federal interference has stood in the way of lower energy costs and good-paying jobs, but today’s ruling puts Revolution Wind back on track.
“With construction resuming and suppliers gaining certainty as we near completion, this state-backed project will help deliver a more diverse energy supply and lower utility costs for families and businesses. We look forward to seeing this project move ahead without further disruption and begin powering more than 300,000 homes.”
