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www.HartfordBusiness.com • March 18, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 11 on DoNo redevelopment or a timetable for the project. When asked at a recent MetroHartford Alliance event when DoNo work might commence, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who in- herited the ballpark project from his predecessor and was originally skeptical of its financial impact, was blunt and honest. "I have no idea," he said, adding that the city is seeking the ability to move forward with development on the land prior to com- pletion of the Centerplan court case. "When we have a clear legal avenue, we can move forward as quickly as pos- sible," he said. Salvatore says the city- Centerplan scrap hasn't discouraged his plans. Indeed, he says Hartford's prospects during the wait have only gotten better with news of Infosys' plans to bring at least 1,000 jobs downtown in the coming year or so. Also, his existing downtown property, The Goodwin Hotel, is perform- ing well, he said. "The litigation is the big obstacle,'' Salvatore said. Best option One of the ballpark's ear- liest and biggest boosters, while acknowledging the city's stadium lease/non- baseball revenue sharing pact tilts in the Yard Goats' favor, is confident that building the ballpark was the best way to jump-start DoNo redevelopment. "I've said we ought to use this as our Bloomingdale's,'' said I. Charles Mathews, who oversaw the park's development and operation while, until last January, chair of the Hartford Sta- dium Authority. "You know what happens when you build a big mall?" First, it draws other larg- er retailers, which in turn lure other small, merchants who want to thrive in the shadows of their larger brethren, said Mathews, a former three-term city councilman who was Hartford's deputy mayor in the early '90s. Economic redevelopment of the 32 properties aggregated into four distinct clusters surrounding the ballpark was always the aim, he said, akin to what happened to West Hartford Center when the Blue Back Square mixed-use develop- ment debuted more than a decade ago. "It would be our Blue Back. And Dunkin' Donuts Park would be our Bloomingdale's,'' Mathews said. From city hall's vantage point, the stadium has won over some skeptics. City council President Glendowlyn L. H. Thames admits being among the stadium's early doubters. A lifelong city resident, she recalls Hartford leaders' previous stalled at- tempts at jump-starting development around downtown's gateway to the city's Clay-Arsenal and other North End neighborhoods. Thames said she has enjoyed attending Yard Goats games with her family, reminding her of days when the Hartford Whalers hockey team filled the then downtown Civic Center, now the XL Center. "OK, we have something here,'' she said of the Goats and their new home. She said communities like Hartford that harbor deep economic-develop- ment ambitions often miss opportunities to get com- munity buy-in on publicly fi- nanced projects because they don't take time to explain why projects exist or situated where they are. "Somehow elected officials and residents need to do a better job of communicating the value proposition of tak- ing risks,'' said Thames, who manages the small business innovation group, CTNext, within Connecticut Innova- tions, the state's quasi-public technology-investment arm. "Government plays a role in that,'" she said. "We can al- ways debate that as good or bad. But sometimes we have to take those risks.'' State Treasurer Shawn Wooden, who was Hartford city council president and a supporter when the stadium deal was announced, said "there is no question'' the team and ballpark "have delivered badly-needed new energy and economic life to the city." Still skeptical Not everyone is convinced the Dunkin' Donuts Park investment will pay off for the city. City council member Larry Deutsch, a physician and member of the Work- ing Families Party, says he remains suspect that the ballpark can trigger DoNo development sufficient enough to benefit city coffers and residents. "In the final analysis,'' Deutsch said, "the overall benefit to the people of the city cannot yet be measured.'' Still, Deutsch says he hopes the city's DoNo vision comes to fruition, but that it does so in a way that its benefits cross the lines of race and socioeconomic status. "Of course, along with meaningful community- benefits agreements, which we don't have, and including affordable housing,'' Deutsch said. "It's important so that we don't have a downtown exclusive by economic level or race.'' Some experts point to U.S. municipalities' checkered histories using public money to finance development of sports arenas as a cautionary tale for Hartford's economic- development ambitions. Andrew Zimbalist is an economics professor at Smith College in Northamp- ton, Mass., who authored "Sports, Jobs & Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums." Zim- balist says that once commu- nities commit to a stadium, they effectively divert money and other vital resources that could be used to improve school curricula or fix roads, among other public services. Also, land on which a public ballpark sits no longer generates tax revenue to a city, further impinging its financ- es, he said. When asked about Hartford's DoNo ambitions tied to the ballpark, Zimbalist said, "It doesn't look very encouraging to me.'' Neil deMause, a Brooklyn, N.Y., journal- ist-author, has examined dozens of sta- dium deals, including Hartford's, over the last 20 years, and concludes their overall economic contributions are minimal at worst, and difficult to measure at best. "There's an impression in the sports world that, if you build it, they will come,'' said deMause, a Wesleyan Uni- versity alum and co-author of "Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit." "If there is a positive impact, it is so small that it's not going to be measurable in the data.'' In an interview, Mayor Bronin acknowledged his concerns about his predecessor's decision to publicly fund the stadium. "My objections to the ballpark,'' the mayor said, "were that the numbers never really made sense to me. And that concern has been borne out.'' He also defended his decision to fire Centerplan, even though it's led to a prolonged court battle that has delayed DoNo development. "There really is no question in my mind" that firing Centerplan as sta- dium contractor was in the city's best interest, he said. He pointed as proof to the $42 million that Centerplan's bond insurer spent fixing some of the con- tractor's early work and completing the stadium. The project also went millions of dollars over its original budget. Bronin also credited the "beautiful park'' for drawing tens of thousands of baseball fans into the city. Continued on next page >> (Above) An artist's sketch of how the city's redeveloped Downtown North neighborhood around the ballpark might look someday. (Left) DoNo includes four separate quadrants with 32 total properties, mostly parking lots. RENDERING | CONTRIBUTED Hartford Stadium Authority revenue to city of Hartford FY 2018 Actual FY 2019 Budget Lease payment $275,000 $350,000 Naming rights $125,000 $125,000 DoNo Hartford $0 $154,970 PILOT payments Admissions tax $106,575 $0 Interest $402 $0 CL&P incentive program $38,000 $0 revenue 2018 CL&P incentive program $38,557 $0 revenue 2018 Parking revenue sharing for $34,695 $34,695 non-game day events HPA parking revenue $315,724 $428,189 Total city revenues $933,953 $1,092,854 Source: City of Hartford