After decades in the making, Bridgeport has completed the first residential phase of the city’s Steelpointe Harbor project. The August, situated on the city’s waterfront, features 420 apartments.
Developer Ryan Cronk said eventually the complex will contain around 1,500 units.
Cronk says he’s happy about the occupancy rate.
“We just started moving residents in and I think we’re getting close to right around 10% occupied and maybe over 20% leased," he said. "It’s going really well.”
Construction began on The August in 2024. The project overcame funding challenges from banks and gradually morphed from a complete luxury development to allotting certain amounts of apartments for middle-income residents.
Gov. Ned Lamont said the redevelopment project could be transformational for the city.
“If I hear anything from people is if I want to expand my business here, if I want to grow here, if I want to move a company here, whether it will be a place for our workforce to live, it will be right here at Steelpointe in Bridgeport, I can tell you that,” Lamont said.
The new apartments replace a former industrial site which was home to a power plant.
Rental costs at The August are relatively expensive for the area, where market-rate prices start at over $1,900 base rent for a studio apartment.
However, the average rental price for a similar apartment in the city is around $1,300, according to Zillow.
Several units at The August are reserved for middle-income residents, although income restrictions apply.
Nandini Natarajan, CEO of the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, said the project has slated at least one third of completed units for affordable housing.
“This development does bring as many as 160 units of housing that are affordable to middle-income households,” Natarajan said.
Cronk said in 2024 he expected this to be the first phase in an ultimately four-phase project in the peninsula where Steelpointe Harbor is located.
The first phase costs around $135 million. As of now, Cronk said the overall project could take at least a decade to complete.
Democratic State Rep. Antonio Felipe, who represents Bridgeport, praised the project. But Felipe said he hopes more can be done to create affordable housing in the city, with help from developers. The Bridgeport area is impacted by high poverty rates and rising housing costs.
“I would love for us to keep creating maybe some ownership opportunities, more taxpayers here in the city of Bridgeport, more affordable housing opportunities, like I know you have in some of the units here,” Felipe said.
