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TheWriter has posted about this numerous times, and I don't believe it will happen.
BUT damn, it would be awesome.
Baseball in San Antonio? I'll be the first to get season tix (after I rob the bank).
Ken Rodriguez: Developers' big dreams could bring in NFL, MLB and more
San Antonio Express-News
11/20/2005
San Antonio wants a pro football team.
The city has committed fans and a growing corporate base, but it doesn't have a 21st-century stadium.
It has the Alamodome, a 13-year-old venue with barely enough luxury suites to fill a pocket in Texas Stadium.
The mayor says he wants an NFL team. He also says the city will not build a new stadium with public money.
What to do?
Dan and Marlene Bailey believe they might have the answer.
The Baileys are developers with deep pockets and big dreams.
Their portfolio bulges with prime real estate — more than $50 million invested in local properties.
Their ambition soars. They say $50 million is just a start.
Over the past two years, the Baileys have purchased 1,300 acres at Briggs Ranch, scooped up 522 acres across from the Toyota manufacturing plant, acquired the Villita professional building and bought two floors in the Broadway Bank building.
On Tuesday, they'll unveil plans for a sports and entertainment district on the East Side. With the SBC Center serving as the district's anchor, the Baileys' vision includes an Indy/NASCAR racetrack, a golf resort, major hotels, a high-end retail center, condos, vacation shares, a movie theater complex, a rodeo village, a Major League Baseball park and, yes, an NFL stadium.
If that's a bit much for the mind to grasp, consider the financing plan. Private-sector money from venture capitalists.
The Baileys say investors won't sink money into a stadium — but they will pour it into a sports and entertainment district.
Yes, they acknowledge, some public money will be necessary. But how much?
Joe Heitzler, CEO of the Baileys' company, HollyHills Development: "I will better know the answer after the first of the year."
After Tuesday's unveiling, Heitzler will travel to New York to seek investors. Then he'll fly home to Southern California and look for more.
If he doesn't find many, it's back to the drawing board.
Financing aside, city and county leaders wonder about the timing and location of the proposed baseball park and football stadium.
County Judge Nelson Wolff says Greater San Antonio is not ready to support Major League Baseball: "We're about 10 years away."
The NFL, Wolff believes, would want a stadium farther north on I-35 to draw fans from Austin.
Then there's the view of Mayor Phil Hardberger. He calls the Baileys' plan "intriguing." He also wants "to be realistic."
That's a nice way of saying he'll believe it when he sees it.
Heitzler says the Saints are very interested in the stadium component of the sports and entertainment district. He directed me to New Orleans general manager Mickey Loomis. Loomis did not return my call.
There are reasons to wonder about the backing of this East Side vision, sure. Dan Bailey, after all, spent 31 months in prison for mail fraud involving real estate investments in Dallas and Southern California. He was released in 1991.
But there might be reasons to believe in the East Side vision. It's not Bailey's alone. One local group, EDAW/Kell Muñoz Architects, also wants to build a sports and entertainment district around the SBC Center. The district would include an NFL stadium.
Last month, Bexar County commissioners selected the EDAW group to design a master plan for the SBC Center grounds. It's not clear how the group intends to finance the stadium or the district.
The Baileys, though, say their intent is clear. They've bought "substantial" acreage around the SBC Center, and they've spent half a million dollars assembling plans for the district.
Heitzler, meanwhile, opens doors to sports and entertainment interests. He is former chairman of Championship Auto Racing Teams; former CEO of Forum Sports Entertainment, the broadcasting en y for the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings; and a former production executive at CBS Sports.
"We have a plan," he says, "that would allow San Antonio to present itself to the NFL in a more dramatic and effective fashion."
Saints owner Tom Benson is looking for a new stadium, and the Alamodome isn't what he wants.
A complex on the East Side might be a lofty dream. It also might deepen his interest.
Link
TheWriter has posted about this numerous times, and I don't believe it will happen.
BUT damn, it would be awesome.
Baseball in San Antonio? I'll be the first to get season tix (after I rob the bank).
Macrus, did ya read that? Did ya?The Baileys, though, say their intent is clear. They've bought "substantial" acreage around the SBC Center, and they've spent half a million dollars assembling plans for the district.
Let me respond for Marcus Bryant:
There it is. Try getting the people of San Antonio de Bexar to vote for anything that raises their taxes.
Puro San Antonio.
Last edited by TheWriter; 11-20-2005 at 02:56 PM.
I'm very interested in seeing the renderings.
Renderings are to Writer what a Playboy is to a 13 year old boy. Try not to get the pages stuck together.
Cool plan.
Hope we get this..
I'll try not to!
KENS reported Holly Hills stating that the complex will force no one from their homes
I don't know how people can watch a KENS newscast. I need some snappy camera work like on WOAI.
I watch all three (KSAT, KENS, WOAI). I have no favorite.
I'll probably watch real-time WOAI news less now with their Time Warner video on demand service on channel 989.
New KENS video:
http://www2.mysanantonio.com/multime....cfm?ids=34170
Talks about:
1) Project includes a football stadium that wouldn't need to be fully paid for by public money.
2) The NFL planning to expand by two teams in 2009 and the Saints future is uncertain.
3) The purchase (finalized yesterday) of the Red Berry Mansion and another industrial storage facility.
4) No one who lives in a home currently will have sell and move out because of this project.
5) Sports Entertainment District will be built on land already available.
6) District would be year round with resort hotels.
7) Renderings will be released today.
Last edited by TheWriter; 11-22-2005 at 03:25 PM.
Great!!! If noone is forced out of there homes (hopefully this is the truth), then I will fully support this great plan. Where do i sign up?
watched the video. That's great if noone has to move.
Semantics. If the city/county issues a revenue bond to finance the construction of the stadium is that public money or "private"?
The developer is not doing this out of some altruistic fervor. They are seeking gullible local yokels to take on the risk and leave the reward to them. Just a guess, but I'm sure the developer expects a hefty promote for this entertainment district, one that would be contigent on virtually all of the stadium being publicly financed.
File this under : never in a million years.
And the wheel spins round.
One would hope so -- there would be charges of witchcraft or something if they created all that land out of thin air.5) Sports Entertainment District will be built on existing land.
Exsiting land that doesn't have housing on it. IE. All that indusrtial land.
Is that better fo' ya?
That doesn't jibe with the footprint you showed in the other thread.
That was the "footprint" KENS had up awhile ago.
Click and watch the video for the latest news.
I would be interested to see how long that trailer park lasts. Looks like they could probably wall off the nursing home.
A solution our taxpayers would agree with:
Vote for something that just raises the hotel and rental car taxes (that's how we got the SBC Center funded)
KENS Video with renderings and virtual tour:
http://www2.mysanantonio.com/multime....cfm?ids=34186
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