Baseball in Charlotte, which will happen?

[Justadude]

In any case, that parking lot does need to be redeveloped. I guess this is a fairly palatable way for it to happen, compared to some alternate possibilities.

[New Name]

It is basically a plan to sell the parking lot of Spirit Square to be developed. I think that evolved to having the basic boxy office part of Spirit Square simply be baked into a larger new project. The old church/McGoughan Theater stays in all scenarios. The offices and other space would be rebuilt into a denser project. The arts groups would need to relocate, but only during construction.

Personally, I'd rather they just leave the current arts space as is with zero parking, and sell the parking lot for redevelopment with no strings attached. The arts groups lose parking, but with so much parking and transit nearby, that should not be a factor for groups so heavily funded by the public.

The baseball+2nd Ward+urban parks plan is only wrapped up in this because part of the new simplified process for trading land between the county and city is simply to give up the partial ownerships of various uptown properties. That is the county gives up their partial ownership of the Wachovia arts projects, and the city gives up their partial ownership of the Spirit Square project. As it is one for one trade of arts space, you can't really blame the land swap for losing arts space -- that is an independent decision of the county.

[reverbandwhiskey]

Does anyone really use Spirit Square?

Everytime I have there it has been empty, except for the awful Light Factory exhibits of crappy art. The theatre spaces seem to be vacant more often than not.

[swh1972]

I know that BofA uses it from time to time for their divisional all-hands meetings...but I'm guessing that's not wehat you are asking.

[Southernyank]

They hold church services there on sunday mornings as well.

[atlrvr]

Aren't those church services on the fringe of being a cult?

[archiham04]

one thought about losing parking at spirit square... and i am not necessarily informed on how they currently do this, but... The performers their bus, their equipment, entourage etc. will need a staging area of some sorts.

[reverbandwhiskey]

They hold church services there on sunday mornings as well.

[Southernyank]

Aren't those church services on the fringe of being a cult?

[Justadude]

Screw them. Tell them to lease an old store front.

[28202]

Since the county is not getting acceptable bids for the Hal Marshall center... Consideration of placing the baseball venue there would make sense. It seems large enough to not only handle minor league but also to expand to major in the future.

There is easy access to transportation, it is already in the county's possession and more space for parkland in Third Ward would be possible.

I would hate to see another parcel go into a Levine hold pattern and would like to see baseball uptown.

Will some one put this idea on the right desk?

[uptownliving]

The Knights considered the Hal Marshall property in the past, but they prefer the Third Ward site for one simple reason:

Baseball regulations stipulate that the afternoon sun can't be in the batter's eyes. Therefore the basball diamond must face East. At this site a baseball stadium facing East would have a view of I-277 and thats it.

The site at Third Ward has the full skyline view...much more dramatic and something that the Knights feel would make the game more enjoyable for fans.

[dubone]

The Hal Marshall land wouldn't be great for baseball because College Street, a very important thoroughfare would either be closed or seriously re-routed to get the right amount of contiguous land. Also, considering the stadium itself is planned to be funded privately, they need to boost of being within a five-ten minute walk from all the current office buildings in downtown. 3rd Ward is a few blocks from most of the office buildings, but Hal Marshal is pretty far from the Wachovia buildings. It does have the bonus of being on the Trolley line, as well keeping that land out of Evilevine hands.

I'd be fine with it going on Hal Marshall, but it is really would be a deal-breaker for the Knights. However, it would be great if they could do some sort of land swap of Hal Marshal land for some other site, such as some in South End.

I just wish the county could sell Hal Marshall one block at a time, rather than as a complete parcel. They can only get large land bankers like Levine by doing it this way, whereas selling in smaller parts might get interest from other developers who can make use of the smaller part.

[queensguy06]

This is more of wishful thinking than actual feasability, but I would love to see the baseball stadium be a focal point in a North Tryon redevelopment.

[Raintree21]

I don't see why College Street would be such a bad idea. It's in the planning stages of mixed use redevelopment anyways. Incorporate the trolley stops or even the light rail (it's going up Tryon Street eventually anyways right?) into the stadium design and that by itself could be an attendance boost.

Does the stadium HAVE to have skyline view? There's plenty of parks that don't have a skyline view and eventually, the buildings will be built in Third Ward and there won't be a skyline view at all, the stadium would be in the skyline and "hitting it out of the park" could prove expensive when you have to replace those windows. As for the facing no facing west rule, depending on the exact position of the stadium on the Hal Marshall site, wouldn't the buildings already there block most of the sun?

Also, College Street pretty much ends there at the end of the property (ok, about 100 yards past it where it connects with Tryon). I'm sure some sort of reconfiguration could be worked out. They did it for Brevard St. and the Arena.

[uptownliving]

From a taxpayer's perspective we would have to foot the full bill at a College St location whereas the Kinghts will pay for the stadium at the Third Ward site. I would not be in favor of a tax increase to pay for a new baseball stadium and I beleive that most of Mecklenburg feels the same way.

[cityboi]

From a taxpayer's perspective we would have to foot the full bill at a College St location whereas the Kinghts will pay for the stadium at the Third Ward site. I would not be in favor of a tax increase to pay for a new baseball stadium and I beleive that most of Mecklenburg feels the same way.

[uptownliving]

Where did the nonprofit get the money to fund the baseball stadium in G'boro?

[cityboi]

Where did the nonprofit get the money to fund the baseball stadium in G'boro?

[uptownliving]

Well our baseball team is paying for their own stadium. The good thing about that is that their building will be privately owned so we can collect property taxes on it for Police, Fire, Schools, etc. And since the Knights will be operating it we can collect Sales Taxes on all the concessions. It is estimated they will generate about $1M in annual taxes for the local community. If a non-profit owned and operated the building then no taxes would be generated.

[cityboi]

Well our baseball team is paying for their own stadium. The good thing about that is that their building will be privately owned so we can collect property taxes on it for Police, Fire, Schools, etc. And since the Knights will be operating it we can collect Sales Taxes on all the concessions. It is estimated they will generate about $1M in annual taxes for the local community. If a non-profit owned and operated the building then no taxes would be generated.

[krazeeboi]

With all of the projects going on within the loop, Charlotte needs more than a few acres for a signature center city park. The 3rd Ward park will be nice, but Charlotte needs something more if you ask me.

[Spartan]

^The trend seems to be to create a signature park, or signature public space in order to define what a city is- be that byh creating something new or redefining what is already there. I would tend to think that Charlotte doesn't have that- as it should be recognizable by outsiders.

Also- Since I dont have the time to read through 27 pages- when is the baseball stadium supposed to start construction?

[Raintree21]

^The trend seems to be to create a signature park, or signature public space in order to define what a city is- be that byh creating something new or redefining what is already there. I would tend to think that Charlotte doesn't have that- as it should be recognizable by outsiders.

Also- Since I dont have the time to read through 27 pages- when is the baseball stadium supposed to start construction?

[TeeJay]

Whats up guys, first post here...With all the talk of Charlotte becoming a world-class city with Trump and the population/development boom, what do you all think the chances are of getting an MLB team in here within the next five or so years? It just seems like building a minor league stadium kind of kills the hopes of getting an MLB team, unless they build it with the ablility to remodel it into an MLB stadium.