Read the entire article here on the Portland Tribune website.

Diamonds go in the rough
California's SBC Park shows success of siting in developing area
By CLIFF PFENNING
The Portland Tribune
Issue date: Fri, May 21, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO "” It's four hours before game time at SBC Park, and Franz Peter Meis doesn't look anything like the proprietor of a failing business. That's because the hard times are over.

The future of the Park, a restaurant and bar located across the street from the home of the San Francisco Giants, is based on profits, not debts, which he accumulated in the first four years SBC Park was open.

Meis only has to point out what's going on in the neighborhood. Borders Books & Music is set to open a store on the ground floor of a new apartment complex located 50 feet from the Park. Safeway Inc. also will open a store in the apartment complex.

"Borders and Safeway ... those are two businesses that don't move into failing neighborhoods," says Meis, who brought in investors to pay off his restaurant's debts before this season. "Finding investors was easy because of what's going on in the neighborhood."

Buildings are going up everywhere around SBC Park, which was PacBell Park until last year. Most of the buildings are part of the Mission Bay development, a planned community that eventually will include 6,000 apartments, 5 million square feet of office space and a 43-acre research campus for the University of California at San Francisco. It's all music to the ears of Meis.

He says his business was sour despite the Giants attracting more than 40,000 fans per game since 2000.

"For the first four years, it's just been baseball in this area, but the baseball season only lasts six months," Meis says. "With all the building going on, the area around the stadium is finally starting to catch up with the stadium. And that's great for business."

In Portland, proponents of major league baseball look at SBC Park as an example of what might happen if the Montreal Expos relocated from Canada to the Rose City. Last week, Portland's baseball leaders released a funding plan that would support constructing a $340 million stadium.

SBC Park is an example of how to site and build a stadium correctly, something to which Portland's baseball backers are paying significant attention.

"There certainly are critical components to the success of a stadium," says Steve Kanter, president of the Portland Baseball Group. "It has to be put in exactly the right location, fit comfortably into the area around it and be part of a vibrant ballpark district.

"The good news for Portland is, we think we have three really world-class locations that are every bit as good as where SBC Park is in San Francisco."

SBC Park came to life in 1996 when San Franciscans approved Proposition B, which gave the Giants a $15 million tax abatement. Otherwise, the team paid for the stadium itself, the only option left after voters rejected two propositions, P and W, in the previous decade.

Owner coughs up big bucks

The Giants possibly were headed for Tampa Bay before the current owner, Peter Magowan, bought the franchise and ponied up the money for the stadium. The stadium cost $357 million to build, $102 million more than the projected cost at the time Proposition B passed. Magowan financed $170 million of the total.

Even with the public bill at $15 million, opposition to the stadium was plentiful. Residents opposed everything from the height of the stadium, which exceeded local building codes for structures on the waterfront, to the displacement of endangered birds living off the shoreline.

Meis says opposition to the stadium never really amounted to much because the biggest component "” the cost "” was handled by the ownership group.

Kanter says that while the Portland plan released last week showcased the owner's stadium tab at $0, that would likely change.

"The owner that brings a team to Portland is going to pay a lot to do that," he says. "First, they'd have to pay around $250 million just to buy the team, and many more millions to properly capitalize the Portland area.

"And I think the owner should and will make a cash contribution toward the stadium's construction. It might not be huge, but it should be something."

Fitting a stadium into plans

The Portland location that most mimics the siting of SBC Park is the main post office at 715 N.W. Hoyt St., Kanter says, but "there's no guarantee the post office site will become available along the timeline that we need. I think a stadium would light the match on a development area that's ready to go."

Whether the proposed stadium would be built on the post office site or another location, the development process at least appears to be following the same process as the one in San Francisco: The stadium would be settled into an existing development plan, not simply built with the idea that stores and restaurants would then spring up around it.

"We've looked at other stadiums that work around the country, and there is a way to do it right," says Don Mazziotti, executive director of the Portland Development Commission. "The real key to a successful stadium is that the future development has to be included from the beginning. And ˜from the beginning' should be in italics."

SBC Park used this philosophy. Photos taken at the time of the stadium's opening show empty lots surrounding the western edge of the park. The lots are home to condos and apartments these days, which was the Mission Bay plan all along.

"SBC Park was built into an existing larger development plan," says Alfonso Felder, the Giants' director of administration. "It wasn't the catalyst for the development at all.

"But in hindsight, it does look like a case of optimal siting. The stadium has really speeded up the development of the neighboring properties and become the centerpiece of the development."

Kanter says Union Station and PGE Park are comparable to the post office as sites and are, perhaps, more accessible in terms of potential roadblocks.

Plenty of San Franciscans are on the side of the Rose City, Meis says.

"Portland is just up the road from San Francisco," he says. "There's lots of people who follow the team to Los Angeles. I think there's a lot of people who would travel up to Portland for road games, especially if the team is doing well."

There's been allot of talk here about these 2-3 sites that the OSC has narrowed the list down to. I've been trying to figure what they are .. and I think based on this article I can take a good guess,

PGE Park, Union Station and USPS

I think the two frontrunners are Blanchard and USPS. Union Station and PGE are also getting some play, not as much though. I-405, Lincoln High School, and Lents are huge longshots due to cost/siting issues.

I like the USPS station the best. My question is (and I think it has been answered somewhere) if that site were selected how long would it take to build a stadium. A new Post office site would have to be selected and built prior to the MLB stadium even breaking ground.

I also like the PGE site and wonder how much renovation would have to be made in order for it to be a viable option for the next few decades. Would we still be able to play in PGE temporarily while it is being rebuilt/renovated?

There was one plan for "renovating" PGE would be to build a multi deck bowl behind where the stadium is now while the stadium is being used, then in one off season implode the current bowl and put in the field with home place about where the curent home plate ENTRANCE is now and then build up the grandstands during the next season. The problem is this would move the stadium to the northwest and really dusrupt the area.

I all but know that 2 of the 3 are Blanchard and USPS, and am not positive about the other, but would guess the it is the Union Station site...

quote:

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Originally posted by flyingcircus:
I like the USPS station the best. My question is (and I think it has been answered somewhere) if that site were selected how long would it take to build a stadium. A new Post office site would have to be selected and built prior to the MLB stadium even breaking ground.

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I also believe the USPS site to be the best, but, as I have mentioned before, it simply won't happen in the near term. Moving that postal facility would require the following:
(1) Funding through the Postal Service/Treasury Bill at the US Congress. The earliest that could happen would be Early 2005.
(2) New site identification & land swap.
(3) Construction of the new USPS site - minimum of 1 year.
(4) Construction of the ballpark - minimum of 1 year.
That brings us to spring of 2007 if everything went perfectly. Getting funding for this project would be additionally difficult because this facility is not as old and dated as other central USPS sites around the nation. Also keep in mind that moving a USPS is not an inexpensive undertaking. I have heard estimates of $200 to $400 million for a new site because of the equipment that is built into the facility.

I like the Rose Quarter and Post office sites