Hartford Panel Hears Plans For Baseball Stadium Development

HARTFORD An advisory panel appointed by the city's development director on Thursday heard presentations from the three bidders seeking to develop land north of Hartford's downtown, a project that would include housing, retail space and a minor league ballpark.

Three developers have bid on the project, though only two have broad plans for the area.

A group led by New York-based LeylandAlliance and Middletown-based Centerplan has proposed building a ballpark, more than 210,000 square feet of municipal office space, more than 600 residential units, and retail space that features a supermarket with covered parking.

JCJ Architecture, Sports Contracting Group, Urban Design Associates, Freeman Companies, BETA, McDowell Jewett, and Greenskies Renewable Energy also are part of the development team. The plan would cost $350 million, city officials said Thursday.

Boston-based CV Properties LLC submitted a plan that includes a new municipal office building, a ballpark and a garage. The company said it would partner with other interested developers "to advance the housing and retail components of the project."

The CV Properties' team also includes Gilbane Inc., Kage Growth Strategies, and HFF Inc. The development would cost $217 million.

A third proposal was submitted by Bloomfield-based Thomas Hooker Brewing Co. The owner, Curt Cameron, has said he intends to build a 40,000-square-foot brewery, restaurant and beer garden on North Main Street, across from the proposed stadium. Cameron's plan would cost $16 million.

Centerplan's bid included letters of intent from two "prominent supermarket operators." City officials on Thursday declined to reveal the operators, but sources with knowledge of the project said ShopRite and Balducci's had submitted the letters.

The proposals from Centerplan and CV Properties both include Hooker Brewery as part of the overall development.

"We want this development to be the catalyst for economic growth and accelerate the creation of a new neighborhood Downtown North," Mayor Pedro Segarra said in a statement Thursday. "We believed that this could be achieved without burdening taxpayers and that opportunity is before us."

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Hartford Panel Hears Plans For Baseball Stadium Development