Key financing for the first phase of the planned $200-million mixed-use development surrounding Hartford’s Dunkin’ Donuts Park was approved Thursday, pushing the project closer to a summer groundbreaking.
The Capital Region Development Authority’s (CRDA) board of directors on Thursday afternoon unanimously approved, via teleconference, an $11.8 million low-cost loan for the first phase of the project led by RMS Cos.
The State Bond Commission previously approved a $12-million loan for the DoNo project, but CRDA has already spent $200,000 of those funds to study demolition of the nearby data center structure on Parcel D of the Downtown North (DoNo) property.
In the first phase of development on “Parcel C” along Main Street, RMS plans to build a 270-unit apartment complex, ground-level retail space and a 330-space parking garage on city-owned land flanking the ballpark.
Randy Salvatore, founder and CEO of RMS, said the first phase, estimated to cost $46 million, could be completed in 18 months. The development will house up to 1,000 new apartments when the entire project is completed in the next six or so years.
Prior to the meeting, CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth told HBJ the developer is expected to break ground sometime this summer.
Salvatore in February said construction could begin sometime in April. However, Freimuth this week suggested the timeline was pushed back due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The project is close to closing with the bank and the equity sources,” Freimuth told the board via conference call Thursday. “The city has worked out the land transfer agreements, the city has worked out a pilot agreement, and we are ready to walk it forward.”
In early March, the city of Hartford signed a development agreement with RMS, which the city selected as its preferred developer for the DoNo parcels, to build the housing and retail development.
Salvatore began to move forward with the project last summer after a Superior Court judge discharged the liens on the parcels around Dunkin’ Donuts Park. RMS has recently been at the site conducting inspections and other due-diligence work, city officials say.
