Attorneys representing the city in a lawsuit brought by the developer initially selected for, and later terminated from an effort to build what is now Dunkin’ Park, are seeking a court order that would allow development on several parcels surrounding the ballpark to proceed despite a trial scheduled for next year.
On Friday, attorneys with Harford-based Carlton Fields filed a motion for discharge of lis pendens. They say the “lis pendens,” or pending litigation revived by the plaintiffs, is a “recycled version of their previously discharged lis pendens.”
Last year, the state Supreme Court overturned an earlier ruling in Superior Court that said the parties’ contracts “did not unambiguously grant the plaintiffs legal control of the architect and the stadium’s design across all relevant time periods.”
Attorneys for Centerplan and its offshoot companies, known as DoNo, believe their clients have a right to continue developing the North Crossing project, which includes several city-controlled properties surrounding Dunkin’ Park.
But the city says the legal dispute was already discharged and cannot be resurrected now.
“Those lis pendens were already discharged by this court, pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-325b, and as a matter of law, the DoNo Plaintiffs cannot simply revive a discharged lis pendens by re-recording a ‘new’ one at a later date,” the motion states.
The city hired Centerplan in 2015 to develop the ballpark for $56 million, along with four parcels around it. The following year, the city terminated Centerplan, saying the company was at fault for construction-related delays.
Centerplan sued the city for wrongful termination and breach of contract, claiming it was owed $6 million.
The roughly 6,000-seat ballpark was completed in 2017. The city worked with Centerplan’s insurer to complete the stadium and picked Stamford-based RMS Cos. to build apartments on several blocks around it.
RMS has already built 270 apartment units on property next to the stadium, known at The Pennant. But with a new trial set for 2024, the rest of the projects are on hold. RMS CEO Randy Salvatore has said he still wants to develop the remaining parcels, no matter how long it takes to clear legal roadblocks.
The crux of the city’s argument in the motion for discharge is that the “refiled lis pendens interferes with RMS’ vested rights to develop the additional parcels, after already having developed Parcel C (The Pennant).” If prior leases to Centerplan for the other properties were enforced, “RMS would be stripped of this vested right entirely,” the filing states.
According to a memorandum of law in support of the motion for discharge, RMS claims the pending litigation will have a “devastating financial impact on RMS and the city,” which “far outweigh(s) the impact on the DoNo Plaintiffs …”
Also, on Thursday, Superior Court Judge Cesar Noble scheduled a hearing on the city’s motion to dismiss at 10 a.m. Aug. 7, at Hartford Superior Court, 95 Washington St.
