Ballpark Village is not home free yet
By Jake Wagman
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Wednesday, May. 23 2007
ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals insist their ambitious Ballpark Village is still on
track to break ground later this year, but some potential obstacles are looming.
— The state still must sign off on millions of dollars in public subsidies.
— Other downtown projects could emerge as competition.
— And then there's the question of where to put 5,000 years of bowling history.
The vision for the $387 million entertainment district calls for most of it to
be built on the crater that was the old Busch Stadium — property owned by the
team. The rest of the site is held by the International Bowling Museum and Hall
of Fame, a tenpins shrine that traces the sport as far back as ancient Egypt.
Obtaining the museum property is a key step for Ballpark Village, a
long-awaited project that, despite millions in pledged public financing and
years of discussion, has yet to show any physical signs of progress.
Even so, Bill DeWitt III, the team's senior vice president for business
development, said construction will begin as planned — in late summer or early
fall.
And the 2009 opening, in time for the stadium's first Major League All-Star
Game, is on target, DeWitt said.
He said the team and its development partner, Baltimore-based Cordish Co., are
"full steam ahead" on design, financing and negotiating with potential tenants,
whom he declined to identify.
DeWitt acknowledged that until backhoes hit the soil, it might be hard for the
public to picture Ballpark Village rising up from the rumble of a demolished
stadium.
"We understand," DeWitt said, "people are going to be wondering if this is for
real."
Sewing up the money
Earlier this year, the city's Board of Aldermen approved up to $115 million in
public incentives for the project. The money would come from a variety of
sources: $59 million in city tax incentives, $27 million in state tax breaks,
$25 million from two special taxing districts and $5 million in public bonds
bought by the Cardinals and Cordish.
But some of that money must be approved by the state Department of Economic
Development, which still is reviewing the project. After that, the project goes
to the Missouri Development Finance Board, headed by Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.
Spence Jackson, a spokesman for the Department of Economic Development, said
there is no timetable for staff there to move on Ballpark Village's
application. The Cardinals are hoping to have the bonds needed to raise money
for the project in place by early August.
Cordish has a good track record of getting funding on similar projects. The
Development Finance Board previously approved more than $100 million for
Cordish's project on the other side of the state, the Kansas City Power and
Light District.
But timing on the deal is critical. If the finance board does not issue its
endorsement in the next three months, it could jeopardize the project from
breaking ground by the fall. City officials, though, are not worried.
"From what we can see," said Jeff Rainford, Mayor Francis Slay's chief of
staff, "the project is moving forward as planned."
Rising competition
Ballpark Village is emerging as several other downtown projects are in the
works. Pinnacle Entertainment is building a casino and 19-story hotel tower on
the riverfront. South of the stadium, another nightlife spot, the Icehouse
District, is in the works.
Plans at the Bottle District, targeted for a site next to the Edward Jones
Dome, include a bowling alley and a Cabo Wabo Cantina nightclub.
All those projects promise to offer some of the same attractions as Ballpark
Village: restaurants, retail shops and recreation.
Signs of the competition already may be showing. Last week, Clayco, one of the
area's largest builders, withdrew its proposal to be general contractor for
Ballpark Village to focus instead on the Bottle District.
Some question whether downtown can attract enough people and dollars to sustain
all of the proposed destinations.
"That is exactly the essence — crowded out," said Don Woehle, a first vice
president at the realty firm CB Richard Ellis who has been working downtown for
over 20 years. "Unless this becomes the Six Flags or Disney World Mecca of the
Midwest, this doesn't make sense."
While Woehle predicts Ballpark Village has a better shot of success than the
other developments, even something as fickle as the Cardinals' place in the
standings could affect whether people patronize shops and restaurants next to
the stadium.
"People stay downtown when they win," Woehle said. "They don't stay downtown
when they lose."
Patrick J. Welch, an economics professor at St. Louis University, said that
although the growing population of downtown could help Ballpark Village,
staying afloat in any market with renewed competition is difficult.
"The fact of the matter is, with any new business, a lot of them don't
survive," Welch said.
Bowling hall's future
For the bowling museum, it's also a question of survival — sell and relocate,
or be pushed out by the Cardinals, their longtime neighbor.
The museum has long enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with the
Cardinals since opening next to the old stadium in 1984. For about the past 10
years, the Cardinals have rented space in the museum for the team's own Hall of
Fame.
The Cardinals, though, don't plan on using that space for much longer. A spiffy
new Redbird Hall of Fame, with a restaurant that overlooks the outfield, is a
key part of Ballpark Village aspirations.
What the Cardinals do covet, however, is the land beneath the bowling museum,
which sits on the northwest corner of the Ballpark Village site.
The development agreement signed earlier this year with Mayor Slay's office
lays out a process in which the city would "initiate eminent domain
proceedings" on behalf of the Cardinals if "good faith efforts" to buy the
property are unsuccessful.
"I guess we are waiting for those good faith negotiations to begin," said Bill
Scheid, chairman of the Bowling Hall of Fame's Board of Trustees and president
of the bowling ball manufacturer Ebonite Inc. "We've only heard discussion
through intermediaries. Everything we know to this date is secondhand."
DeWitt offered a different description of the negotiations, saying the vice
president of Cordish has been in touch with Scheid on a "fairly regular basis."
Either way, the museum's trustees will discuss the future of the hall at their
annual meeting next month in Las Vegas. At least one already has firm views on
the possibility of eminent domain.
"I think it stinks," said John Sommer, head of Don Carter Lanes Inc. in
Rockford, Ill.
Eminent domain, Sommer said, "is wrong for just about everything I can think
of. Everything I know about it is totally wrong."
Even if the Cardinals acquired the land by eminent domain, it would be far from
a victory. If the sale price is set by the courts, the land might cost more
than if the team bought it outright. The long legal process also could
jeopardize the team's hopes of opening on time.
Ideally, DeWitt said, the team would arrange for the bowling hall to relocate
to Ballpark Village.
"It's no secret that folding the bowling museum into the village and rebranding
them and souping it up is part of our vision," DeWitt said. "That's what we are
focused on."
jwagman@post-dispatch.com | 314-622-3580
