Luvofthegame
09-09-2006, 05:02 PM
By Jake Wagman
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/09/2006
The site sits undeveloped, as the team works on a more ambitious plan, estimated at $650 million.
As the new Busch Stadium continues to attract sellout crowds, the crater next door that was once the old stadium continues to do what it has done since the season's first pitch: gather dust.
Team officials have promised that the site one day will be Ballpark Village, a bustling collection of shops, restaurants and condominiums that will transform downtown St. Louis. To get a tax break from the city, Cardinals executives three years ago committed to spending at least $60 million to develop two of Ballpark Village's planned six blocks.
Now they are back, pushing for a $650 million project on all six blocks. But with that renewed ambition, comes an outstretched hand - more public financing. A look at similar projects shows that the taxpayers' burden could well exceed $100 million. Advertisement
While the team says it can't complete its expanded vision of the village without city or state money, there's also the question of how the request will sit with a loyal but anxious fan base. Such fans have grudgingly parted with the old stadium and shelled out dollars for everything from Build-a-Fredbirds to old Busch Stadium urinals.
Either way, the team is obligated to develop the site of the old Busch. But without public assistance, the Cardinals front office warns, the plans will fall well short of the fences.
"We can do something without help - and we can satisfy our development commitments without any help," said Bill DeWitt III, the team's senior vice president. "The question is what are you going to get with that?"
Vision shown on high
The Cardinals have been stingy with specifics about Ballpark Village. The downtown headquarters for the project is a 17th floor office that overlooks the site, six blocks that include the footprint of the old stadium and the current home of the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame.
Inside, plasma televisions give viewers a virtual tour of the design. A scale model, which the team's development partner would not allow to be photographed, offers a detailed portrait of the Ballpark Village vision. MORE
Financing options
Read about the history of the stadium issue
Office towers and condominiums overlook the outfield, with terraces - and even bleachers - where spectators can see the game. Nearby is a courtyard with the same dimensions as Gramercy Park in New York. The main drag would be Clark Street, which would be closed to traffic on game days.
The model shows plans for a gourmet grocery, boutiques and a restaurant row. The video tour shows one building labeled "Cardinals Experience" and another that could be the new home to the bowling museum - featuring a giant bowling pin out front.
There also are plans for an entertainment-themed restaurant - think Hard Rock Cafe or ESPN Zone - and a bookstore, such as Barnes and Noble.
Those amenities would be in line with what the firm hired by the Cardinals, Baltimore-based Cordish Co., has placed in other entertainment projects from Atlantic City to South Florida.
"The potential is just enormous," said Blake Cordish, vice president of the company that was founded by his great-grandfather.
Search for funding
But the potential has a price tag: $650 million.
That's nearly $200 million more than the cost of the new stadium - or enough to sign six Albert Pujolses through the end of the decade.
Cordish confirmed that the project, at least in its proposed scale, would not happen without assistance from the city and the state, although he declined to name a target amount.
Most of the firm's other projects have been the result of a public-private partnership. In Kansas City, where Cordish is developing the city's Power and Light District, the company received from the state a pledge of $119 million over 25 years. The project also got significant local funding.
A spokesman for the Missouri Department of Economic Development, Mike Downing, said the state was in "preliminary discussions" with the Cardinals to obtain similar benefits.
The money would come from a law enacted in 2003, the Missouri Downtown Economic Stimulus Act, that allows developers in urban areas to keep half of the new sales tax revenue generated by the project.
The money could only be used for public improvements such as roads and sewers, improvements that would be a vital part of developing the site of the old stadium.
Downing said it is too early to tell how much money Ballpark Village would be eligible for - it depends on the sales tax projections.
Talks with the city
The team and Cordish are in discussions with Mayor Francis Slay's office about providing tax-increment financing for the project, incentives potentially worth tens of millions of dollars.
Tax-increment financing, which the city has used for many lofts and other projects, allows the taxes from the increased value of the property to be used up front to help pay for redevelopment costs.
The city is already giving the Cardinals a tax break equal to about $3.4 million a year by waiving the 5 percent tax on ticket sales. That incentive came with the promise that the team would spend at least $60 million to build one block of Ballpark Village by 2009 and a second block by 2011.
Now that the team is talking about spending more than 10 times that amount on Ballpark Village, the city is contemplating giving more public assistance - though the mayor's office won't say how much.
"We want the biggest, most exciting, most transformative project possible," said Jeff Rainford, Slay's top aide. "If we just said, 'We'll settle for mediocrity,' we would be done by now."
Asked about criticism that might come from approving more public funding for the Cardinals, Rainford said: "We've got a lot of small thinkers."
David Newburger, an attorney who chairs the city's Tax Increment Financing Commission, said the board would take a long look before deciding whether to give the Cardinals public subsidies beyond what was granted for stadium construction.
"The commission would want to know that the changes that are made in Ballpark Village are sufficient to justify any increases in the incentives that might be granted," Newburger said.
DeWitt, the Cardinals vice president, said he hopes to break ground on Ballpark Village in the spring, just before next season. If the public pitches in, he promises results.
"When you see what we have planned for this thing, it's just going to blow you away," he said.
As it stands now, fans are beginning to wonder how long they will have to stare at the pit of dirt just outside the outfield wall of the new stadium, coined Baseball Heaven by its owners.
"It certainly can't stay the way it is," said Paul McClelland, a Hannibal, Mo., native who was waiting for a stadium tour Friday. "It's a huge eyesore."
There is at least one sign, though, that the area is being to put to temporary use. "Ballpark Village," a placard on the site reads. "Game day parking."
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/09/2006
The site sits undeveloped, as the team works on a more ambitious plan, estimated at $650 million.
As the new Busch Stadium continues to attract sellout crowds, the crater next door that was once the old stadium continues to do what it has done since the season's first pitch: gather dust.
Team officials have promised that the site one day will be Ballpark Village, a bustling collection of shops, restaurants and condominiums that will transform downtown St. Louis. To get a tax break from the city, Cardinals executives three years ago committed to spending at least $60 million to develop two of Ballpark Village's planned six blocks.
Now they are back, pushing for a $650 million project on all six blocks. But with that renewed ambition, comes an outstretched hand - more public financing. A look at similar projects shows that the taxpayers' burden could well exceed $100 million. Advertisement
While the team says it can't complete its expanded vision of the village without city or state money, there's also the question of how the request will sit with a loyal but anxious fan base. Such fans have grudgingly parted with the old stadium and shelled out dollars for everything from Build-a-Fredbirds to old Busch Stadium urinals.
Either way, the team is obligated to develop the site of the old Busch. But without public assistance, the Cardinals front office warns, the plans will fall well short of the fences.
"We can do something without help - and we can satisfy our development commitments without any help," said Bill DeWitt III, the team's senior vice president. "The question is what are you going to get with that?"
Vision shown on high
The Cardinals have been stingy with specifics about Ballpark Village. The downtown headquarters for the project is a 17th floor office that overlooks the site, six blocks that include the footprint of the old stadium and the current home of the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame.
Inside, plasma televisions give viewers a virtual tour of the design. A scale model, which the team's development partner would not allow to be photographed, offers a detailed portrait of the Ballpark Village vision. MORE
Financing options
Read about the history of the stadium issue
Office towers and condominiums overlook the outfield, with terraces - and even bleachers - where spectators can see the game. Nearby is a courtyard with the same dimensions as Gramercy Park in New York. The main drag would be Clark Street, which would be closed to traffic on game days.
The model shows plans for a gourmet grocery, boutiques and a restaurant row. The video tour shows one building labeled "Cardinals Experience" and another that could be the new home to the bowling museum - featuring a giant bowling pin out front.
There also are plans for an entertainment-themed restaurant - think Hard Rock Cafe or ESPN Zone - and a bookstore, such as Barnes and Noble.
Those amenities would be in line with what the firm hired by the Cardinals, Baltimore-based Cordish Co., has placed in other entertainment projects from Atlantic City to South Florida.
"The potential is just enormous," said Blake Cordish, vice president of the company that was founded by his great-grandfather.
Search for funding
But the potential has a price tag: $650 million.
That's nearly $200 million more than the cost of the new stadium - or enough to sign six Albert Pujolses through the end of the decade.
Cordish confirmed that the project, at least in its proposed scale, would not happen without assistance from the city and the state, although he declined to name a target amount.
Most of the firm's other projects have been the result of a public-private partnership. In Kansas City, where Cordish is developing the city's Power and Light District, the company received from the state a pledge of $119 million over 25 years. The project also got significant local funding.
A spokesman for the Missouri Department of Economic Development, Mike Downing, said the state was in "preliminary discussions" with the Cardinals to obtain similar benefits.
The money would come from a law enacted in 2003, the Missouri Downtown Economic Stimulus Act, that allows developers in urban areas to keep half of the new sales tax revenue generated by the project.
The money could only be used for public improvements such as roads and sewers, improvements that would be a vital part of developing the site of the old stadium.
Downing said it is too early to tell how much money Ballpark Village would be eligible for - it depends on the sales tax projections.
Talks with the city
The team and Cordish are in discussions with Mayor Francis Slay's office about providing tax-increment financing for the project, incentives potentially worth tens of millions of dollars.
Tax-increment financing, which the city has used for many lofts and other projects, allows the taxes from the increased value of the property to be used up front to help pay for redevelopment costs.
The city is already giving the Cardinals a tax break equal to about $3.4 million a year by waiving the 5 percent tax on ticket sales. That incentive came with the promise that the team would spend at least $60 million to build one block of Ballpark Village by 2009 and a second block by 2011.
Now that the team is talking about spending more than 10 times that amount on Ballpark Village, the city is contemplating giving more public assistance - though the mayor's office won't say how much.
"We want the biggest, most exciting, most transformative project possible," said Jeff Rainford, Slay's top aide. "If we just said, 'We'll settle for mediocrity,' we would be done by now."
Asked about criticism that might come from approving more public funding for the Cardinals, Rainford said: "We've got a lot of small thinkers."
David Newburger, an attorney who chairs the city's Tax Increment Financing Commission, said the board would take a long look before deciding whether to give the Cardinals public subsidies beyond what was granted for stadium construction.
"The commission would want to know that the changes that are made in Ballpark Village are sufficient to justify any increases in the incentives that might be granted," Newburger said.
DeWitt, the Cardinals vice president, said he hopes to break ground on Ballpark Village in the spring, just before next season. If the public pitches in, he promises results.
"When you see what we have planned for this thing, it's just going to blow you away," he said.
As it stands now, fans are beginning to wonder how long they will have to stare at the pit of dirt just outside the outfield wall of the new stadium, coined Baseball Heaven by its owners.
"It certainly can't stay the way it is," said Paul McClelland, a Hannibal, Mo., native who was waiting for a stadium tour Friday. "It's a huge eyesore."
There is at least one sign, though, that the area is being to put to temporary use. "Ballpark Village," a placard on the site reads. "Game day parking."