Final renderings of a masterplan by SCAPE and BIG for Manresa Island in Norwalk, Connecticut, were shared last week by Manresa Island Corporation, the nonprofit steering the project. The 125-acre park will be called Manresa Wilds.
Manresa Wilds boasts almost 2 miles of coast line. Norwalk native Austin McChord, the founder of unicorn startup Datto, and Allison McChord, Austin’s wife, acquired Manresa Island in 2024 from Argent Ventures to build the park there for an undisclosed amount.
The goal is to convert a brownfield into green space, and the site’s shuttered coal-fired power plant into a multi-use public building.
SCAPE was selected in October 2024 to create the masterplan and do community outreach, and BIG was tapped to transform the power plant into a public building capable of serving myriad functions.
The design team has since garnered community input from large-scale public meetings, surveys, site tours, and conversations with neighborhood groups, local businesses, educators, and civic leaders to inform the masterplan, a statement noted.
“We began with deep research, spending time on site to understand its shorelines and wetlands, and the life they support,” SCAPE design principal and partner Gena Wirth said in a statement. “We also pored over what Norwalkers shared throughout the engagement process and tested the plan against those priorities at every step,”
“The result is a healed landscape that feels truly wild: a rare public waterfront where restoration strengthens the ecology of Long Island Sound and people can get close to the water in ways that protect it,” Wirth continued.
The updated design includes 30 percent more natural areas and habitat protection, and half the amount of hardscape and active features as originally planned. Lighting and water features have been minimized to protect wildlife and neighboring residents.
Active amenities are now located at the southernmost end of the site, and there are now multiple nodes of arrival including designated bus drop-off areas, pier activation, and site parking.
The project will happen in phases. In spring 2027, a 28-acre site called the Northern Forest will open with renewed woodlands, open grasslands, nature trails, and outdoor classrooms.
The second phase will happen between 2031–32. That’s when the majority of the landscape plan will be implemented, the development team stated, including the nature play area and the adaptive reuse of the former power plant’s Administration Building and Turbine Hall. The community pool and pavilion, and nature play area will be completed during this stage as well.
The third phase, slated to take place between 2032–35, will entail the completion of the beachfront promenade, kayak terrace, additional play areas, a pier and field station. The Boiler Building will be preserved for a future and final stage of the park’s development.
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