Centerplan Construction Co. and its subsidiary DoNo Hartford LLC are suing the city of Hartford in an attempt to get back to work on Dunkin’ Donuts Park, the home to the Double-A baseball Hartford Yard Goats.
The Middletown developer said in a filing in Superior Court that the city of Hartford failed to take contract disputes to mediation and/or arbitration as outlined in the initial contract. The complaint said there are no provisions in the contract to build the park that allow the performance bond to be pulled without first seeking arbitration or mediation.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin had a strong response to the lawsuit. He said in a statement, “Last week DoNo LLC went after headlines with a fake offer to pay for the stadium’s completion, this week they’re filing a lawsuit to obstruct its completion. While we deal with this latest action from DoNo LLC, we remain focused on working productively with the surety, Arch Insurance, to ensure that a responsible, capable partner takes control of the project.”
Centerplan said in its court filing it is not in default on the project because the city of Hartford did not give it proper notice of and time to fix any defaults it may have identified. Centerplan argues in its filing it should have had seven days to fix any perceived problems.
The developers also argue that the city by locking them out of the stadium bypassed an established mediation process. It also said the city did not submit disputes to a retired judge who had been selected to resolve complaints.
Centerplan and DoNo Hartford also are seeking to prohibit the city from bringing in another contractor before the mediation and arbitration processes have been followed.
