From Mayor Bill Finch:
The City is soliciting bids for the remediation and demolition of the former Remgrit Facility, the potential site of a new train station located on Barnum Avenue in the East Side.
“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 Mayor Bill Finch. “This remediation and demolition project will clean up a site that has been a neighborhood eyesore for decades.”
The Remgrit site (formerly Remington Arms) once housed one of the largest munitions plants in the country. In recent years, the property has been the scene of numerous fires.
Among the parcels located on the Remgrit site to be included in this demolition and remediation project are a 57,600 square-foot manufacturing building and an 8,800 square-foot boiler building.
In 2011, then-State Representative Andres Ayala secured $1 million in bond funding to help pay for this demolition and remediation project.
“This critical revitalization of the Remington Arms property will work in conjunction with development going on across Bridgeport to greatly enhance quality of life in the Park City,” said Senator Ayala. “The proximity of this property to the Steel Point project will make it one of the most important developments in the city, and I look forward to seeing this space put to use.”
The City’s Department of Public Purchases will receive bids until July 10 at 2 p.m. A public notice of this project appeared in the Sunday, June 2 edition of the Connecticut Post. This notice can also currently be found online at www.bidsync.com.
I have a great idea! In true Bridgeport fashion, why don’t we let big Sal’s company do the demo? He owns the property, owes millions in taxes and provides huge donations to our Bpt Democrats. Didn’t we just pay another one just like him $400K to build a road to HIS OWN HOME?
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT!
Hope … Are you implying we let Sal perform the demolition and remediation work as a way to work off his $10 million+ tax debt to the city? It might be the only way we will ever see those monies.
And this makes me both laugh and cry! Sadly flubadub, I would imagine payment and tax forgiveness would both happen.
Is there a plan to eliminate the Downtown train station? Wouldn’t that hurt our progress? Bridgeport with three train stations? At one time there WAS a plan to incorporate the bus/train/ferry/arena and stadium with arms to each venue. Great plan, I wonder whatever happened to it. Another question, “Would Bridgeport receive the monies generated through PARKING or would those funds go to a private entity?”
Someone is going to make a buck … and you can bet they are going to redevelop the people of these neighborhoods to say Hartford … economic ethnic cleansing …
More property taken off the tax rolls. Where are the Kaffee Klatchers? Why are they not outraged at this for a train station that is not even needed? That probably won’t be used. Proximity to Steel Pointe … are people going to take the train to buy fishing tackle? And economic development for whom? Where is the supermarket that is sorely needed in this neighborhood?
Hector,
I think you will find Fairfield has three stations at this time. The last put into service is called Metro but many people continue to call it the Black Rock Station. (A nearby road to the station suffered the same indignity over the years as it was initially called State Street Extension even after being renamed Commerce Drive.)
Bridgeport has one station at this time. The City administration has talked about the “need” for another station for some years now. That is perhaps why Andres Ayala can bring home $1 Million to do some preliminary site work. However, as with so many things, the Mayor does not make a specific case for commuters or other rail travelers overflowing existing stations and wanting to park their vehicles all day in the East End. So an expressed “need” may be merely a “want” for another big project that offers dollars to donors and does not represent jobs for citizens.
BRG, the property may be off the tax list already, I am not sure. But the neighborhood requires not only a supermarket, but banking facilities, a new library building (which the City administration and the City Council members have been very slow to support actively, despite library budget dollars available) and the other small businesses that serve the people of the neighborhood. Time will tell.
There’s a supermarket (Compare) about three blocks or so from there. I do agree a library is SORELY needed.
JML, I have always called the new Fairfield train station, METROSOPOULOS.
Nobody has demonstrated any need, support or market for another railroad station. I guess that makes it a typical Bridgeport development project.
Like it or not, building another train station is not a bad idea. The problem is who these freaking Calamarians give the contracts to. I think having Mark IV get a no-bid on the the remediation of the driveway off of Sniffens lane is really a bad thing. By the way … I owned a Breakwater Key condo there 25 years ago. I paid taxes to Stratford. The property where the Mark IV guy has his house used to be owned by the Fordham family. They paid taxes to Stratford. What’s the specific Bridgeport connection?
*** I can see the long lines of rail commuters now just waiting for a season parking space at the East Side lot with all the security guards and cameras and well-lit parking areas. Along with all the strap hangers from the East Side headed to the big apple on the weekends! Maybe even a mini-Jrs Cheesecake Co. as well, no? ***
Mojo, take a drive by the new Metro rail station. There are no stores, not even newspaper dispensers. All there is is a giant parking lot.
Here’s how to pay for it:
Don’t solicit bids. Erect billboards or install “street toilets” for our growing downtown or add custom-made bus shelters or build train stations–are you with me so far?
By the end of the year, Chicago will have 34 ultra modern, LED-powered billboards erected on public property. JCDecaux, a French company, is doing the work. Chicago will get 40% of the estimated $700 million in ad revenue.
They are anxious to contact America’s mayors to explain the synergies involved. Bridgeport would be a great place for this company to gain traction in America and display their many “street furnishings.”
www .jcdecaux.com/en/
Nice of the city to provide a way out of corruption, payoffs, ripoffs, taxes (DiNardo jump on board). Just who is going to take this train that’s bound for glory, the glory of someone’s bank account? Did I again hear the name DiNardo again, by the way Timpanelli can be the conductor and Mario can run the dining car as they take us to hell.
Bridgeport will definitely benefit from another train station as well as the properties in that neighborhood. We are the largest city in the state. That alone is a reason. The neighborhood has two very good elementary schools, Barnum and Waltersville. The kids are great and the schools run well. Steelepointe will eventually be more than Bass Pro. The big picture is important and kudos to FINCH for starting the process. About Sal DiNardo, I have dealt with him and his properties during the Moran administration. He is definitely a high-profile character in this city. He has suffered with many properties during sluggish economies in a city so maligned and very little in the way of attracting business to fill his space. He is one of the few who has by way of his political connections survived. Somehow something’s got to give even with Sal DiNardo. He is actually a very nice guy. I hope he can find a way to pay back the City taxes as well as I hope he continues to thrive in many corners of this city and why not? His family has paid taxes for decades during good times and bad. Of course he will get a deal and they will cut him some slack. DUH!!!
This would be an appropriate time for the CT Post to do a comprehensive story on the Remgrit property. Who owns the property; the status of unpaid property taxes; the studies showing a demand for another train station; etc.
Tom, that would be a redundant comprehensive article the Connecticut Post has regurgitated ad nauseum … Look to the future. Knock down the blighted property and let’s get the East Side moving.
This deplorable situation is being whitewashed and is a quintessential case of “Demolition By Neglect.” The Shot Tower is still a landmark building. I see no mention with Finch’s comments or with Lennie’s documentary of how all the usual suspects: Finch, DiNardo and Fabrizi, among others, took a thriving arts colony and the Habitat for Humanity Construction Depot, a perfectly charming, structurally sound building, gutted it, sold its antique furnishings in Soho under the supervision of DiNardo and his property manager Bob Curwen, had a number of fires set costing the City untold millions in fire calls, totally blighting the East Side, jeopardizing the safety of firefighters, leaving it open for neighborhood children exposed to an attractive nuisance, the homeless, the scrap thieves and the druggies.
oh, what’s this? I’m “shocked” to find out we have this blighted building on the East Side! ha.
Yeah folks, what about the Shot Tower? Let’s do some reporting. Right, Tom White!
Hector,
You are referring to the intermodal transit center, which, as you say, was planned to link all of the city’s transportation systems in the area from Water Street to the ballpark and the arena. This included train, bus, ferry, taxis and a parking garage and was championed by Joe Ganim and Chris Shays. The plan eventually produced the new, poorly located bus station and the garage at Harbor Yard before dying on the vine.
Thank you, Mr. uh, er, Horse. If I am correct the plan also included shops and restaurants and even a Soccer Field/Stadium.
I am not a fan of Sal DiNardo and I am definitely no fan of this administration but this train station may be necessary.
It is my understanding the high-speed train from Boston to DC cannot stop at the Bridgeport station because of the curving in the tracks. If this is true then we need a new station. This new station will help in updating the East Side.
Amtrack needs to stop in Bridgeport. Would this get the job done? We need an economic feasibility and community impact study.
This city has wasted more money on redundant feasibility studies than any other city on record. This would be a huge benefit to the East Side. This could spur some serious development aside from Steelpointe. I see housing in those old factory buildings with commuters taking advantage of the transit system. Transportation is key to the future of the largest city in the state. The impact would be tremendous. The homes could become more in demand due to the proximity of transportation for those commuting to Norwalk and Stamford. Ten years down the road I see the Steelpointe peninsula as well as surrounding neighborhoods exploding with housing and businesses. That is the future of Bridgeport. This is how I see it with and without my rose-colored glasses. I have faith in the future of this city. I worked in Stamford for eight years. I remember it looking like Bridgeport and in what seemed like overnight it was reinvented. Bridgeport is ready. We have on file in the City OPED as well as the BRBC a feasibility study for almost anything we can imagine. All that money spent. So little to show for it.
Where is the visionary Finch Administration and its Planning Department on what to do with the Shot Tower? Another Bridgeport treasure destroyed, another legacy of the Finch Administration.
It seems all the Planning Department of the City does is make busy, useless work for itself while being on standby for the Moutinhos and DiNardos of the world.
I have always believed in historic preservation if it could be incorporated in a plan for a neighborhood. Holding back development for a building or a structure will only last so long. The Poli and Majestic. These two theaters remain a reminder of magnificent structures that remain underutilized and decaying. One needs to take a ride to Waterbury to see how magnificent these two theaters can be. The shot tower may in fact be a structure that needs to be saved but not at the expense of Bridgeport’s future. Would be brilliant if the tower could be incorporated into the plan. That would be my goal before the entire site is dismantled.