Ballpark belongs on Boulevard
Alternative content
Mike's Take - Jan. 17
Boulevard Gateway. Mike Williams says a plan to remake North Boulevard as a sports-free zone is beginning to look more like VCU North.The extreme makeover of North Boulevard didn't take. And that's a good thing.
Original plans called for the developer of the $420 million Boulevard Gateway project to relocate Sports Backers Stadium and demolish The Diamond and Arthur Ashe Center while erecting retail, housing, offices and a hotel.
But after huddling with two of Richmond's most powerful players -- Virginia Commonwealth University and Metropolitan Richmond Sports Backers -- developer Highwoods Properties effectively has drawn up a new play in the dirt.
Now the plan, announced Thursday, calls for Sports Backers Stadium, a soccer and track-and-field venue, to stay put amid the mixed-use development. A new Ashe Center and an indoor-outdoor tennis complex also would be built at this sports complex.
Now is the time for the developers to further amend their proposal and return baseball to North Boulevard.
Early on, when the Diamond started to crumble, I pushed for a downtown stadium on the James River. That didn't happen. Neither did anything else. The Atlanta Braves organization was justifiable in losing its patience. And now, Richmond won't have its own professional baseball team this spring.
Kitchen 64 represents the new vision of the Boulevard. The restaurant serves items such as crabcake bruschetta, miso-glazed salmon, and macadamia-crusted trout with coconut mango salsa. Yesterday around lunch, it was slammed with customers.
Owner Katrina Giavos is cheered by some of the things happening on the Boulevard, including the soon-to-open Movieland at Boulevard Square, a 17-screen cinema house carved out of a structure built in 1887 to make locomotives.
Giavos is among those who aren't ready to say farewell to sports on the Boulevard.
"I would like to see them have some sort of sporting facilities," she said. "I think the more, the better."
Nearby Bill's Barbecue represents the old Boulevard. Known for its minced pork barbecue, homemade pies and limeades, its vibe is blue-collar. And its staff misses baseball.
"We need a team," manager Vincent Seabrook said. "That's an ideal spot for a stadium, right by the interstate."
Yes, lofts have been carved out of old warehouses and business on both sides of the Boulevard, but the area retains a funky, gritty ambience.
You drive through a city like Philadelphia and you see the football, baseball and basketball stadiums lined up impressively along Interstate 95. That sports complex was born on the ashes of demolished football and baseball fields.
Perhaps the same can occur here. We're trying to build a ballpark in flood-prone Shockoe Bottom instead of going with the tide of current development and what appears to be the larger community's wishes.
The Boulevard's brightest future does not lie in some fancy mixed-use development, but as an entertainment and sports zone.
Sometimes, in sports, business and life, the best call is the most obvious one.
Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or
.
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
No, no. Uh uh! It belongs in Shockoe Bottom. Right smack in the middle of it. Let the Boulevard ‘flourish’ with restaurants that serve encrusted trouts & jellie-smeared clams, and whatever else MPW mentioned in his column. People who flock to eat garbage like that, I do not want to be anywhere near them.
Holy cow paranoia runs deep in the River City! Very sad.
MPW is right again. Baseball on the Boulevard makes sense for everyone except one group. They want us to take our eyes off the “ball”. That group consists of those who would either seek to gain financially, or to get a free piece of ground on the Boulevard -essentially cheating Richmond taxpayers out of their excellent real estate.
The attempt to move the Diamond downtown is a smoke screen - attempting to hide the real motives.
VCU wants our free ground on the Boulevard, but who asked VCU? It’s just more Trani greedily grabbing land. Why wouldn’t VCU want our land for free? It’s just another ripoff of Richmond taxpayers.
Who asked Highwoods Properties? They are just trying to make a profit on the backs of Richmonders. It seems that it’s not about the good of our city - just their bottom line.
Who asked Sports Backers? They just want a free venue. Who wouldn’t? Let them build something in Bryan Park or at other available locations. The Boulevard is too important and too valuable.
We’re all dupes of Wilder on this one because he set all of this in motion as part of what appears to be his Pay-for-Play with Trani. Trani gets free or essentially free land, and Wilder gets $150,000 annually for making it happen - or so it seems.
Citizens Beware. This deal will likely happen. City Council is being sold a bill of goods and some folks are using voodoo economics. Financial newcomers like Ellen Robertson have no idea they are being shown numbers which are likely bogus. Besides, Ms Robertson has been told that she is getting a slave museum, in the trade. Why not? We’ll even throw in a free ride on the Annabelle Lee too!
The companion development for the ballpark is a hoax. It is being promoted by very highly skilled and highly paid lobbyists who are accustomed to getting their way. Detailed a few days ago, the $9.5 million in suggested revenue for the downtown ballpark project is false in that it’s just theoretical and will likely never materialize. It’s just pro forma. For them, convincing Council to go along is like taking candy from a baby. Soooo easy.
When all is said and done, there will be a $3-4 million dollar shortfall per year in the downtown ballpark project, and Richmond taxpayers will foot the bill, and will lose the superior Boulevard site in the process.
Imagine this: the downtown baseball guys will get the plum - a $60 million facility at a cost of $200,000 per year. What a deal for them! Please name the person who has attested to the fairness of this ripoff, other than those who benefit monetarily.
This is similar to same cruel trick that developers of the downtown CDA used to justify new parking decks around the Coliseum. Somebody made up apparently false revenue projections and Council members fell for them. They never materialized and the taxpayers are on the hook for $ millions annually. Council members are ill equipped to deal with folks who present bogus numbers. Ask Bill Pantele, Daisy Weaver, or anyone in the city’s finance department or anyone with the CDA, if we weren’t sold a bill of goods.
Thank you MPW, but where are Paul Goldman, and the other truth tellers when you really need them? The odds are badly stacked against the citizens of Richmond on this one.
Post a Comment(Requires free registration)
- Please avoid offensive, vulgar, or hateful language.
- Respect others.
- Use the "Flag Comment" link when necessary.
- See the Terms and Conditions for details.
Advertisement