NORWALK – Manresa Island Corp., the nonprofit leading the transformation of Manresa Island into a publicly accessible park, will host its third community engagement session as a community day festival at The Point at Norwalk Cove on July 13. The park’s new name and branding will also be unveiled.
At the event at 48 Calf Pasture Beach Road scheduled from 1 p.m.-4 p.m., Manresa Island Corp. and their partner SCAPE, which is leading the project’s design as well as community engagement efforts, will unveil the latest vision for the park including new design details shaped by extensive feedback from Norwalk residents.
Attendees can learn more about the Manresa Island project by visiting information tables among other fun community-day activities, coordinated with community organizations, that include a performance by Norwalk Symphony Orchestra’s Brass Quintet and a puppet-making workshop with local children’s museum Stepping Stones.
Food will be available from local vendors, among them Bloom and Son’s Copps Island Oysters and Space Cat.
The first 250 guests will receive exclusive Manresa Island merchandise. Beach access and swimming will also be available with parental supervision.
Manresa Island Corp. is a nonprofit organization created to build and operate a 125-acre publicly accessible park at the site of the former Connecticut Light & Power and NRG power plant. The park, due to open in 2030, is to include water access, play areas, programming and activities centered around water and opportunities to research and learn about the region’s ecology.
Officials on Friday, June 20 celebrated a major milestone: the demolition of three 7.5-million-gallon steel oil tanks, that have sat empty on the island for over a decade. It is the first of what the organization expects will be a long list of milestones achieved between now and 2030, when the park is expected to fully open.
The $120 million transformation of the site was made possible by the purchase and donation of the property by Austin and Allison McChord of Norwalk. Under the Manresa Osprey LLC name, the couple purchased the property for “$10 and other value received to the full satisfaction of the grantor” on Nov. 4, 2024, according to the limited warranty deed filed with the City of Norwalk.
Manresa Osprey LLC assumed the deed dated Dec. 15, 1999 from Connecticut Light & Power.
The McChords operate the McChord Foundation, a tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization, that showed total assets of $174 million, revenue of $6.28 million and expenses of $5.5 million in 2023, according to ProPublica.
