Developers agree they can hit the April 7 target, but it might be tight.
Hartford's new minor league baseball stadium celebrated a construction milestone Tuesday. The first steel beams have been delivered and put in place. But a new report says that getting the job done in time to play in April could come at a price.
Days after the New Britain Rock Cats wrapped up their tenure in that city, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra stood at the job site of the team's new home in the capital city. He celebrated construction in what used to be a sea of surface parking lots just north of I-84. And he said he's looking forward to opening day on April 7.
"I commit to you that, April 7, we will be pitching the first ball at the first game," Segarra told reporters.
"You know, we, as a city, not just me, but as a city -- we all need to be more optimistic that things can actually happen."
The developers building the city-owned stadium agree that they can hit the April 7 target. But it's tight. And, in a report this week, the person who oversees the project for the city expressed some concern about the relatively late delivery of steel and precast concrete to the site. The representative said that meeting the April 7 target can happen, but "achieving this date will involve premium time and certain acceleration costs."
That means it could cost more to get the project done on time. But officials say it still will get done under the agreed upon $56 million price tag.
Jason Rudnick is one of the developers of the project. Here's how he sees it:
"If for any reason we find that we may have a schedule issue or we may be going into the winter with a concern about winter conditions, how do we accelerate the work?" he said. "Which means potentially paying overtime or acceleration costs, which we have built into our budget already."
The baseball stadium has come with a political price, too. Segarra is taking shots from Luke Bronin, who won the Democratic endorsement for mayor. In an email, Bronin questioned the mayor's priorities. At the press conference, Segarra said he prefers a stadium and economic development to the void that was this neighborhood before.
