Worcester councilors indicate support for stadium project
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The stadium and development plan calls for a new ballpark for the Pawtucket Red Sox to open by 2021, and for the first phase of mixed development to open by that year. The project would straddle Madison Street on what is now largely underutilized or vacant land.
Worcester city councilors expressed support for the city’s plan to borrow $101 million for a new ballpark on Tuesday, with some stressing that they will still carefully review the proposal.
City Manager Edward Augustus indicated, meanwhile, that approvals are expected to take place soon, and that there may not be much ability to change the deal at this point because it was worked on carefully among the city, state and Pawtucket Red Sox.
"You can do whatever you want," Augustus said to councilors, "but it’ll have consequences that are maybe unintended.”
The city manager said he anticipates approval from the city and the International League by mid-September. Augustus also defended against questions of whether the deal is a financial risk to the city, which would own the ballpark and lease it to the team when completed in 2021.
“There’s no deal I’ve ever seen that had no risks," he said.
Augustus emphasized, too, that financial projections of tax revenue from a related mixed-use development expected to sprout thanks to the stadium are conservative. Just the first phase alone of what is envisioned as a 650,000-square-foot project should not only make up for the city's borrowing costs, but even put the city in the black by $7 million within 30 years.
The team would pay roughly $1 million a year to lease the park, leaving roughly $70 million to be made up with additional tax revenue.
"This was something that was a big point of discussion throughout the negotiations," Augustus said of cost projections. "We took a very conservative approach to the estimates.”
The City Council also set two public hearings on the proposal: Aug. 28 at 5:30 p.m. at Crompton Collective, and Sept. 5 at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall.
At Tuesday's meeting, city councilors had yet to come down from their emotional high from last Friday, when a letter of intent between the city and the PawSox was announced at City Hall.
“When I think about Worcester Red Sox and all the buzz it’s creating, it’s a very good feeling," Councilor Khrystian King said. “For the naysayers, I say, never underestimate the Heart of the Commonwealth.”
Councilor Morris Bergman took aim at those who've questioned whether the city's revenue projections will come to fruition, saying their arguments were not based in fact.
“That right now is fake news," he said. "Give us facts that aren’t fake news.”
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