A judge has cleared the way for the redevelopment of property surrounding the Hartford baseball stadium of the minor league Yard Goats.
It鈥檚 another win for the city in its ongoing legal battle with the original developer of Dunkin鈥� Donuts Park, Centerplan Construction LLC, which follows a jury verdict last month that essentially upheld the city鈥檚 decision to fire Centerplan.
鈥淲e knew we had one more battle to fight to get those liens lifted,鈥� Mayor Luke Bronin said after the ruling. 鈥淲e won that battle today.
On Thursday, a judge lifted any remaining liens on the surrounding properties. There were three reasons given for the discharge of the liens by Judge Thomas G. Moukawsher. He said that jury verdicts are hard to overturn, that the city of Hartford and the public have a substantial public interest in the relief being granted, and that he had no reason to believe money wouldn鈥檛 satisfy the developers.
鈥淗ere, partial relief may yield a large portion of of public good without doing the appellant in this case any irreparable harm,鈥� Moukawsher wrote in the ruling.
Centerplan sued the city nearly three years ago. Hartford hired that company and another developer called DoNo Hartford LLC to develop a project headlined by a ballpark. Before it could be completed, Hartford fired the companies and hired someone else.
The $71 million Dunkin鈥� Donuts Park opened a year after it was supposed to because of missed deadlines and cost overruns.
Bronin said from City Hall Thursday that RMS Companies will be redeveloping five parcels of land outside the stadium 鈥� land the mayor called 鈥榓 sea of surface parking鈥�.
鈥淭he city is now clear to move forward and that鈥檚 exactly what we plan to do,鈥� Bronin said. 鈥淚鈥檝e already spoken with Randy Salvatore, the head of RMS [Companies]. We look forward now to finalizing that development agreement, getting the project moving forward as quickly as possible.鈥�
Randy Salvatore, the chairman and CEO of RMS Companies, was delighted by the judge鈥檚 decision.
鈥淲e are thrilled with the ruling and we stand ready to finalize our legal agreements with the City so we can break ground on this transformative project in the very near future,鈥� Salvatore said.
Bronin wouldn鈥檛 put a timeline on the project and he wouldn鈥檛 yet reveal what would go in there. He did say the new construction would likely feature retail at the bottom level with housing units being built on top of that.
