Members of the ownership group heading Hartford’s new soccer team said Monday they are keeping a close eye on the budget for Dillon Stadium and making plans should construction take longer than initially expected. Plans call for the stadium to be completed by April, but if it isn’t the team would play home games at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.
The $10 million renovations at the city’s storied venue at Colt Park are underway, but concerns are popping up, Capital Region Development Authority executive director Mike Freimuth told The Courant last week. The CRDA is overseeing construction for the stadium, which will be the new home of the Hartford Athletic soccer team, which will be part of the United Soccer League.
The site of the stadium is the main factor in driving up the cost of the project, Bruce Mandell, who heads the team ownership group, said Monday.
“It’s a riverbed,” Mandell said. “The soil really was the driver, it impacts everything. It’s very soft soil, and you’ve got to put a lot of cement and reinforcements and steel, it was just a reality.”
Mandell said the team would play home games at Rentschler Field if Dillon is not ready in time.
“We don’t want to do that, we hope not to do that,” he said. “But we also want to be in a position where we’re planning ahead.”
He added, “Again, we’re in New England. If we get a good winter, we’ll be good. If we get a bad winter, we’ll probably have some delays.”
The construction crew is working to make a level playing surface at the stadium. Mandell said when construction began, one side of the stadium was a foot higher than the opposite end. That, along with a sizing issue with the new bleachers, could potentially drive up the cost of the project. To counter that, the CRDA will look to cut back on some features.
The CRDA is debating on fixing the existing scoreboard at Dillon as opposed to installing a new one. Mandell is in favor of the decision if it can save the project money.
“What we’re going to look at, especially for the first year and getting off the ground, is to be as cost effective as possible,” he said. “If we end up using the old scoreboard or fixing it up in some way, great.”
Freimuth said that the stadium’s maintenance had been deferred for 30 or 40 years, which has required more work than initially expected.
“Every week we sacrifice something else. We’re losing the whistles and the bells and getting down to the basics,” he said. “That’s essentially what you do in these things.”
The CRDA also said that it may need to reduce the expected number of seats down from 6,000 to 5,000, although Mandell clarified that the minimum right now is 5,500 seats, and that 6,000 is still in play.
He added that the stadium has the possibility to expand in the future, too.
“Everything is being built to expand, which is great,” Mandell said. “So that once we’re up and running and we prove ourselves, hopefully there’s a lot of demand, we can quickly build. The stadium can go upwards of 10,000.”
Mandell said that Hartford Sports Group is planning for a scenario in which the total cost of the project rises. It was originally slated to be $10 million, and Mandell said that he anticipates any extra costs to be paid for privately.
Mandell recognizes that the public may be wary of the delays. Members of the last group that attempted to renovate Dillon and bring a pro soccer team to Hartford was convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges. Mandell noted that while the process of renovating a stadium and starting up an expansion team has been difficult, he pointed out that both Hartford Sports Group and the community have fully backed the project.
“It’s hard work, and everyone wants it to happen,” he said. “There’s no negative drag on this. It’s no yellow lights. It’s all green, it’s a community project. People get it, and are so supportive. Never the less, it’s really a lot of work to put it together, and things do pop up.”
Source: The Hartford Courant