Segarra To Seek Meeting With State About Neighborhood North Of Downtown

Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra said this week that would seek a meeting with state officials in the hope of gaining financing for projects north of downtown.

Segarra said he had not spoken with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy about financing for the development.

Future financing would be based on the city’s efforts to develop the entire neighborhood, Segarra said, not just the $350 million DoNo Hartford project that the city council approved this fall, which includes a $57 million stadium.

The development that has been approved, Segarra said, “is only 15 acres of what is potentially over 100 acres in that area.”

Segarra made the comments Tuesday as he left the monthly MetroAlliance Rising Star Breakfast at the new Infinity Music Hall at Front Street. Malloy spoke at the event but did not discuss Hartford development.

The meeting, Segarra said, “will be requested soon.” He added that he would expect the state-backed Capital Region Development Authority to have a role — which has not happened in the planning of the development so far.

Malloy has said repeatedly that it would be up to Hartford to finance a planned baseball stadium, which would be part of Downtown North and would used by the Double-A baseball team now called the New Britain Rock Cats.

Segarra said any request to the state would include the city’s hope to levy a ticket tax, which officials have said would require a change in state statutes. But it also would include hopes for broader financial assistance.

And that assistance could be tied to the ballpark even if it were not aimed at paying for the venue directly, because the city plans to pay off the stadium lease, about $4.2 million a year for 25 years, in significant part from property tax revenues generated at the overall development.

The stadium plan is controversial in part because it would move the team from New Britain to Hartford, and in part because many people in the capital city believe it would be a drain on city finances even though Segarra said it will bring income over the life of the stadium.

Both the city and the state could benefit from the stadium and the broader development in several ways. The city would realize additional property tax revenues amounting to between $2 million and $3 million a year from DoNo Hartford during the life of the stadium, and perhaps more revenues beyond that. The city would also benefit if the development were to spark nearby construction, and raise the value of commercial and residential property nearby.

The state would see the income tax and sales tax benefits of additional jobs, both direct and indirect. That amount could be very significant if the activity were to create the 1,200 jobs predicted by the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at UConn.

“I will be looking for mechanisms under which the state can share some of those revenues,” Segarra said in response to my question about state aid for the stadium. “We want some of those revenues to be pumped back into the development beyond the 15 acres.”

Several city officials told Courant Staff Writer Jenna Carlesso this week that they were not aware of efforts by the city to seek state money through the administration, although Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, has said he would seek help through the legislature.