Public Square debates Shockoe ballpark

About 230 people, including a silent Mayor Dwight C. Jones, attended last night's Public Square debate on whether Shockoe Bottom is the city's and the region's best location for baseball.

Bryan Bostic envisions the proposed Shockoe Center project as "our town square coming to life anew," with a ballpark, shopping, jobs, restaurants, civic gatherings and living space.

"Since before our downtown department stores closed, our city has been trying to lure families back downtown. Club Velvet isn't going to do that," Bostic said, referring to an adult-entertainment establishment in Shockoe Bottom.

Bostic is chairman of Richmond Baseball Club LC, which intends to buy a Double-A franchise. He made his case for the proposed $318 million development and its $60 million ballpark at the Public Square organized by the Richmond Times-Dispatch at its downtown offices.

In addition to Bostic, speakers included Paul Kreckman, a vice president for Highwoods Properties, the developer for Shockoe Center; Church Hill resident Jean Wight, who is a Shockoe Center opponent; and Charlie Diradour, who believes a Richmond baseball stadium should be located on the Boulevard.

Last fall, developers announced the proposal for Shockoe Center, which the city continues to study. According to project organizers, new local and state taxes generated by Shockoe Center would be sufficient to pay the debt service on tax-exempt bonds used to build the ballpark.

But Diradour, president of another development company, said: "There ain't nothing free."

Wight argued that Shockoe Bottom's history should be preserved rather than creating an entertainment complex.

"Throw your balls and have your special-price seating," she said. "But it gives nothing back that helps this community. Ball-team ownership is private, not public. Pay your own way. And don't tell us that we're missing this grand employment opportunity to sell peanuts on weekends.

"Unique heritage of that site is buried under and lost to incredible damage if [Shockoe Center] goes forward." A recent archaeological dig found the remains of a slave jail.

But Kreckman said the development would be sensitive to history and called Shockoe Bottom "quite simply the best place in the city to develop a modern ballpark as a catalyst for economic development around it."

Diradour countered that "the premise that minor-league baseball is an economic driver cannot be substantiated." He added that Shockoe Center would represent a ballpark built "in the center of a development of totally unneeded Class A office space, retail space, hotel square footage and more restaurant space."

Audience members largely were critical of a ballpark for Shockoe Bottom, citing the area's problems with flooding and its tight street grid.

Sam Forrest said Shockoe Center likely would join other lackluster city-backed projects, including the 6th Street Marketplace, convention center and Canal Walk.

Bostic responded that the Canal Walk is beautiful but incomplete and needs more development around it.

"There's no attraction," he said. "The ballpark is an attraction that brings people downtown. It's been proven in city after city."

At one point, Diradour asked Kreckman whether the Shockoe Center proposal is supported by tenant leases and marketing studies. "Where's the beef?" he asked.

Kreckman said those details would follow city approvals.

"Once we get the project, we're going to have to go out and prove it," he said. "What's wrong with seizing the opportunity to try? Are we going to be a community that's afraid to try?"

John Zeugner, of the Sierra Club, said the city should allow development in Shockoe Bottom that builds off the farmers market, tourism and Main Street Station. He said Shockoe Center is "going to be like a Disneyland that you come to in lieu of real history . . . and people aren't going to buy it."

Several speakers pushed for the ballpark to stay on the Boulevard or be built in Manchester, south of the James River.

But David Napier said if baseball isn't the answer for development in Shockoe Bottom, he's not sure what is.

"Baseball or no baseball, we're going to need a concourse down there to have development. [Because of the floodplain], there will be a building on stilts or there will be nothing."

William Shulleeta said baseball should follow the region's residents who live north, south and west of the city. "They are more around the Boulevard than they are Shockoe," he said.

Jay Wilson said a ballpark in Shockoe Bottom would lure young professionals to the city.

"It didn't work [on the Boulevard]. Let's put it behind us," he said.

Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or .

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or .