Advertisement

Hartford's minor league stadium focus of reported FBI investigation

Dunkin' Donuts Park is expected to be open for business in April. (Hartford Courant)
Dunkin’ Donuts Park is expected to be open for business in April. (Hartford Courant)

The strange saga surrounding the construction of Dunkin’ Donuts Park has added another layer.

According to the Hartford Courant, the city’s publicly funded minor-league park is now the focus of an investigation being conducted by the FBI.

[Sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Baseball | 2017 Player Rankings]

The Courant story notes that details of the investigation have not been released by the FBI or the office of U.S. Attorney Dierdre M. Daly. However, Hartford mayor Luke Bronin told the paper he believes the investigation is focused on Centerplan Construction Co., which originally oversaw the stadium’s development.

Centerplan has since been fired due to cost overruns and other issues that have delayed the stadium’s construction and pushed back its opening. The Courant estimates that the stadium has already cost Hartford $71M, which far exceeds the initial estimate of $56M.

“The probe being reported today is not focused on the City of Hartford, and we believe that it was prompted by information proactively shared by the City of Hartford,” Bronin said. “As you know, my administration terminated Centerplan Construction Company in June for failure to perform, but we also expressed a much broader lack of confidence in Centerplan.”

The information Bronin alluded to centers around allegations that vendors and subcontractors involved in the project were not compensated by Centerplan. One report indicates upwards of $8M is still owed.

Here are a few more troubling details from the Courant story.

Corporation Counsel Howard Rifkin said Friday he told federal law enforcement that payments due ballpark contractors by Centerplan had not been made.

“The city went to the FBI with concerns based on allegations that certain vendors and subcontractors that should have been paid were not paid, and that the amount was quite large,” Rifkin said. “So we went to the FBI and said ‘We’d like you to take a look at it because something is not right with the picture’.”

Rifkin would not elaborate. Sources with knowledge of the matter said, however, that as much as $8 million to $12 million may be due subcontractors.

Yard Goats’ owner Josh Solomon said Friday, “The team was contacted by numerous subcontractors about non payment from Centerplan and we referred those complaints to the City of Hartford. We are hopeful that the subcontractors will be fully compensated.”

Centerplan is also currently the target of a lawsuit by Green Comfort Solutions, Inc., which claims it was not paid for more than $103,000 in work it did on the project prior to Centerplan’s removal.

We knew this story had some messy layers to it. This gives us a clearer picture of just how big and just how messy it is.

If there’s a small silver lining beyond these legal matters, it’s that the new developers plan to have the stadium ready for opening day this April. The Hartford Yard Goats, Double-A affiliates of the Colorado Rockies, will finally have a place to call their own. But it’s going to be a long time before the stench of this disastrous process clears the city’s air.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!