City of Bridgeport, CT, Bridgeport, CT
Repositioning industrial brownfields as a regional-scale economic growth center for Bridgeport, its neighborhoods, and Connecticut
Description: Goody Clancy’s Barnum TOD Plan guides reinvestment and repositioning of vacant industrial land and traditional neighborhoods in the area around the planned Barnum Station as a transit-oriented and mixed-use hub. The large concentration of available land, much of it under public control, coupled with a planned station designed to accommodate express rail service, makes this a promising and strategic center for economic development. Plan strategies guide up to five million square feet or more of longer-term development through a flexible framework for land use and infrastructure. For the near term, strategies focus on multi-modal street improvements that provide neighborhoods immediate safety and mobility benefits, and interim use strategies for vacant sites enhance market visibility. The plan also serves as an important advocacy tool to help secure additional state, federal, and private funds needed for infrastructure and site preparation investments.
The TOD Plan was closely coordinated with preliminary design of the station itself. As a result, the station was conceived as an integral part of the larger access networks and development patterns around it.
The planning process engaged three adjoining neighborhoods, and builds upon previously established neighborhood plans. It also included regular meetings with an advisory committee representing major area employers, property owners, neighborhood representatives, and city officials. This forum cultivated critical support and companion initiatives by key stakeholders.
Goody Clancy produced a companion study, the Tower Place Adaptive Reuse Study, examining feasibility and re-use strategy for portions of the vacant former Remington Arms factory site closest to the planned Barnum Station. The Study explores opportunities and challenges for renovation of vacant factory buildings, and provides design guidelines and zoning recommendations that promote redevelopment of the site with uses offering significant economic benefit and a good fit with adjoining neighborhoods, green spaces, and multimodal transportation.
To view the Barnum TOD Plan and Tower Place Adaptive Reuse Study, visit https://www.bridgeportct.gov/content/341307/341419/342425/342443.aspx.
