The developers of the new minor league baseball stadium in downtown Hartford said they’ll be mostly finished with construction in two weeks, but the city's representative said that's unlikely.
The date is significant. First, May 17 is the day that’s contractually obligated for what’s called “substantial completion.”
Second, the Hartford Yard Goats have a game scheduled at the field, known as Dunkin' Donuts Park, for May 31 -- and they've told the city they need two full weeks to "burn in" the stadium. That is, the team has to have two weeks to learn how to make the place work, from the food concessions to the scoreboards.
These conversations were all happening at the monthly meeting of the Hartford Stadium Authority Tuesday afternoon, at which the city's representative said things like fire safety, some elevators, stairs, and a bunch of other work won't be done by May 17.
Jason Rudnick, a developer with Centerplan Companies, disagreed, saying that his company will meet its May 17 benchmark.
So far, the Yard Goats have played all of their home games on the road. Their first home game is scheduled to be May 31. But for now, everyone will be watching closely.
"We’ll all know a lot more, it seems to me, on the 18th," said authority Chairman I. Charles Mathews.
Another question will be whether people on both sides -- the developer and the city -- will agree on whether the stadium is actually substantially complete on May 17. Should it not be, the city could have various legal remedies at its disposal.
Yard Goats owner Josh Solomon said that once the city communicates that its stadium is done, he’ll communicate the date for opening day.
“We cannot even offer game tickets until we hit substantial completion,” Solomon said. “We are skeptical but we are hopeful and we will wait to hear from the city.”
The stadium was to have been operational for opening day earlier this year. But by January, it became clear that it was both over budget and delayed.
