Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com August 17, 2015 • Hartford Business Journal 3 Football player takes over delayed Hartford stadium project By Brad Kane bkane@HartfordBusiness.com A former college and arena football player has taken over control of the delayed $12 million Dillon Stadium project in Hart- ford, with plans to construct a new facility for his professional soccer team to play starting with the 2017 season. James Duckett, CEO of Black Diamond Con- sulting, has merged his company with the previ- ous contractor for the Dillon Stadium project — Hartford-based Premier Sports Management Group (PSMG) — which originally planned to have the redeveloped stadium complete for the 2016 outdoor soccer season. Last week, Duckett's com- pany announced a new pro soccer team, Hartford City FC, has joined the Major Arena Soccer League, and will play 10 indoor games at the XL Center starting this November. The goal is to eventually have Hartford City FC also join the North American Soccer League (NASL) to play outdoor games at Dil- lon Stadium. "I am excited to bring the out- door team here, too," Duckett said. "This is just one piece of the pie here, and we are going to have a few more." Black Diamond plans to privately finance the new professional soccer stadium, Duck- ett said, but he did not disclose potential financiers. The Dillon Stadium demolition originally was supposed to be completed by July 7 but has been beset by delays. The city of Hartford, which owns the stadium that sits in Colt Park, retained PSMG to oversee the demolition and construction of a new facility after terminating its tentative deal with the original developer. The city set aside $12 million over three years in its budget for Dillon Stadium, a por- tion of which has been spent on environmen- tal testing and initial demolition work. If Black Diamond uses private financing for the new stadium, the city might not spend its entire $12 million, said Stephen Cole, Hart- ford's director of economic development, who added the city will lease the new stadium to Black Diamond after construction is complete. Negotiations with the city and Black Dia- mond still are ongoing, but the lease could last as long as 48 years without renewal, Cole said. The city's agreement with Black Diamond on Dillon Stadium's demolition has been finalized, and Massachusetts-based Wise Construction is set to begin demolition of the original stadium in the next couple of weeks. The demolition will be finished in time for the construction of the new stadium to begin in mid- October, said Mitch Anderson, president of the former PSMG and now vice president of operations for Black Diamond. "We have to destroy that thing," Anderson said. Legal limbo Anderson took over the Dillon Sta- dium project in May 2014 after the city ended its deal with the project's original devel- oper, Hartford consul- tant Civic Mind. Whereas Anderson's vision for the stadium centered on bringing a professional soccer team to the city, the Civic Mind proposal focused more on using it as a venue for local high school and community sports, as well as events, which is more in line with the historic use of Dillon. In December, Civic Mind sued the city, Anderson and PSMG for at least $866,000 argu- ing, among other things, that its contract was wrongfully terminated. The city tried to have the suit dismissed, but that request was denied. The trial is scheduled to begin sometime in 2017 unless the sides decide to settle, said Peter Mar- tin, attorney for law firm Hinckley Allen, who is representing Civic Mind. "They refused to meet with us. As far as I know, we are working toward trial," Martin said. Anderson and the city's attorney, Lisa Sil- vestri, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Order today and get 20% off! Subscribe online: www.HartfordBusiness.com/hbjdelivers or call: 845-267-3008 and provide discount code HH15DB Offer expires 8/31/15 Delivering Business. When you need information to grow your business, we deliver! Subscribe today to receive weekly issues in print and digital, plus special publications and full online access! G r e at e r H a r t f o r d ' s B u s i n e s s n e w s w w w. H a r t f o rd B u s i n e s s . c o m for more B2B news visit March 31, 2014 Volume 22, number 19 $3.00 subscribe online June 5, 2014 Only 10 weeks until C T B E x p o . c o m Index ■ Reporter's Notebook: PG. 5 ■ Week in Review: PG. 6 ■ The List: PG. 10 ■ Deal Watch: PG. 11 ■ Nonprofit Notebook: PG. 19 ■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 20 Faces oF Business Main Street Mainstay Manchester's Bray Jewelers has survived for almost 100 years. Read about the family business' secrets to success and what makes customers keep coming back. PG. 3 Focus: economic DeveloPment Social Entrepreneurship Hartford business accelerator aims to nurture socially conscious businesses. PG. 8 Music copyright lawsuits cost restaurants unexpected thousands By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com A few years ago, nine songs were played inside Shelton's Vazzy's Cucina restaurant that ended up costing owners John Vazzano and Vincent L. Noce $18,000. That's because an agent of licensing giant Broadcast Music Inc., which represents the artists who owned the tracks, attested to being present when the tunes were played and sued Vazzano and Noce for copyright infringement, claiming the restaurant's music qualified as a public per- formance. Under federal copyright law, that meant the restaurant had to pay for the rights to play the songs, BMI said. Vazzano said he thinks a private party actually played the tunes. Broadcast Music Inc. • Founded in 1939 • Represents more than 600,000 songwriters and publishers with more than 8.5 million songs. • Distributed 85 cents of every dollar in licensing revenue in royalties — that amounted to $814 million in fiscal 2013. By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com B y late May, the Corporation For Independent Living (CIL) expects to have in its hands title to the derelict Capewell Horse- nails factory in Hartford's South End in a bid to convert the idle eyesore into 72 apartments and an adjacent parcel into 24 affordable townhomes. If it does, it will open another fruit- ful chapter for a South End nonprofit that has leveraged — and exported — its talent as a group-home developer to shelter a diverse swath of central Connecticut's population. It, too, will be one of the final swan songs before the yearend retirement of its first and only chief executive. Since its launch in 1979 to finance, build, lease out — then ultimately give away — supportive shelter for thou- sands of the state's physically and mentally disabled, CIL has invested $458 million to construct or convert 2,205 dwelling units into shelter for 7,200 residents in Connecticut and Massachusetts. For at least a dozen years, CIL has applied that same skill set to its expand- ing for-profit realty development opera- tions that include Capewell, and a neigh- boring nonprofit-office-space cluster. In February, CIL announced it bought and will resume work on the $3.34 mil- lion Depot Crossing mixed-use project John Vazzano, owner of Vazzy's Cucina in Shelton, was upset when his restaurant had to pay $18,000 to settle a music copyright lawsuit. P h O t O | P a b l O R O b l e s Continued on page 16 Continued on page 15 Martin "Marty'' Legault, president and CEO, Corporation For Independent Living (CIL) With Legault, developer CIL soars as landlord Sued for a ong Continued Black Diamond CEO James Duckett (right) and Vice President of Operations Mitch Anderson bookend the star player for their new indoor soccer team, Tommy Williams, who played soccer professionally in England. H B J P H O T O | B R A D K A N E

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