Hartford Vows To Release More Details On Paying Stadium Lease

HARTFORD Details of how the city might generate revenue to lease a minor league baseball stadium from a developer will be revealed in the coming days, the city's development director said.

Thomas Deller said Tuesday that he would present a plan to Mayor Pedro Segarra and the city council for making millions of dollars in payments to DoNo Hartford LLC, a group formed by developers Centerplan Development Co. and LeylandAlliance. The firms were chosen to lead a $350 million redevelopment project in an area north of downtown an effort that includes the construction of a 220,000-square-foot baseball stadium.

Hartford would pay $3.77 million annually for the first five years of a 25-year lease, according to projections in city documents. Its rent payments would then go up by 5 percent in the 6th, 11th and 16th years of the lease.

The city plans to sublease the ballpark to the New Britain Rock Cats, who would begin playing there in 2016. The Rock Cats would pay the city $500,000 a year for the first 15 years of a 25-year sublease, and $600,000 annually in the final 10 years.

The projected cost of building the stadium is $47.13 million, according to a proposal from Centerplan.

City officials have not yet offered specifics on how Hartford would fund its lease payments, but have said that parking fees and revenue from the naming rights, among other things, could help make up the difference.

Addressing a crowd of local business and economic development officials at MetroHartford Alliance's Rising Star breakfast Tuesday, Deller said the project "has to generate an income stream that allows us to pay for it."

"We are right now coming up with final dollar numbers to understand how that payment gets made," he said. "We're comfortable that we can make this happen and make it happen in a rational way."

Rock Cats owner Josh Solomon and Centerplan Vice President of Development Yves-Georges Joseph II said they have received numerous calls from interested corporations, grocery store chains and other business owners who want to be part of the project. Centerplan's proposal includes 210,000 square feet of municipal office space, more than 600 residential units, retail space and a brewery. The project would be paid for with private debt and private equity capital, officials have said.

Joseph said he envisions an urban-style grocery store with structured parking that is "a little smaller" than suburban supermarkets, but would "still serve a full complement of groceries."

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Hartford Vows To Release More Details On Paying Stadium Lease