CANTLON’S CORNER: XL CENTER GETS FUNDING FOR RENOVATION

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The XL Center will be rebooted.

The seven-year odyssey to rebuild/re-boot a 45-year-old building finally has life.

Wednesday afternoon the Connecticut State House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly for a combined $3 billion in new state bonding (borrowing) over the next two years.

Scores of projects to fix public schools, improve transportation, and upgrade the XL Center in Hartford were included in that package.

The State Senate is expected to approve the package later Wednesday.

The XL Center portion of the package includes the request for $27.5 million in the first year, and even more money, $37.5 million in the second year for improvements to the XL Center in downtown Hartford.

House Republicans offered an amendment to delete the funding for the XL Center, but Democrats rejected the amendment in a mostly party-line vote.

This bill passage now will allow the CRDA to address The Atrium issue. It’s been tied up for over two years and has been at an impasse with Northland Corporation, the title-holder. Now, either a deal will be reached or the government will exercise eminent domain in a very short time period.

Once that issue is resolved, the long-overdue project will begin. There will be a final bonding request in two years to complete the full re-boot of the arena and the lower bowl strategy.

This summer, the XL Center is set to have a brand new chiller system installed. That is a major piece of the foundation for the arena re-boot. The XL Center has 65 of its 120 or so events being ice-related.

The package also includes funding to respond to the spreading coronavirus outbreak that today claimed another sporting event.

The entire Ivy League spring sports schedule for all varsity sports teams has been canceled in a press release.

This leaves in grave doubt whether the conference winter sports tournaments currently in progress will continue or if they will be wiped as well.