The Journal’s Scott Sexton assures readers that the new downtown ballpark/mixed use development will indeed fulfill its promise. How does Sexton know? Billy Prim told him.
Billy Prim paid attention to the details and got everything nailed down before making a splashy announcement. Billy Prim will close this deal. Bank on it.
Even though a big-time businessman has taken us on a flight of fantasy before, it’s easy to buy into Prim’s vision.
You can hear the earnestness in his voice when he talks about the ballpark. You know that he doesn’t need the money; the $343 million sale of Blue Rhino in 2004 guarantees that.
You hear him say that Primo Water, his newest business venture, is his primary for-profit business entity and you believe him when he says that the Brookstown project “is part business, part philanthropy and part community activism.”
Uh-huh. But here’s the big question: Why’s a guy with $343 million in the bank getting the city to put up half the money for the stadium? Mind you, Prim isn’t even matching the city’s money; a federal transportation grant and a loan from the Millinnium Fund are filling out the other half of the $22 million.
Maybe my math skills are a bit off, but it seems to me that Prim could bankroll the entire $170 million mixed-use project and still have plenty of cash to go out to dinner once or twice a week.
