If Hartford wants the XL Center to be a state-of-the-art arena, the venue’s footprint must be expanded, a team of consultants hired by the Capitol Region Development Authority said Thursday evening.
The current 145,000-square-foot site doesn’t have enough room for premium seating, a new concourse, bathrooms and other facilities, the report said.
That leaves two options: Renovate the existing structure at a price of $250 million, or tear down the existing venue and build it entirely anew for between $450 million and $500 million.
Both options assume an expanded footprint of 218,000 square feet. And both price tags don’t include land costs.
“There’s a recognition that the building doesn’t work,’’ said architect-consultant Murray Benyon, of SCI Architects in New York/Toronto, which was involved in the billion-dollar makeover of iconic Madison Square Garden Arena.
The first option would provide 1,000 additional seats and a better truck loading area, but it would also mean all events that may have been held at the XL Center would have to go elsewhere for approximately three years, the report said.
Those lost events would hit local businesses and may mean certain shows never come back to Hartford, particularly given the active entertainment bookers at the state’s two casinos, and the coming construction of a casino just over the state border in Springfield.
“In this regard, speed is particularly important,” the report said.
Transforming the venue would take 26 to 32 months, and would mean that XL wouldn’t be forced to displace UConn games and other mainly fall and winter events, though events in the warmer months would have to go elsewhere.
The second option would also require less demolition of the adjacent Northland building’s office and retail tenant space.
DOWNLOAD PDFs
