HARTFORD — The City Council has approved a developer’s $46 million plan to bring new housing, retail and parking to the first of four barren parcels around Dunkin’ Donuts Park.
But the 200,000 square foot mixed-use project still faces another hurdle — the various Downtown North properties themselves are tied up in a long-delayed legal battle between the city and the fired developer of the ballpark.
The former developer, Centerplan Construction Co., has blocked development by placing liens on the parcels surrounding the stadium, even as the city selected a new firm, Stamford-based RMS Cos., to take over the 13-acre project nearly a year ago. Centerplan’s lawsuit against the city, alleging wrongful firing, headed to trial last week in Superior Court in Hartford.
Council President Glendowlyn Thames said she was crossing her fingers “with respect to having a positive outcome of the trial,” because “in the event that moves in our favor, we need to be ready to go.”
City council members voted unanimously Monday — with Councilwoman Maly Rosado absent — to green light the city’s development agreement with RMS Cos. for the first phase of the Downtown North project. Upon its successful completion, RMS can take on the rest of the planned development, which would add about 800 apartments, 60,000 square feet of retail space and 2,000 parking spaces around the stadium.
That caveat offers the city some much-needed protection following the ballpark development, which experienced soaring costs for the city, the firing of the developer and a year delay in opening.
“This project is performance based, so we are not just handing title over to all the parcels at once,” Thames said. “We are doing one parcel at a time, to ensure accountability. To the extent this developer doesn’t do what they’re supposed to do, doesn’t hit the numbers they’re supposed to hit, we have an opportunity to review whether you get the next bite of the apple.”
RMS Cos. was the sole firm to bid on Downtown North development last year. Randy Salvatore, RMS’ owner and founder, originally said he could start construction as early as this May, but now says he could begin work by the end of the year, assuming the legal issues are resolved, and complete the building by fall 2020.
The project would add 210 mixed-income apartments, 11,000 square feet of retail and community space and a parking garage of about 250 spaces to what’s known as Parcel C, a vacant property across from the ballpark at Trumbull and Main streets.
Twenty units will be affordable to families making 60 to 80 percent of the average median income in the Hartford metropolitan statistical area, which is about $71,000. The city will help support those units using available federal dollars, contributing up to $900,000 over 20 years, according to the agreement.
The city may also decide to create a reserve fund to support the affordable units, in the event RMS cannot make payments on its debt because of the revenue it’s giving up by renting the units below market rate.
RMS will also make good faith efforts to ensure 30 percent of the construction work goes to Hartford residents, and 15 percent goes to minority- and women-owned businesses. The firm must pay $10,000 to an entity of the city’s choosing that will support the recruitment and engagement of minority- and women-owned businesses and Hartford-based contractors working on the development.
RMS will not owe any property taxes for the first two years of its ground lease. In years 3, 4 and 5, the company will make payments in lieu of taxes equal to 5 percent of the project’s actual gross revenue. After that, the payments will be equal to 7 percent of actual gross revenue.
Rebecca Lurye can be reached at rlurye@courant.com.
