Officials Hold Groundbreaking Ceremony For New Harbor Center

STAMFORD, CT — Even though it was cloudy and rainy on Monday morning, the Stamford community gathered in full-force for the much-anticipated groundbreaking ceremony for the Cohen SoundWaters Harbor Center in Boccuzzi Park.

The building is named after the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, which donated a $3 million leadership gift to the project in April. Steven Cohen, a Greenwich resident, owns Point72 Asset Management in Stamford. He is also the newest owner of the New York Mets.

The 12,100 square foot building will cost about $8 million. Along with Cohen's donation, SoundWaters received a $2 million grant from the state of Connecticut. The remaining $3 million was raised through private funding. The center is part of an overall $15 million capital campaign from SoundWaters to help ensure that programing and staff can be sustained for years to come.

The Cohen SoundWaters Harbor Center will be the base for three core programs that will serve middle school to high school aged students:

• Young Mariners, which instills life skills and energizes young students through sailing, academics, and a sense of community
• Harbor Corps, hands-on maritime job skills training for young adults
• Research Intensive, college-level marine research opportunities for high school students.

These programs can now be expanded year-round with the new building, said SoundWaters Vice President of Development, Bob Mazzone. SoundWaters has been based on Cove Island since 2000, and they will stay there even after the harbor center is complete.

Several people, including state and local elected officials, spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony on Monday. All agreed that the new building will help to increase access to the Long Island Sound and education for all.

"This project is about more than a building. It's about community, access, and opportunity," said SoundWaters President Leigh Shemitz. "It will help create a new Stamford harbor that becomes a hub for our entire community. It will ensure that Long Island Sound, our local environment, is never a place for only some people, but a place for everyone. It will match our students' commitment and ambition with the opportunities they seek and so deeply deserve."

Stamford Mayor David Martin said it was "a little rocky" to get the project off the ground because of the unusual circumstances where the city had to lease Boccuzzi Park to SoundWaters for 50 years. He credited Board Representative Virgil de la Cruz for spearheading the effort to make the building become a reality.

Martin noted that several other enhancements will be made to the park. The area near the water will include launch access for SoundWaters' fleet of sailboats and publicly available kayaks and paddelboards, as well as the organization's research vessel and its iconic three-masted schooner.

Dr. Tamu Lucero, Superintendent of Stamford Public Schools and SoundWaters board member, said she's grateful for the relationship with SoundWaters.

"I am so excited about the access and opportunity that our students are going to have for another educational opportunity across this city. We know our partnership means that when our students leave our classroom, they're just going back out and entering other classrooms. That's really important," she said.

Cynthia Blumenthal, wife of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, was in attendance on his behalf. She recalled the times when she lived just down the street from Boccuzzi Park, and thanked SoundWaters for their commitment to educating young people.

Jake Rath, Senior Program Officer for the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation, spoke on behalf of the foundation.

"We're so excited to partner with you in this landmark moment, and we look forward to seeing each and every life you change along the way. The Cohen Foundation's mission is about inspired giving, and you all are an inspiration to the children and their future and the impact you're able to have on them," Rath said.

Connecticut Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz thanked all the donors involved for their generosity, especially through the pandemic.

Gov. Ned Lamont said being out on the water in the Long Island Sound is impactful, and can mean a lot to young kids.

"This building is about helping kids better understand the environment they live in and it's about learning in a different way. You can be learning in terms of the academics [in the classroom], what you're doing in terms of maritime science and what you're learning about yourself out on the sea," Lamont said.

He looked towards a brighter future as the state emerges from the pandemic.

"This is an extraordinary opportunity for the state as we turn this around and thousands of people move back to the state, people understand and learn about what makes this state so amazing," he added. "One of the things that makes this state so amazing is you're right along the harbor, you're right along Long Island Sound."

A ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the building is expected to take place a year from now.