Overhaul of Diamond is last plan standing
DEAN HOFFMEYER/TIMES-DISPATCH
With the Shockoe Center dead, a proposal to transform The Diamond and bring baseball back to Richmond is now the only game in town.
DIAMOND RENEWAL
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A plan for baseball in Shockoe Bottom has struck out again.
Developers of the proposed Shockoe Center project announced yesterday that they're walking away from the project, as well as a proposal for development along the Boulevard.
"We have carried these projects as far as our collaborative team can under the present circumstances," the group led by Highwoods Properties said in a statement.
The developers lamented that their efforts to revitalize Shockoe Bottom and the Boulevard with about $800 million of development were "overshadowed by debate over the ballpark."
The collapse of Shockoe Center leaves Opening Day Partners' $28 million plan to overhaul The Diamond as the only publicly released plan for a ballpark in Richmond.
On Shockoe Center's demise, the Highwoods developers added that the "good faith" but ultimately unsuccessful effort by a group of local investors to buy a baseball team had "fundamentally altered the way minor-league baseball will now return to Richmond. The city will need to negotiate directly with any new team owner on such issues as location, timing and financing of a new ballpark."
Minor League Baseball and the Eastern League are in the process of identifying a franchise to relocate to Richmond with current or new ownership. An Aug. 1 deadline to clarify those issues is in effect.
In a statement yesterday, Mayor Dwight C. Jones praised the Shockoe Center developers for their vision, and he underscored their conclusion that ballpark financing "is just not possible in today's revenue bond market."
"At this time, the situation affords us an avenue to fully re-engage our regional partners in the discussion of the direction we, as a region, wish to move in," Jones said. "We know there is excitement about Richmond as a baseball town and we have a commitment from the Eastern League that there will be a team on the ground in The Diamond next spring.
"What we must do now is to determine what our long-term solution will be and the best way to go about accomplishing that goal."
The $318 million Shockoe Center project was announced last October after then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder selected Highwoods Properties as the master developer for city property in Shockoe Bottom and on the Boulevard following a request for proposals. Wilder had nixed another private proposal for baseball in Shockoe Bottom earlier in his term.
Jones took office in January and proceeded cautiously on Shockoe Center, initially persuading the developers to push back a deadline for preliminary city approval from March 1 to Aug. 1.
The idea of baseball in the Bottom had its supporters as well as its critics, many of whom argued that Richmond's plans for baseball should focus on refurbishing or replacing The Diamond, the longtime home of the Richmond Braves' home on the Boulevard.
In March, the Jones administration hired consultants to review the financial viability of Shockoe Center, specifically its plan to finance the $60 million ballpark without city backing using tax revenues generated by restaurants, residences and other new private development around it.
However, the consultants, led by Davenport & Co., concluded that the project would be "highly feasible" with city credit support and "highly unlikely" to be financed otherwise.
In yesterday's statement, the developers said the study "validated our fundamental premise" for ballpark financing and acknowledged that the plan "is not possible in today's revenue bond market." The developers emphasized that they had never intended to pursue financing in the current market.
"We are convinced, however, that the coming economic recovery would allow revenue bonds to be sold without the city's general obligation backing, possibly as early as next year," the statement said. "We have always maintained that the city's debt capacity should be used for public projects like schools, streets and a new jail, and not for a new ballpark."
Last month, Jones called on the Shockoe Center developers and other groups to resolve differences between their plans for Shockoe Bottom. Those projects also include high-speed rail, the city's slave trail and a bus-transfer center in the train shed at Main Street Station.
In their statement, the Shockoe Center developers said they had reached a preliminary agreement allowing their project and the bus transfer center to co-exist. They also noted that they had dropped Shockoe Center's $90 million third phase to accommodate the slave-trail project and related activities to commemorate the area's importance in black history.
"We believe heritage is compatible with baseball, high-speed rail and some level of bus transit," the Shockoe Center developers said. "However, all of these issues require further research, and important decisions must be made by all stakeholders before the private sector can be truly effective in the process."
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or
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Reader Reactions
oh, and the reason why the convention center has never met expectations is because they built it right next to completely run down, disgusting buildings. Who would ever go to a convention where there is nowhere to go around it and they can’t walk two blocks without feeling unsafe. Does that sound familiar - why yes, it does. I just described the current Diamond location!
“Pretty sure” was not meant to be taken literally, it was a figure of speach. What I meant was this definitive statement - if something as lame as fireworks can transform the attendance of the dumpy diamond, then I KNOW that the nightlife and activities that came with a new stadium in Shockoe would have increased attendance on a regular basis. I am an intuitive person…I don’t need a million dollar study to tell me this. The arts center project is not the same as the 6th street marketplace. Although it was a fiasco and overdone in the initial plans, people actually do go to plays and shows here so it will be used…they never used the marketplace period. so it’s not a valid comparison. My point all along, and one that isn’t getting through some thick skulls, is that if you think that people weren’t going to support the Shockoe ball park, you are in for a real shocker when you see that even LESS will support a mediocre at best dumpy diamond re-do. If you think flushing 28 million dollars down the crapper is a better option than spending more to do it right in Shockoe, then you my friend are the one wearing the rose colored glasses. The Shockoe project (or something in a hip part of downtown) is the only option..it doesn’t have to be the full blown Highwoods ideal but could have been a scaled back version of their proposal that still has the big wins without the fluff. What in the world makes you so sure that the Boulevard location is going to succeed so much better than Shockoe Bottom? Unlike the bottom which has proven to attract many people to it’s various clubs and restaurants, the Boulevard has proven to be a complete failure. I’m really lost on your logic, but it’s late and i’m not wasting any more time trying to figure it out.
“City backed bonds were never requested by Highwoods properties as a condition of this project. “
Wrong! They requested a guarantee of interest and principal for the debt to be issued for that portion of the project - in short a revenue bond because any short fall or defaults would be absorbed by the City, NOIT the developers.
The observer….
“Baseball is a natural draw—people like watching baseball games. ...“
That’s one of the questions, i.e., in enough numbers to make public financing justifiable?
Let’s ask it a different way before committing public dollar one. What would the ticket price per seat per game have to be to make the thing totally self supporting with private funds only?
Wouldn’t that be an interesting number to know?
Lance
Would some of you please stop equating baseball in the Bottom with the 6th street marketplace? Good grief: There was no natural draw with 6th street—it was nothing more than space rented out to vendors and a couple of restaurants—on the far side of Broad. Baseball is a natural draw—people like watching baseball games.
That’s one point.
Another is that the city /needs to attract/ middle-income people—that is a a fundamental issue if we want to become a more prosperous, dynamic city. That’s a no-brainer. Baseball has the potential to do that. That’s not to say that baseball in the Bottom would be a guaranteed success. There are no guarantees, but it’s a pretty good idea.
What baseball backers need to do is get organized and put some pressure on our preacher-man mayor. I doubt there are many people at city hall who care about baseball—which is a big issue generally with this city. Whites and blacks still often have different agendas.
Whatever happened to the Nolan Ryan organization after their visit? I must have missed that.
“That report clearly stated that the city would have to put up about $58 million in city-backed bonds to make the project work, and Highwoods was calculating the expected city growth and revenues based on pre-recession, inflated figures. “
Seriously ...you are either willfully ignorant or painful misinformed about one fundamental fact.
City backed bonds were never requested by Highwoods properties as a condition of this project. This was true both before and after the Davenport study. Highwoods was perfectly content to allow the project succeed or fail on it’s own merits without the cities involvement. If you have evidence to the contrary please demonstrate with even one example.
There’s a web site for baseball on the boulevard now: http://www.baseballontheboulevard.com/. They appropriately have a “Denied” headline for the bottom project.
I would also like to suggest that Hate_Richmond leave Richmond if he hates it. Preferably for a town with a taxpayer-funded ball club. Problem solved.
I posted this comment earlier on the TD site, but it bears repeating in this discussion:
t would be interesting to know how many of the posters here actually read the Davenport report. That report clearly stated that the city would have to put up about $58 million in city-backed bonds to make the project work, and Highwoods was calculating the expected city growth and revenues based on pre-recession, inflated figures. Also, the ball park would have been only one small part of the gigantic complex, which would have been shoehorned into an area that was really too small to hold it. Richmond and the surrounding area has more square footage of vacant retail space per capita than any other city its size. Many of the new condos and apartments that have been built in the Bottom area sit unoccupied. The developers had not begun to discuss using existing parking space belonging to the state and private entities, but claimed that by using those parking spaces, they would provide enough parking for the park. The $8 million in city-financed infrastructure improvements they “budgeted” for fell about $4 million short, according to Davenport estimates. Richmond was being asked to commit fully one tenth of its debt capacity to a privately-owned, for-profit entity, and if the development failed to generate the $67 million in revenues it claimed it would, we would have been left with a lowered credit rating and $58 million less to spend on needed schools, police and fire personnel, roads and infrastructure. High speed rail, for those of you who are ignorant of what it is and what it is used for, has been mandated by Congress. It actually will be something that not only improves the quality of life in this city, but will move it into a 21st Century city. Our Mayor and Governor were called to Washington a couple of weeks ago and told that it would be happening here - period. The funds have been set aside and plans are already being drawn. The bus transfer terminal is an intelligent, practical use for the Main Street Station shed, and something that will definitely benefit everyone in the city and counties. The fact that Highwoods could not get financing for this project is not the fault of the Mayor, City Council or citizens who questioned the feasibility of the project. It is due to the fact that the developers’ numbers did not add up and the development plan was based on inflated, over-optimistic figures that would not be realized in any economic climate, let alone this one.
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