Gov. Ned Lamont proposes $55M investment in Hartford’s XL Center arenaA languishing plan to renovate Hartford’s aging XL Center arena could get a $55 million public funding boost spread out over two years under the state capital improvement plan proposed Wednesday by Gov. Ned Lamont.
A $100 million renovation plan — seen by supporters as crucial to Hartford’s revitalization — would focus on upgrades to the lower half of the 16,000-seat arena. The alternative has been on the table since the end of 2018. A grander, $250 million top-to-bottom transformation — including the addition of a second upper concourse — was scrapped after the cost ran up against opposition in the state legislature.Lamont signaled support for a renovation early in his administration, but tempered his enthusiasm by saying not all of the cost should be shouldered by state taxpayers. The state is now in the midst of a study to determine what kind of returns private investors could expect if they sunk money into the project.
“The governor has made clear that we want to find a way other than just general obligation bonds to pay for it.,” House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said, after Lamont’s State of the State address Wednesday. “We’re going to try to give him some options.”
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David Lehman, the state’s commissioner of economic and community development, said Wednesday the option of attracting private investors is still alive.
“To the extent there is a sensible solution where we can access third-party capital — we’re supposed to be exploring that,” Lehman said, after the address. “To the extent that we feel that’s not viable or not in the best interest or the cost isn’t right or the partnership isn’t right, we won’t.”
Senate Republican leader Len Fasano has been a frequent critic of further state investment in the arena because of its money-losing history. The funds, he says, would be better used elsewhere in the state.
“I still don’t know what the end game is on the XL Center,” Fasano said. “We need to find an exit strategy.”
The $55 million — $27.5 million for the current fiscal year and the same in the next — would still need to be approved by state lawmakers and authorized by the State Bond Commission. If it is, however, it would be added to $35 million already backed by the bond commission for the project, bringing the total close to the $100 million.
Michael W. Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, which oversees the arena, said CRDA is studying future market demand and what that might mean for revenue from seating, concessions and other sources.
Operations that produce revenue are likely to be the parts of the arena operation that would most reasonably attract private investors.
“Regardless, public dollars will remain necessary yet unappealing to private investors for such items as mechanical, electrical and plumbing and upgraded security, rigging and IT needs,” Freimuth said, in an email.
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In the $100 million alternative, the focus would be on creating more premium seating in the lower half of the arena — loge seating, bunker suites and other configurations reflecting the trend in modern arenas placing the best seats closest to the action. The XL Center suites are now at the top of the arena.
Premium seating could have its own amenities and restrooms, thereby eliminating much of the need to walk into the concourse during events, cutting down on congestion, CRDA says.
More premium seating would be more profitable because, in theory, those patrons would spend more for customized food and beverage services.
The upper half of the arena would contain more general admission, but to further cut down on congestion, the concourse would be pushed out into the existing atrium outside the existing entrance off Trumbull Street. The atrium, privately owned by Northland Investment Corp. would have to be acquired. Attempts to purchase the atrium have, so far, been unsuccessful.
As with the premium seating, shorter wait lines would likely make concessions in general admission more profitable.
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