The unfinished $63 million minor-league baseball stadium in Hartford, Conn., is not covered by property insurance.
That’s the latest in the continuing saga of the 6,000-seat Dunkin’ Donuts Park, which likely will not host a game this season for the double-A Hartford Yard Goats. The stadium is about 95 percent complete.
Craig S. Trujillo, Hartford’s deputy chief auditor, told the city’s internal audit commission that the city’s insurance policy covering property losses during construction at the stadium ended when the city terminated its contract with developers DoNo Hartford LLC and Centerplan Cos., last week. City officials also ordered the developers off the stadium’s premises.
“The bottom line is the city’s investment in that stadium is not insured for property and contents,” Trujillo told the Hartford Courant. “There is no insurance on that property for perils, like windstorms, like fires.”
Related: More Drama Unfolds Around $63M Hartford Ballpark
The news did not sit well with Hartford Commissioner Bruce Rubenstein, who said the city should have considered the insurance ramifications before terminating the contract “and they did not do it.”
“I’m not really happy with the way it’s gone by looking at it after it’s happened,” Rubenstein said at a meeting Wednesday, according to the Courant. “A responsible corporation counsel, chair of the stadium authority and the mayor should have gone to the risk manager before pulling the plug.”
Last week, the Eastern League announced that Hartford’s home series June 21-23 against the Richmond (Va.) Flying Squirrels will be played in Manchester, N.H., and its home series June 25-26 against the Erie (Pa.) SeaWolves will be played in Norwich, Conn., site of Hartford’s home games this season. Future home games have yet to be rescheduled.
Meanwhile, seasonal workers who were hired to work at Dunkin’ Donuts Park this year are left out in the cold. Yahaira Davila is one of 316 Hartford residents who were hired as part-time workers, according to the Courant.
“Right now, we’re doing horrible,” Davila, who was counting on the food-service job as her primary source of income, told the newspaper. “It’s stressful and depressing. The kids are asking for stuff we can’t give them.”
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