Readers Skeptical About Ballpark Village
Last week readers showed they are skeptical about the stalled Ballpark Village project that was first announced in the fall of 2006.
Q:Â Two of six blocks of Ballpark Village are to begin, thoughts?
- I’ll believe it when I see it 83 [49.4%]
- It is good to phase the project rather than try to do it all at once. 46 [27.38%]
- As long as they don’t get more tax money I don’t care 29 [17.26%]
- Other answer… 8 [4.76%]
- They should wait until it can all be done at once. 2 [1.19%]
- Unsure/no opinion 0 [0%]
The second choice selected shows many think phasing the project is a good idea. The “other” answers were:
- the only 2 blocks we’ll likely see developed
- We should keep the land so we have it for the “new stadium” needed in
- It will be better than a softball field!
- Crooks!!!
- we need an aquarium
- Boycott the Cards who not only welched on payroll, but also BPV!
- its a shell game
- We need a new city cemetery, why not here?
In time we will see if the Cardinals & Cordish come through.
– Steve Patterson
Are there any limits that will prevent the remaining blocks from being used for surface parking? If surface parking is allowed, I can easily see the first two blocks being the “final answer” for at least a decade, while the Cardinals & Cordish wait for “the numbers to make sense” to do any more construction.
With any developer, its going to be about numbers. The only other way for significant progress in a short period of time is for City to back the bonds like KC did for Cordish. A big reason why that came together so quickly in KC. But I give credit for Greene on drawing that line in the sand. A slow phased project coming off a recession is not a bad outcome considering how much tax dollars the city could be shelling out for bond payments. Also, I think KC Power & Light district in some respects had less competition for the entertainment dollar vs what BPV has to compete with in the STL area and thus the consequences could be much more unforgiving.
What sucks is how the Centene deal played out and how we never got a straight answer out of the stakesholders. It would tell us a lot about the future of BPV. Was it a play by Centene for their desired spot in Clayton? Did Cordish see dollar signs for years to come thus driving out the best chance to big in the first phase? Was DeWitt in the driver seat or did he let Cordish run the deal? My gut feeling is that Stifel Nichols through their president's seat on the Cardinals board has decided to drive this train. Essentially telling DeWitt & Cordish that they got two years, take it or leave it. That would be the best option you can expect out of this deal in my opinion as you finally got a committed home grown corporation driving this train because DeWitt/Cordish will turn over prime real estate.