Bob Landino expects the second phase of construction to start early next year.
The developer building Hartford’s new $56 million minor league baseball stadium is now saying that a groundbreaking on the second phase of the revitalization project will be delayed until the spring.
The baseball stadium is only part of the roughly $350 million development in downtown Hartford. The city is paying for the stadium. But the developer is financing the second phase -- with retail, housing, and other amenities -- which was to have broken ground this fall. But that’s not going to happen.
“We were nervous that, if we started [the second phase] prior to the completion of the ballpark, that it would dilute our commitment to the ballpark -- and that’s obviously the most critical and time-sensitive event that we’re working on,” developer Bob Landino said. He expects the second phase of construction to start early next year. “We will break ground sometime in the spring, once the ballpark is completed.”
Landino said the delay is well within the scope of his contract with the city. Immediate efforts to reach the city were unsuccessful.
“The difference between November and March or April certainly isn’t enough time to reinforce skeptics,” Landino said. “If the end of next year happens and we haven’t done anything, then I think it’s a legitimate point.”
The second phase of construction includes 330 market-rate apartments on four floors above a single story of retail. One of the hopes for retail is for a supermarket. Landino said finding a supermarket operator over the summer was difficult for a variety of reasons. Now, though, there is an interested tenant who is going through due diligence.
Opening day for the stadium is scheduled for April. Landino said he’s on target to hit that date.
