🔒Developers invest nearly $50M to clean up former Stratford Army Engine Plant site as redevelopment options loom

Two developers are making a multimillion-dollar bet on one of Connecticut’s largest and most complex brownfield sites: the 77-acre former Stratford Army Engine Plant. But what ultimately becomes of the property remains unsettled, with options including large warehouse development or a mixed-use district combining commercial, residential and recreational uses. Ted Lane and Jim Cabrera, principals of Point Stratford Renewal, are investing nearly $50 million to clear and remediate the long-vacant property, a massive undertaking that includes demolishing 54 buildings totaling about 1.5 million square feet and removing asbestos and PCBs found in building paint. About one-third of the demolition work is complete and expected to wrap up by the end of 2026, Cabrera said. The bulk of the effort centers on an 860,000-square-foot building facing Main Street. To date, Point Stratford Renewal has razed roughly 500,000 square feet of space, while the U.S. Army has demolished about 150,000 square feet. Cleanup work now underway includes soil remediation and the placement of roughly 1 million tons of fill to elevate the site above the flood plain as part of a coastal resiliency plan, a process expected to be completed by the end of 2027. Cabrera said he and Lane were drawn to the Stratford site because of its complexity and long-term potential. Cabrera is the founder of Greenwich-based Eagle Ventures, which focuses on distressed properties, while Lane is the founder of New Canaan-based Cannon Green Advisors, a firm specializing in brownfield redevelopment. Both developers have worked on major Stamford projects, including Harbor Point, a large mixed-use waterfront redevelopment on the city’s former industrial South End. “Our work focuses on carefully reducing risk and restoring these sites so they can become assets again, not just for us and our investors, but for the people who live and work in the communities around them,” Cabrera said. Lane said projects like the Stratford Army Engine Plant and Harbor Point illustrate what can happen when redevelopment efforts are approached with patience, technical expertise and a long-term outlook. “What motivates us most is seeing these once-challenging places come back to life as sources of pride, beauty and economic vitality that will be enjoyed long after our role is complete,” Lane said.

PSR’s formation

Lane co-founded Point Stratford Renewal (PSR) in 2012 with brownfield-focused real estate investors Sedgwick Partners and Development Resources LLC, along with environmental consultancy Loureiro Engineering Associates. That same year, PSR won a bid from the U.S. Army — which had owned the site since the 1970s — to acquire, remediate and redevelop the former Stratford Army Engine Plant. The property then sat largely idle for more than a decade as PSR and the Army worked through a remediation plan for the site’s 77-acre upland portion, which contains the former factory buildings, and 46 acres of contaminated tidal flats along the Housatonic River. During that period, Cabrera joined PSR in 2021, after Loureiro Engineering Associates exited the project, and Sedgwick Partners and Development Resources were bought out by Eagle Ventures and Cannon Green Advisors. After years of regulatory and environmental planning, PSR entered into an environmental services cooperative agreement with the Army in April 2024 that requires the developer to remove asbestos and demolish most of the buildings at a cost of about $44 million. Under the agreement, PSR is also responsible for 15% of the $12.6 million cost to remove PCBs from the site. Eagle Ventures and Cannon Green Advisors are funding these cleanup costs through cash on hand, Cabrera said. A separate agreement requires the Army to cover the remaining PCB abatement costs and to spend $74 million remediating the tidal flats. That work includes dredging about 233,000 tons of contaminated silt and placing roughly 200,000 tons of the material on the property for use as fill. As part of that effort, the Army hired Eagle Ventures to construct a 3,000-foot-long sheet pile wall to contain the contaminated silt during dredging. In April 2024, the Army also conveyed the property to PSR for $1 under the terms of the remediation agreements. The state has also been involved in the project, providing early funding to support remediation work.

Point Stratford Renewal has received $400,000 in brownfield remediation funding and $500,000 in Urban Act grant program support from the Department of Economic and Community Development to help offset cleanup costs, agency spokesman Jim Watson said. The developers are seeking additional support through the state’s Brownfield Municipal Grant Program, which could provide up to $6 million, Cabrera said.

Development plans

Cabrera said about 20 acres of the property south and east of Sniffens Lane — an area that has already been cleared of buildings and asbestos — is ready for redevelopment. What that will look like, however, remains unsettled. Point Stratford Renewal has not yet decided whether the site will be developed for industrial use or as a mixed-use waterfront project. “We haven’t really made a full determination yet on what we’re going to do, so we’re marketing it both ways,” Cabrera said. With the end use still undecided, Cabrera said PSR has yet to determine its redevelopment investment and expects to bring in a capital partner once plans are finalized. While the town has approved an industrial redevelopment plan for the property, Stratford Mayor David Chess, who took office in December, has been pushing for a mixed-use vision that could include a theater, hotel, restaurants and a boardwalk. Chess said PSR initially envisioned a mixed-use project, but later shifted toward a simpler and less costly plan involving three large warehouse buildings. Developing what would be among the largest warehouses in the state on a waterfront site, he said, would be a missed opportunity. “It’s something I won’t support,” Chess said. PSR and the town are working with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to remediate the property to a residential-grade standard that would allow for mixed-use development, Chess said. “It’s a very large parcel, and there’s a lot we can do,” he said. Chess said a mixed-use project could generate significant tax revenue for Stratford, pointing to Stamford’s Harbor Point, which he said produces about $80 million a year in tax revenue. “If we did half that, we’re in pretty good shape,” he said. PSR has issued a request for proposals for a planner to develop mixed-use concepts and expects to hire one next month, Cabrera said. Meantime, PSR does not plan to redevelop an 800-foot dike that extends into the Housatonic River, though Cabrera said the firm would consider selling or partnering with a developer interested in converting it into a marina or another use. PSR, he said, is focused on developing the upland portion of the site rather than navigating what could be a lengthy and contentious permitting process tied to the dike. “If someone wants to have a fight with the Connecticut DEEP, the oysterman or anybody, that’s fine. That could be someone else’s fight,” Cabrera said. “They’re more than welcome to go get it approved by all the powers that be, but it’s a long and lengthy process.”