It’s hard to miss Manresa Island towering over Long Island Sound. For years, the abandoned power plant has been an eyesore along the Norwalk shoreline.

But now, the site will be transformed into a massive public park – thanks to a hometown tech mogul who started a billion-dollar company in his parents’ basement.

For six decades, Manresa Island was considered one of Connecticut’s “Sooty Six” power plants because of all the pollution it cranked out. Since 2013, the site has sat abandoned.

That is, until Austin and Allison McChord took a kayaking trip.

The couple saw Manresa Island and decided to buy it. On Tuesday, they announced plans for a 125-acre public space – complete with nearly two miles of public shoreline, nature trails, a pool and an indoor event space.

“The big thing that we saw is, just so little of the shoreline in Connecticut is publicly accessible,” McChord said. “And so, to bring nearly two miles of coastline available to everyone is amazing.”

The new Manresa Island Park could cost up to $120 million. McChord is one of the few people with the resources to take on the project. He started Datto, a data security company that sold for $1.3 billion in 2017.

“They said it was crazy when I was building a business in Norwalk and ended up building that into a public traded company,” McChord said. “So this is just the other half of the same coin.”

Architects said the power plant is in surprisingly good shape, but the site is full of asbestos and coal ash, which could take years to clean up. Remediation alone could cost up to $80 million.

“We’re going to have to remediate the whole site and we're going to have to remediate the whole building, and so that's a big piece of this project,” said Jessica Vonashek, Manresa Island Corporation’s executive director.

A new nonprofit McChord created will bankroll the entire project, although the state of Connecticut is likely to help with environmental work.

The project almost didn’t happen.

A New York City-based developer planned to build up high-end homes on Manresa Island. But the company agreed to sell it to the McChords, who plan to close on the deal this fall.

Now, McChord said it will become an “island for everyone.”

"To make this – not a private entity with houses and things that are just very much for specific people – but for the community,” said Norwalk Common Council President Darlene Young.

WHAT’S NEXT?

McChord has an aggressive timeline. Organizers said the park will open in phases, with a final opening sometime in 2030.

Starting next year, they will hold public meetings to get community input on the project.