[Fairfield Weekly, September 27, 2007]

Loft Ambitions

In re: Rejuventating downtown. Plus: Talking with Michael Garrett, GOP candidate for Bridgeport mayor
By Lennie Grimaldi

Jason Epstein and Victor Naar specialize in turning eyesores into eye-opening developments, and their rehab of 881 Lafayette Boulevard, The Lofts, is just one example of downtown's rejuvenated face.

High-school buddies from New Rochelle, Epstein and Naar cut their teeth working redevelopment projects in challenging burgs such as Yonkers and the South Bronx. When a real estate broker told them about Bridgeport several years ago, they thought about redevelopment opportunities, not the perception; in fact, after Yonkers and the Bronx, according to the E/N partners, Bridgeport seems like an oasis. And at half the price of Stamford or Norwalk.

"We specialize in changing neighborhoods," says Epstein. "People want to live in a hip area." One and two bedroom housing units at The Lofts are not short on trendy: from 570 to upwards of 1,500 square feet, bamboo floors, 10-foot ceilings, granite kitchen counter-tops and stylish brick walls offer townhouse-style elegance, in addition to a gym, and fifth-floor roof deck for socializing, grilling and sunning with views of Long Island Sound.

Half of the 38 units, ranging in price $165,000 to $350,000, have already been purchased by young professionals and college grads entering the work force from New Haven to Manhattan; occupancy is expected by spring 2008. Don't think it's a clean and safe area? It is. The development is surrounded by the federal courthouse on one side, the state police barracks and a strip mall featuring a furniture store on the other, with an expanding Housatonic Community College across the street. It's walking distance to the train station, and the ballpark and arena at Harbor Yard, with quick on and off access to Interstate 95 and Route 25 Connector.

Downtown is on the verge of a redevelopment explosion. Take a look around. Real-estate market conditions and initiatives by Mayor John Fabrizi's administration are transforming depressed pockets into numerous clean city blocks. Phil Kuchma's Bijou Square retail, restaurant and housing development, Urban Green Builders overhaul of the old Citytrust bank building into roughly 120 housing units, Earvin "Magic" Johnson's partnership to build a $222 million mixed-use project on an 11-acre site, the former Pequonnock Apartments, (across from the ballpark at Harbor Yard), are bringing the magic back to Bridgeport.

And the big daddy of them all across the harbor, the massive redevelopment of Steel Point, appears to be on track.

Epstein and Naar, just in their mid-thirties, have a lot of experience working Bridgeport projects and now consider the Park City their base of operations.

The partners' initial project was on Bridgeport's East Side, rehabbing an old building into 12 apartment units. Other projects in the city include a $6 million housing renovation of a historical building on East Main Street and transformation of a factory building on Connecticut Avenue for a potential film and arts center.

They credit Fabrizi and city economic development professionals Nancy Hadley and Ed Lavernoich for cutting through the red tape that had bogged them down in other communities.

"The cooperation in Bridgeport is better," says Naar.