🔒Ballpark can be a magnet for Hartford

If you build it, they will come.

Dunkin' Donuts Park blew my mind. Everything about downtown Hartford's new minor-league baseball stadium was just perfect (i.e. the field, facilities, concession stands, staff, big screen, etc.).

Hartford will be a better city with the stadium and the Yard Goats, and soon all of the vacant land around the stadium will be developed (in three to six years).

When the commercial spaces across the street from downtown Hartford's Connecticut Convention Center were first built, many people had doubts if anyone would occupy all of those spaces. It took some five years, but look at the Front Street Entertainment District today, how it transformed that part of the city. It takes vision, time and believing in the product you are selling and never giving up on your idea.

We need to appreciate what Hartford has and continue to have a positive attitude that Hartford is and will become a better city.

To be completely honest, when I arrived at the stadium I felt like a kid in a candy store. I could not stand still. I wanted to see in detail the whole facility and taste everything they were selling.

The atmosphere was electric and I could hear the cash registers ringing. Literally, I purchased every type of memorabilia they had to offer.

After this experience at the ballpark, I will no longer accept Hartford residents complaining about Hartford. We all have to be positive and patient and be part of the solution for our great city to thrive.

Interesting enough, most of the people I meet that come from other states find Hartford to be a terrific city. We are not New York or Boston and we never will be. But Hartford has its own jewels and its own special neighborhoods.

Every city has its challenges and all it takes is one person, one idea, one corporation, to begin to change the landscape and the minds of everyone.

After the game, there were people everywhere. While I was walking six or seven blocks to my car, all I could think about was how great this experience was and safety never entered my mind.

The world evolves every day. If we don't move forward we will stay back and other cities will surpass us and will hurt the future of Hartford. Everyone who is skeptical should come to this great city and see as many games as they can possibly see or afford. Come early (enjoy all the bars and restaurants) and stay after the games, and you will see Hartford change.

I am a believer and I have proof that if you build it they will come. I was so impressed with Dunkin' Donuts Park that I bought season tickets. Let's make the Yard Goats have the best attendance in the league and let's all be proud of Hartford.

In the end, if we all support what we have, Hartford will retain more Millennials and attract new residents, stores, shops and developers. Then, corporations will see Hartford as the great hidden jewel that resides between New York City and Boston and all of that translates to jobs, jobs and more jobs.

Carlos Mouta is a Hartford entrepreneur-developer who has built the city's first micro-apartments and is planning its first food hall.