Officials tour 'West River Crossing' project

WEST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- A major redevelopment project for the city of West Haven just got a shot in the arm.
        
Early Tuesday, state and local officials turned out for a 'Walk Thru Tour' of the "West River Crossing" project.

It may not look like much right now, but the West Haven property on the West River has already come a long way. There used to be an oil refinery there, but it closed years ago. The City of West Haven wanted to see the land redeveloped.

"Seven, eight years ago, we had buildings here, we had rusted oil tanks as you can see in the pictures. We didn't own any of the land," said Mayor John Picard.

The City got control of the land, and got state and federal money to start cleaning it up.

The first step was to get rid of those rusty oil tanks and clean up all the stuff that had seeped into the ground around there, but the next step, the one that they're celebrating is the building of a new bulkhead.

The $2 million bulkhead was needed to replace the old one that pretty much washed away.

"This was a 100-year-old wooden wall that was pretty much gone and in 2007 there was some wind and rain," said Mayor Picard, "it didn't have a name, but it was pretty much gone, this wall, completely."

Now that the government, the public sector, has cleaned up and shored up the property, it's ready for the private sector to move in and build on it.

"It is about investing in our infrastructure. That's what this is about," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro. "It's the clearest way for us to create jobs."

That begins with plans for a big office building. West Haven's own Bilco company, which makes cellar doors, has already said it will move in to part of the building.

"As an anchor tenant in a new office building here, it will attract other tenants," said Roger Joyce, Bilco Vice-President, "that building will be filled soon and the entire neighborhood transformed."

The hope is for a hotel and a restaurant too. It's called West River Crossing, now that the new bulkhead will keep the West River from crossing onto the property.