Bridgeport has chosen three developers to move forward with the planned Downtown North Village District project spanning six city blocks, which if completed would add more than 125,000 square feet of commercial space and more than 200 units of downtown housing.
The deal was announced on the eve of a somber day in late April, when the city paused to remember the L”™Ambiance Plaza downtown construction collapse 25 years ago. Mayor Bill Finch and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy were among the hundreds who paid tribute to the 28 people who died and 16 who were injured in the 1987 collapse of a residential building under construction.
The city is now looking to build up a dilapidated stretch of buildings north of the Holiday Inn. Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, Navarino Capital Management, and Schipper & Co. USA beat out five other competitors, and have two months to reach a formal land disposition agreement for the mix of residential and commercial projects they have proposed.
“For the most part, the buildings have been empty and deteriorating for many years and the idea here is to get moving,” said Donald Eversley, director of planning & economic development for the city of Bridgeport, in a written statement. “Ultimately, the city will reap its rewards by the increased new tax value of the blocks and the influx of new residents and businesses.”
Navarino Capital would lead construction on a new parcel bounded by Congress, Main, Gold and Middle streets, while redeveloping the Davidson Fabrics/Boy”™s Club building. The company expects to create more than 90,000 square feet of commercial space and more than 160 residential units.
An overhaul of the former Fairfield Uniform building at 1163 Main St. will be led by Schipper & Co USA Inc. and Tip Toes Real Estate L.L.C., with Schipper affiliate Colorblends occupying the building for its flower bulb import business, along with a “tulip museum” on the ground floor. Colorblends currently is located at 747 Barnum Ave.
Spinnaker proposed redeveloping the HL Green and Kaye”™s buildings, including some demolition work, to create 35,000 square feet of commercial space and about 30 residential units. Spinnaker would create another 20 residences at the site of the K&R building on Main St. and multiple buildings to the rear that front on Golden Hill St., possibly to include commercial space as well.
Spinnaker is among the few developers to have pursued projects across lower Fairfield County ”“ in Stamford, it owns the former Clairol plant now being rebuilt for use by Chelsea Piers as a sports complex, and by NBC Sports Group and the NHL Network as a television studio. In Bridgeport, it successfully redeveloped the Main Street building now used by Casey Family Services. And in Norwalk, the company proposed but has yet to move forward substantively on the District 95-7 project that if built could total more than 600,000 square feet of office space, as well as residential units, shops and a hotel.
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