Richmond to study feasibility of Shockoe ballpark project
HIGHWOODS PROPERTIES
Review of a proposed ballpark development for Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom will analyze plan to build offices, restaurants and housing.
Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones has enlisted the city's financial advisers to test the feasibility of a proposed ballpark development for Shockoe Bottom.
The city is spending $100,000 to get an outside review of the $363 million Shockoe Center project.
Meanwhile, a local group that hopes to bring a team to Richmond moved one step closer last night to taking over a franchise currently based in Connecticut.
The two-month feasibility study is being done by Davenport & Co. of Richmond, along with Economic Research Associates of Washington and Chmura Economics & Analytics of Richmond.
The firms will check the market assumptions behind the restaurants, offices, housing and other elements that would be built, as well as the viability of the plan to finance the ballpark with bonds backed by tax revenue generated by the new development.
The analysis also will consider potential costs to the city and the direct and indirect impacts on jobs and taxes, according to the city's contract with Davenport.
Jones has moved cautiously on Shockoe Center after taking office Jan. 1 and inheriting the proposal from Mayor L. Douglas Wilder's administration. Jones' willingness to seek an independent review is "greatly encouraging," said Pete Boisseau, a spokesman for the Shockoe Center developers, led by Highwoods Properties.
"We're optimistic and confident that they'll find that what we've been saying is generally correct and true."
But Paul Goldman, who ran for mayor last fall before endorsing Jones, said he can't understand why the city needs to spend $100,000 to determine whether the development is viable.
"That's why you have a finance department," said Goldman, who as a policy adviser to Wilder critiqued a previous plan for a ballpark in Shockoe Bottom.
The study is expected to build on a report submitted to the city by the firms in September 2008. That report covered the potential market, tax-revenue implications, and economic and fiscal impacts of the Shockoe Center development, as well as one proposed by Highwoods Properties for North Boulevard. Further details were unavailable yesterday.
Highwoods Properties is seeking preliminary city approval for Shockoe Center by Aug. 1.
Meanwhile, a group of local investors continues to pursue the purchase of the Class AA Connecticut Defenders of the Eastern League.
The City Council in Norwich, Conn., voted unanimously last night to authorize the city manager to transfer a lease of Dodd Stadium from the Defenders' current owners to Richmond Baseball Club LC, according to the Norwich Bulletin.
The group is led by Bryan Bostic, who did not return two calls yesterday. The group's plan calls for buying a team before the 2009 season starts next month, and then seeking permission from Minor League Baseball to relocate the franchise to Richmond for the 2010 season. The team would play at The Diamond until Shockoe Center's anticipated opening in 2012.
The developers have been making their pitch to community groups for weeks. A meeting organized by 9th District Councilman Douglas G. Conner Jr. is scheduled March 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Southside Baptist Christian School, 5515 Bryce Lane in South Richmond.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or
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Reader Reactions
Is this really a AA team? If you a fan of minor league baseball (which clearly most Richmonders are not) you would know that there are more talented players in AA than in AAA. How long, and how many times is Richmond going to “study” this downtown ballpark? They studied it so long that the Braves are not in Gwinnett County, Ga. After the “newness” of the trendy ballpark wears off, it will look like any game at the Diamond, where the team played in front of friends and family.
For those who think the $100k is not a necessary expenditure and who think the stadium is a terrible idea, it is partially your objections to the stadium that forced the city to make this decision. People clammored for objectivity in the financing of the project and objectivity unfortunately costs money.
Nobody trusts the council, and nobody trusts the developers, and unfortunately nobody else will do it for free.
Great points, marclips. The only thing I would be careful saying is that no AAA teams declined - because a few did. However they still had attendance numbers that should embarass the front office of the former R-Braves.
As for “100,000” people not going to a game in the bottom - the AA stadium in Trenton is in a much rougher area and they draw VERY well. Trenton last season drew 409k in a modern stadium, Richmond drew 290k in a dilapidated stadium.
I would argue that way more than 100k people visit the slip/bottom every year for restaurants, the canal walk, etc.
Regarding the CT team: there is no comparison between Norwich, CT (population 37,000) and Richmond, VA (population 200,000 with a metro area over 1 million).
Basically, Norwich should never have had a AA team in the first place. It’s too small a city, and their weather is too frigid for too much of the year. They’ve now accepted reality and are pursuing a short-season A team which only plays during summer months.
Most AA teams do quite well as far as attendance. Norwich was an anomaly. (For that matter, Richmond was an anomaly in the AAA world; the Braves were the only AAA team in the country to have declining attendance.)
I don’t necessarily support this project - I’d like to see what the City’s evaluation says first. But I think this project has enough potential to do real good for the City that I think the $100,000 is money well spent. Even if they determine the ballpark doesn’t work, hopefully they’ll find other recommendations for what to do with that incredibly valuable piece of real estate that is right now ridiculously underutilized.
And I don’t buy the argument that no one would go to a baseball game in the Bottom. Plenty of suburbanites went to games at the Diamond. How is the Diamond any different from the Bottom? Both are very close to the Interstate and both will have ample parking. The Bottom is much less scary than the Diamond, which is one ugly stadium on one ugly road. A new, more attractive ballpark in a much more exciting setting might very well pull in much better attendance than the Braves ever did.
wrbeh70, care to share with us how a baseball stadium for a Double A (woot-woot) team makes sense? It is not as if 100,000 people from the area would go to a baseball game in Shockoe Bottom or anywhere else in the metro area even if it was free, which it will not be.
When has the city ever had good schools? Or good roads? They’ll never spend money on those things even if they got a truckload of little money stacks with googly eyes. Why not use money for the greater good of the metropolitan area? The stadium makes the most sense.
Is anyone else puzzled why the Norwich CT city council didn’t put up a struggle to keep what is being billed as such a great money making opportunity in their own city?
Methinks they were glad to get rid of the team and obligation to maintain a “world class” stadium for same.
How did the Conneticut team get to decide where the ball park goes? If they move here they should play in the facility provided by the people of Richmond not into an area they probably know little to nothing about. This white elephant is going to put a strain on city and area budgets for years to come. When will this fiasco get put to rest.
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