HARTFORD — Authorities in Connecticut are looking to sell Hartford's aging downtown arena.
The Hartford Courant reports the Capital Regional Development Authority opened bidding for the XL Center on Monday. The authority is a quasi-public agency created by the General Assembly to manage various Hartford development projects, including the XL Center, which is owned by the city.
Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had proposed the state spend $250 million to upgrade the facility during an unsuccessful campaign last year to keep it in government hands.
Authority Executive Director Michael Freimuth said the CRDA has received multiple bids. Freimuth said any proposals will probably need "some state participation."
The arena currently hosts University of Connecticut basketball and hockey games as well as other events. Proposals are due by June 29.
In recent years the future for the aging facility has been a topic for debate. The XL Center was built back in 1975 and was home to the Whalers but the company that manages it said, like with any old building, it is starting to show its age.
“The building is 40 years old and generally arenas are twenty years so this has already lapped itself,” Freimuth said.
Last year the state approved $40 million in state bonding. He said it would take $250 million dollars to do a complete renovation and partner that with competition from venues like casinos.
“The task right now is are there alternate ways of raising the money to build a new building or renovating the existing building really and if so what is the cost of that both in the sense of public policy changes as well as economics,” Freimuth said.
So far, a Chicago-based company has already expressed its interest in the center.
