Ganim, West-End Developers Highlight Major Urban Renewal Project

First Phase of Multi-Million Dollar Development to Transform Dilapidated Factory Buildings on Railroad Avenue Mixed Income Housing, Charter School

BRIDGEPORT – Mayor Joe Ganim today joined New York-based developer Gary Flocco of Corvus Capital, LLC to highlight a major urban renewal project slated top begin construction within weeks in Bridgeport’s West End. The Cherry Street Lofts project, once complete, will constitute a $120 Million development that will transform the former Bassick Casters industrial building into more than 300 units of state-of-the-art mixed income housing, in addition to the new home of the Great Oaks Charter School. The construction will also include housing for teachers at the school and the complex of buildings will also contain a power generation unit. The project is financed by the Connecticut Housing Finace Authority and funded in large part by the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust Fund, the first of this type of housing investment of its kind in the country. Demolition is set to begin at part of the site located at 1341 Railroad Avenue within the next two weeks, which will turn into parking for the new housing development. Following the major economic development announcement, Mayor Ganim began the demolition by climbing on board an earth mover and operating the machinery himself.

“This old tired set of factory buildings is literally about to be transformed before our eyes to fabulous new housing that will be a great attraction to a younger generation of people looking for that urban living experience with easy access to transportation,” said Mayor Ganim. “This is a continuation of redevelopment on the West End of Bridgeport that has been years in the making. We are grateful to Corvus Capital for their vision of what could be in Bridgeport, and the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority for financing this project with the help of the AFL-CIO housing investment fund. In Bridgeport, projects like this are literally turning blight into beauty and we are so proud of the momentum we are building!”

Gary Flocco, Chief Executive Officer of Corvus Capital, LLC, the developer of the project, said, “The city of Bridgeport could not have been more helpful in making this project come to fruition. We are creating a real neighborhood in this community. There will be retail shops, educational facilities, and entertainment. We are bringing this whole area back in a major way and representing Bridgeport for all the people that pass by on the highway and on the railroad. This is also a terrific opportunity to be able to preserve historic sites and use them in a new way and retrofit them. Everything will be built with green, environmental consciousness in mind. We will have our own power plant on site producing our own electricity, heat and hot water through co-generation. We are focused on a long-term investment in Bridgeport.”

The Bassick Casters building has significant American industrial history. It was the home of American Gramophone that manufactured some of the earliest mass-produced commercial recordings of music, later acquired by Columbia records. It was on this site that Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, developed the prototype for the movie projector after receiving financing from famed Bridgeport Mayor and entrepreneur P.T. Barnum. American Dictaphone was produced there. The closing on Financing for the Phase One Housing (157 apartments) is scheduled for this month, November. Construction of the Phase One Housing (including demo) would start thereafter and take 24 months to be completed. Closing on the Financing for the Charter School is scheduled for February 2016, with construction complete by June of 2018.