Disappointment at engine plant again

1/04/09

Of all the local development projects to fall apart alongside the national economy in the past year, perhaps the most disappointing has been the plans for the former Stratford Army Engine Plant. Just when it looked like the project had momentum and a real shot at moving forward, the ground fell out from under it -- again.

Now, another deadline has passed with nothing to show. The 78-acre site on a prime piece of riverfront property remains as it has been for years now -- decrepit, nearly vacant and devoid of promise.

When the U.S. Army took back control of the site from Stratford officials after more than a decade of inaction, the assumption was that the full force of the Pentagon's clout would get a project going in short order. And that's the way it seemed to be going, as plans quickly coalesced for a massive film production and entertainment complex, taking advantage of a surge in state movie-making brought on by favorable tax deals worked out in Hartford.

But that's as far as the plan has progressed. The completion of "Hollywood East," as the complex was to be known, seems further away than ever.

Officials say there is still time to get a deal in place by the middle of the month, but the recent history is not promising. Amid an acrimonious fallout, the project's former backers have watched one deadline after another pass without making any progress.

This is a piece of land considered key to Stratford's economic future. Adjacent to Sikorsky Memorial Airport and situated near the mouth of the Housatonic River, the location has been touted as the future home of great things almost since the day the engine plant closed more than a decade ago. Local officials have been reluctant, for example, to place the town's animal shelter in the neighborhood on the belief that the economic viability of the town could one day be centered in the area.

Maybe that will still happen, but nothing is certain. Even without the public falling-out amongst the development team chosen for the site, the dismal economy could have put a halt to the plans on its own. There simply isn't much market for this kind of mega-project these days, as neighboring Bridgeport can attest. The market may turn around and the plan could again become viable, but no one knows when that is likely to happen.

For now, Stratford is stuck with something it never wanted to see -- its own version of Bridgeport's Steel Point .