One day, the 18 acres along Kossuth Street on the lower east side of Bridgeport, Conn., could be the site of a minor league soccer stadium, a hotel and more than 1,000 housing units.

But first, developer Andre Swanston and his Connecticut Sports Group (CTSG), per the state's environmental regulations, need to exorcise — or at least safely contain — the ghosts of Bridgeport's industrial past as ground contamination left behind by manufacturers and other operations that, beginning in the 1880s, at one time or another occupied that same piece of land.

According to a recently-released environmental site assessment, obtained by the Connecticut Post in Bridgeport, among the former companies that used the property were an iron works, a coal yard, the American Graphophone Co., the Frisbie Pie Co., textile and corset makers, a marine engine works business, the Bridgeport Paper Box Co., a typography and printing operation, trucking outfits, a maker of gauges and valves, a dump and, most recently, a greyhound racing track and betting facility.

Plus, there is currently "urban fill-material" made up of "varying amounts of asphalt, brick and coal/coal ash" buried on the property, the Post noted.

Those details and much more are outlined in the Bridgeport property's 6,711-page environmental analysis, prepared by Shelton, Conn.-based engineers Tighe & Bond.

Commissioned by the area's Metropolitan Council of Governments (MetroCOG), a regional planning organization, the massive document lays out what CTSG must do to clean up and/or contain the site's pollutants.

The recommendations are not unusual for such contaminated locations, commonly known as brownfields, and include "limited"" excavation of "hot spots" of pollution for off-site disposal, and "capping" the remaining soil "beneath proposed buildings and structures, asphalt-pavement, clean-fill material of sufficient thickness and/or brightly colored demarcation barriers/liners."

But cleanups of this type can prove complicated, as the developers of Steelpointe learned when they had to similarly address industrial pollutants before breaking ground on an apartment complex at their site, a short distance from the proposed stadium. Currently under construction, that harbor-front housing project was delayed by the remediation.

MetroCOG referred the Post's questions concerning the results of Tighe & Bond's report to CTSG. In a statement for this article, CTSG did not respond to specific inquiries about the impact on its project timeline and budget, saying only, "The latest environmental assessment ... validates the significant amount of infrastructure work required to develop the stadium and residential aspects of the project."

The statement confirmed a previous announcement that its minor league soccer team, Connecticut United, will instead "start playing in 2026 in a temporary location that we will announce this fall."

Swanston has already received some state financial help for the stadium's site preparation. Last year, a total of $16 million was awarded for the ground remediation effort, with Connecticut officials emphasizing that even if the soccer arena does not move forward, the money will be well-spent in readying the prime acreage for another future redevelopment.

Bridgeport Soccer Stadium Plans Up in Air

Whether Swanston and CTSG are able to get any more of their requested subsidies remains a key question.

He first went public with his plans in late 2023 and unveiled Connecticut United in January 2024 with an ambitious goal of having the stadium built for 2025's soccer season.

And while Swanston has boasted that the majority of his $1.1 billion redevelopment vision will be privately financed, his efforts to secure around $127 million from the state have so far proven unsuccessful, with Gov. Ned Lamont in June calling it "a pretty big ask."

In response, Swanston and other proponents have attempted to place the emphasis not on the stadium but on the project's housing component at a time when Connecticut desperately needs more housing.

During the legislative session, which concluded in early June, Bridgeport's representatives to the Connecticut General Assembly in Hartford accomplished two things to further the stadium's chances.

First, they got language passed that would allow the city to use incremental tax financing to help pay for up to $190 million of the sports venue and infrastructure construction. A portion of any new real estate taxes generated by the project would pay off the debt rather than going directly into Bridgeport's municipal coffers.

Secondly, the legislature called on the Connecticut departments of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and Revenue Services to conduct an economic assessment of the impact of the proposed stadium by Oct. 1. The belief was that the anticipated positive results of that review could then help better make the case for the $127 million in state aid, the Post reported.

However, with only six weeks left before the deadline, the DECD said in mid-August that it had not begun that study and offered no additional comment.

In response, state Rep. Christopher Rosario said, "I would assume they would start it soon," and planned to contact the agency. He acknowledged that there was no funding attached to the assessment request.

Connecticut Sports Group, in its statement to the Post, alluded to the pending assessment and did not respond to the revelation that the work had yet to begin.

"We look forward to the state completing its review of the economic impact and revenue generation so we can commence with the next stage of this project," CTSG noted.