The City of Bridgeport broke ground on a controversial $129 million new high school building located in a Long Island Sound floodplain on Monday.
The site is the new home for the city’s Bassick High School and the Bridgeport Military Academy. It was acquired from the University of Bridgeport.
Mayor Joe Ganim said it would provide more amenities for students, including athletics fields.
“For students to have an educational opportunity here in a new Bassick High School, on the university campus, is just a phenomenal opportunity,” Ganim said.
The building, which would be ready by 2025, will be raised above street level because it’s in a FEMA-designated coastal flood zone.
“The impact of long-term sustainability and resiliency for waterfront cities like Bridgeport is what we are planning on,” said Ganim. “There are already bulldozers on the site. So they have already been moving, raising the site is one element of that.”
The move of the 100-year-old Bassick from the city’s West End to the South End had faced stiff opposition from neighborhood groups and environmentalists.
