The challenge with negotiating a $350 million development deal in a hurry is negotiating a $350 million development deal in a hurry. That's what's happening with the effort to bring the New Britain Rock Cats to Hartford -- a plan that includes building not just a stadium, but a lot of other buildings, too.
New information comes out by the day. The latest is that the city would lease, not sell, a bunch of properties to the developers. With a public hearing on the plan scheduled for next week, final numbers on how Mayor Pedro Segarra proposes to pay for the project are still not ready.
That frustrates Councilman David Macdonald. "It's terrible," he said. "I'm appalled [by] the lack of transparency from this administration about this deal. It's not being handled like a democracy should be run.... They're not ready to move this forward, it's not ready to be voted on, it's not ready to be heard in public, either. It's not ready."
I asked MacDonald how he would vote if he had to vote today. "I would vote no," he said. "I just can't honestly evaluate it. I don't have enough information to evaluate it."
Councilmen Ken Kennedy shared that concern. He supports the stadium, but at the right price. "We all have frustration," he said.
Kennedy said the administration is working hard to get final numbers.
Then we had this exchange:
COHEN: Before you vote, are you going to want to have the final plan in front of you?
KENNEDY: Oh, hell, yes.
COHEN: Or are you going to be okay saying, 'Conceptually, we're with you. Go for it.'
KENNEDY: No, no, no, no. I'm not okay with concepts.
Darrell Hill, the city's chief operating officer, said negotiations with the developers to reduce the cost to the city are continuing. "We're expecting to adopt a framework," he said. "Think of it as upper and lower limits -- not more than this cost, not less than these revenues -- that we can negotiate the final legal documents with the developer on."
Hill said the council will have that framework by Wednesday.
