Posted on 08/26/2016 11:07:13 AM PDT by campaignPete R-CT
The city of Hartford's investment in the Downtown North development, which includes construction of the Dunkin' Donuts Park baseball stadium, exceeds $102 million to date, according to an audit from Hartford's Internal Audit Commission released publicly Friday.
Originally priced at $56 million for initial construction funding and bonded at $63.3 million, the unfinished stadium's pricetag has now jumped to $71.7 million, the audit said.
For the overall Downtown North development, which includes road work, engineering and other infrastructure work, the total costs to the city are $102.5 million to date, the audit report said.
That $102 million does not include ongoing costs related to the shutdown of the project in June when the city fired the developer, such as security and legal, fire and police protection. The sum also does not include the final cost to finish the work on the stadium, which is being determined by the city's surety bond carrier, or costs associated with pending litigation, the report states.
The audit is based on the economic investment for the Downtown North "DoNo" development from inception through August.
The report comes on the heels of a press conference Thursday in which the Eastern League President Joseph McEacharn and Yard Goats team owner Josh Solomon indicated that while they are committed to playing at the 6,600-seat stadium for the 2017 season, time is running out.
(Excerpt) Read more at hartfordbusiness.com ...
WILL IT BECOME A STADIUM WITHOUT A TEAM?
However, McEachern acknowledged mounting pressure from Major League Baseball to avoid a repeat of a 2016 season in which the Yard Goats played all their games on the road. The Yard Goats are a farm team for the big league’s Colorado Rockies.
“I won’t use the words they used, but they made it clear this cannot happen again next season,’’ McEachern said.
http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20160825/NEWS01/160829968
The University of Connecticut has a giant, empty football stadium that it needs for six dates per year.
I think if your team is named the Yard Goats, you have bigger problems than an unfinished stadium. :)
Dollars to Donuts it has financing by the Clinton Foundation exploiting the democrat state of Connecticut.
I don’t miss CT for a second. Idiots spending money like idiots do.
$102 million and they can’t get it open in time for Opening Day.
Can’t get it open in time for the All-Star Break.
Perhaps the team will never play there.....ever!
http://www.baseballamerica.com/business/turmoil-hartford-continues-spiral/#BlQ5tsbrUimTtAhK.97
Hartford should be an obvious AAA market. If the Yard Goats bail, (and again... why can’t they play at UConn?) Hartford would be a step up from AAA teams from Pawtucket (Boston), or even Lehigh Valley (Philly). Or worst comes to worst, AA teams from Trenton (Yankees), New Hampshire (Toronto), Binghampton (Mets), Portland (Boston), or Altoona (Pitt).
Another lose here is the Dunkin Donuts brand name. No positive publicity has paid such a steep price. And that money likely has already been spent, multiple times.
Unfortunately, public subsidies for private sports teams are not a left-right issue. There are plenty of conservative politicians and jurisdictions that have fallen for the lure of a professional sports team. Cobb County, one of the most conservative areas in Georgia, shelled out $400 m to bribe the Atlanta Braves into moving there from downtown Atlanta. The good news is that the county commissioner who rammed the deal through was recently voted out of office in a runoff election.
Nobody is going to drive into Hartford for a baseball game.
This was a successful team as the "Rock Cats" (AA) in New Britain that played in a great park with great fans and full seats.
The new owner didn't want to be in blue-collar New Britain - he wanted to be in Hartford with the cocktail party set. It's a sin what he did to that team. Screw 'em - hope he gets sued into bankruptcy.
one detail the article does not touch upon is that the stadium is being built in a ghetto.
The comedy has just begun. The plot thickens if the stadium actually is used for games!
The state will eventually end up subsidizing this boondoggle when the city cannot support it any longer.
It was explained a Yard Goat is a train that moves trains around a rail yard.The colors for the old Hartford Whalers hockey team and a logo similar to the New Haven Railroad was used. I saw the last NB Rock Cats game ever.Was in Portland ME and New Britain lost to the host Sea Dogs,last Labor Day.
The Atlanta Braves are moving OUT of a nearly-new stadium because the neighborhood around it has become too ghetto.
True, but their mascot and logo is a goat.
I drove through Hartford last night. I hadn’t been there is a while (since there is no reason for me to go to the nearest Cabela’s since CT went wonkers over gun stuff. I notice the ball field. I did not think I’d seen it before.
Good thing I saw this. I thought maybe I was going senile.
Getting to that Stadium will be a traffic nightmare.
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