Golden Hill Going Green Following Demolition Work, Downtown Development Slated For Opening

Demolition of Downtown North buildings on Golden Hill Street.

While developers of the former Jayson and Newfield buildings Downtown report their project consisting of 104 apartment units and 8,000 square feet of retail space is nearing completion, the city announced on Monday that demolition work has begun on nearby abandoned buildings at Middle and Golden Hill Streets to create a public green space called “Post Office Square.”

The $1.1 million demolition project commenced after the buildings suffered partial collapse and became a safety concern.

“This project will finally make way to provide a beautiful public green space that complements storefronts, historic building facades, and Downtown apartment style living,” said Mayor Joe Ganim in a news release.

Jayson building across from the post office on Middle Street. CT Post photo by Jordan Grice.

The Post Office Square space will border restored and historic buildings HSW Complex, the Blends Gallery, Jayson Newfield Lofts, as well as the United States Post Office on Middle Street.

Jordan Grice of the Connecticut Post reports developers of the Jayson project have secured 56 mixed-rate leases for a January move-in. The Newfield building with 46 units is scheduled for completion in the spring, according to developers Mark Reed and  Patrick Normoyle.

The 2,100-square-foot Berlinetta Brewing Co. operated by Chris and Richard Ruggiero is expected to open in the spring occupying ground-level space across from the post office.

Economic Development Director Tom Gill said the demolished structures are part of the Preservation Block that had development interest several years ago.

“Plans shifted when the developer was unable to secure funding from the state,” said Gill. “Also, one of the partners passed away. After these two occurrences, the developer explored other offers but nothing materialized.”

Gill added that “The green space will not be permanent. At the appropriate time, we will put out an RFP (request for proposals) for development.”

The green space will be available to residents in the spring, according to Gill, after Standard Demolition completes the work.

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21 comments

  1. Lots of housing; but for whom? Bridgeport still has the highest real unemployment level in Connecticut, and our tax base is still shrinking and not likely to add any significant commercial value or jobs in the foreseeable future. Just as was stated previously concerning the vaunted Vineyard Wind project; it’s much ado about nothing. See Connecticut Post article of 12/21/19 — https://www.ctinsider.com/business/ctpost/article/Park-City-Wind-job-creation-in-Bridgeport-modest-14922488.php?cmpid=gsa-ctpost-result&_ga=2.134224435.393804909.1577127270-2138237996.1572734225

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    1. Jeff, just keep in mind these jayson newfield project are the same 104 apartments we been talking about since the original LDA in 2005 with Urban Green Builders. What sounds like a lot of apartments are just stalled projects finally reaching an end point. As for housing, we simply can not revitalize downtown with a growing residential base downtown, as it stands, we are only at 2400 ppl living downtown. Cities in a Transit district should have 10,000 plus within .5 miles of train/bus. We don’t have that right now. Sot he housing is necessary.
      When you say for whom, I lived downtown last 5 years and I see a mix of Bridgeport residents downsiing and moving into downtown and ppl who work up the metro north line who see Bridgeport prices as values compared to fairfield, norwalk, and Stamford.

      As far as the green space, I’m not excited about that pitch. It’s a lazy response from our OPED dept considering the old Corbit’s studio been knocked down for a pocket park that
      s not complete, and the adjacent parcel on opposite side of Jayson NEwfield are slated for green space.

      The buildings do need to come down. The Preservation Block could not be preserved ironically enough. But we also don’t have a bevy of developers knocking down Bridgeport’s door to develop. Supply and demand is the name of the game. Demand is high for housing downtown and low for anything else. We don’t recruit companies here so we are at the mercy of the slow growth of our small business owners.

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  2. Kelvin,I didn’t realize 2400 people actually live downtown,I agree that there needs to be more,but 2400 is a start.My question is where are those people?,do they just stay in their apts at night?.There is still very little foot traffic after 5:00.

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  3. Kelvin: Indeed a modicum of housing is good for a downtown, mostly because it lends an air of life and vitality to what would otherwise be an unattractive, sterile zone… But in a small city with a small downtown, such as Bridgeport, one must ask when the focus on creating a downtown population and neighborhood becomes counterproductive in terms of crowding-out the essential retail that defines a “downtown” and major, tax-positive tax base/employment for the city. (Only extreme, upscale housing is tax-positive for a municipality… That is not descriptive of Bridgeport, downtown housing.)
    So, my point is that Bridgeport is still regressing economically, and will not make progress until we accomplish the recruitment of major commercial tax-base that can also be described in terms of being major employers providing tens of thousands of Bridgeport-based, living-wage jobs… There is nothing of that description presently in the offing for Bridgeport… The downtown renaissance unfortunately is proceeding, as such, and Vineyard Wind is just of a lot of the latter, as the Connecticut Post admitted in their revised description of the project that appeared in Sunday’s business section…
    This City has no real vision of a new, prosperous Bridgeport, much less any plan for such, and even less in the administrative determination to see any major development through to successful, long-term functionality and evolution. Look a Steel Pointe. It’s a monumental testament to visionless ineptitude. It was DOA, but there has been a never-ending birthday for it for the past 25 years… We might have tried to squeeze Malloy with Bridgeport votes to get Bridgewater there, but Bass Pro somehow trumped Bridgewater… OIB!!!

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  4. PS: The real key to a downtown renaissance is a CITY full of prosperous families, with parents working living-wage jobs that provide the disposable income to patronize solid, up-scale/mid-scale, downtown retail, dining, and entertainment venues… (The ball park would still be in operation if that would have been the case… But this city, to the extent that it creates any economic development plans, creates and implements them in reverse…”Backasswards,” would be the description of the scant economic development planning in Bridgeport in modern times…)

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    1. And where are those jobs to pay for living downtown Bridgeport besides Dunkin Donuts, McDonald’s, Burger King and the largest employer in America Walmart? Again, this is nothing but “Gentrification.”

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  5. Bridgeport is the poster child of how to fail at Downtown Development USA.
    And they say all this with a straight face…
    They took these buildings, kicked out occupants in the early nineties for a stupid State courthouse project that never happened.
    They bungled up numerous RFPs and did not know how to get these stalwart properties in the right hands
    All preservation resources from the State SHPO Office goes into nothing at the Freeman Homes and Barnum Museum
    OPED uses its Planning Director to change Zoning to get politically connected liquor stores into suburban neighborhoods, meanwhile
    Wake Up Bridgeport!

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  6. Let’s hope Joe decides to run again for another higher office like senator or something. Could you imagine the development deal he would gather the press to announce then?? “Exact Capital will redevelop from The Majestic theater,down to Webster Arena,they will build Skyscrapers,Hotels,Retail spaces,and housing.. it will be the biggest development ever to happen anywhere in the world!”

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  7. Got to hope that some of the young lawyers, nurses,doctors set roots there. The graduates from UB and SACRED HEART . The jobs might have to come from Stanford or New York.

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  8. So be it. The city needs to get creative in trying to get high paying jobs. A new identity is needed . PEOPLE LOVE TO LIVE ON THE WATER YET BRIDGEPORT HAS NOTHING TO OFFER BUT ST MARY BY THE SEA WITH ALL THE WATER HERE

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    1. People like to live on the water, well, who resides on water outside of those in Black Rock and black and brown people in the East End and the South End near the water, again, “Gentrification.” Where are those jobs to pay for these new apartments?

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  9. How about entertainment. Focus there. The comedy club is in downtown. The arena and the new amphitheater. The cabaret is still here. Maybe focus more on the majestic and palace in stead of a dumbass ice ring. Have a theater school. Cable TV has exploded with new opportunities for t
    Actors and actresses as well as musician. In thinking out loud here trying to come up with solutions, ideas.

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  10. Isolated, big-box malls are falling out of fashion and failing, as Internet retail is displacing the role of mall, “anchor” stores and even the smaller, related retail venues that they support. The malls are trying to create shopping/entertainment “experiences” to maintain space rental and traffic — and they are failing… Meanwhile, downtowns, with a variety of entertainment and retail venues — as well as historical/cultural experiences associated with “public spaces” are experiencing genuine rebirths/renaissances… We have an example of a very healthy, resurgent downtown right next door to us in Fairfield. And our downtown is even more “walkable” and more “connectable” to waterfront and waterfront related activities… No need to go on about our assets… We could have the best downtown in Connecticut if we had some real creativity and passion working on Bridgeport development in City Hall… (Pouring $500,000,000 into the “outskirts” of the downtown, on the skeletal remains of a too-expensive-to-update theater/hotel complex surrounded by empty lots and dismal, post-industrial views, while the heart of the downtown continues to decline, is just bizarre and eminently counterproductive, in any event… No need to mention that “smart money” would never lend itself to that project at this point in our downtown comeback attempt… Again; another example of backasswards Bridgeport development non-planning…)

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  11. Another point about downtown housing: while some housing within the heart of the downtown can lend itself to overall downtown vitality, retail crowding-out notwithstanding, downtown vitality would be much better served by the downtown being surrounded by prosperous neighborhoods within walking distance of — which used to be the case in Bridgeport, when the city and its downtown were prosperous and healthy, and which now serves as a case-in-point in regarding Fairfield’s enviable, downtown vitality… (AND FAIRFIELD’S DOWNTOWN HAS 0 — 0-0-0-0-0 — PARKING METERS.

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  12. Will someone describe what combination of apartment buildings and townhouses and what mix of market-rate and affordable units will be decided upon for these projects? What is the AREA MEDIAN INCOME (AMI) UNITS Unit Size Monthly Rent for different size Units?

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