The head of the Hartford agency overseeing the new $56 million minor league baseball stadium project said he is concerned that the project won't be done in time for opening day in April. But the stadium's developer said that's not the case.
In a statement issued this week, the Hartford Stadium Authority said the park may not be ready until late spring and that there is a $10 million shortfall.
"The Hartford Stadium Authority remains committed to working toward the goal of successfully completing the ballpark, ready for baseball in 2016, at no additional cost to the city of Hartford,” authority Chairman I. Charles Matthews said.
But developer Bob Landino said Matthews is wrong. A stadium will be ready by April -- but it may not be the one the city wants.
"There's going to be a significant amount of the building that will not be completed in April, but we fully expect that it will be able to be occupied by fans and baseball will be able to be viewed by the public,” Landino said, adding that the city caused the problem. It designed a stadium that was more expensive than the one originally conceived.
"We said, if you give us the money and the control of the design, we will finish this building within the prescribed budget. So they gave us the money, but we never actually got control of the design,” Landino said. "And therein lies the rub."
When it approved the stadium project, the city gave it a hard $56 million price tag. But building a stadium with union labor on a short timeline made shorter by architectural delays from the city meant rising costs. In the end, Landino said the city will get its stadium. But if it wants the one it designed, it’ll have to pay more.
"The fact is, the building is absolutely beautiful. It's going to be gorgeous. And if the city finds those funds available to finish it, it will be spectacular,” Landino said. “But it is what it is. It's a building that was designed differently than what we had as exhibits in our contract and there's a delta that needs to be paid in order for us to finish the building in accordance with that design."
Landino said he doesn't know where the $10 million figure comes from. He said he'll have more information on the changes to the design later this week.
