After 25 years, massive Bridgeport waterfront redevelopment enters new phase

A quarter-century after beginning work on one of Connecticut’s most ambitious waterfront redevelopment projects, the developer behind Bridgeport’s Steelpointe Harbor is planning thousands of housing units, hotels and additional commercial development in a buildout that could ultimately represent more than $1 billion in investment. RCI Group President Bobby Christoph said his family-run company envisions roughly 2,000 apartments and condominiums across the 52-acre site. A 420-unit apartment complex recently opened, and construction is underway on a 142-room Residence Inn by Marriott. RCI is also planning an approximately 300-unit, 16-story apartment tower that Christoph hopes to begin building in the first quarter of 2028. The company has been meeting with Bridgeport officials to discuss the proposal. “We want to go vertical,” Christoph said. “We would like to go 16 stories with our next product and build something here that hasn’t been done in years.” Hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment have gone into Steelpointe and related RCI developments so far, Christoph said. The full buildout could surpass a billion dollars, particularly if construction costs continue to rise, he said. There is no firm completion date, and the mix of uses has evolved and could continue to change. “It’s going to be based on market absorption and that will be the controlling factor,” Christoph said. Allan Monteiro, senior vice president and commercial real estate team leader at Naugatuck-based Ion Bank, said the project has increasingly demonstrated its viability as individual components have been completed. Ion Bank, with $2.8 billion in assets, has financed several parts of Steelpointe, including the refinancing of Bass Pro Shops and adjacent retail properties, infrastructure work and a recently completed gas station and car wash. Monteiro said all the bank’s loans involving RCI have been repaid as agreed. A changing vision RCI’s plans have evolved substantially since the company became involved in the project around 2000. An earlier master plan envisioned a 2.8-million-square-foot development with about 800,000 square feet of retail, 200,000 square feet of office space, 300,000 square feet of hotel and meeting space and 1,000 to 1,500 residential units. Those targets have since been adjusted to reflect market demand. The current development includes the newly built marina and calls for roughly 2,000 apartments and condominiums, the hotel under construction and potentially another 150-room hotel. “If we built an 800,000-square-foot retail center, that would not be a smart decision today,” Christoph said, adding that a long-term development needs “the flexibility to move with the market demand and trends.” Christoph, 49, has worked on Steelpointe for about a quarter-century. Shortly after graduating from the University of Miami, he helped his father, RCI Chairman Robert Christoph Sr., prepare a response to Bridgeport’s request for proposals. Previous efforts to redevelop that section of Bridgeport’s waterfront had failed. The Christoph family brought experience developing marinas, apartments and other waterfront projects in the Midwest, Southeast and Miami Beach. “Our unique niche is waterfront development and understanding what it takes to make a waterfront thrive,” Christoph said. Monteiro said that experience, along with RCI’s success in attracting national tenants, helped convince Ion Bank to finance portions of the project. “They have figured out what the recipe is for success,” Monteiro said. “And now they’ve located in Steelpointe Harbor, basically the perfect clean slate.” The Steelpointe property includes land formerly occupied by a coal-fired United Illuminating power plant. Christoph said extensive brownfield work included removing old foundations and cooling tunnels and raising portions of the waterfront by approximately 8 feet to accommodate modern flood elevations. RCI was drawn by Steelpointe’s location immediately off Interstate 95, near Metro-North and Amtrak service, the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry and a deep-water harbor. The company has gradually built out the property with a Bass Pro Shops store, Starbucks, Chipotle, T-Mobile, the 48,000-square-foot Lighthouse building, Boca Oyster Bar and a 220-slip marina. It also created a public harbor walk. Nearby, RCI acquired and rehabilitated a roughly 16-acre former shipyard where Hornblower Group operates and about 120 people work daily. The developer also refurbished a roughly 35,000-square-foot facility now occupied by sailmaker North Sails. Generating demand The biggest recent change is the arrival of residents. The August, a 420-unit waterfront apartment complex developed by RCI and Flaherty & Collins Properties, began opening in phases in June. It includes 160 workforce housing units with rents restricted to households earning between 80% and 100% of the area median income, according to RCI. Christoph said new residents are helping activate Steelpointe and drive demand for commercial space. He pointed to the Lighthouse building, where nearly half of its 12,000 square feet of office space sat vacant for years but is now fully leased. RCI’s next residential phase calls for the 300-unit, 16-story apartment building on roughly 1.5 acres, with amenities designed to capitalize on its waterfront views. Construction would take about two years. Another major piece is already underway. RCI has partnered with True North Hotel Group to develop a 142-room Residence Inn by Marriott, which broke ground earlier this year. Christoph said RCI holds a 50% interest in the hotel, as it does in The August. RCI could eventually pursue a second hotel depending on demand, Christoph said. Public-private partnership Financing for the development has come from a mix of private capital, bank loans, state brownfield assistance and housing programs, Christoph said. Under a tax-increment financing agreement, a portion of Steelpointe’s property tax revenue is used to repay debt for roads, utilities and other infrastructure. The August received a separate municipal tax break. The project is a key part of Bridgeport’s economic development strategy and contributes to Mayor Joseph P. Ganim’s citywide goal of creating 6,000 housing units by 2030, officials said. Tom Gill, director of Bridgeport’s Office of Planning and Economic Development, said Steelpointe “represents what successful mixed-use economic development should look like.” The combination of housing, hospitality, retail, recreation and maritime businesses is creating a complementary mix of self-reinforcing activity, Gill said. “The result is not only a changing skyline, but a waterfront that is creating jobs, attracting residents and visitors, supporting industry and establishing Bridgeport as an important destination on Long Island Sound and the East Coast,” he said. Christoph said the development is helping Bridgeport overcome its reputation as a struggling postindustrial city. “That, let’s call it potential stigma, is slowly moving away,” Christoph said. Within five years, he expects more than 1,000 people to be living at Steelpointe, the Residence Inn to be operating and additional phases of the development to be underway. RCI, he added, intends to remain invested for the long haul. “We plan on being long-term owners of the product here,” Christoph said.