It apparently took an approaching election to prod Gov. Dannel P. Malloy into finally cutting the cord to a financially challenged developer who has dawdled for years on plans to reconfigure Seaside, the state-owned former sanitarium on a spectacular waterfront site in Waterford.

Candidate Dan Malloy said this week he has broken ties with developer Mark Steiner, canceling a sales contract, and plans instead to turn Seaside into Connecticut's newest state park.

Cheers to Malloy for a vision that has the potential, if it's done right, to create a great and lasting legacy for his governorship.

Malloy's announcement was, alas, long on estimable goals, like preserving the shoreline property and making it forever accessible to the public, but short on critical details, like what to do with the remarkable National Historic Register buildings by the great American architect Cass Gilbert.

I would suggest Malloy need to look no further than New York City, where Brooklyn Bridge Park, created with a 2002 agreement by then Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. George Pataki, who envisioned a new park on an 85-acre swath of land along the East River.

Brooklyn Bridge Park has since come to life and become one of the most popular municipal parks in the county, and maybe one of the richest.

One key element of the park's success was to build into the plan an assortment of private development, a series of condominium projects, retail and office spaces and a five-star hotel, which all contribute taxes and land lease fees to park maintenance and operations, a $16 million annual park budget.

Construction is underway on the latest of these condominium towers, with apartments that sell for many millions of dollars. The new hotel is expected to open soon. Some of the park buildings are new. Some are restorations of existing buildings.

Allowing private, revenue-producing development in parks is not new. There is a string of hotels in Yellowstone National Park, for instance, including the famed 1904 Old Faithful Inn by architect Robert Reamer, also on the National Register.

But Brooklyn Bridge Park has raised the concept of private development in a public park to new levels of success.

It might work well in Waterford, although naturally on a much smaller scale.

It also solves some prickly issues, which Malloy, in announcing a new park at Seaside this week, did not address.

Most important, opening the park to private development would allow an extensive and probably costly restoration and renovation of the Gilbert buildings to proceed. Both condominiums and an inn on land and in buildings with 99-year leases might be best to make the financials work.

Without this solution, the alternatives would provide grim choices for Malloy.

On the one hand, Malloy could hardly afford the firestorm of criticism that should be expected if the state were to propose bulldozing Cass Gilbert buildings that are listed on the National Register.

On the other hand, if he doesn't tear them down, just what will he do with those big buildings, once they have been expensively restored?

The state's current course, demolition by neglect, has left the buildings in bad shape but almost certainly salvageable. If the state plans a park there, it has to do something with them.

The other encouraging sign for a plan to lease the buildings to a private developer is that there seems to be interest.

We know that mutual fund mogul Charles Royce, who spent $170 million rebuilding Watch Hill's Ocean House, to great acclaim, has shown an interest in Seaside.

So put it out to bid. See what other developers are interested and what they have in mind. That's how the financial partners in Brooklyn Bridge Park were found.

Bidders could envision how their projects would mesh with the public access and recreational uses of the new park.

Lease and tax payments from the owners of the fabulous new apartments in Seaside Park would go to a park fund. Since it is state property, a portion of the tax money could also go to Waterford from the state, through the payments in lieu of taxes program.

There is some Connecticut case law that indicates the enterprise on state property would not be subject to local zoning, especially if it furthers a public use, like a state park. But that assertion is a good opening for a conversation with people in Waterford about the benefits of the park and their involvement.

I also have another park-building suggestion for Candidate Malloy, and then I will sit down.

How about developing the long-stalled Thames River Heritage Park at the same time as Seaside. Reward all the volunteers who have been working hard to bring to life the innovative Thames park, which would not cost much to develop, using a water taxi to link existing attractions.

Put the two proposed parks together in one new park development plan and let both parks share the revenue. A separate loop for the water taxi could, in fair weather, link the Thames River Heritage Park with Seaside and Harkness Memorial State Park.

Who would miss a visit to that unusual big marine park. Park your car once and get on board. Seaside residents could hop the taxi and go to New London or Groton for lunch. The downtowns would be linked to each other and to shoreline recreation.

The resulting park authority could make life better in all kinds of ways in three big eastern Connecticut towns - Groton, New London and Waterford - creating new tourism and business opportunities, new recreational facilities and an innovative transportation system.

And it need not cost the state a dime.

This is the opinion of David Collins

d.collins@theday.com

Twitter: @DavidCollinsct