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Buildings
$1.5 Billion Complex to Highlight Renewable Energy
Connecticut Complex Aims for Sustainable Design
(newyork.construction.com,
November 2006 issue)
A 7-million-sq.-ft. mixed-use development
is expected to break ground in the second quarter next year
in Bridgeport, Conn., with an emphasis on using solar, water,
and wind power.
The $1.5 billion Steel Point development
would reclaim a mostly vacant industrial waterfront property
by adding 3,500 residential units, a 400-slip marina, 160,000
sq. ft. of office space, 1.1 million sq. ft. of retail space,
and a 2,800-ft.-long public promenade.
"It will be a live-work-shop-play
community," said Dan Pfeffer, president of New York-based
Midtown Equities, the lead developer.
 The
complex would generate 5 to 7 MW of power from solar, wind,
and hydroelectric resources toward the projected annual 45
to 60 MW of consumption at build out in 2013 or 2014, said
Herb Hauser, president of Midtown Technologies, the developer's
energy consulting affiliate, which designed the plan.
The solar power would come through 2.5
to 3.5 MW generated by roof and window photovoltaic cells
geared to heat hot water, supply heat, and create electricity.
The project would generate 1.5 to 2.5 MW from wind-powered
microturbines integrated into the design of tall buildings.
And another 1 to 1.5 MW would come from hydrokinetic systems
tapping the nearby waves and tides with generation from offshore
power buoys or water turbines.
The whole complex also aims for energy-efficient
design. Hauser said Midtown expects that nearly all of the
property would attain a Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design platinum rating, the highest on the scale.
"We want to make sure we've done
all we can to not waste energy," Hauser said.
The 52-acre site was moving through
a three-step municipal process to change its zoning this fall.
The city had used its eminent domain powers over the years
to vacate most of the property, and had already demolished
various structures. Midtown negotiated deals this year to
buy out the few tenants left, including an old marina and
an oyster company, as well as United Illuminating, a New Haven,
Conn., utility that owned 15 acres on the site.
"This was an old industrial property
with virtually nothing left," Pfeffer said. "There
was a lot of contaminated soil that was cleaned up."
Midtown became a majority partner in
the project last year, joining Bridgeport Landing Development,
the firm that had won an RFP from the city to develop the
site three years ago. He said Midtown expanded the original
proposal by adding retail and residential space, with the
current design based on a master plan and a circulation and
massing outline, both developed by New York-based Perkins
Eastman.
The first phase starting next year would
erect an 800,000-sq.-ft. retail center along with some residential
units on a part of the property not dependent on the extensive
marine work required for the overall development. Midtown
has not yet hired a construction manager, but has tapped McLaren
Engineering of West Nyack, N.Y., as a consulting, civil, and
marine engineer. The property juts out into Bridgeport Harbor
where the Pequonnock River and the Yellow Mill Channel meet
north of the Long Island Sound, giving it an extensive waterfront
with "excellent prevailing winds and a significant amount
of sunny days for that part of Connecticut," Hauser said.
The decision to focus on renewable energy
came from a business standpoint, with an eye toward using
a "free source" of energy for the long-term, Hauser
said.
It isn't clear yet whether the developer,
the buyers of the units in the development, or the city will
ultimately control the energy generation equipment, he added.
The development would also have a streetcar
loop system connecting it to downtown transit facilities.
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