New Downtown Baseball Stadium, AAA Club, and Associated RE Development

[WstateU]

Or we could do both. Embrace our history and the future by naming our team...Space Cowboys.

7th inning stretch, the whole crowd could sing Space Cowboy by Steve Miller Band.

… or Fly Like An Eagle...

"Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' Into the future."

[Walker]

We've got pitch this to Mayor Longwell now. This is destiny working itself out.

[Shock Top]

Or, if they do the Aeros again, they could still use Steve Miller Band

[ShockerFever]

Having them called "Kansas anything" will not be on the table and shouldn't be. That would be absolutely ridiculous. It's going to be Wichita, not Kansas, not Delano, not Riverside, not Sycamore Street, etc.

[ShockerFever]

Looks like we'll come in at 27th out of 30, when it comes to metro areas with a AAA club, ranked by population. Quite a testament to what Longwell and company were able to pull off here.

25. Syracuse, NY - 663K
26. Des Moines, IA - 646K
27. Wichita, KS - 645K
28. Toledo, OH - 608K
29. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA - 558K
30. Reno, NV - 425K

Jesus, we're behind Des Moines now?

Sad.

[SHOCKvalue]

We’re one of the slowest growing MSA’s in the central US. Des Moines has been on the opposite end lately.

[ShockerFever]

That's just alarming.

[ShockerFever]

The new article mentions 6500-7000 fixed seats, 15-18 suites, and common space for an additional 3000-3500 people. All for $75M in total ($6M of the $81M total is for the pedestrian bridge across the Arkansas.)

In Omaha, when Rosenblatt was coming down and TD Ameritrade was going up for the CWS, a suburb of Omaha landed the homeless AAA Omaha club with a new ballpark that has 6434 fixed seats, 15 suites, and common area for another 2500-ish - so basically the low side of what is possible here in Wichita. That ballpark cost roughly $40M in today's dollars, so needless to say I'm really curious what a budget nearly twice as large is getting us. I mean the new Omaha area park is out in BFE in a cornfield, so no demo and lower infrastructure costs, but sheesh... what are we spending the extra $35M on?

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to hear big dollar budget numbers being thrown around, but the field we're talking about building isn't that big. The outfield stuff they're thinking of must be elaborate, because looking at the scale of the Omaha club's new park isn't that visually impressive.

It is slightly alarming that we're spending $75 million on a stadium that looks similar to what a $40 million stadium looks like. Am I missing something? There's not additional land acquisition or anything. Do we get upcharged on labor and material costs here more than any place in the world or something? It better look pretty effing spectacular and have amenities Omaha can only dream of if we're spending twice the amount.

I'm with you. I'm glad we're spending a good amount for this thing. But it better be done right and we better be getting what the price tag reads. Sure seems like a lot to ask for a stadium that extravagant to be built and completed by March of 2020.

[SHOCKvalue]

It is slightly alarming that we're spending $75 million on a stadium that looks similar to what a $40 million stadium looks like. Am I missing something? There's not additional land acquisition or anything. Do we get upcharged on labor and material costs here more than any place in the world or something? It better look pretty effing spectacular and have amenities Omaha can only dream of if we're spending twice the amount.

I'm with you. I'm glad we're spending a good amount for this thing. But it better be done right and we better be getting what the price tag reads. Sure seems like a lot to ask for a stadium that extravagant to be built and completed by March of 2020.

If the improvements are built via a no-bid contract, and a Key Construction sign pops up at the site, alarm bells should start going off.

I’m sure though that the combo of moving McLean and building all the other amenities like the shopping/dining stuff in the outfield and the NBC museum are adding a big chunk to the variance.

[ShockerFever]

If the improvements are built via a no-bid contract, and a Key Construction sign pops up at the site, alarm bells should start going off.

I’m sure though that the combo of moving McLean and building all the other amenities like the shopping/dining stuff in the outfield and the NBC museum are adding a big chunk to the variance.

That's true and I guess we don't know specific details yet, which seems to be late in the game to not know such things but whatever.

So the rerouting of McLean is included in that price? Well that would make sense. So the actual hardcore cost of the stadium itself and amenities enclosed within it could be quite a bit less than the $75 million bill?

[1972Shocker]

Here is what was approved yesterday.

https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article218183290.html

$75 million for the stadium and $6 million for a pedestrian bridge across the Arkansas River.

My understanding is that the NBC Museum will be a $3 million poject and it will cost $2.2 million payable in installments through 2016 to buyout the Wingnuts' lease. Not sure if thiese two items are part of the $75 million or additional.

The ballpark will have 6,500 to 7,000 fixed seats and 15 to 18 luxury suites, plus a seating berm and party space for 3,000 to 3,500 people.

[SHOCKvalue]

That's true and I guess we don't know specific details yet, which seems to be late in the game to not know such things but whatever.

So the rerouting of McLean is included in that price? Well that would make sense. So the actual hardcore cost of the stadium itself and amenities enclosed within it could be quite a bit less than the $75 million bill?

That’s just my assumption. Money has to come from somewhere, and if the City is taking money away from the street budget so we can keep open a library and art center 0.75% of the population utilize, then they probably don’t have extra several million to move McLean.

That’s just my take though.

[1972Shocker]

My guess is that STAR bonds will be a significant source of the funding for this project. But I guess we will have to wait for those details to know for sure.

The Eagle article did say:

The new stadium will be paid for by diverting sales and property tax growth in the area. The city is also agreeing to increase the sales tax in the project area to help pay for the improvements.

[SHOCKvalue]

Longwell has already specifically said as much in the various interviews/articles.

[1972Shocker]

Why do we need to shortchange the new baseball facility when the city is in the middle of a $22M STAR bond renovation of Stryker, which includes tripling seating at the main field up to 2500? That’s probably already several times what attendance requires for a soccer club.

Apprarently, that there are some disagreements about these plans even within the soccer community,.

https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article218198240.html

[SHOCKvalue]

Not sure that little tiff has much anything to do with the pro soccer topic we were discussing there.

[ShockerFever]

That’s just my assumption. Money has to come from somewhere, and if the City is taking money away from the street budget so we can keep open a library and art center 0.75% of the population utilize, then they probably don’t have extra several million to move McLean.

That’s just my take though.

Don't get me started on the library thing. $40 million for a library (do people even go to these anymore, other than the homeless or unemployed looking for ways to spend their days?) seems like a lavish and bullish way to throw money at. We could invest so much more money into progressing this city into the 21st century and we dump nearly half a hundred mil into a freaking library.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

The problem with thinking libraries are out of date is the false belief that "every single iota of knowledge is available from their living rooms with a few keystrokes or vocal commands." That is simply not true. Case in point--I am coming back to Wichita in November to do research for a project I'm working on, because copies of the Wichita Eagle prior to 1984 are not available online. They're only available on microfilm, and only at--you guessed it--the library. So I'm putting my happy ass on one of those new Frontier flights, landing at the fancy new airport, going to the fancy new library for a few days of research, and while I'm there, checking out the progress on the fancy new ballpark. Suck it CAVERs!!

Libraries continue to perform a vital service--being the only place one can obtain copies of materials for free. While random information is readily available for free on the internet, books aren't. Unless the copyright has expired and the work is part of the public domain, you have to pay for it. Which is why libraries are still important in the 21st century.

[C0|dB|00ded]

I suppose. Having free access to copyrighted material seems like a good deal for some, but a library can only afford to have a limited sampling on every subject matter. And then there's the issue of sharing an author's hard work with a billion "freeloaders". Doesn't seem too American to me. I know, I'm a horrible person to say that but this isn't 1985 and a very large amount of data is widely available via your chosen smart device while sitting at McDonald's enjoying unlimited free refills of your favorite carbonated beverage. :) I actually just recently purchased a finance book for a princely sum then later found out it's audible book version is freely available on YouTube. FML.

Regarding microfilm: that seems like a very careless way to preserve history in 2018. One fire and it's all gonzo. All the microfilm on the planet could be transferred to a hard drive the size of your wallet. I guess it's a labor cost thing.


T


...:cool:

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

There isn't an author in his/her right mind who wouldn't want a library to shelve their work and make it available to the public.

Regarding microfilm, if you would like to make a donation to the library so they can complete the digitizing of the newspaper collection, I'm sure they would be happy to receive it. There was a recent article in the Eagle about how Wichita's libraries are woefully underfunded compared to similar cities. Thank you for driving home that point. :)

[SHOCKvalue]

Don't get me started on the library thing. $40 million for a library (do people even go to these anymore, other than the homeless or unemployed looking for ways to spend their days?) seems like a lavish and bullish way to throw money at. We could invest so much more money into progressing this city into the 21st century and we dump nearly half a hundred mil into a freaking library.

I actually wasn’t talking about the new library. I was talking about the City’s recent annual budget decision to keep open an old satellite library branch that basically falls within the user footprint of the shiny brand new one, and CityArts, both at the expense of the street budget, but to keep happy a very vocal yet tiny sliver of residents.

I want to see Wichita grow and evolve - I’m not a CAVE-r - but damn man basic infrastructure, like streets, is sort of a core competency of city government and all of those property taxes we all pay.

[Shock Top]

I actually wasn’t talking about the new library. I was talking about the City’s recent annual budget decision to keep open an old satellite library branch that basically falls within the user footprint of the shiny brand new one, and CityArts, both at the expense of the street budget, but to keep happy a very vocal yet tiny sliver of residents.

I want to see Wichita grow and evolve - I’m not a CAVE-r - but damn man basic infrastructure, like streets, is sort of a core competency of city government and all of those property taxes we all pay.

So your just a CAVESr. Citizens Against Virtually Everything Stupid.

I'm all for not spending just to spend, but for stuff like an arena, casino, stadium, Bass Pro (beginning of the end for the WaterWalk. RIP.), that are going to attract people from INSIDE AND OUSIDE the city to come and SPEND MONEY are always something I would be willing to look into.

[ArtVandalay]

All this talk of rerouting McLean, isn't it more likely it will just not exist between Douglas and Maple? I mean, if you move it West of the new stadium and parking, isn't that just Sycamore? Just put in a pedestrian walkway with shops and restaurants on either side.