New Stadium Did Not "Slip Away" From Augusta

Thursday, December 20, 2012
Augusta, GA
By The Outsider

Project Jackson. It sounds like a top secret military program, and yesterday some of its details were declassified in a public presentation in North Augusta, SC. It turns out that all of the rumors flying around last week were true: there indeed is a plan to move The Augusta Greenjackets across the river  --- and  a proposed new stadium will be a centerpiece of Project Jackson.

The response to this news ranged from enthusiasm, confusion, and hand wringing -- depending  on what side of the Savannah river you are on. A riverfront ballpark has been debated for more than six years, but up until now, the discussion has always centered on a location along the downtown riverfront on the Georgia side of the river. Yesterday's presentation revealed the most specific proposal to date for a new stadium for the Greenjackets. Here is what we now know:

The Details

Ripken Baseball will be selling the team. The new owners will be an Investment Group  known as Agon Sports and Entertainment. One of the principals of this new group is none other than Jeff Eiseman, the past President of The Augusta Greenjackets under the Ripken group.

Project Jackson will be more than just a ballpark. It includes over $110 million in additional private developments that include a luxury hotel, apartments, town homes, restaurants, retail and office space.

The public sector is expected to chip in 30% of the cost of the project, totaling around $43 million. This would include the cost of the stadium, a conference center, and a riverfront park.

Despite the move to South Carolina, the new team owners expect the name to remain The Augusta Greenjackets.

This is just a proposal. There is no guarantee the stadium will be built. Depending on what funding mechanisms are used, voters could reject the stadium in a public  referendum. Also, some nearby residents of the affluent neighborhoods of Hammonds Ferry and The River Club have expressed concerns about noise, congestion and light pollution from a stadium. So, this is not a done deal by any means.

A Collective Whine

As soon as the details of Project Jackson emerged yesterday in North Augusta, you could practically hear a collective whine from across the river. An article on the stadium proposal appeared yesterday on the Augusta Chronicle website and  received over 100 comments by the end of the day.  Generally, people who were proponents of a new stadium on the downtown Augusta riverfront viewed the news as a major defeat and wanted to point the finger of blame. To paraphrase some of the comments from those wringing their hands over the announcement : "Augusta blew it,"  " Augusta just lost a great opportunity", "This idea was just too big and progressive for the people of Augusta" and "would the last person leaving Augusta turn the light off?" 

Some people wanted to blame Augusta commissioners for supposedly "letting this great opportunity slip away."  That blame is misplaced. For more than six years, Augusta commissioners have asked for a specific proposal from the Ripken Baseball group and the mayor. Those specifics never came. Instead, all Augustans got were vague sales pitches of  "Multi-use facility" and "public/private partnership". The Ripken group was intentionally coy about how much of their own money they were even willing to invest in the project. In fact, after the dozens of meetings Mayor Deke Copenhaver and City Administrator Fred Russell held with Ripken Baseball officials, not once did they produce a concrete proposal like the one that was revealed yesterday in North Augusta. Not once were actual costs presented to the public and Augusta commissioners. All we got was a six year long sales pitch for a product we never even got to see.

Show Me The Money!

It was obvious that the Ripken group had their eye on the former Golf and Gardens property  almost as soon as they purchased the team -- perhaps even before. When the state of Georgia announced that the downtown golf themed attraction -- that never even fully materialized -- would be closing, the sales pitch for a baseball stadium at the site began almost immediately. But instead of making an offer on the property when it was available, the Ripken Group stalled and teased the public with pretty conceptual water colore renderings. They created a "Bring Baseball Downtown" website that was supposed to look like a public grass-roots effort. They talked about possible condos, and all sorts of goodies, but with no specifics and  more importantly, no actual dollar figures. The trite term "public/private partnership" was continually batted around, but with no specifics of how much the private sector would invest into the project versus the public sector.  And after the recent debacle of the "public/private partnership" between the city of Augusta and Augusta Riverfront LLC over the TEE center and numerous other failed downtown boondoggles over the years, that term naturally sounded  off alarm bells in the minds of taxpayers from Washington Rd to Willis-Foreman Road.

Several years ago Mayor Copenhaver  asked commissioners to commit to acquiring the Golf and Gardens property from the state of Georgia for potential use as a site for a new baseball stadium. This would have cost the city $millions more for a property that it had already sunk $6 million of SPLOST money into for the failed golf and gardens attraction. Commissioners were naturally hesitant, especially when Ripken Baseball was still unwilling to give them more specifics. So time went by .. and the Ripken Group never made an effort to acquire the Golf and Gardens property on their own, and they still never brought a specific proposal forward to the commission. Instead they engaged in back room meetings with the mayor and city administrator and went on a prolonged six year tease with the public. We kept hearing reports over the years that a "big announcement" was imminent over the ballpark.. but nothing ever materialized. Bottom line is, Ripken Baseball and the mayor had six years to make a presentation to the public like what was done yesterday in North Augusta, and they never did.

Augusta is the Big Winner

Despite all of the hand wringing from some, the city of Augusta stands to be the big winner if Project Jackson   happens. The metro area will still have a minor league ball team, and that team will still be called the Augusta Greenjackets. This team will have a new state of the art facility much closer to downtown Augusta than the current one at Lake Olmstead. But the best part is that  Augusta taxpayers will not be on the hook paying for any of it.

And the private aspect of Project Jackson -- the hotel, the apartments, the town homes, restaurants and retail and office space -- is what is expected to  pay for the ballpark. That was a crucial missing element from proposals floated for the Augusta riverfront. Initially, six years ago, we did hear about the possibility of a mixed-use development, but talk was always vague and never as specific as what is being proposed in North Augusta. As the years went on the proposal for the Augusta riverfront started to be called a "multi-use facility", which is a big difference. This basically means they were pitching a baseball stadium that could be used for other events like weddings and concerts. The talk about a mixed-use development, including upscale condos and restaurants, seemed to have completely disappeared from the discussion and the sales pitch from the Ripken Group.

And it is not like the Golf and Gardens property on the Georgia side of the river will sit fallow. It is slated to become the site for an exciting expansion of the new merged University. This will include student housing, research and teaching facilities and even possibly a performing arts center. So downtown Augusta stands to benefit from two big projects: a ballpark and town center complex right across the 13th street bridge and a new university campus in the heart of downtown. If commissioners had of committed the city to acquiring the golf and gardens property for a ballpark, downtown Augusta would have ended up with far less... likely only a taxpayer subsidized stadium that would sit vacant most of the year. In this case, Augusta gets to have its cake and eat it too.

Even Mayor Copenhaver had to admit that this news might be good for Augusta:


And what if Augusta taxpayers had built the Ripken Group a new stadium to keep them in town? Well, it appears, based on yesterday's announcement, that may not have even have made a difference. The Greenjackets are getting a new riverfront stadium, but yet the Ripken group is selling the team anyway. What guarantees did Augusta have that building a new stadium would have kept Ripken baseball and the Greenjackets in Augusta? None.

Perhaps former Augusta mayor Bob Young summed it up best in a comment he posted to Facebook earlier in the week when the details of Project Jackson started to emerge:

"Time to put down the Kool Aid and have a reality check. 
First, North Augusta is going to develop a project with a baseball stadium that requires about 4 times the public investment stadium supporters in Augusta were talking about. This tells me that the true cost of this project is finally seeing the light of day. Second, Ripkin is selling his team, even though he is getting a new stadium. What's with all of his talk about loyalty to Augusta? Folks, if the people of North Augusta want to go on the hook for this, more power to them. 
Augusta's challenge now is the stadium on the lake. It's bought and paid for. The city gets control back when Ripkin leaves (remember, the contract gave Ripkin control over all uses of the park, not just baseball.) New home for our local college teams, perhaps?"

Indeed. The challenge for the city of Augusta is what to do with Lake Olmstead stadium. The city owns the facility free and clear, and now with complete control of it, Augusta can receive all of the profits generated from events and concessions. Maybe it's time the city started marketing that facility. The other option is to lease it out to the new merged university for college sports. Either way, the city is in a much better position in regards to controlling its asset at Lake Olmstead and reaping the benefits from it.

But officials should not jump the gun, So far, Project Jackson is merely proposal, and North Augusta citizens could give it the same icy reception that Augusta did with talk of spending tax dollars on building a ballpark. Also, there may very well be a push back from residents in nearby  Hammonds Ferry . It's still very early in the game, but by all appearances it looks like North Augusta officials went about this the right way. They came up with a specific proposal first with actual cost figures and who would pay what... and now they are pitching that to the public. It's the complete opposite way Ripken Baseball and the mayor went about handling selling the downtown stadium proposal.

The challenge for North Augusta officials now is to make sure that the private sector keeps their end of the bargain. As we have reported in previous stories, when cities build new stadiums on the promise of adjacent private development, it often does not materialize or not to the extent as promised. If North Augusta is going to commit $43,000,000 towards Project Jackson, taxpayers will want to be confident that the private development will come and pay back the public's investment. That means North Augusta officials need to insist on clauses in their partnership agreement that stipulates a time frame for construction of the private portion of  Project Jackson, with financial penalties if the private sector breaks their promise. Luckily, North Augusta does not have the incompetent Fred Russell as their city administrator.. so we expect they will negotiate a much better deal for the taxpayers.

The end result of Project Jackson is that it may finally help unify both sides of the Savannah River. Hopefully it will also make Augusta leaders  look at how North Augusta handles planning and negotiating these big projects, and they will learn something. You could say that both sides of the river could view this as a home run.**
OS

Azziz Gets Control of Golf and Gardens Property; Creates Problem For Ballpark

Friday, March 30, 2012
Augusta, GA
From CityStink.net Reports

With just 30 minutes left on the clock until this year's Georgia General Assembly adjourned, The GA House approved the transfer of the beleaguered Golf and Gardens property on Reynolds Street to GHSU late last night. It now goes to Governor Nathan Deal for his signature.

But one stipulation in the transfer of the property could be a big problem for proponents of a minor league baseball stadium at the site. A clause in the bill authorizing the transfer says that there can be no commercial development on the property for 3 years, or until bonds that are still owed on the property from The Georgia Golf Hall of Fame project are paid off. That would preclude any public-private partnerships on the property for at least 3 years, including a new baseball stadium for The Augusta Greenjackets.

This stipulation could give Dr. Ricardo Azziz an easy out in saying "No" to a ballpark at the site. Sources have been telling us that Azziz has never been enthusiastic about the ballpark proposal. Indeed, Azziz's stated vision for the 16 acre property has included everything from a high tech bio research park, student housing, and the cultural arts.. including possibly a school of Music and a Performing Arts Center. Conspicuously missing from Azziz's language has been a "Multi-use" ballpark at the site. And there would be little room for all of the things Azziz would like to see at the property if a ballpark is built there. The site is only slightly more than 16 acres and a ballpark would easily consume half of that at least, and it is still not clear how it would benefit the new university.

Azziz could now say that he needs to move on with developing the property and cannot wait 3 years to include a ballpark under the rules. So does this mean that The Mayor and Ripken Baseball have struck out on their dream for a downtown ballpark? Well, maybe not. Ballpark proponents may try to change the language of the partnership, where the Ballpark would be constructed as a state owned facility for the University.. and after 3 years Ripken Baseball would enter into a lease agreement with the University to use the stadium. Under this scenario though, state taxpayers would end up footing 100% of the the costs of the the stadium. Sources tell us though that Azziz is not likely to go along with such a scenario.

But ballpark proponents could have another trick up their sleeve. Sources are telling us that an alternative downtown riverfront location they are eyeing is the city-owned land located at 511 Reynolds Street by the Riverwalk Marina. At 6.7 acres, it is a quite a bit smaller than the Golf and Gardens property and would be a tight fit for a ballpark, but not out of the question.

That parcel was once the focus of a failed condominium development called The Watermark. The city purchased the land from the city's pension fund and paid for environmental clean-up so that the condominium developer could proceed with the sale and begin developing the property. However, the financial collapse of 2008 doomed the project and the land still sits empty with no potential buyers.

This same property was eyed for a downtown ballpark in the mid 1990s by the city of Augusta, just prior to consolidation. It failed to win the approval from the city council, and instead upgrades to the existing Heaton Stadium were made at Lake Olmstead, creating the current Lake Olmstead Stadium. So if this means the door is closing on the ballpark at the Golf and Gardens site could another one be opening just down the street at The Riverwalk Marina? One thing is for sure, the Mayor and Ripken Baseball don't seem content to let this thing die a quiet death. Stay tuned for updates.***
OS

Related Stories:

• Azziz Should Consult Public of Development of Golf and Gardens Property
• No Joy in Mudville: Has Deke Struck Out Over Downtown Ballpark?
• Field of Schemes: can Russell Be Trusted Over Downtown Ballpark
• Just What Augusta Needs: Another Ballpark Study!
• The Truth is a Funny Thing in Aberdeen, MD Over Publicly Financed Ballparks

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Azziz Should Consult Public on Development of Golf and Gardens Property

GHSU President Dr. Ricardo Azziz

Saturday, March 24, 2012
Augusta, GA
CityStink.net Commentary
By The Outsider

Officials from Ripken Baseball, Jacoby Development, and the city of Augusta met with GHSU President Ricardo Azziz yesterday to discuss the future of the Golf and Gardens property, and to make a pitch, yet again, for a "multi-use" minor league ballpark to be incorporated into the site. Azziz has requested the state-owned property be transferred to The Georgia Board of Regents so that it could be used for expansion for the new university that will emerge from the merger of GHSU and ASU.

Azziz says he envisions the site as a hi-tech bio research park attracting some of the nation's leading researchers. Think of it as a smaller version of North Carolina's Research Triangle Park on Augusta's downtown riverfront. Azziz says it would provide a dynamic "gateway" into downtown and could also include student housing. But the site is only 17 acres, and a minor-league ballpark would consume nearly half of the property, and that's not including parking and the "baseball camp" wanted by Cal Ripken, owner of The Augusta Grteenjackets. A ballpark would leave little room for Azziz' s vision for development focusing on academics and research.

Azziz was diplomatic at yesterday's meeting, saying that "nothing is off the table" in regards to the ballpark, but sources tell us that he isn't exactly enthusiatic about the idea, but is willing to listen to a variety of proposals for the site. Once the property is transferred to the University, Azziz will be in the driver's seat in deciding how it will be developed. That prompted Ripken Baseball officials and pro-ballpark boosters to repackage the downtown stadium idea as a "public-private partnership" with the University, hinting that a "multi-purpose" ballpark could be jointly used by The Greenjackets and an expanded university athletics program.

Frankly, whenever the buzz phrase  "public-private partnership" pops up, taxpayers should get very worried. Remember that The Golf Hall of Fame fiasco was also pitched as a "public-private partnership". So was the TEE Center. But let's break through the code-speak and call it what it really is: Taxpayers paying for the pet projects of a private entity or group. In this case it's Ripken Baseball hoping to get the taxpayers of Georgia to build them a new ballpark for about $40 million, but if history is any guide, you can be assured to add another $30 million to that. Remember, the taxpayers were initially told the TEE Center would only cost $20 million, but ended up costing over $72 million when you add the parking deck, the operational subsidies to Augusta Riverfront LLC .. and the price tag keeps ballooning with more change-orders coming.

Frankly the public is getting tired of these costly  "Public-Private Partnerships" that do  nothing more than transfer public tax money into the private bank accounts of a small well-connected oligarchy.

We are excited about the possibilities  that a new larger merged university may bring to Augusta, especially Azziz's vision for a high-tech bio research park that has the potential to bring hundreds of high paying jobs to the downtown core. Now that is something that would be a major boost to downtown businesses and would be a major catalyst for a real downtown renaissance. Ripken Baseball officials can keep coming up with new creative phrases for their ballpark: "Mixed-use facility".. "Open-air Civic Center".. whatever.. in the end it's still just a ballpark for a class A minor league baseball team, that will sit dormant a majority of the year. And excuse us if we don't get all that excited over the prospect of events like weddings being held on the pitcher's mound when not hosting ballgames.

We believe that Azziz's vision for the property is probably much closer to that of the general public, which has never really embraced the ballpark proposal in its various incarnations in the first place. A Democratic primary straw poll and several media polls have shown overwhelming opposition to public financing for a new ballpark. And many people still question the need for one. The current facility seems to be more than adequate to accommodate fans, and they seem to like its intimate ambiance by Lake Olmstead. And it would seem to us that if this new larger university wanted to expand its athletics program, then a higher priority may be a larger home for the winning basketball team that is now a part of ASU.

We appreciate Dr. Azziz'z willingness to entertain a myriad  of proposals for developing the Golf and Gardens property, but we have to ask, why has the public never been consulted about what they would like to see there? Officials from Ripken Baseball have had dozens of meeting with our Mayor about a ballpark.. they have been in secret negotiations with city Administrator Fred Russell on how to finance it...and now they come down to Augusta and get to have a face to face meeting with Dr. Ricardo Azziz to pitch their proposal yet again. But last time we checked... Ripken Baseball has not invested one single penny of their own money into the Golf and Gardens property and they still didn't say at yesterday's meeting how much of their own money they would commit to the ballpark proposal. But then, why do that if they can get the state taxpayer's to build it for them? Maybe they've taken a few notes from Augusta Riverfront LLC over the TEE Center on how to get the taxpayers to build you free stuff?

But you want to know who already has millions of dollars invested in the Golf and Gardens property? The taxpayers. In fact, $6 million of Richmond County SPLOST dollars were pumped into the Golf and Gardens. So shouldn't Richmond County taxpayers have some say-so in this matter or at least be consulted for their suggestions? To date there has not been one single open public forum or town hall meeting to discuss what to do with the Golf and Gardens property.. yet Ripken Baseball and the other well-connected elites can ride into town and be heard right away. Is that fair? We don't think so.

So we would like to ask Dr. Azziz, while he is entertaining Ripken Baseball's proposal for a ballpark, he should also consider consulting with the taxpayers of Richmond County for suggestions on how to develop the property.. since they have far more of their money already invested in it. We think the public deserves the opportunity to be heard.  So far a ballpark as dominated the discussion over this land... but maybe the public has other ideas that have never been discussed before. It seems to us that the public deserves its chance at bat.***

Related Stories:

• No Joy in Mudville: Has Deke Struck Out Over Downtown Ballpark?
• Field of Schemes: can Russell Be Trusted Over Downtown Ballpark
• Just What Augusta Needs: Another Ballpark Study!
• The Truth is a Funny Thing in Aberdeen, MD Over Publicly Financed Ballparks

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No Joy in Mudville: Has Deke Struck Out Over Downtown Ballpark?

Friday, March 16, 2012
Augusta, GA
By The Outsider

It appears that Mayor Deke Copenhaver may have struck out on his dream for a new ballpark at the former Golf and Gardens site in downtown Augusta. Dr. Ricardo Azziz, President of GHSU, threw a curve ball earlier in the week when he formally requested the 17 acre riverfront property be deeded over to The Georgia Board of Regents by The Georgia State Properties Commission so that it could be used for expansion of a new merged GHSU/ASU. Conspicuously missing from Azziz's vision for the property was a new baseball stadium for The Augusta Greenjackets. When asked about a new ballpark being part of his plans for the property by George Eskola of WJBF news, Azziz said: "It would be difficult to put a baseball stadium in a property that will actually be destined for developing the academic enterprises of the university...this new university,” and he went further saying, "It is not in our plans at this point.”

Azziz envisions a research park and innovation center for bio-tech and more, including possibly student housing. He says a conservative estimate could bring  between 300 and 500 new jobs downtown and perhaps hundreds of full-time  student residents. That would certainly be a big boost to downtown business. One of the main criticisms of locating a ballpark at the location is that it would sit empty a majority of the time and even when it does host games and other events that it would not necessarily  mean business would spill over to the rest of downtown. Ballparks are generally one-stop destinations, where patrons go to see a game, eat a hot dog, have a beer, and then hop in their cars and go home.  But having full time student residents and hundreds of new jobs in the area could indeed create a demand for more businesses in the downtown core.

The land is already owned by the state of Georgia so shifting it over to The Board of Regents for university expansion can be accomplished with little effort. But Mayor Copenhaver and Ripken Baseball officials were hoping to convince university officials to make a new ballpark part of their plans, but according to Azziz it isn't.

Indeed, as we told you back in January, a ballpark would consume a large portion of the Golf and Gardens property and it is not clear that it would have any benefit for the new university. The seasons for collegiate baseball and The Augusta Greenjackets coincide, so sharing a facility would be problematic. Also, GHSU doesn't really have a sports focus. ASU does have a sports teams, but their facilities are located at a complex off Wrightsboro Rd, and it is likely the new university would want to keep sports facilities consolidated in that location. A minor league ballpark just doesn't appear to factor into Azziz's vision for university expansion. He sees more hi tech jobs and an academic focus, not  peanuts and cracker jacks. But could there be more going on behind the scenes?

Did Backroom Deal Over Wal-Mart Doom Ballpark?
If there was ever any hope for a partnership between GHSU and Ripken Baseball for a new ballpark at the Golf and Gardens site, it may have been squashed over the controversial land deal for a new Wal-mart off 15th street. Sources tell us that Dr. Azziz was outraged over the city conspiring behind closed-doors to ink  a deal to sell a city owned parcel that was previously used as a bus washing facility to developers for a Wal-Mart grocery store for $400,000. The MCG Foundation says they had already made offers on the property for $1 million, more than double what the city was selling it to Wal-mart for. Dr. Azziz even threatened that legal action may be an option over the deal. Azziz says that Wal-mart does not fit into the University's plans for that area. The MCG Foundation says it also undermines their lease agreement with Kroger, which operates a grocery store adjacent to the site Wal-mart is eyeing. They also maintain the way the deal was conducted in secret was illegal.

Sources also tell us that key figures pushing the deal with Wal-mart are also big proponents of the downtown ballpark.. namely developer Clay Boardman and Mayor Deke Copenhaver. Clay Boardman has bought up dozens of properties in and around Harrisburg under the guise of various LLCs, and his vision for the area seems to differ greatly from that of GHSU and the MCG Foundation. Azziz and The MCG Foundation see more expansion for facilities housing academics, clinics and student housing for a merged university instead of a Wal-mart which they see as in congruent with their master plan. The friction has been building for years, but the deal over the Wal-mart brought it all out into the open.

The Bargaining Chip Theory
Another theory suggests that the power-play over the Wal-mart was well orchestrated and was intended to outrage Dr. Azziz. Boardman and other ballpark proponents had already gotten wind that Azziz was eyeing the Golf and Gardens property and had no intention of  allowing a ballpark there. They also knew that the MCG Foundation wanted the the Augusta Transit property, so by snatching it away from them, they could use it as a bargaining chip to force Azziz's hand on including a ballpark into the Golf and Gardens site. Developer Clay Boardman, a big downtown ballpark proponent and an in-law of Mayor Deke Copenhaver ,also sits on the board of the MCG Foundation, so he would certainly know about the intentions of that organization in wanting the Augusta Transit parcel off 15th street.

Seems far fetched, right? Well, maybe not. Sources tell us the city was well aware that the transit parcel was not big enough to accommodate a Wal-mart.. .they also wanted the land fronting 15th street where the Kroger sits that is owned by the MCG Foundation. In essence the Wal-mart cannot be built without the larger parcel. But now  knowing how badly GHSU and the MCG Foundation wants the transit parcel maybe they can strike a deal... we will give you a sweetheart deal on the transit parcel if you give us space for our ballpark at The Golf and gardens site. Again, this is only one theory.. but knowing the crowd behind this ballpark we wouldn't rule out any shenanigans. Let's also not forget that Fred Russell was a principal negotiator over the Wal-mart deal. At the same time he has been having talks with Ripken Baseball over where to build and how to fund a new ballpark.

Not Giving Up
The Mayor and Clay Boardman do not appear to be giving up on the downtown ballpark. Boardman already owns property across the street from the Golf and Gardens and is also trying to get the city to relocate the fire station on Reynolds street to ostensibly accommodate some kind of mixed-use development. Boardman told George Eskola of WJBF news regarding Azziz's plans for the site: “He hasn't finalized his master plan, so until he determines what his needs are for the property for the combined enterprise you can't really answer that question he can't answer that question is what he told me two or three nights ago.”

Boardman still believes there is room for negotiations over the ballpark, but will Azziz simply forget about the power-play over the transit facility property in Harrisburg that GHSU and The MCG Foundation wanted? Or does Boardman expect to strike a deal over that land in exchange for the ballpark?  Fred Russell  confirmed with George Eskola that a meeting has been arranged with Ripken Baseball officials to meet with him and Dr. Azziz next week to discuss the potential development of the Golf and Gardens property.

But even commissioners who have seemed to be on the Mayor's side are now saying that if a new ballpark is built, it will likely be built elsewhere. Jerry Brigham told George Eskola of WJBF: "I think it ends it for that site. (Golf and Gardens property) I don't think it ends the discussions about a baseball stadium.”


And other sites have been discussed, most notably the Villages of Riverwatch property near the new Costco. Others have suggested the old Regency Mall,  but that site is likely out because of the high price tag wanted by owners of the mall and the cost to demolish the facility.

But why the push to build any new ballpark? It has never been a popular topic with the general public, especially any proposal that includes public financing. Public polls and a democratic primary straw poll have shown overwhelming opposition to public financing for a new ballpark. The current stadium is only 16 years old and rarely fills to capacity and many baseball patrons enjoy the intimate ambiance of Lake Olmstead stadium. Lori Davis, a candidate for the District 1 Augusta Commission seat, has made opposition to public financing for a new ballpark a key plank of her platform, saying that "the city faces higher priorities which are not being adequately funded."

But moving the new ballpark may also factor in to Clay Boardman's vision for Harrisburg. It may not be so much about the need for a new ballpark but rather wanting the land where the current ballpark sits for other purposes.

Mayor Copenhaver contends that a new ballpark will need to be built at some point, telling George Eskola of WJBF news: " At some point, we're going to have to look at doing a new facility for the GreenJackets whether it is there or someplace else." 

But with whose money? In the past six years that there have been discussions over a new ballpark, Ripken Baseball officials have yet to put a number out there of what their financial commitment would be towards a new facility and how much they expect the public to chip in. And the Mayor has made it clear that he would like to avoid a public referendum on the matter, instead searching for "creative public financing" options. That basically means finding a way to leverage public debt without having to get the consent of the public to do so, and it happens all of the time. And commissioners can redirect SPLOST money without a public referendum, and there are millions sitting around in bank accounts all over the CSRA.

But if Azziz stands his ground, a downtown riverfront ballpark may have struck out for good. There may be no joy in Mudville for Deke and his downtown baseball acololytes. But unlike Casey, the Mayor hopes to force this game into extra innings so that he or a designated hitter can step up to the plate and  hit a homerun. But Azziz and the voters may just call a foul and bench this ballpark for good. More to come. ***
OS

Related Stories:

• Field of Schemes: can Russell Be Trusted Over Downtown Ballpark
• Just What Augusta Needs: Another Ballpark Study!
• The Truth is a Funny Thing in Aberdeen, MD Over Publicly Financed Ballparks

Field of Schemes: The Ballpark That Won't Die

Jan. 19, 2011
Augusta, GA
Like a monster from a cheesy 1980s horror film, we learned last Friday  that the downtown ballpark may not be dead after all. It's Baaaaaaaaaaack! Negotiations over a "creative financing package" for a proposed new downtown ballpark for The Augusta Green Jackets at the former Georgia Golf hall of Fame  have been mostly stalled since the commission voted last June to allow Fred Russell to have "talks" with officials from Ripken Baseball.  But the recent news on the merger of GHSU and ASU seems to have resurrected the downtown ballpark....for now.

For the past 5 years,  Mayor Copenhaver and Ripken Baseball have been coveting the riverfront real-estate that was once home to the ill-fated and Ill-conceived Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and Gardens. For the last several years, the gardens have become a weed infested eyesore. According to the mayor, something just has to be done with it! But the public has remained solidly opposed to another taxpayer funded boondoggle at the site. A Democratic primary straw poll a few years back showed that 77% opposed public financing for a new downtown ballpark.

But in his appeal to get commissioners to agree to allow Fred Russell to have negotiations with Ripken Baseball last year, the mayor said that a public referendum on the ballpark could be circumvented with "creative financing". One example he cited was the TAD financing used to lure Costco to the Villages at Riverwatch site. Indeed, TAD (Tax Allocation District) financing can be used without a public vote, but to say that it doesn't present risks to the taxpayers is disingenuous. The original idea for TADs was to help attract large scale employers like manufacturing plants to economically depressed areas. TAD would freeze property taxes for the development as though there were no improvements for a certain number of years. Also, the local government will generally make necessary infrastructure improvements for the development.

The city is betting that in the long run the new development will have a big payoff by increasing the values of surrounding properties. But as we have told you in previous stories, ballparks are risky and rarely yield the promised economic benefits that their proponents hype.  And even Costco is a poor example for use of TAD. As primarily a retail operation, it merely shifted business from other local stores, like Sam's Club. It's not the same as a manufacturing facility that will make products that will be sold outside the area, thus drawing outside money into the area. It also gives Costco an unfair advantage not available to other retailers (their incentive plan also allowed them to keep the first $10 million in sales taxes collected). And the location of Costco, on prime I-20 fronting real-estate in West Augusta (which is hardly starved for retail options) flies in the face of the intended use of TADs, which was to attract development to blighted or economically depressed areas. Critics argue that if generous TAD financing and sales tax incentives were going to be given to Costco, the stipulation should have been for them to locate in South Augusta, where retail options are extremely limited. The same could be said for a new ballpark. The number of jobs it will create will be minimal and prime riverfront real-estate hardly qualifies under TAD as a blighted location.

Now the Mayor and Fred Russell are saying that the new proposal for the ballpark will include no city "tax" money. But that doesn't mean that it may not include TAD financing or other tax incentives that will increase risk to the tax payer, or other risky financing options like revenue bonds. Voters would have to approve a General Obligation bond, but not revenue bonds. The latter would still put taxpayers at risk though if the expected revenue projections do not pan out, and they rarely do with ballparks. We told you last fall how the city of Aberdeen, MD continues to take hundreds of thousands out of its general fund every year to service debt on Ripken Stadium, because stadium revenues are not enough. So this may be all a matter of semantics with Russell and Copenhaver claiming that now city taxes will not be used to pay for constructing the stadium. That may be true, but often it's simply that the bill simply comes later.

What is most disturbing is that Fred Russell has been a principal player in these negotiations despite his poor track record of keeping commissioners in the loop and negotiating deals that seem to be more in the interest of others rather than the taxpayers. Who can forget Fred Russell's handling of the $12 million parking deck on Reynolds Street? First he tells commissioners the land was to be donated, then later he hatches a deal with 933 Broad Investment LLC  for them to  retain ownership of the land, without telling commissioners of the change in the deal. In this same deal the city also made a questionable land swap for a small corner 0.07 acre parcel, vastly over paying for it, thus inflating the land values under the deck, which the city still did not own. It also did not make much sense for the city to engage in a convoluted land swap for just one small parcel when the rest of the land under the deck would still be owned by Broad Investment, LLC. Commissioners recently voted to hire a forensic auditor to look into the questionable land deals that Russell engineered over the $12 million parking deck.

Also don't forget that when the commissioners voted to give Russell more authority in personnel and restructuring of the government, he took that as an opportunity to give select employees raises, when most commissioners were looking for more belt tightening. But now we are all supposed to trust Fred Russell in negotiating a deal for a new downtown ballpark?

Then there are other questions:

First, how involved have administrators from GHSU and ASU been in negotiations over the ballpark? Last Friday, Russell and Ripken Baseball representatives met with an administrator from GHSU, though not university President Ricardo Azziz. It appears this "proposal" was hatched at the last minute when word came that the two universities would be merged. Or was Fred Russell aware of the merger before other local leaders, and did he relay this information to Ripken Baseball officials and Jacoby Development weeks before?

Secondly, How  does a minor league ballpark factor into expansion for this new merged university? Dr Azziz has previously stated that he envisions the state owned Golf and Gardens site for research. Expanded student housing has also been mentioned as a possible use for the site. But a baseball stadium would consume a large portion of the site. Only ASU has a noticeable athletics program, with sports facilities located on Wrightsboro Rd, including a baseball field. Also, minor league baseball and collegiate baseball seasons coincide with one another, so how  could a new downtown ballpark be used by both the Green Jackets and this new University? And a minor league baseball park is not exactly a suitable venue for soccer or football, if there are plans to add those programs to the athletics department of the new merged university. What incentive is there for the new university to cede a large portion of downtown real-estate for a new minor league ballpark?

Lastly, if this is a deal to be negotiated with the administrators of the new university, the State of Georgia, and Ripken baseball, with no financial commitment from the city, then why is Fred Russell acting as the designated hitter putting all of this together?  Commissioners say they were taken off guard by Russell's announcement on the ballpark proposal last week. Radio talker Austin Rhodes characterizes it as Russell "Going Rogue." Sure, commissioners did vote to task Fred Russell to enter negotiations with Ripken Baseball last June. Grady Smith said back then that he voted only for "talks". At the time Mayor Copenhaver  assured commissioners that the vote was merely to get Ripken Baseball to tell the city what its plans were and how much they were willing to bring to the table.

But that was more six months ago and still no word from Ripken Baseball of what their financial commitment would be in this project. And now Russell has brought  university leaders into the process. We are still not sure if this is just a "pitch" to Dr. Azziz, hoping that he will take a swing at it. But all indications are that this proposal is just as much a surprise to him as it was to everyone else last Friday. Also, does this proposal come with the expectation of a significant state investment into the facility? It does seem rather crafty to exploit the university merger as a means to gain control of the Golf and Gardens site. There's no telling what new verbiage will emerge to describe this proposed "multi-purpose" ballpark to get state taxpayers to pay for it. Notice that the news reports have not ruled out "state taxes". Can the State of Georgia afford to sink millions of more dollars into another boondoggle on the Augusta riverfront after the debacles of the Golf and Gardens and Fort Discovery?  Is this all just wishful thinking on the part of Ripken Baseball and stadium proponents?

But as we have told you before, language can be tweaked to make it seem like something is different from what it really is. "Creative financing."... "Revenue Neutral"... "Multi-purpose stadium."... Even earlier today the Mayor announced that he is calling his $100,000 Ministry of Propaganda a "Collaboration Center."

It's time once and for all for Ripken Baseball to come forward with a proposal.. one that outlines what their financial commitment will be in plain English, not buried under convoluted double-speak and "buzz-words". After more than 5 years of having this ballpark proposal hanging over our heads, it's what the public deserves  And can we really trust Fred Russell to negotiate another real-estate deal in the best interest of the taxpayers? In any case, this seems like a bad movie that will never end.***

Below is the video that members of ACAVE presented before the commission last July concerning the ballpark negotiations:

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Busted: MD Mayor "Admonished" for Augusta Trip with Ripken Baseball

Mayor Bennett (left) and challenger  McGrady (right)

City Stink first told you back on October 11th about Aberdeen, MD mayor Michael Bennett's trip to Augusta, GA with Ripken Baseball officials: The Truth is a Funny Thing in Aberdeen, MD When it Comes to Publicly Financed Ballparks.

Mayor Bennett had a very different story for the audience in Augusta regarding his city's financial history with the publicly financed Ripken Stadium from what the people back home are familiar with. Bennett supposedly wanted to "dispel rumors" from a 2007 Baltimore Sun  article that said the small city of Aberdeen, MD was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on their stadium and a very lop-sided financial arrangement with Ripken Baseball made it next to impossible for the city to even break even. Plus, much of the promised real-estate development the city was hoping would occur adjacent to the ballpark never materialized. Of course City Stink got a hold of the budget reports for the city of Aberdeen and found that the city was still losing hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on Ripken Stadium and still having to dip into its general fund to service the bonds.

But Bennett made it sound like everything was just hunky-dory back in The Old-Line state. But people back home knew better. It seems for years, a series of mayors, including Bennett, tried unsuccessfully to renegotiate a better deal with Ripken Baseball to stop the financial hemorrhaging for Aberdeen taxpayers. Each time, the company refused. So why did mayor Michael Bennett come down and tell an audience in Augusta a completely opposite tale and sing the praises of Ripken Baseball?

As many of you know, Ripken Baseball and Augusta mayor Deke Copenhaver have been lobbying hard for a new stadium here in Augusta. But the public has been cool on the idea of committing public funds for the project. So when the news broke back in July that Cal Ripken's home town of Aberdeen was suffering with a financial burden with Ripken Stadium, it seemed to reinforce what stadium critics here have been saying all along.

So on October 3rd, Ripken Baseball brought Aberdeen mayor Michael Bennett (at company expense) to Augusta to engage in some damage control and some truth bending. I mean if the mayor of Aberdeen, MD says all of this is a bunch of baloney about them losing money on their stadium then it must be true right? And of course Augusta reporters won't ask any questions or dig deeper, right?

When the folks back up in Maryland caught wind of mayor Bennett's trip to Augusta, there were naturally a lot of questions. Such as why was mayor Bennett down in Georgia on a lobbying junket for a company his city has a financial relationship with? And, why did the mayor neglect to give the crowd in Augusta the whole story?

Patrick McGrady, who is challenging Bennett in the upcoming Nov 8th election for mayor, filed an ethics complaint over the trip.

Well on Nov 1st, just a week before the election, the Aberdeen, MD Ethics Panel (many of whom were appointed by mayor Bennett) rendered a decision on the ethics complaint against Bennett, and it found the mayor IN VIOLATION of the city's ethics ordinance: Baltimore Sun: Ethics Panel Admonishes Mayor Bennett.

You can view the official decision by the ethics panel below:

ethicsreport (1)

Even though the panel did not believe the mayor "willfully" violated the ethics ordinance, they did believe the potential for a conflict of interest did exist and that mayor Bennett should have disclosed this to the city council BEFORE making the trip. He notified the council more than a week AFTER when it had already hit the blogs and newspapers. The panel also concluded that the mayor, acting in an official capacity, was in effect lobbying on behalf of a private company that could result in that company receiving a  financial benefit (Ripken Baseball is trying to get Augusta to build them a stadium here). The panel did not consider the plane ticket a "gift", nor has it been proven that mayor Bennett received some other direct financial benefit from Ripken Baseball for making the trip, but with it being election season, there are certainly many people asking questions about mayor Bennett's motives for coming to Augusta to lobby on Ripken Baseball's behalf and twist the facts about the financial burden of the stadium. Though there is no penalty for the ethics violation, the panel did "admonish" mayor Bennett for a "series of imprudent actions."

How will this impact the election up there? Well we will find out after next Tuesday if this trip to Augusta cost Michael Bennett his job as mayor. The timing of this certainly could not be worse for Bennett. However things turn out in the election, many stadium critics in Augusta feel vindicated by this decision from the ethics panel in Maryland. The truth about the financial burdens of these stadiums are well documented, and for mayor Bennett and Ripken Baseball officials to come to Augusta and say that stadium critics here were spreading "rumors and misinformation" was not only disingenuous, but offensive. If they want to point the finger at who is spreading "rumors and misinformation" about the stadium, they may want to try finding a mirror.
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Other media sources covering the ethics violation story:

• The Dagger Press (Harford County, MD)
• The Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, GA)

Related City Stink Articles:

• The Truth is a Funny Thing in Aberdeen, MD When it Comes to Publicly Financed Ballparks

***Do you have a story idea, a tip, or would you like to write for City Stink? Then please contact us at: CityStink@gmail.com ***

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The Truth is a Funny Thing in Aberdeen, MD When it Comes to Publicly Financed Ballparks

Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD

Augusta, GA       **Updated on Friday, Oct 14th, 2011**
Some of you may remember last Monday, October 3rd, when some big wigs from Ripken Baseball flew down to Augusta with current Aberdeen, MD mayor Mike Bennett in tow to once again pitch their multi-purpose baseball stadium to select civic leaders and members of the media. The Augusta Chronicle covered their visit in this article: GreenJackets owners try to save downtown stadium plan.


Their stated purpose was to "dispel accusations that Ripken Baseball left Aberdeen in financial trouble when the team joined with the city and state to build a stadium in 2002,"  and to  "to clear up misconceptions and rumors", according to The Augusta Chronicle article.


 Apparently, the supposed "rumors" they were talking about stems from  a 2007 Baltimore Sun article that claims that the financial arrangement between Ripken Baseball and the City of Aberdeen to build a new ballpark in 2002 left the city struggling to meet debt service payments in subsequent years. In fact the article claimed that the city had to dip into its general fund to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to service stadium debt because expected revenues were not materializing. Most importantly, adjacent development that the stadium was supposed to spur,  was also not materializing as city officials had initially been led to believe. The city was apparently counting on tax revenues from that adjacent private development to recoup their costs in the stadium.


At the Augusta PR event, Aberdeen mayor Mike Bennett said this about the 2007 Baltimore Sun article as quoted in The Augusta Chronicle: “As a citizen at the time, I can tell you that the city folks were not that happy with the things that were written. Most of us knew that the things in the article weren’t correct,” Bennett said. “Yes, the city has debt there. We've always had debt there. It is what it is. We were part of the process of building the stadium and we knew there would be debt and things are moving forward.”   Mr Bennett disputed that the city was losing money each year on the stadium.


Mr Bennett also said in The Chronicle article: "'We have a great relationship with Ripken Baseball. Ripken Baseball has a great relationship with us". 


However,  no one was suggesting that there was any bad blood between the city of Aberdeen and Ripken Baseball. And all evidence suggests that Ripken Baseball does a great job at running minor league baseball clubs. In fact, The Aberdeen Iron Birds consistently sell out Ripken Stadium. The problem is, with all that said, the city of Aberdeen still consistently loses money on the stadium. The city may very well be extremely happy with Ripken Baseball's ability to deliver a quality product, but that doesn't negate the fact that the financial arrangement between the company and the city of Aberdeen over the ballpark was decidedly lop-sided in favor of Ripken Baseball. The company received the bulk of revenues earned from the stadium, and the remainder going to the city could not even cover the debt payments.


In fact, documents forwarded to City Stink, appear to confirm the claims made in the Baltimore Sun article. According to the City of Aberdeen Operating and Capital Budgets (Actuals) for fiscal years 2005 thru 2012 shows that indeed the city was losing money each fiscal year on the stadium; so much in fact that the city was having to dip into its general fund each year to service stadium debt. In FY 2010 the city had to transfer $414,102 from its general fund to meet its obligations on their debt on the stadium, and the city's tax digest was not growing proportionally despite the presence of the stadium to cover these costs. In fact, the adjacent developments that were supposed to boost the tax digest to cover the stadium's cost and even yield a profit for the city were chronically delayed and many elements were cancelled.


Below is a clickable graphic from the budget report showing the general fund transfers. Pay close attention to the next to last line that reads "transfers from general fund".. you will notice that every year since 2007 when numbers were available for this report, the city had to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars from the general fund to cover stadium debt and they project to do so next year. In total, since 2007, the city has transferred more than $2,000,000 from its general fund to service stadium debt. That's not counting the years between 2002  and 2007 when the city was losing even more on the stadium. The stadium was supposed to pay for itself. It clearly has not. (click the image below to enlarge):

This data seems to counter the rhetoric of mayor Mike Bennett at the Augusta PR junket. Was the mayor simply ignorant of his city's own budget and unaware of these numbers? Or was he purposefully trying to engage in political spin and obfuscate the real data in an attempt to rewrite history  to help Ripken Baseball sell a similarly lop-sided financial partnership to Augusta civic leaders that might put the city at financial risk for a new ballpark? 

For a city the size of Aberdeen to have to dip consistently into their general fund year after year to the tune of an average of   $300,000 seems to be indeed a financial millstone rather than the financial boon that stadium spin doctors were making it out to be. The numbers don't lie. And Mr Bennett, upon assuming office in 2007, even wanted to renegotiate  the terms with Ripken Baseball to lessen the city's financial losses. He was partly successful in being able to renegotiate slightly better terms. That alone would seem to indicate that the mayor knew the city had made a bad deal initially with Ripken. But Bennett was adamant in denying there were any missteps by the city in negotiating the financial arrangement with Ripken baseball over the stadium.

People in Harford County, MD were a bit surprised to hear about mayor Bennett's trip to Augusta to pitch the virtues of the city's financial arrangements with Ripken Baseball and seemingly to encourage Augusta leaders to enter a similar relationship with the company to build a new stadium here in Augusta, and seemingly having no regrets of the initial deal inked with Ripken. . 

Patrick McGrady, a candidate for Aberdeen mayor who is challenging Mike Bennett, questions the ethics of the trip. Ripken Baseball officials admit they paid for Mr. Bennett's plane ticket to Augusta. Mr McGrady wonders if it  is perhaps a conflict of interest for the sitting mayor to essentially act as a lobbyist for Ripken Baseball, a company with which the city has a financial relationship. Mr. McGrady said via Facebook of the trip, "I do believe it is unethical behavior, and I hope it will be investigated." 

The Baltimore Sun also found mayor Bennett's trip to Augusta to give a sales pitch for Ripken Baseball to be interesting as well. They even did a follow-up article in response to what mayor Bennett said about their previous article being untrue during his appearance in Augusta. You can read their follow-up article here: Aberdeen mayor helps Ripken Baseball make pitch for new Georgia stadium.

So just who is right here? Was mayor Mike Bennett just having a bout of amnesia on Oct 3rd in Augusta, GA? So just who was trying to spread "misinformation" in Augusta about the baseball stadium? 

The truth about what actually happened in Aberdeen has profound ramifications for Augusta, where the city is contemplating developing a financial relationship with Ripken Baseball to build a new stadium here. For the more than  five years that the stadium proposal has been batted about, Ripken Baseball officials have been conspicuously coy about exactly how much they will pitch in financially for the costs. They neglected to give any more details at the October 3rd Augusta PR event  to  clarify what their role and financial stake might be and how much they expect from the city for a new stadium..

The main pitch for building a new stadium in Augusta has consistently been that it would be a financial boon to the city, that it would spur economic and real estate development in the city and be an economic boost to downtown. Initially, claims were made that the stadium would spur a mixed-use condo/retail/hotel development adjacent to the stadium, boosting the city's tax digest. Ripken Baseball officials have even pointed to the Aberdeen model as a "success story" that Augusta could emulate. Obviously the stadium has not been the economic boon nor cash cow that the city of Aberdeen was hoping it would be. 

Augusta leaders should thus proceed with extreme caution in forging any financial relationship with Ripken Baseball over building a new stadium. In fact the financial situation Aberdeen finds itself in regarding their stadium is not an anomaly. In fact, it seems to be the norm, and we will have more on that in future updates. 

Augusta leaders are cautioned to take the overly enthusiastic hype of stadium proponents with a giant grain of salt and to look at the real evidence, the actual track records, the real numbers, and not just buy into the often exaggerated predictions of a big economic pay-off that in reality never seems to come.

You can be sure there will be more follow-ups to this story, and City Stink will keep you updated. We would like to also challenge members of the local Augusta media to update their stories from last week in light of this new information.

**Update Friday, October 14th, 2011**

It appears there has been more political fall-out for Aberdeen, MD mayor Mike Bennett from his trip to Augusta (paid for by Ripken Baseball) to lobby on their behalf to help sell a stadium proposal to Augusta leaders. Patrick McGrady, who is challenging Mr Bennett for the mayor's job, has filed an official complaint with the city of Aberdeen Ethics Commission regarding the trip. You can read more about this here: Mayor and Challenger Disagree Over Augusta Trip

Here is a copy of Patrick McGrady's ethics complaint filed with Aberdeen Ethics Commission: Ethics Complaint Filed Over Bennett's Trip To Augusta on behalf of Ripken

**More reaction from media sources in the Aberdeen, MD area regarding the political Fall-out from Mayor Mike Bennett's trip to Augusta, GA: The Dagger Blog

**Update Nov 2nd, 2011** The Aberdeen, MD Ethics Commission finds mayor Michael Bennett in violation of the city's ethics ordinance: Mayor Bennett hit with ethics violation and Ethics panel "admonishes" Bennett

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