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Still No Deal For Twins Ballpark Land

Sue Turner
Reporting

(WCCO) They have the money and the design, but so far there's no deal to buy the land for the new Minnesota Twins ballpark. The team wants to build in Minneapolis' Warehouse District. The land's current owners want more money and that has construction on hold.

"There is a sense of great disappointment where this is right now for the people of the state of Minnesota," said Commissioner John Wade of the Minnesota Ballpark Authority.

The lack of a land deal has everyone at the Ballpark authority meeting a little worried.

"We are certainly approaching a critical time frame," said Ed Hunter, the project manager.

Contractors were supposed to start preparing the land for construction next month, but right now they can't even get bids for the work.

"The current concern now is that we are in a week by week delay for issuing a bid package on one," said Dan Mehls of Mortenson Construction.

We all know time is money and this project is on a tight schedule. Every week there is a delay will mean thousands more dollars to catch up. Every extra month is tens of thousands of dollars. The clock starts ticking next week.

"We still think the prize at the end of the day is within our grasp that we'll deliver the ballpark in the prescribed budget," said Hunter.

Everyone is trying to look at bright side, saying the pause allows them to go over the designs and economize in some areas and that there is still plenty to do.

"While all that conversation is going on the rest of the project planning continues at pace," said Steve Cramer the ballpark authority chairman.

Still, no one can ignore the obvious: no land, no ballpark.

The county hopes to break ground on the stadium this summer. The ballpark is supposed to be ready in 2010.

The project manager for the Twins ballpark says the stadium would be delayed if officials have to build at another location.

Hunter said moving the project from the proposed site near the Target Center would make it "highly unlikely" that the stadium could be built by 2010.

Hunter said that from a practical aspect, looking at another site would mean starting over with environmental impact statements, site development surveys and other steps in the process.