The first year of Hartford’s new minor league baseball stadium is complete, but the legal fights concerning the land surrounding it are far from over. On Monday, the city announced that it formally terminated Centerplan from further work.
Centerplan was the developer that built the stadium and that was supposed to build the all-important housing, shopping, and commercial space around it. But now that won’t happen. In a statement, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said Middletown-based Centerplan “should never have been chosen to build the ballpark” or the neighboring parcels.
Centerplan’s lawyer, Ray Garcia, declined to offer detailed comment beyond this: “We don’t believe the city’s been able to prove anything they’ve alleged so far, so they’re not going to be able to prove anything they’ve alleged in this pleading.”
Centerplan was late and overbudget on Dunkin Donuts Park when the city kicked it off the stadium project back in 2016. This latest move removes the company from the remainder of the development project. The city now says that it intends to find new developers with interest and money to invest.
“In failing to deliver the ballpark on time, failing to do the work well, and failing to pay numerous subcontractors, Centerplan violated the development agreement that covers the surrounding parcels,” Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said in a statement. “By terminating the Master Development Agreement with Centerplan today, we hope that we can begin to move forward with finding a strong and capable partner for the next phase of development that is so essential to the City of Hartford.”
