Hartford’s City Council, on Monday, approved a $9.9 million legal settlement of a 7-year-old lawsuit with the developer initially hired to build the city’s minor league baseball stadium and blocks of apartments on nearby empty lots.
The council went into a closed executive session for about 50 minutes Monday to discuss the settlement with Corporation Counsel Howard Rifkin before unanimously approving the measure.
Under the terms of the settlement, the city will pay $9.9 million to Arch Insurance, which spent approximately $34 million to complete Dunkin’ Park just north of downtown Hartford, following the city’s firing of Centerplan Construction Co. The city also terminated an agreement allowing a related company, DoNo Hartford LLC, to develop blocks of apartments around the stadium.
The city engaged with Stamford-based developer RMS Cos. in 2020 to pursue the development of about 1,000 apartments in buildings around the ballpark. The first 270-unit building was completed last year, but further progress was stymied by a revived lawsuit by Centerplan and DoNO, which claimed ongoing development rights to the parcels.
Under the settlement, the city will pay $9.9 million to Arch Insurance, which will drop the remainder of a $39 million judgment it won against Centerplan in court. Arch will even pay the developer $1.8 million.
And both Centerplan and DoNo will drop their claims against the city, allowing RMS to push ahead with the next phase of development around the stadium.
At Monday night’s meeting, held remotely via computer, Councilman Joshua Michtom admitted he was frustrated by the short window between the announcement of the settlement and the meeting, given the complexity of the settlement.
“It’s complicated,” Michtom said. “And I say that as a lawyer.”
Even so, Michtom agreed with Mayor Luke Bronin’s assessment that it was a prudent deal that avoids legal risks, additional legal costs and years of further delay to development around the ballpark.
“So, even though it’s a lot of money the city is laying out, I feel it’s money well spent compared to the many years of litigation where all those things don’t get developed, where we don’t get tax revenue and where we potentially get exposed to more loss,” Michtom said.
