Ray Dalio's Awesome New Mega Campus Is Being Stalled By Small-Town Bureaucracy

A classic case of city bureaucracy may stymie Bridgewater Associates' plan to relocate to a new $750 million headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.

The world's largest hedge fund is planning a move from its Westport home to an 850,000-square-foot center on a 14-acre peninsula in Stamford.

But the Stamford Advocate reports a zoning disagreement over a boatyard between the city and BLT, a local land developer, has hindered negotiations. From the Advocate:

Yet three months later, the license agreement outlining the conditions of BLT's use of city property for the boatyard as well as its infrastructure contributions, is yet to be finalized. Without the critical document, neither the new boatyard nor Bridgewater can move forward in the city approval process. As of last week, there was no indication of any progress in the dialogue between the two sides.

The hold up has sparked conjecture that Bridgewater head Ray Dalio may scrap the plan entirely and stay in Westport, and Stamford may lose out on as many as 2,000 jobs, $16 million in tax revenue, and $50 million in state funding.

Yikes, Stamford!