Stadium planners want multiuse park
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Published: January 15, 2009
Updated: January 15, 2009
Developers want to build a $60 million ballpark in Richmond's Shockoe Bottom capable of hosting a variety of events. They detailed yesterday how they believe they can pay for the project without tapping tax revenues that currently flow to the city and state.
The facility annually would host about 30 events in addition to minor-league baseball, including festivals, concerts and high school games, the developers said.
Where will the funding come from?
The group led by Raleigh, N.C.-based Highwoods Properties said it plans to ask the Richmond City Council to establish a nonprofit authority to sell 30-year bonds to finance the ballpark.
Officials emphasized that the deal would be structured so that private investors -- not city taxpayers -- would be on the hook if revenue fails to cover debt payments.
A bill submitted for the current General Assembly session would allow some of the financing to come from the state's 4 percent portion of sales taxes generated by the ballpark and new buildings associated with it.
Details revealed yesterday show that the plan also calls for the city to rebate tax revenues that would be generated by the ballpark and new private development within a defined footprint of Shockoe Center, a proposed $363 million development. Those would include the 1 percent local share of sales taxes, as well as city admissions, meals and real estate taxes.
What are other sources of revenue?
The group also is counting on rental fees for the nonbaseball events at the ballpark, as well as parking fees and a $250,000 annual lease payment from Richmond Baseball Club LC, which would own the minor-league franchise. The costs of operating and maintaining the ballpark would be covered by the team owners, officials said.
In addition, the city would be asked to contribute land and $8 million in infrastructure improvements, including utilities, sidewalks, and other streetscape enhancements.
Projections released for ballpark financing show that all of the taxes and fees would generate nearly $9 million per year to cover annual debt payments estimated at $5.3 million. The projections assume an interest rate of 6.5 percent, which could end up higher, said Ronald L. Tillett, managing director of public finance with Morgan Keegan & Co. and a former state secretary of finance.
Officials said any surpluses would support reserve funds but also could be used to retire debt ahead of schedule or for other public projects, such as development of the Slave Trail and the Lumpkin's slave jail historic site in Shockoe Bottom.
What will the development look like?
The ballpark is envisioned to open by 2012 along with Shockoe Center's hotels, housing, and retail and office space in a largely vacant, flood-prone area of the city.
Paul Kreckman, a vice president with Highwoods Properties, said it's unrealistic to believe the site will develop gradually on its own because of federal limitations related to the area largely being in a floodplain.
He said the ballpark allows the large-scale development to occur by providing green space to meet federal requirements for building in a floodplain and by establishing access from a concourse that would rise above flood level.
Kreckman emphasized that what's planned is a "ballpark" rather than a "stadium." A ballpark is "very fan-friendly, very intimate," he said.
Officials would not release details on the mix of retail space and other uses being considered.
Who's going to play there?
The ballpark would be home to the minor-league franchise as well as Virginia Commonwealth University's baseball team. The facility annually would host about 15 high school baseball games, about six community festivals, about five concerts, and approximately five other events, project developers said.
The ballpark would include a grass playing surface and 7,000 seats (8,500 capacity).
A Double-A baseball franchise appears likely in Richmond's future if an agreement for Shockoe Center can be reached with the city. The team would relocate to Richmond and The Diamond in 2010 and move to Shockoe Center when construction is complete, probably for the 2012 season.
What happens now?
The developers are hoping to get a preliminary approval for the project from the city administration by March 1. Mayor Dwight C. Jones and his administration are reviewing the proposal and have no further comment at this time, city spokesman Michael Wallace said.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or
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Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or .
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Reader Reactions
I feel like I can’t personally to tell Richmond what to do with its taxes, since I am a suburbanite
You have got to be kidding? You want Richmond taxpayers to cough up 8 million for infrastructure improvements so you can go watch a baseball game?
I didn’t say anything about putting a new school in the bottom. There are plenty of high and dry areas of the city for a new school.
The bottom is a flood plain. Make a park out of it and let it flood when it wants to.
Redeveloping that area will in all likelihood reduce crime
The opening of the businesses several years ago in the bottom sure didn’t do much to curb crime even with the extra police assigned to the area. No one in their right mind would take their family into the bottom. I’ve lived here for 65 years. My aunts mother lived on E. Broad and I played in Chimborazo Park so I know the area well.
Even if private funding were available the bottom is not the right place for a ball park. Tear the Diamond down and build it there.
NO, we do NOT post public bonds to pay for a private income stream for Highwoods properites! no more corporate welfare!
Why can’t we redevelop the Diamond facility as a state of the art entertainment complex?
Outofleftfield, two words:
HENRY MARSH
I don’t really see a whole lot of similarities between the 6th Street Market and the baseball project. Aside from the promise to change (read: improve) the downtown area, like the developers of the bottom plan to do, what are the other similar characteristics? How is a complex focused on bringing a AA team back to Richmond, with the supporting aspects of condominiums and retail space the same thing as a food court/retail development?
Furthermore, 6th street was meant to be a complement to the Convention Center. The stadium is the main piece of the puzzle here, with all the other pieces (some of which are a part of the structure inself) being built to satisfy the development restrictions. The situation seems to be different here. Am I wrong?
Next point - My “vested interest” is that I have been around a couple successful minor league teams and truly understand their purpose and benefits. Also, I am passionate about what the R-Braves meant to me, as I remember, vividly, attending games as a child. I sincerely hope the next generation of Richmond kids don’t miss out on that.
Also, I feel like I can’t personally to tell Richmond what to do with its taxes, since I am a suburbanite. However, I think what we might be failing to see is that paying for the infrastructure improvements *is* helping public safety. Redeveloping that area will in all likelihood reduce crime, it will certainly help the flooding issue, and it will fix the treacherous roads.
I don’t see why this project has become an “either or” situation where building a stadium means a new school will not be built. Moreover, will a school definitely be built if the stadium plans fail? Is the new school going to go in the same spot as the stadium - what of the flood restrictions, and crime issues, and infrastructure problems? Its a huge undertaking, one that requires a little risk-taking, but one that can eventually afford such luxuries as shiny, new schools.
Finally, the R-Braves moved to Gwinnett (the burbs, not a city) because they already have a team in Atlanta.
With the current economy like it is, this is no time for building a boondoggle, especially with taxpayer funds. Corporations don’t have the extra cash to come up with to finance this project, in fact, as we speak, they are hemorraghing money and jobs and cannot justify these expenditures. This is not the time for building a ball park, when less than 1/3 of the area residents attended when the current Diamond was new! The surrounding counties are reluctant to throw money at something like this; they can’t even finance their own budgets. Let’s spend money on city/county infrastructure, schools, parks, etc. which will benefit ALL. This is not the time for this project in this economy, maybe by 2010 or 2011 we could revisit this.
““Meanwhile, the development group has enlisted a powerful ally for their negotiations with the city — state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, D-Richmond, a former Richmond mayor. He was retained after the November election to provide “government advocacy” with the city, project officials said.”“
Need anymore be said about this boondoggle? Shades of the 6th Street Market.
Outofleftfield you obviously have a vested interest in this project. You are correct in the infrastructure is a city responsibility but the 8 million being asked for could well be spent on one or more of the many essential funding needs the city has. If it doesn’t help education, public health or public safety then it is non-essential and any tax money should not be spent on it for any reason.
The developers do have the right to build it and reap the profits if any but the developers do not have the right to use voodoo financing or use any tax monies whether they exist now or not to reap these profits.
If this project is viable then let the developers finance it with private money. I suspect that real quickly we will find out that no responsible lenders will even consider it.
This project is pie in the sky wanted only by a few. It is in no way representative of the majority of citizens.
I would like to see these that like to spend so much finance a new school in the city. Now a new school building would look a lot better than a stadium and contribute way more to the betterment of the city.
This idea was rejected the first time, and it seems inappropriate to entertain it in the current economic climate. Looking at the other cities that have put in downtown stadiums recently does not bode well for this project. The numbers are never as promised and several are in trouble (e.g., the one to which the old Richmond Braves are relocating).
I am curious to see a true plan and breakdown of finances—not the generalized pie-in-the-sky stuff we are getting yet again. It would be nice to see development in the Bottom that does not include a sports stadium.
Another question is “Who is going to stay in the hotels and rent the apartments or buy the condos?“
...certainly not those who come in to attend ball games. They will go to the stadium, buy food from cheap vendors, and go back home. There are many empty hotel rooms, condos and apartments in downtown Richmond (in prime locations) that remain empty. I don’t believe a ballpark will fill them or any new ones.
In addition, the Bottom is one of the few places left where we can find and patronize small, local restaurants and other businesses in Richmond. What few of them that could manage to survive the building phase in the Bottom would, most likely, be run out of business by the national chain restaurants and businesses that would undercut them.
I don’t see much of a win here.
yusaywhat, PLEASE read this.
Economic development can be defined as efforts that seek to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for a community by creating and/or retaining jobs and supporting or growing incomes and the tax base.
This project is meant to provide ALL of these things to the bottom - creating businesses, creating jobs, and improving the quality of life that has become so diminished in this area of our city. The developers are being very mindful of our historical ties, as well as the aesthetics of our city in their proposal.
Furthermore, how can you expect them to do this without getting a return of their own on the project? If you think developers take on projects such as these out of the goodness of their hearts, you’re sorely mistaken. They’re supposed to take on a majority of the risk and reap no reward?
The infrastructure improvements being requested are funds that the city’s taxes are meant to provide. That’s what you are taxed for - to maintain these areas that have seen much wear over the years. I have seen complaints of the bad roads and trash on the streets, these are infrastructure expenses, and they should be contributed by the city as its citizens have been requesting.
I agree, everything else should come from private investors. In return, those investors should be rewarded with the monetary profits, just as the city will be rewarded with a new pastime to share with its community, as well as new revenue streams by way of taxes.
The new stadium being in the city is in accordance with the wishes of minor league baseball, a crucial piece in the puzzle to get an affiliated team in the Richmond area.
Maybe Circuit City, the ‘Good Corporate Citizen’ can pony up up some cash, like Auto Zonw.
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