The long-awaited $1.2 billion project envisioned for Steel Point would transform the southern tip of the city's East Side into "one of the greatest destinations along the East Coast," according to developer Daniel Pfeffer of Bridgeport Landing Development LLC.

Steel Point, officials say, will eventually become a bustling borough with 3,000 units of housing, luxury high-rise condominiums, a hotel, a marina, shops, restaurants and nightclubs.

There will also be a streetcar traveling a looping route through the peninsula that will take people to and from the city's downtown railroad station, the ferry terminal and the bus terminal.

But a number of legal and procedural hurdles remain, including the creation of a special zoning district, the issuance of $195 million in so-called "Tax Increment Financing," or TIF bonds, and finally, a go-ahead for the project from the City Council. The TIF bonds would be used to build the infrastructure for the site — sewers, roads and so forth.

The proposed deal was introduced to the council Monday night, and referred to the committees for review.

The agreement will be heard by the City Council's Economic Development and Environment Commission at 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, and will go before the full council for approval in October. Council members reserved comment until the Thursday meeting.

Officials said the huge $1.2 billion development will take almost a decade to complete, create 20,000 construction jobs, 10,000 permanent jobs and $30 million in annual tax revenue.

"It might even go to $2 billion before all is said and done," Fabrizi said.

Pfeffer said that if all goes according to plan, there will be "shovels in the ground by the second or third quarter of '08."

Fabrizi said much of Bridgeport's future development is riding on the success of the Steel Point project, since its once-mighty industrial and retail sectors collapsed or migrated elsewhere over the last three decades. "The success of this project is a very strong predictor of the future of the city of Bridgeport."

Pfeffer said that Monday's announcement has been three years in the making. "It was not an easy piece of land to work with," he said. "The agreement is painful for both sides, so I guess that makes it a good agreement."

The last piece of the puzzle became available last month when the city and Pequonnock Yacht Club, after years of legal wrangling, reached a $4.75 million sales deal for the club's Steel Point property. That was the last parcel on the waterfront tract needed for redevelopment plans to move forward.

The agreement requires Bridgeport Landing to clean up the so-called brownfield sites on the peninsula where hazardous waste was either stored or discarded over the years. "We have already spent a lot of time and resources identifying the pollution sites," Pfeffer said.

Other requirements include construction milestones and minority-hiring thresholds.

The agreement would also require Bridgeport Landing to construct 300 units of affordable housing — 250 units of which would be constructed off-site from the Steel Point project itself.

This was not good news to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which had been pressuring the city for 30 percent of the Steel Point housing units be set aside for low-income tenants.

ACORN spokesman Nicholas Graber-Grace said Monday that the low-income housing needs of the city are not being met by the Steel Point agreement.

"There would not even be affordable for people who have a decent salary — if you're making $40,000 or $50,000 per year, you couldn't afford them. They would only affordable for people making over $65,000," he said. "This is the biggest development in the city's history — huge tracts of land given over to the developer. How could it benefit the people of Bridgeport, when he only wants to build luxury units? The city does have the leverage — this is prime real estate, on the Sound."

Two ACORN leaders, Emeline Bravo-Blackwood and Kim Vendryes, advocated setting aside 30 percent of the housing units at Steel Point for low-income Bridgeport residents during the public participation portion of the council meeting.

"We are at an exciting point in the history of Bridgeport, but for whom?" Bravo-Blackwood said. "City officials should put in a policy to provide decent housing."

Vendryes pleaded: "Work with us to modify the agreement to make housing available to the people of Bridgeport."

But, Fabrizi said the agreement will "avoid the negatives that would jeopardize its success," adding that 300 units of on-site low-income housing "is not going to work."

Officials pointed out the project will be a boon to those looking for work in Bridgeport, owing to the thousands who will be needed in the construction trades. They said that at least 25 percent of the construction jobs overall will go to Bridgeport residents, and 30 percent of jobs in the "public sector improvements" will go to minority workers.

As for the $190 million TIF bonds to pay for the infrastructure construction, city Planning Director Edward Lavernoich said that they present no risk to the city, because they ultimately will have to be paid back by the developer. This is because the developer will be the owner of what will become the Steel Point Development District. Lavernoich also said that the developer would have to pay for infrastructure cost overruns, should there be any.