The developers of the $350 million stadium and related retail, housing, and grocery store in downtown Hartford now want to include a hotel, the city and the developer said Friday.
Developer Bob Landino Friday told WNPR that the planning is still in the early stages.
"We do not have a hotel," he said, referring to an operator. That said, the developers are trying to get one. "We think that, based on our research and the interest that's been expressed, that it adds to what we're trying to do at a high level."
But adding will also mean taking away. If the hotel plan goes through, the project will go from 330 apartment units to 180, Landino said.
"We are trying to create multiple destination opportunities to create a diversity of interest and a greater amount of excitement and vitality in the neighborhood," Landino said. Asked whether this was a sign that getting financing for apartments was hard, Landino said it's just the opposite -- financing a hotel will be harder. But he says it's the right move.
In an email to the city council, Hartford's Chief Operating Officer Darrell Hill said Landino and the developers at DoNo Hartford LLC have started talks to modify their existing plans for the parcel across the street from the ballpark for the Hartford Yard Goats.
"All of the existing components (grocery, retail, residential and structured parking) remain in their proposed modification," Hill wrote. "Of specific note is that the size of the grocery store (40,000 s/f) is not changed in their requested modification."
Hill said the request will need the approval of the city council as well as the Planning and Zoning Commission.
"Both approval processes will include public presentations and provide the opportunity for public comment prior to the requested modifications being considered," Hill wrote. "The Administration is evaluating DoNo Hartford LLC's requested modifications, which upon initial review appears to be positive for our City and the Downtown North Project."
If approved, the hotel would be part of the retail and residential development that is in the second phase of the project's design. Earlier this week, DoNo's Bob Landino said his company had decided to delay a groundbreaking on that second phase of construction to allow the firm to focus all of its attention on finishing the ballpark in time for opening day in April.
Immediate efforts to reach Council President Shawn Wooden were unsuccessful. Councilman Larry Deutsch questioned both the delay and the hotel.
"Saying they need to put all the emphasis on the stadium seems like an excuse," Deutsch said. He also questioned whether there is demand for a new hotel in the shadow of others downtown. "Do we need another hotel there, based on the imagined overnight stay of the minor league baseball stadium?"
When the city first launched the plan for the stadium -- before the current developers were involved, and when the project only called for a stadium -- it boasted the prospect of 300 to 400 hotel rooms taken each night there's a minor league baseball game. That would have been four times as many hotel rooms as for an average UConn game, and UConn's attendance is much higher.
One question the city will no doubt have to answer is whether there is sufficient hotel demand. The owners of the nearby Radisson Hotel told The Hartford Courant last month that there is "perpetually" a large number of empty rooms at the hotel.
Asked about the hotel market, Landino said there is strong weekday demand in the city but weak weekend demand. He's hoping this project changes that dynamic.
Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra said in a statement that the developers will have to follow the public process. He said he trusts "DoNo LLC to fully engage and inform stakeholders and residents about any proposed changes and provide an open and thorough public review process."
