Yard Goats stadium features rusting rebar, doors that don’t fit, hole in men’s room floor

Just when you thought the sad saga of the Hartford Yard Goats‘ never-completed stadium was almost over, along comes the stadium’s architect to do an audit of everything that’s still wrong with the place and make you goggle in horror once more:

The report, which The Courant obtained through a Freedom Of Information Act request, details exposed rusting rebar, cracking stairs, honeycombing and chipping concrete, improperly poured concourse slabs that invite pooling water, and clogged and improperly installed drains.

The report notes “cracks at both dugout roofs (underside fascia and above roof)” that “when exposed to freezing and thawing conditions will expand and move.”

Oof. That’s pretty bad, indeed, and suggests that there’s a lot more work to—

The report detailed multiple instances of doors being much smaller than required to match openings, which resulted in large amounts of sealant being used to close gaps, electrical outlets installed in the wrong places and in contrast to the designed drawings, improperly installed sprinklers, cable trays that interfere with signs, and gaps where walls and other structural elements meet throughout the ballpark.

Man, who were these bozos doing the construction work on this place? Anyway—

The report, dated Sept. 5, found repeated instances of “daylight” — around doors in premium suites, around ventilation and exhaust ducts, in the roof above the fireplace and sports bar, and in one case a gap in a men’s room floor that allows one to see into the floor below.

Guh.

The city’s insurance company still needs to hire a new contractor (or the old contractor, but maybe that wouldn’t be the best idea, under the circumstances) to repair all these defects and finish other unfinished elements, all in time for the stadium to open next April. Oh, and it’s about to be winter in Hartford, which tends to come with ice storms. There’s still a chance that the opening day 2017 construction deadline is blown, and the Eastern League ends up pulling the Yard Goats franchise and sending it to another city — or that Hartford just says screw it, slaps a new coat of paint on everything, and opens up a brand new taxpayer-funded ballpark where you get to look down on your fellow fans while peeing. Either way, it promises to be a lot more entertaining than watching Double-A baseball.

Other Recent Posts:

Share this post:

10 comments on “Yard Goats stadium features rusting rebar, doors that don’t fit, hole in men’s room floor

  1. Curious if the Insurance company can go after the developer to pay for someone else to fix the shoddy work.

    Would think that some of these items won’t affect the certificate of occupancy though, so still hopeful (though honestly I dont know why at this point) they can still get the team in there in April.

  2. Some people would consider “getting to look down on your fellow fans while peeing” to be a bonus feature, not a problem…

  3. Tell me again how all this was necessary in order to relocate a AA franchise the distance of your average Ryan Howard home run.

  4. Luckily the Hartford budget isn’t in a shortfall or anything: http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-hartford-mfac-finances-0915-20160914-story.html

  5. Not to get all Architecty or anything, but shouldn’t they have done regular site visits as the stadium was under construction? Any chance of this stadium being renamed “The Hartford Glory Hole?”

  6. I’m sure there’s some construction issues, but I’m sure 90% of the times I’ve seen rebar being used for construction, it’s got surface rust. Must have something to do with raw steel being stored outdoors in a heap for weeks/months as they slowly work their way up from the foundation.

    1. I think it’s the “exposed” part of “exposed rusting rebar” that’s the problem.

      The whole thing sets a new standard for “truth is sometimes stranger than fiction”. If you were writing a comedy about a mishandled stadium project, you’d never make it this ridiculous.

  7. Sorry to have left CT for St Pete. Miss all this Hartford stuff. Have to settle to go to
    a major league club for $15.00 on old codgers Thursdays.

  8. I would have to guess the architect is not getting full payment on this job and has simply pointed out every single construction issue as a CYA. Concrete cracks, that’s what it does. Rebar rusts, that’s what it does. Any construction project has hundreds of parties involved and when it goes bad, you blame as many as you can. It gets ugly. This place will make a good example in construction management classes of what not to do.

Comments are closed.