Work on former Remington Arms shot tower just the beginning
“It’s got a hell of a history there and it’s a good-looking building and something that should be preserved.”
Thomas Gill, Bridgeport’s director of economic development
BRIDGEPORT — It may not yet be the restored landmark city officials and preservationists have long envisioned, but after $2.75 million worth of work, the historic Remington Arms plant’s shot tower should remain standing long enough for a developer to fully revitalize it.
“It’s got a hell of a history there and it’s a goodlooking building and something that should be preserved,” said Thomas Gill, Bridgeport’s director of economic development, of the East Side structure which rises over the crumbling former ammunition manufacturing site. The tower is visible from the nearby commuter train tracks.
In early February 2020, just weeks before the global coronavirus pandemic struck Connecticut, Gill’s department hosted prospective contractors on a tour of the shot tower ahead of seeking bids to fortify it for the future.
Ultimately Bismark Construction of Milford won the contract and the firm’s work is nearing completion following some COVID-19 related delays and other unanticipated issues.
“COVID slowed everything down,” Gill said Friday. And, he said, Bismark encountered some “structural problems” that required remedying.
Besides bracing the tower, Gill said other goals encompassed “making sure it’s waterproof and tight so there’s no further damage to it.
“We’ve cleaned it internally,” he said. “We’ve enclosed the holes in the room. There’s netting on the top to prevent anything from falling. Each window now has, on the inside of it, plexiglass. On top of that we’re doing a little ‘cosmetics’ as best we can considering it’s a stabilization, not a revitalization or rehabilitation job.”
And new fencing has been installed to better secure the site from vandals.
“Some of the locations where the graffiti was were frightening,” Gill said. “These kids had to climb and get hundreds of feet up.”
Saving the tower is just the first step of a complicated plan to prepare the former Remington Arms plant for future development.
Bridgeport gained control of the property from developer Sal DiNardo in the mid-2010s following a foreclosure fight over back taxes.
A subsidiary of duPont, the last industrial user, in
2000 agreed to assume responsibility for cleaning up any underground environmental contamination after the city tore down the rest of the nearly two dozen, century-old buildings.
Also in February 2020 the City Council approved spending $5 million toward demolition, though estimates at that time put that project at between $8 million and $10 million.
“We’re still looking to the state and federal government for additional funding,” Gill said. “It’s important to get those buildings
down. They impose a safety factor (and) then duPont has the obligation to remediate the site.”
Gill said the total demolition process could take about two years and then the city could market the property during duPont’s cleanup. He said it is one of the city’s prime pieces of vacant real estate.
“You’ve got about 15 acres over there of level property,” Gill said. “We do own property across the street. ... So that location is very promising for development.”