At last night’s meeting the High Point City Council voted 8-1 to approve $15 million in funding for a downtown baseball stadium:
The council voted 8-1 Monday night in favor of funding the initial portion of what Forward High Point Executive Director Ray Gibbs said would be a $30 million project. The first $15 million also was slated to pay for preliminary design and environment studies.
Gibbs showed Triad Business Journal a copy of a letter of commitment from the independent Atlantic League for a franchise, pending completion of a ballpark meeting league standards, a long-term lease with the city and solid financial ownership.
Bordered by Elm, Gatewood, Lindsay and English streets, the stadium would be owned by the city, but not require new taxes or an increase in tax rates, according to Davenport & Co., the city’s financial advisor. The stadium is planned to seat approximately 5,000 for baseball and 7,500 for concerts and other events.
An ambitious plan—ownership group in line for a team, naming rights in place stadium constructed by the season. Stay tuned–what can I say– I’m skeptical HP can pull this off, especially given the problems its neighbor up Business I-85–Greensboro–has had getting its downtown performing arts center off the ground.
