The city of Hartford expects to appeal a judge’s ruling that it underpaid a developer for a parcel of land it seized through eminent domain situated near Dunkin’ Donuts Park.
The city owes the land’s former developer about $3 million, according to a ruling in a Hartford Superior Court case involving the city’s use of eminent domain to acquire the property, which helped make way for the minor league baseball stadium.
“Look, it’s obviously frustrating that we may be on the hook once again for actions taken by the prior administration,” Bronin said in an email. “That said, we believe that we have grounds for appeal and we expect to appeal.”
In her decision Monday, Judge Constance Epstein ruled that the property had a fair market value of just over $4.8 million when the city acquired it for only $1.98 million from CBV Parking Hartford LLC.
The property consists of fourteen tax lots on Main Street, Ann Uccello Street, and Chapel Street North, according to the lawsuit.
By using eminent domain for acquisition of the property without acknowledging potential development of the Dunkin’ Donuts Park minor baseball league stadium, Epstein said, the city in its appraisals inappropriately devalued the property.
“The most astounding shortcoming of both of the city’s appraising experts is that neither of them took into account the announcement of the ballpark, despite the facts that their previous appraisals did not include the consideration of the major change of the construction of a ballpark …,” the judge wrote.
The stadium project is embroiled in lawsuits, and the Hartford Yard Goats team, having lost a year of play after the city fired its developer, now hopes to use the facility in April, if it is completed in time for the 2017 baseball season.Â
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