Bridgeport officials are taking steps that would allow for the city”™s second train station to be built on property that once was part of the country”™s largest munitions plant.
A study that examines the feasibility of a train station on Barnum Avenue has been completed and submitted to a regional advisory board, the New York-Connecticut Sustainable Communities Consortium, for its review, said Ruben Felipe, deputy chief of staff to Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch.
Felipe said the consortium, which comprises numerous New York and Connecticut towns and government agencies, is expected to approve the train station plan at its June 26 meeting. Obtaining the consortium”™s approval is the “first step” in what is expected to be an “infinitely complex” approvals process, he added. The feasibility study would then be released to the public, Felipe said.
The city has simultaneously put out a request for proposals for the demolition of two buildings at 812 Barnum Ave. and for the remediation of the property, which is where officials hope the train station will be situated.
The 7-acre property had been a portion of the Remington Arms munitions manufacturing complex before it was sold to RemGrit Realty Inc. in the 1980s. In 2011, a bankruptcy court ruled that the city of Bridgeport could foreclose on the property, with RemGrit owing millions of dollars in back taxes at the time.
“This is another important step forward in bringing a much needed second train station to Bridgeport, which will be an engine for economic development for the East Side, East End and the entire city,” said Finch in a June 4 statement.
The RFP calls for the demolition of a 57,600-square-foot manufacturing building and an 8,800-square-foot boiler building. The historic “shot tower” is not involved in the RFP, and is located on a separate land parcel, Felipe said. Bids are due July 10, and the city hopes for demolition to begin toward the end of the summer.
Representatives of the Connecticut Department of Transportation reviewed the feasibility study and gave it an “overwhelmingly positive” review, Felipe said.
“We”™ve gotten favorable and positive feedback from them,” Felipe said. “I think it”™s safe to say that they are encouraged about moving this project forward, so from there it”™s about talking to Metro-North (Railroad) and other partners and trying to come up with a schedule.”
