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“The end product is going to be nothing short of magnificent,” Mayor Joe Ganim said of the project.
Work on the lower peninsula is expected to eventually include a mix of residential, retail and entertainment ventures.
Scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2018, the 35,000-square-foot DockMaster building will include a first-floor restaurant, second-floor offices and residential units on the top floor.
It will join the first phase of the Steelpoint development, which included Bass Pro Shops, Chipotle, Starbucks and T-Mobile just across Stratford Avenue.
Due to soil conditions along the waterfront, the building will be built on steel piles, the first of which was scheduled to be driven 50 feet into the ground Monday.
Robert Christoph, a Bridgeport Landing managing partner, said he was excited to get to work on the peninsula, having started planning back in 2001 during the first Ganim administration.
“This is the first step of enlivening the waterfront,” he said.
Plans include a 2,600-linear-foot walkway along the harbor that will run from the Pequonnock River to Yellow Mill Creek, both on Stratford Avenue, said Development Administrator Steve Tyliszczak.
The walkway may eventually extend as far as Pleasure Beach, depending on how developers envision their properties.
“The waterfront is really the people’s waterfront,” said City Council Chair Tom McCarthy. “It’s time we give it back to them.”
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