Phil Kuchma”™s vision for restoring downtown Bridgeport to its former vibrant self got a boost recently when the City Council approved extending his Bijou Square development onto Golden Hill Street.
The city has agreed to give three properties to Kuchma Corp., which will build a new senior center, two apartment buildings and renovate the Eisenhower Center building to include a fitness center, restaurant and apartments. The cabaret theater will also remain in the building.
“The city of Bridgeport and downtown is starting to attract more and more people who are desiring an urban downtown,” said Kuchma, company president. “We need to continue to deliver to keep that growth happening.”
Currently the city”™s senior center is in the Eisenhower building. But Kuchma said he thought it would be more efficient to use the space as a fitness center and move the senior center down the block. A YWCA originally occupied the Eisenhower building when it was built in 1941. It remained there until the 1970s when the YWCA merged with the YMCA.
“That”™s at the top of the vast majority of tenants”™ desires, when they ask about living or working downtown: ”˜Where is a fitness center?”™” Kuchma said. “So we want to provide that.”
The Eisenhower building is in the historic center of the city, near city hall, the courthouse and church.
Being an old building on a slope, it requires a lot of maintenance, making the exchange beneficial for the city, said David Kooris, director of the city”™s Office of Planning and Economic Development.
“We get a brand new senior center, more residents, a great new destination restaurant, keep our cabaret and get, obviously, all the tax revenue for those new projects,” Kooris said. “But we also don”™t have the burden of maintaining the building the senior center is currently in.”
A pool is on the first floor of the building and will be preserved for the new fitness center. Seniors will still have the same access to it under the new ownership.
Kuchma will begin environmental cleanup on the new senior center site in two weeks and construction upon permit approval. The construction is scheduled to finish in March 2013. Afterward, construction on the Eisenhower building and other projects will begin.
With the property exchange, there will be adjustments to property lines, improved utilities and better access to the buildings for loading zones and trash containment.
On the Eisenhower building”™s top floor, Kuchma will build four one-bedroom apartments. At 285 Golden Hill St., the company will build 50 one-bedroom and studio apartments. And at 1208 Broad St., it will build 12 studios.
The apartments will be rented at market rate, similar to the company”™s other 84 apartment units in Bijou Square. In the last six months they”™ve had a 100 percent occupancy rate and a long waiting list, Kuchma said.
“We”™ve demonstrated to other property owners and investors in downtown Bridgeport that there”™s a very strong demand to be filled. In the next two to three years, I”™m hoping the number of apartments will increase 600 to 800.
