St. Louis' Ballpark Village almost dead

[mjohnson71]

Looks like St. Louis screwed up once again. The company that was supposed to build an office tower in the Ballpark Village has backed out, further delaying development.

 

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/E6E473C7DCEDC85F862574180051FE62?OpenDocument

 

I'm going to laugh when St. Louis hosts the All Star Game in 2009 and there's a big empty lot next to the stadium that been sitting empty for a number of years.

[wolf stansson]

God I hate this ownership group. They went from great to crap very, very fast.

[BigbadB]

I'd be enraged if I was a Cardinal fan. Fresh off a World Series and a brand new ballpark, they've basically scrapped together a pretty worthless team.

[Derwood]

I'd be enraged if I was a Cardinal fan. Fresh off a World Series and a brand new ballpark, they've basically scrapped together a pretty worthless team.

 

that's often what happens with new stadiums. extort the city into paying for it, then fall into mediocrity (see: Pittsburgh, Cincy, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston....)

[mul21]

I'd be enraged if I was a Cardinal fan. Fresh off a World Series and a brand new ballpark, they've basically scrapped together a pretty worthless team.

 

that's often what happens with new stadiums. extort the city into paying for it, then fall into mediocrity (see: Pittsburgh, Cincy, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston....)

 

I think it has less to do with the Cardinals and their lack of effort than it has to do with the complete lack of anything attractive about downtown St. Louis. There's just not a lot going on down there and the ballpark village was supposed to be a building block, but if you can't get people into going downtown, it's not gonna work. That area of the city is completely lifeless unless there's a Cards game going on.

[jersey cubs fan]

I'd be enraged if I was a Cardinal fan. Fresh off a World Series and a brand new ballpark, they've basically scrapped together a pretty worthless team.

 

that's often what happens with new stadiums. extort the city into paying for it, then fall into mediocrity (see: Pittsburgh, Cincy, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston....)

 

Wasn't SF's park privately financed?

[Derwood]

I'd be enraged if I was a Cardinal fan. Fresh off a World Series and a brand new ballpark, they've basically scrapped together a pretty worthless team.

 

that's often what happens with new stadiums. extort the city into paying for it, then fall into mediocrity (see: Pittsburgh, Cincy, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston....)

 

Wasn't SF's park privately financed?

 

you are correct. my bad.

[indifferent]

Looks like St. Louis screwed up once again. The company that was supposed to build an office tower in the Ballpark Village has backed out, further delaying development.

 

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/E6E473C7DCEDC85F862574180051FE62?OpenDocument

 

I'm going to laugh when St. Louis hosts the All Star Game in 2009 and there's a big empty lot next to the stadium that been sitting empty for a number of years.

 

Don't you live in St. Louis?

 

This is awful news. It really sounds like the city was trying to make the deal happen as a moderator in the situation and Centene and the Ballpark Village Developers couldn't get it done. I'm sure many here are content to revel in the city of St. Louis's misery, but if you ever come to games here, you'd appreciate a finished Ballpark Village. I'm more concerned about Centene not moving downtown.

[greenback06]

I'd be enraged if I was a Cardinal fan. Fresh off a World Series and a brand new ballpark, they've basically scrapped together a pretty worthless team.

 

that's often what happens with new stadiums. extort the city into paying for it, then fall into mediocrity (see: Pittsburgh, Cincy, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston....)

 

Wasn't SF's park privately financed?

I don't pay much attention to this stuff, but I believe the Cardinals are paying for Busch III as well.

 

Lord knows the Cardinals have a big enough payroll to be competitive. Bad luck and some good old-fashioned idiocy is more the case than a bait-and-switch.

[reds44]

I'd be enraged if I was a Cardinal fan. Fresh off a World Series and a brand new ballpark, they've basically scrapped together a pretty worthless team.

 

that's often what happens with new stadiums. extort the city into paying for it, then fall into mediocrity (see: Pittsburgh, Cincy, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston....)

St. Louis, San Francisco, and Houston all have hosted World Series games.

[Derwood]

I'd be enraged if I was a Cardinal fan. Fresh off a World Series and a brand new ballpark, they've basically scrapped together a pretty worthless team.

 

that's often what happens with new stadiums. extort the city into paying for it, then fall into mediocrity (see: Pittsburgh, Cincy, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston....)

St. Louis, San Francisco, and Houston all have hosted World Series games.

 

yes, but the new ballparks were built under the guise of "we can't maintain sustained success without a new park."

[TruffleShuffle]

I'd be enraged if I was a Cardinal fan. Fresh off a World Series and a brand new ballpark, they've basically scrapped together a pretty worthless team.

 

that's often what happens with new stadiums. extort the city into paying for it, then fall into mediocrity (see: Pittsburgh, Cincy, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston....)

St. Louis, San Francisco, and Houston all have hosted World Series games.

 

yes, but the new ballparks were built under the guise of "we can't maintain sustained success without a new park."

 

but imagine if the pirates didn't have a really nice park? how many people would go out and see them lose 90 games a year in toilet known as three rivers stadium? they'd probably be out of business by now.

[rocket]

I'd be enraged if I was a Cardinal fan. Fresh off a World Series and a brand new ballpark, they've basically scrapped together a pretty worthless team.

 

that's often what happens with new stadiums. extort the city into paying for it, then fall into mediocrity (see: Pittsburgh, Cincy, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston....)

St. Louis, San Francisco, and Houston all have hosted World Series games.

 

yes, but the new ballparks were built under the guise of "we can't maintain sustained success without a new park."

 

but imagine if the pirates didn't have a really nice park? how many people would go out and see them lose 90 games a year in toilet known as three rivers stadium? they'd probably be out of business by now.

 

i don't think people go to the stadium now even with a really nice park.

[Derwood]

I'd be enraged if I was a Cardinal fan. Fresh off a World Series and a brand new ballpark, they've basically scrapped together a pretty worthless team.

 

that's often what happens with new stadiums. extort the city into paying for it, then fall into mediocrity (see: Pittsburgh, Cincy, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston....)

St. Louis, San Francisco, and Houston all have hosted World Series games.

 

yes, but the new ballparks were built under the guise of "we can't maintain sustained success without a new park."

 

but imagine if the pirates didn't have a really nice park? how many people would go out and see them lose 90 games a year in toilet known as three rivers stadium? they'd probably be out of business by now.

 

i don't think people go to the stadium now even with a really nice park.

 

which is a shame. it's an amazing park. the truth is Pittsburgh is simply a football city

[d_money]

I was just down there this weekend and thats all they were talking about. Apparently, the other big news is that a major food chain store is opening un in downtown. The economy is putting a kibash on the ballpark village. The all star game in 2009 will look really bad.

[CubinNY]

 

which is a shame. it's an amazing park. the truth is Pittsburgh is simply a football city

Yea, that's nonsense.

[Derwood]

 

which is a shame. it's an amazing park. the truth is Pittsburgh is simply a football city

Yea, that's nonsense.

 

it's nonsense that they're a football city?

[mjohnson71]

I thought the taxpayers of St. Louis got off pretty easy with the new Busch. I was working down there when the new place opened a few years ago and it was my understanding most of the ballpark was paid for by the Cardinals.

 

If I remember correctly "only" about $35 million of the money came from the city and county of St. Louis. And most of that was for taking down the old stadium, land clearance, moving some highway on/off ramps etc. Most cost of the actual ballpark construction came from the Cards owners and that's why the place is not very good. I think the new Busch cost like $265 million while the new stadiums in places like Washington DC and Minnesota cost around $500 million. Or the New York stadiums will be close to $1 billion.

 

Looks like St. Louis screwed up once again. The company that was supposed to build an office tower in the Ballpark Village has backed out, further delaying development.

 

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/E6E473C7DCEDC85F862574180051FE62?OpenDocument

 

I'm going to laugh when St. Louis hosts the All Star Game in 2009 and there's a big empty lot next to the stadium that been sitting empty for a number of years.

 

Don't you live in St. Louis?

 

No I don't. I worked down there for a while and have a number of friends who I still keep in contact with. One guy forwards me all the hot Cardinals news: 98% of which I usually don't read.

[bcl412]

 

which is a shame. it's an amazing park. the truth is Pittsburgh is simply a football city

Yea, that's nonsense.

 

it's nonsense that they're a football city?

 

Pittsburgh would probably be more interested in baseball if they actually had a team with major league talent every once and a while.

[bcl412]

 

which is a shame. it's an amazing park. the truth is Pittsburgh is simply a football city

Yea, that's nonsense.

 

it's nonsense that they're a football city?

 

Pittsburgh would probably be more interested in baseball if they actually had a team with major league talent every once and a while.