With the construction schedule for Dunkin’ Donuts Park, home of the Hartford Yard Goats (Class AA; Eastern League), blown up and reassembled for a May 31 opening, progress is monitored daily and work has accelerated to six days a week.
As you’ll recall, there was much drama in Hartford after it was announced an April opening date would be missed — to the point where two extra months and tens of millions of dollars were needed to complete the ballpark. The Yard Goats will play the first two months of the year on the road, while crews work to finish the ballpark.
That work is being done now, with the schedule pushed to six days a week, and daily reports issued on the state of the construction. From the Hartford Courant:
On the ballpark’s upper concourse, concrete flooring is nearing completion, but framing of the team’s 18 glass-enclosed “premium suites” has not begun. This area will also include a sports bar and lounge, the team’s offices, a “ballroom” for corporate affairs, and the gas fireplace. An area here will open onto Main Street.
The 6,000-seat ballpark will also feature symbols from corporate sponsors. A large Dunkin’ Donuts coffee cup will emit steam to celebrate a home run. A stag, the symbol for another corporate sponsor, The Hartford Financial Services Group, will grace the roof near “the knuckle,” where the first base grandstand and right field grandstand meet.
For Rudnick, the construction manager, the pace of progress shows that the ballpark is on track for May 17, the date for “substantial completion.”
That schedule includes structural steel — minus the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee cup — 100 percent complete by March 9, the first milestone the developer must meet under the new agreement. Team owner Josh Solomon said he expects the coffee cup to be up for opening day.
By the way, the team unveiled an amusing and very silly jingle the other day:
Image of Dunkin’ Donuts Park from Feb. 1 courtesy Hartford Yard Goats.
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