The Bridgeport News

by Jeff Toquinto, NEWS EDITOR

Bridgeport (Thursday, September 25, 2003)

 While actual brick and mortar projects have yet to take place at the Charles Pointe development off of Interstate 79 in Bridgeport, everything else – from financing to infrastructure – is already in place to make the $750 million planned community go.

On Tuesday, in an exclusive interview with staff of The Bridgeport News and The Exponent Telegram, the muscle behind the vision for the project briefed those media members on the status of the development. The news delivered by a virtual who’s who of national development and finance officials was almost exclusively on the positive end.

That is good news for many in the area that have become skeptical about the project actually moving forward. Although millions of cubic yards of dirt have been moved and infrastructure installed, many equate development with buildings going up, and that hasn’t happened.

Those on hand assured the skeptics that despite the lack of actual construction at the site, the project that was announced three years ago – and in the planning stages for nearly a decade – is on schedule. In fact, they expect a talked about hotel and conference center to be going up by spring.

"For a project of this size and magnitude, I can say it is moving ahead at an expected schedule," said Jack Norris, chairman and chief executive officer of CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh.

Norris should know. His firm is the world’s largest commercial real estate firm.

Norris wasn’t the only heavy hitter in the room. From real estate and planning to financial concerns, Charles Pointe’s developer – Genesis Partners – brought them all to the table to update the project.

"We wanted you to see the behind- the- scenes people," said Jamie Corton, managing partner of Genesis Partners.

Read more on details about Tuesday’s meeting in next week’s edition of The Bridgeport News. Also, pick up The Exponent Telegram for additional coverage in their Sunday edition.