The word people like to use when they’re being upbeat about Bridgeport, Connecticut, is bones. As in “The pre-war fabric of downtown provides the bones for the type of walkable urban place that is increasingly in demand.” So wrote the American Institute of Architects’ sustainable-design assessment team in its recent analysis of the state’s largest city (population: 144,229 and, for the first time in decades, growing). “It’s a city with great bones,” says Donald C. Eversley, the director of planning and economic development.

And those “bones” are immediately apparent when arriving by train, an easy hour and 20 minutes from Grand Central. The New Haven–bound side of the platform affords a lovely view of the Pequonnock River. Never mind that the I-95 overpass looms overhead or that Steel Point, the planned site of an ambitious (and endlessly delayed) mixed-use complex, sits vacant directly across the water. There is clearly potential here: outdoor bars; beers and buckets of steamers; condos with views; hotel rooms; bike paths. Someday…

A short stroll from the train station, the downtown area is tantalizing. It’s small but has a decent mix of handsome historic buildings, inoffensive modern ones, and the usual oversupply of parking garages. Unlike downtown Stamford, 23 miles west, it hasn’t been redeveloped into one seamless, soulless office park. Mayor Bill Finch is currently nearing the end of his first four-year term. (He replaced John Fabrizi, who publicly admitted to alcohol abuse following a drug allegation; the previous mayor spent time in jail on corruption charges.) Finch summed up the AIA report this way: “They said this is the city of opportunity.”

Well, sort of. Bridgeport is infamous for its postindustrial poverty, daunting crime statistics, and a university that, in the early 1990s, was bought out by Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church and boasts as its most famous alum Faisal Shahzad, aka the Times Square bomber. Still, under other circumstances—in some other state, for example—this could be a nice place. It has more than 20 miles of coastline (largely inaccessible), a smattering of industrial jobs (the 400 employees of Derecktor Shipyards build yachts and ferries here), and a growing population (approximately 1,400) in its compact downtown. There’s even a new Whole Foods open (except it’s just over the border in upscale Fairfield). The problem: Connecticut has never had any love for its cities. And what Bridgeport clearly needs is love, which—and I’m serious here—is exactly the sentiment America’s many woebegone cities require. Our bleakest cities cry out not just for civic pride but civic passion. (Oh, yeah, and lots of investment dollars.)

So this is it, the moment for Bridgeport and other struggling cities (like Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland…) to blossom. It’s time for a revival of those cities that were abandoned by the industries that once sustained them and have thus far been untouched by the waves of prosperity that have buoyed our showcase cities. Why now? The conventional wisdom about cities has finally changed.

When I visit Mayor Finch in the city hall annex (originally a Gimbels department store), he argues that Connecticut undermined its cities way back by making it impossible for them to grow: “We’re one of two states that doesn’t have land annexation in its constitution.” For a 16-square-mile city that balances its budget on property taxes, with endless acres of abandoned industrial sites, the sad fact is that much of what generates revenue (like that new Whole Foods) is on the other side of a municipal border. At the same time, Finch sounds like pretty much everyone on the urbanism lecture circuit these days when he says that cities are the healthiest, most economically and environmentally sound places to live. “Gas in our lifetimes is going to be ten dollars a gallon,” he predicts. “Things that people aren’t thinking about right now are going to happen.”

So far, the evidence in Bridgeport of a newfound love affair with the city is real but modest. Eversley takes me on a walking tour of downtown. There are old banks, like Citytrust, whose offices have been converted to desirable rental apartments, and ones like the squat, temple-shaped Mechanics and Farmers Savings Bank building, which is still awaiting rescue. The developer Eric Anderson restored the old Arcade Hotel and has attracted a cupcake bakery, a Mexican café, and a nonchain pharmacy to the downtown’s lovely 19th-century light court. Another developer, Philip Kuchma, recently completed a complex called Bijou Square, a historic restoration paired with new construction, which includes 84 units of housing and a 1910 theater reopening this summer with indie films, live entertainment, and a lobby bar.

Slowly, the Finch administration’s curatorial approach to downtown is paying off. But the bigger problem is what to do with the hundreds of acres of brownfield sites. The scale of the industrial abandonment is a reminder of the size of the investment required to make Bridgeport whole again. In an ideal world, General Electric would find a way to repurpose the monumental, 77-acre 1915 Remington Arms plant, which it bought in 1920 and operated until 2007, for the huge solar-panel factory it intends to build somewhere in the United States. That seems unlikely. Every city in the country is clamoring for the plant and GE appears indifferent to the potential others see in the Bridgeport facility. The AIA study suggests turning the GE/Remington complex into an “alternative technologies research center.” Appealing, but improbable. Indeed, demolition is scheduled to begin on the facility this summer.

The city has proposed the East Bridgeport Development Corridor, a plan intended to spur reuse of the blighted acreage. The most promising component so far is the P. T. Barnum Metro-North Station, named for the circus impresario and former Bridgeport mayor. If completed, it will be the city’s second rail station and is envisioned as a catalyst for mixed-use, transit-oriented development. Barnum Station is part of a package of similar projects in New York and Connecticut that received a $3.5 million, federally funded Sustainable Communities Initiative Grant, part of an effort to seed pilot projects that integrate housing, economic development, transportation, and environmental planning. Bridgeport expects its share to be $250,000, enough to fund a feasibility study, which is, Eversley says, “a ticket to the dance” for the next round of federal funding. Finch hopes the Obama administration starts an infra-structure bank that would help public/private partnerships actually build the projects encouraged by planning grants.

In the meantime, the most vivid evidence that someone loves Bridgeport is Two Boots, a branch of the New York City–based Italian/Cajun pizza miniempire. Its Mardi Gras–bead-covered walls are the cheeriest thing around for miles. Owner Phil Hartman attributes the choice of Bridgeport for his first out-of-town location to his passion “for cities that are lost causes.” (Recently, he opened a branch in Baltimore.) Hartman truly loves Bridgeport, but he’s impatient with the pace and scale of development. Speaking of the hoopla surrounding the completion of Bijou Square, he says, “We need, like, 70 of these buildings.”

Hartman is right. And maybe one of these days someone will show Bridgeport the love and fund the big-ticket developments, such as Barnum Station or the proposed Green Energy Park. The city does have an $11 million federal grant to finance an infrastructure upgrade on Steel Point, a necessary precursor to any planned development. (Work is scheduled to begin early next year.) In theory, housing, retail, offices, and a marina will follow. Until then, Eversley and Kuchma, side by side in a Two Boots booth, tally small victories: the recent arrival downtown of a single dry cleaner, the relocation of a cheese shop from tony Westport. “We’ll need another 300 or 400 apartments to support a decent-sized supermarket,” Kuchma calculates. It’s a slow process. But if Bridgeport can find love, there’s hope for Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland.

BRIDGEPORT –A cool breeze blows through the second-floor window of what soon will be a spacious one-bedroom apartment in the first downtown construction since 1989.

The air helps ease the humid summer air and transforms the structure under construction at the corner of Fairfield Avenue and Lafayette Boulevard into a relaxed and cool haven.

Although the space is full of pipes, cement and dirt, it is easy to imagine waking up in one of the 84 apartments, featuring stone kitchen countertops and walk-in closets, and opening a window overlooking a grassy courtyard or Bijou Square’s restaurant row.

Developer Phil Kuchma’s $23 million project has been moving at full speed since April, when workers returned to the construction site after they were forced to halt more than a year ago because of financing woes tied to the country’s economic meltdown.

Bricks of varying shades break up the massive structure’s facade, making it appear as though it were several connected buildings. Soon, the turret, a small tower on top of the building, will be fashioned with white metal and lit up nightly, along with the six retail storefronts.

“Buildings should be lit up so they add to the streetlight,” Kuchma said.

A wine shop and a retail store marketing artisan products, including furniture, household goods and clothing, expected to open this fall will be the building’s first tenants. An upscale unisex salon soon will follow.

In November, residents will begin moving into the one- and two-bedroom units — ranging in size from 800 to 1,260 square feet — paying monthly rents from $915 to $1,675, not including utilities.

Eleven apartments will be affordable units for families with a combined income of $40,000 a year or less. Those will rent from $750 to $1,130 a month. Kuchma noted that despite the delays and the decision to rent what initially were to be condominium units, nothing about the project has changed.

“We didn’t reduce the quality of anything,” he said. “We’ve spent money on things here that will make it long-lasting and sustainable. We are building a high-quality building people will be proud to look at and live in for a long time.”

Originally posted by Connecticut Post, Keila Torres, Staff Writer: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Complex-is-city-s-first-in-decades-618248.php#ixzz1UMPAHGIc

The City of Bridgeport has been honored for the second year in a row with a prestigious national community development award for its innovative use of HOME Investment Partnership Program funds in its work with local developer Philip Kuchma on the mixed-use building at 323 Fairfield Avenue, part of the Bijou Square development.
The City was one of 14 recipients of the Gabe Zimmerman Award for Public Service during the National Community Development Association’s Annual Meeting held in Washington, D.C., this week. Mayor Bill Finch and Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Alanna Kabel were on hand to receive the award at the luncheon held Friday. The award, formerly called the Audrey Nelson Community Development Achievement Award, is given each year as part of a national competition to identify and recognize exemplary uses of Community Development Block Grant funds which best address the needs of low-income families and neighborhoods.

“We were extremely proud to nominate Phil’s 323 Fairfield Avenue project for this award,” said Finch. “The Kuchma family has been a part of downtown development for decades, and the work he’s done on this part of the Bijou Square project is nothing short of miraculous considering the economic climate.”

The 323 Fairfield Avenue mixed-use building is the first new construction in downtown Bridgeport in nearly 20 years. Kuchma had begun work on the building in late 2007, just as the nation slipped into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. The building stood empty for more than a year as Kuchma struggled to put together financing to complete the construction.

“Phil never lost sight of what he wanted to do, and we wouldn’t allow the project to flounder,” said Finch.

“I’ve spent nearly forty years developing properties in the City of Bridgeport,” said Kuchma, “and I’m extremely appreciative of the assistance I’ve received from the City and other entities to enable this project to move forward to completion. Downtown Bridgeport is an interesting place to live, work, and enjoy restaurants and entertainment, and is improving every month. We plan to continue to grow our investments here and definitely see a bright future.”

The City’s Central Grants and Community Development and Planning and Economic Development departments worked closely with Kuchma to help find ways to put a financing package together. Finally, in late winter 2010, a combination of GE Capital/CHFA, Housing Development Fund and the City’s HOME funds helped put the project back on track.

Today, the mixed-use development at the corner of Fairfield Avenue and Lafayette Boulevard includes a wine shop and a gift boutique, a unisex hair salon is to open soon, and two other leases have been agreed upon. Only two retail spaces remain. Forty percent of the 84 one and two-bedroom units, 11 of which are targeted as affordable rate housing, are rented due to the high demand for market-rate housing, and he expects the rest of the units to be occupied by early spring. Of the 11 affordable rate units, 10 have been leased to date.

Originally posted by the Bridgeport Banner, ELAINE K. FICARRA: http://bridgeportbanner.typepad.com/bridgeport/2011/01/phil-kuchma-receives-honor.html