Forget Cordish. Slay has a perfectly good alternative and comparable site controlled by the City west of Gateway One to offer up instead. Sure, that would mean finding another site for Gateway Foundation's sculpture park, but adding more jobs to a CBD losing jobs calls for gutsy action.
And unless Slay makes such an 11th-hour move, or Clayton itself lines up its own incentives, who knows where such jobs could move. For example, my new employer has a lot of new land becoming available with its own relocation team ready to offer incentives to entice a bigger move.
How ANNOYING. When you hear this, you really wonder who the people are behind these dealings, personally, and what goes on. How does this happen? How can you raise hopes of a city that needs constant sensitive reassuring that the city is turning around, and then puke.
I understand that this doesn't necessarily say bbv isn't going to be done, but talk about morale booster.
If centene were to leave the region, what would be their reason? What would they be looking for? Is it a fault of the city, or something that the city lacks or has? If so, will we ever fix those problems? Does anyone else in charge think like thaT?!?!?! ... old farts...
I try to be optimistic about St. Louis since I love it so much and truly think it is one of the most underrated cities with an infinite amount of character, but sh*t like this is the reason we are not a major metropolitan anymore and why people consider us a cowtown. I was just reading in another thread that Dooley expected St. Louis County's population to drop to around 750,000 - 800,000 range......what the hell is that! Its this apathetic bullsh*t that keeps this city down. Do you guys only think any other metropolitan area would have let this company leave downtown to accommodate the circus show that is Corshit? I highly doubt it. St. Louis needs to start thinking like a Midwestern metropolitan area of 3 million, instead of a town in Mississippi the size of University City. All these years we have let numerous opportunities pass us by and I'm just wondering when the bleeding will stop. I'm sure the overrated *hole that is Atlanta, Charlotte, or Houston will gladly accommodate Centene in their CBD.
<i>I am very disappointed that Centene and the Ballpark Village Partners could not come to an agreement. Meeting the needs, obligations, legal requirements, and goals of both parties was extremely difficult, complicated, and frustrating.
I want to thank Michael Neidorff for the opportunity to bring his company to Ballpark Village. He gave the City a chance because he understands how important Downtown is to the future of the region. I also believe Bill DeWitt, Jr. and Bill DeWitt, III tried very hard to work through the many complications that this deal presented.
I also want to thank my staff who worked many nights, weekends, and holidays to find a way to forge an agreement between these two parties.
I still support Ballpark Village. Because of changes in the composition of Ballpark Village proposed by the developer, a new redevelopment agreement will have to be negotiated. The project will only move forward on terms that are fair to the taxpayers.</i>
<b>Statement of Centene</b>
<i>Ballpark Village was unable to accommodate Centene’s plans for our world headquarters which we deeply regret and are disappointed to announce. Since our announcement in September 2007 , we have been working closely with representatives of Ballpark Village to finalize details for this project. Despite the best efforts of everyone involved, we could not bring our plans to fruition. We were committed and excited to move our headquarters downtown, as we recognize that Ballpark Village will help strengthen the region and we wanted to be part of this. We wish the Cardinals and the developers of Ballpark Village nothing but the best in their efforts to complete this important retail and mixed-use development.
We are currently resuming the evaluation of other potential options for the location of our corporate headquarters, both in and out of the region. We very much appreciate the commitment that leaders of this community, especially Mayor Francis Slay and his staff, have shown throughout this unusually long and public process. We remain hopeful that we can work together with local leaders to keep our growing company in the St. Louis region, if not downtown.
We will keep you updated as our search progresses.</i>
southslider wrote:Forget Cordish. Slay has a perfectly good alternative and comparable site controlled by the City west of Gateway One to offer up instead. Sure, that would mean finding another site for Gateway Foundation's sculpture park, but adding more jobs to a CBD losing jobs calls for gutsy action.
And unless Slay makes such an 11th-hour move, or Clayton itself lines up its own incentives, who knows where such jobs could move. For example, my new employer has a lot of new land becoming available with its own relocation team ready to offer incentives to entice a bigger move.
Maybe we could just sell the cardinals to Charlotte as well, that would get st. louis to wake up and smell the coffee...
publiceye wrote:<i.We remain hopeful that we can work together with local leaders to keep our growing company in the St. Louis region, if not downtown.
I wonder if there's any hope that they would consider other sites downtown.
^ I hope so too Debaliviere.....hopefully Corshit and the Cardinals didnt completely turn them off. I wonder what were the accommodations that were not met?
Actually, the policy at news organizations is to have more than one source, to name the sources, and to offer a reason why a source's name is being wittheld. That way, readers and viewers are better able to evaluate the likelihood that a report is accurate.
Yeah, and hopefully they verified it through multiple sources. But they certainly can't name them in this case, for obvious reasons.
My contacts close to the deal indicate this man was the key source for the recent Fox2 news report on Centene/BPV: http://tinyurl.com/2q9j9y
Forget about sunk costs. Forget about "well, it will take longer". IT HAS ALREADY TAKEN LONGER!
What was supposed to be open for the 2009 All-Star Game (FYI, that's kind of a "big deal") will no longer be open. Instead, the tourists, cameras, and media get to guess about what is going in our dirt farm.
IMO, fire Cordish or turn the hole into a pond where fans can sit in their rafts during the game like they do San Fran.
P.S. I like how Slay "forgot" to thank Cordish for all of their "hard work"
Do people in st. louis, as a whole, honestly not care at all what happens to the city? Do they not have the same pride we have? Do they just care about their gas prices and if sally the babysitter will show up on Friday night?
I personally would fight for st. louis before I would fight for the US. I view myself as a st. louisan more than i view myself an American. That's why I care so much about projects like this.
If a doctor were to say, "sorry it was too complicated of a process to diagnose your mother with pneumonia, so we lost her", he would be fired. Isn't that the job of lawyers and business executives? What WERE the complications? Was it this dbag guy's reputation at stake? Was it some cat fight between some petty politics?
Jesus, Lord and Savior, God bless this forsaken city.
You may notice that both Mayor Slay and Centene's statements largely omitted Cordish. One could then infer that Cordish was the source of major issues in this deal. Perhaps Cordish should be let go if they have not been negotiating in good faith.
From Slay's Statement wrote:"Because of changes in the composition of Ballpark Village proposed by the developer, a new redevelopment agreement will have to be negotiated. The project will only move forward on terms that are fair to the taxpayers."
I wonder what changes in the composition of BPV was proposed by the developer? Did the worsening economy cause Cordish to try to push more of the financial burden on taxpayers?
And a lot of the emotion I am observing does not help matters although it may be cathartic. It would be interesting to see an after-action review and lessons learned from the negotiations. The key is to learn and move on.
Centene is very likely relocating in Clayton and only states they are looking at other areas outside the region to increase their BATNA to gain more incentives from Clayton.
Ballpark Village can and likely will still be a success.
dweebe wrote:This could very well cost Slay any chance of getting re-elected.
Oh, please.
The honest truth is that most people don't care one way or the other. They will vote for or against him for a million other reasons, none of them having to do with BPV.
Can you imagine what other cities must think of St. Louis, much less Centene? First Clayton actively pushed Centene out (only to put the same properties up for sale afterwords!), and when a major employer announces a commitment to move downtown, we can't even come up with a plan to accomodate them (as a guaranteed anchor!)...
Can you imagine what other cities must think of St. Louis, much less Centene? First Clayton actively pushed Centene out (only to put the same properties up for sale afterwords!), and when a major employer announces a commitment to move downtown, we can't even come up with a plan to accomodate them (as a guaranteed anchor!)...
This is nothing short of PATHETIC.
Nah, Fortune 500 companies are lining up to relocate downtown.
To echo what a previous poster said - give Centene a block of the Gateway Mall.
Can you imagine what other cities must think of St. Louis, much less Centene? First Clayton actively pushed Centene out (only to put the same properties up for sale afterwords!), and when a major employer announces a commitment to move downtown, we can't even come up with a plan to accomodate them (as a guaranteed anchor!)...
This is nothing short of PATHETIC.
Yes, it's pathetic. But let's get our facts straight: Clayton, in fact, went to the mat to get property for Centene. Unfortunately, rather than mediating free-market negotiation, it illegally tried to seize the property of other viable businesses through an unjustifiable attempt at eminent domain.
On the City's side, it sold its soul for a new ballpark under the guise that stadiums somehow spur economic growth, volumes of data to the contrary (not to mention Scottrade Center and the Jones Dome) notwithstanding. Then there's the whole issue of being truthful to constituents: It made an *offer* to Centene -- but there was no deal. But it was announced to be perceived as a done deal.
I, too, hope that Centene merely stays in Clayton. It's the most economically efficient solution. Meanwhile, wanna bet the Cardinals sell out regularly if they even come close to a .500 record this year?
Since nobody gives a damn about the riverfront. I'm sure Charlotte can come up with a plan for it.
