The legal battle between the city of Hartford and the developers of its stalled and shuttered minor league ballpark has now begun in earnest.
Developers at Centerplan Companies filed suit yesterday in state court, asking a judge to force the city to reverse its termination of the company. It also wants to the court to compel the city into a dispute resolution process included in their contract.
Work stopped weeks ago at the stadium for the Hartford Yard Goats, after the project was both late and over budget. The city and the developer blame each other for the problems. Eventually, the city terminated the developer and brought in the company's surety, Arch Insurance, to essentially finish the job.
But that's a long process and no substantial work has been done at the stadium since the city effectively cut its ties with Centerplan.
Centerplan's Bob Landino declined to comment. Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin issued this 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.