The snow fell softly on Knowlton Street in downtown Bridgeport, covering the streets and casting a grey hue on the nearby building. Months earlier, the aged factory was adorned with Fairfield regalia, the new home of the men’s and women’s rowing team.
Only 16 months later, no boats or equipment can be found, and the building finds itself abandoned yet again.
Last June, Fairfield athletics decided to abandon its pact with the City of Bridgeport and move the men’s and women’s rowing teams to a facility farther south down I-95, in Norwalk, citing ‘the landlords’ failure to meet the conditions of the lease,’ according to a University press release.
Now, the City of Bridgeport seems intent to find out the true reason behind the team’s departure, and to turn the one-time goodwill pact and plan to revitalize the city into a legal controversy.’
Fairfield graduate Ed Piquette ’78 and former Bridgeport mayoral candidate Rick Torres, two residents of the city and landlords of the building on Knowlton Street, plan to sue the University, citing a breach of contract.’ Cumulatively, Piquette and Torres claim to have spent $270, 000 to transition the building, once a window factory at the height of Bridgeport’s industrial movement, into a functional boathouse on the shores of the Pequannock River.
‘It really is a travesty,’ Piquette said. ‘It wasn’t just wonderful for us or for the city, but for the University. It was a sweetheart deal. We invested a lot of in the project and Fairfield invested zero.’
The lease, according to Torres, was $1000 less than the school was paying for outdoor space in Shelton, its previous boathouse. The lease was not set to expire until June 2012.
‘From what I understand, that [Shelton] facility was nothing more than a glorified tent,’ Piquette added.
Following the conclusion of last year’s spring season, the landlords received word from Fairfield administrative officials that the University had deemed that the facility needed immediate improvements in certain aspects of the building, as per health and safety regulations.
‘ ‘The safety of the student-athletes is always of paramount concern and among the commitments that were not met are building deficiencies that relate to that issue,’ the University said in a press release.
Later in the month, Fairfield officials also notified Piquette and Torres that the school requested a certificated of occupancy (CO) for the building, citing the need to insure equipment and boating materials housed in the facility.
‘We took it upon ourselves to get the CO for the University,’ Piquette said. ‘It really was the University’s responsibility to get it, but we took it upon ourselves to do it because we wanted Fairfield back.’
Not long after, Piquette and Torres surprisingly received word that the University had decided to terminate the agreement and leave the facility in Bridgeport. ‘The claims are really non-issues,’ Piquette said of the school’s reasoning to leave the facility. ‘It is almost silly.’
Currently, Piquette and Torres are seeking legal actions, including ‘punitive damages’, for the school’s actions that stand in violation of the lease.
‘It was really a breach of lease more than a termination,’ Piquette said.
‘The litigation is likely going to be fairly lengthy and intense,’ Piquette added. ‘It is not going to be pretty.’
The teams moved to the facility on the East Side of the neighboring city in Sept. 2007, regularly practicing and housing boats there for the majority of the rowing season.
‘ ‘Fairfield University is very heavily committed to the redevelopment of the city of Bridgeport,’ athletic director Gene Doris told The Mirror in Nov. 2007. ‘There is a lot going on, similar to when we decided to make the move to the Arena downtown; before it was built, you had to say, ‘What is this going to look like when it is done?’ and it is very similar to this.’
‘The Bridgeport boathouse was the only boathouse I had known in my tenure here,’ head coach David Patterson said. ‘Aside from location, we were able to house our boats indoors.’ The decision to move to Norwalk, however, was made ‘at an administrative level,’ Patterson said.
Meanwhile, both rowing teams are still searching for a permanent home in lieu of the Bridgeport boathouse. Despite the team’s presence in Norwalk in the fall semester, no definite plans have been established for the teams’ upcoming season, which Patterson said begins in March.
‘Wherever it is, I will coach, we will compete, and our teams will do what we are supposed to do,’ Patterson said. ‘We only concern ourselves with the things most important to us. Can we row? Yes. Can we compete? The team won medals for the first time.’
‘All we need is access to the water and a place to store our boats,’ Patterson added.
Fairfield athletics has maintained that it is still in search of a permanent training facility and boathouse for the rowing teams, and that Fairfield remains committed to ‘supporting development of the City of Bridgeport.’
Despite the likely litigation, Torres, and the city of Bridgeport, remain interested in retaining Fairfield’s presence in the city, especially in the East Side.
‘I would just as soon want to have a sit down with [University President] Father [Jeffrey] von Arx and resolve the entire situation,’ Torres said. ‘I think we will win the litigation ‘- we have a strong case and a clear lease agreement ‘- but we just want the University back. If Fairfield had a physical, presence in Bridgeport it would be great for economic development.’
‘It breaks my heart, since the original intentions the University had in respect to our agreement, was good in nature,’ Torres said. ‘Father von Arx, namely, was committed to helping the city of Bridgeport from the start.
‘However, I don’t believe at this point that certain individuals in the University do not care about that at all.’
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