Midtown-based Bridgewater Capital Partners just paid $30 million for a hefty piece of the Staten Island pie, although the company will not be able to use the full parcel for development. The 38.8 acre property at 1 Nassau Place is partly surrounded by Mill Creek, making some of the land unusable due to wetlands.

Regardless, the company has ambitious plans for the area, which they purchased from Alcatel-Lucent, a telecommunications company, in an off-market and all-cash transaction, according to property records found by The Real Deal. The land is currently vacant and zoned for industrial, retail and office use, with potential to build up to 3.5 million square feet.

Bridgewater wants to rezone the site for a senior assisted living facility as well as a residential development. The company is also looking for a development partner to build a big-box retail site, which would span 220,000 square feet, and another residential complex. TRD heard from a source that Bridgewater is already in talks with several Manhattan-based real estate investment trusts for the residential component. And Kimco Realty, a New Hyde Park firm that specializes in open-air shopping centers, is in the running to co-develop the retail site.

Mark Yunger, a partner at Bridgewater Capital, told TRD that he thinks Staten Island is ripe "to be the next Brooklyn." (The firm also owns a development site in Greenpoint, at 161 West Street.) "It's a market I believe that hasn't been fully taken advantage of," he said.