Stamford-based Building and Land Technology, the developer of Harbor Point, recently bought a $12.75 million property on the west branch of Stamford Harbor to build a boatyard, said BLT CEO Carl R. Kuehner III in a press release.
The 5.4-acre site, at 28 Southfield Ave., is already approved for residential development and a marina, Kuehner said in a statement. The project awaits the city”™s site plan approval, and the goal is to open a boatyard by the first quarter of 2015.
“We are proud to offer a compelling solution to fulfill Stamford”™s need for a modern working boatyard, and we look forward to collaborating with the city to develop the boatyard as quickly as possible,” Kuehner said in a statement. “Our investment in this site demonstrates our commitment to enhance Stamford through the development of the waterfront, and our responsiveness to the community”™s voice.”
After the Brewer”™s Yacht Haven boatyard and marina, which sat on a 14-acre brownfield site in Stamford”™s South End, closed three years ago, residents have been lobbying to bring back the boatyard, said Robin Stein, Stamford”™s economic development director.
“The lease with the Brewer”™s was terminated by BLT three years ago, and BLT started to do some cleanup because it”™s a brownfield site,” Stein said. “But in the interim there has been no other boatyard in Stamford. So now BLT acquired this current site called the Petro (Fuel Co.) site, and they”™re proposing to engage a boatyard operator and develop plans.”
Only a few remaining boatyards between New York and Newport, R.I., provide people with full service for major repairs on large boats, Stein said. The development project would be a win for Stamford because boats traveling northeast will go through the city”™s port, Stein said.
In the last six years, BLT has been expanding its presence on Stamford”™s waterfront. Its projects include the Harbor Point marinas, a waterfront promenade, 12 acres of parks, restaurants and more than 1,800 apartments.
“Stamford did relatively well during the big recession because BLT kept building right thorough it,” Stein said. “They added several thousand housing units and hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial developments.”
BLT is the only key economic developer in Stamford”™s South End, transforming what used to be an industrial hub into a prominent commercial and business district, Stein said. Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co. and Connecticut Light & Power had a strong presence in the neighborhood into the 1950s.
About 10 years ago, there were about 80 acres of brownfield sites remaining from Pitney Bowes Inc. when it used to be headquartered near Walter Wheeler Drive and Henry Street, he added. BLT bought the development sites in the South End, drastically changing the demographics and type of housing.
“You”™re getting higher-income people in the South End because BLT built two-bedrooms that are leased at above $2,000 a month,” Stein said. “So if you”™re low-income, which were a fair number of the residents who were in the South End, this is a big change.”
BLT spokesman Carl Gaines declined to comment on the details of the project, including the construction costs and anticipated date of the site plan approval.
