STEELPOINT HARBOR would encompass more than 7 million square feet in an area nearly the size of downtown Bridgeport and give rise to a development of multi-storied buildings. The city has agreed to sell the land for $4.5 million and the developer has agreed to conditions including shouldering costs for cleaning up contaminated soil.

The long and painful struggle to turn one of Bridgeport's worst waterfront areas into a swanky urban community is now closer to reality than it has been in nearly three decades.

After more than two years of negotiations and a string of failed attempts by other developers since the early 1980s the city council in the Park City agreed last week to sell 52 acres on the Steel Point peninsula to a New York developer with a grand, $1.5 billion vision for economic revival.

Midtown Equities LLC envisions 3,500 luxury condominiums and townhouses facing Bridgeport Harbor along with stores, restaurants, a waterfront esplanade, a 350-slip marina and yacht club and perhaps a hotel and office space.

SteelPoint Harbor would change the city's skyline and encompass more than 7 million square feet. It would give rise to a development of multistoried buildings including gleaming residential towers and create an area nearly the size of downtown Bridgeport.

The project, is expected to get under way next year, after all zoning approvals are secured and financing is finalized, and take a decade to complete. Though Midtown investors are committing $1.5 billion to the project, local property taxes generated from the site will repay $190 million in bonds the developer will sell for extensive roadwork and utility upgrades.

Along with the road and utility work, a shopping center with major tenants and a smaller "Main Street"-style shopping village will be the first to be built. In addition, some housing on the waterfront will be constructed to establish the now-desolate area as a destination.

It is hoped that a higher profile will later fuel the construction of nearly 175,000 square feet of office space and a hotel and conference center.

Eventually, a 3,500-space public parking garage would back up to I-95, cushioning the development from the noise of passing motorists.