NORTH CROSSING WORK PRESSES ON
Developer moving forward after Hartford’s setback in Dunkin’ Donuts Park case
The developer of the first phase of apartments, storefronts and parking around Hartford’s Dunkin’ Donuts Park is pressing ahead, comfortable that a recent ruling from the state’s highest court won’t change plans for the ambitious North Crossing project.
“Obviously, it’s a surprise,” Developer Randy Salvatore, chief executive of Stamford-based RMS Cos., said.
“I’m confident based on my conversations with my attorneys that it doesn’t have any affect on what we are doing over there,” Salvatore said. “We are obviously still actively constructing the building, and we just started marketing it, just started giving people tours.”
Last week, the city of Hartford suffered a major setback when the state Supreme Court ordered a new trial in a civil lawsuit challenging Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin’s decision in 2016 to fire the previous developers of Dunkin’ Donuts Park.
Developers Centerplan Construction Co. and Dono Hartford LLC, hired by Bronin’s predecessor Pedro E. Segarra, argued they were wrongfully terminated from the job and sought tens of millions in damages. But in 2019, a Superior Court jury sided with the city.
The development of the city’s minor league ballpark is linked to the development around it because Centerplan and Dono Hartford were originally supposed to develop both projects. Centerplan and Dono also were later fired from the mixeduse development.
Howard Rifkin, the city’s corporation counsel, said Centerplan and Dono raised the surrounding development in its appeal, but the Supreme Court ruling did not address the issue in its ruling.
“It’s my view — if there is any finding that we, the city, wrongfully terminated the plaintiffs — the issue would be one
of monetary damages, not unringing the bell of the new development agreement,” Rifkin said.
The heart of last week’s Supreme Court ruling pointed out the lower court did not allow a jury to consider the argument that Centerplan and Dono were not responsible for errors and flaws by the architect before, during and after the construction of the ballpark.
Another contractor was subsequently hired to finish construction of the ballpark, and it opened in 2017, a year later than scheduled.
The city said it was disappointed by the Supreme Court ruling but believes it will again prevail in a second trial.
The city has been eager to press ahead with the housing development because it would help generate sorely-needed property taxes to help pay for nearly $5 million a year in debt service on the $71 million, publicly-funded ballpark.
The development also is seen as crucial to reconnecting downtown with the city’s neighborhoods to the north, torn apart by the construction of I-84 decades ago.
With Centerplan and Dono Hartford fired, the city sought new proposals for the residential development. Salvatore, a partner in the renovation and reopening in 2017 of the long-shuttered Goodwin Hotel on Asylum Street, was the only developer to submit a proposal.
Salvatore broke ground in October 2020, more than two years after RMS was selected by the city. Construction began after a Superior Court judge — the same who had presided over the jury trial — lifted development restrictions on the four city-owned parcels around Dunkin’ Donuts Park where the residential construction is
planned.
“When we started development, we knew what existed and what the possibilities were,” Salvatore said. “So, we looked at that and understood the consequence to us if we did it. So, I don’t think anything has changed in terms of that.”
Salvatore said he was not involved in the lawsuit between the fired developers and the city.
The first of four phases of North Crossing, pegged at a cost of $50 million, is just south of the ballpark and will include 270 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments. The first rentals are expected to be ready for occupancy on July 1, Salvatore said.
The first phase — known as “Parcel C” — also includes a 330-space parking garage plus 11,000 square feet of restaurant and entertainment space. Financing includes a $12 million state-taxpayer backed loan from the Capital Region Development Authority.
Showings for prospective tenants began May 16, and about a dozen rentals are already “spoken for,” Salvatore said.
RMS had projected as much as 18 months to fully lease the apartments in the first phase but, based on initial demand, renting could go faster, Salvatore said.
Eventually, the $200 million-plus North Crossing
could include as many as 1,000 apartments, 60,000 square feet of retail space, parking garages and a grocery store.
As the first phase wraps up, Salvatore said he plans to break ground, probably in late summer, on the second phase on “Parcel B,” across from the front entrance to the ballpark and to the west.
Overall, the second phase would have 532 rentals and a 541-space garage, plus additional retail space, at a cost of more than $100 million. The development will be split into two parts: the first to be worked on would include 228 apartments and the parking garage. The balance of the rentals would be completed in the second half.
Financing for the first half of construction on “Parcel B” is expected include a $13.6 million, state taxpayer-backed CRDA loan.
Salvatore said he remains upbeat about the prospects for future growth in Hartford as it emerges from the pandemic. Salvatore also is involved in the conversion of the upper floors of the nearby Hilton hotel into apartments.
“The feeling of optimism, yes, we’re still very bullish on Hartford,” Salvatore said.