Study launched
Downtown North dilemma: Knock down data center near Dunkin’ Donuts Park but preserve parking area
As a trial over control of Downtown North development looms in early June, a study is being launched to determine whether it is possible to demolish the concrete building to the east of Dunkin’ Donuts Park but save the parking garage under the building.
HARTFORD – As a trial over control of Downtown North development looms in early June, a study is being launched to determine whether it is possible to demolish the vacant, decaying concrete building to the east of Dunkin’ Donuts Park but save the parking garage under the building.
The Capital Region Development Authority says preserving the parking garage could create more than 300 spaces — at least temporarily — while the Downtown North development unfolds. If the building is completely demolished, a surface lot of about 180 spaces could be created.
The idea, according to CRDA executive director Michael W. Freimuth, is to replace parking that would be lost with the development of the lot just south of the stadium.
The lot, to the rear of the Red Lion Hotel and known as “Parcel C,” would be the first, mixed-use phase of Downtown North. Plans for the first phase now call for 200 mixedincome apartments, 11,000 square feet of retail and community space and a 250-space parking garage. The estimated cost is $46 million.
“It would give you some elbow room to take the parking off Parcel C to develop Parcel C,” Freimuth said.
The data center is located on what is known as “Parcel D.”
Earlier this year, there was a push for the demolition because the actual development has been stalled amid a legal tangle with the previous developer, Centerplan Construction Co. Centerplan was fired by city from the ballpark project after missing key construction deadlines. Centerplan later filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination. The suit seeks $90 million in damages.
A trial is now scheduled to get underway June 5 in Superior Court in Hartford and is expected to last about a month.
The data center is a familiar sight to fans attending Yard Goats games,
rising just beyond the bleachers in the stadium.
Freimuth said the cost of preserving the existing parking at the data center will be a prime consideration. It simply may be too expensive to shave the top of the building off.
Providing adequate parking for the ballpark during the construction of Downtown North has been a crucial element as plans for the neighborhood development move forward.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said it makes sense to explore the option because, in addition to ballpark patrons, the existing lots also are used by employers in the city.
The demolition of the bunkerlike data center is integral to Downtown North, one of the largest redevelopment projects in the city in decades. If successful, the redevelopment could reconnect downtown with the city’s northern neighborhoods, split by the construction of I-84 in the 1960s.
The parcel where the data center sits is one of four near the ballpark in a project that could eventually include 800 apartments, 60,000 square feet of retail and parking garages. The cost is estimated to be $200 million, possibly including as much as $60 million in public subsidy.
Developer Randy Salvatore of Stamford-based RMS Cos. has been chosen as the preferred developer to succeed Centerplan. The city has negotiated a development agreement but city council approval is still needed.
The State Bond Commission had approved CRDA lending $12 million in state funds for the first phase of Downtown North. Faced with a delay in the first phase because of the lawsuit, the bond commission later backed using the funds to demolish the data center.
The cost of demolition is still to be determined. But if any of the $12 million is leftover funding, it would be devoted to development elsewhere in the area.
Demolition — first projected to begin this summer — is now not expected to begin until the fall, pending the results of the study. The demolition should be completed in time for the 2020 minor league season.
Courant Staff Writer Steven Goode contributed to the story.
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.