Faced with concerns that the minor league baseball stadium the city wants built may not be on time or on budget, the stadium’s developers said that the city “breached” its agreement by failing to give the developer complete control over the project. But the city said the developer's claims are "bogus."
In a letter delivered to the Hartford Stadium Authority Wednesday, developer DoNo Hartford LLC Jason Rudnick said that the city had put him in an “untenable position.” Rudnick said the city erred “by failing to adhere to one of the most, if not the most, critical component” of their agreement -- to give the developer control.
“Instead, the City and the HSA completed the design of the Ballpark, delayed the assignment of the design... by four-and-a-half months, and ultimately only provided [the company] with control of the design team for construction administration services,” Rudnick wrote.
In the letter, Rudnick said he would soon send a letter to outline what still needs to be approved to pay for the stadium the city wants -- which would no doubt cost the city more. But the city has had a firm $56 million cap on the project, which Rudnick recognizes in his letter.
As an alternative, Rudnick's company is coming up with what essentially is a Plan B. That plan could be ready by mid-January.
But the authority sees it much differently
"We reject that," said I. Charles Mathews, the stadium authority's chairman, of Rudnick's depiction of how things played out. " That is simply not the case and that is a bogus claim."
Mathews said that DoNo never presented real concerns to the authority, and he had ample time to do so. He also said the developers never submitted formal, actionable change orders.
"They had every opportunity in the month of June, July, August, September, November to say, 'Oh, wait a minute. There's a problem,'" Mathews said. "And, because they never said that, we can rightly rely on the fact that this is their obligation. This is their burden. They signed a contract for $56 million. If they thought they couldn't do it, they should have said something early on. It's too late now. They have to perform as they promised."
Despite the tension, DoNo has said that a playable baseball stadium for the Hartford Yard Goats will be delivered on time for opening day in April.
