General Electric Co. is promising to spend $25 million to help refurbish several Bridgeport neighborhoods.
The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority has received three proposals for downtown development plans. Details of the plans were released recently by the housing agency to the Connecticut Post under the state Freedom of Information Act.
The awarding of the money is expected to be announced next month or in December.
Housing is a part of each of the three projects. One proposal would use all of GE’s $25 million and $4.5 million in state Urban Act bonding. It also would seek $17 million in loans from the housing agency, nearly $5 million in tax credits, $7.5 million in deferred developer fees and about $3 million from other sources.
The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority is researching various developers and reviewing plans and budgets.
Bridgeport Mayor John M. Fabrizi says he is impressed with Fairfield-based GE’s commitment to the city in which it remains a major city taxpayer.
The industrial conglomerate, which manufactures jet engines, railroad locomotives and owns NBC-TV, raised $25 million in taxable, 4 percent bonds that will provide low-cost financing for the Bridgeport proposals.
It’s part of a GE plan to reinvest in environmentally sensitive regional developments.
Fabrizi said the Bridgeport projects would be financed mostly by private sources, unlike the Connecticut Convention Center and hotel on the Connecticut River in Hartford.
“We’ve been very responsible in our requests for bonding,” Fabrizi said. “And we’ve demonstrated that we’ve used it responsibly.”
The GE financing would require less need for state and private funding, although the mayor hopes the state matches GE’s $25 million.
“That’s why we’re trying to put GE money toward projects that would impact positively on the whole city, with tax revenue and permanent jobs,” he said.
Urban housing — near a new bus terminal, the Long Island ferry and rail hubs such as those in downtown Bridgeport — is a major goal of “Smart Growth” touted by state officials, including Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
Gus Serra, a spokesman for GE’s human resources unit, said the company believes Bridgeport promises “good opportunities.” The Housing Finance Authority will make the final decisions, Serra said.
“We identified our interest in the downtown and interest in projects that promote Smart Growth and transit,” he said.