Move over D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams. Loudoun is stepping up to the plate.
The key players looking to build a Major League ballpark and to attract the Montreal Expos to Northern Virginia met this week to unveil a new development strategy that officials say improves the appeal of building a $442 million ballpark near the Washington Dulles International Airport.
"There has been a great deal of interest by the development community," said Brian Hannigan, a spokesman for the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority in Reston. "That is why there is a sudden flurry of excitement over Dulles, although this is not the only site we continue to be interested in."
Williams and the Authority are vying for the right to build the ballpark in their respective localities. Williams met with the Major League Baseball relocation committee about two weeks ago to persuade the members to choose Washington. The Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority is pushing Northern Virginia as the viable site, but has yet to recommend one out of the five areas competing for the opportunity. The Authority has looked at Dulles, Springfield and three Arlington County sites.
Major League Baseball also is considering sites in Norfolk, Va.; Portland, Ore.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Monterrey, Mexico, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Gabe Paul, the Authority's executive director, said he is "extremely optimistic" that Major League Baseball will select Northern Virginia as the site for the ballpark. He said potential developers presented a plan to build a mix of residential, retail, commercial and office buildings adjacent to the proposed stadium in the Dulles area.
Hannigan said developers would share the cost of infrastructure. "The evidence is that we can realize a significant savings by doing that," he said.
THE BALLPARK would be built north of the toll road, east of Route 28, next to the Center for Innovative Technology. Most residents would recognize the Center as the top heavy glass building that looks upside down near the airport.
Scott York, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said he felt positive about the prospect after the meeting, but he will reserve judgment until or if an application is submitted. He said developers pledged to address traffic and fiscal concerns. "We want to make sure this will generate more in revenues than it does in needs," he said. "We are being assured this is positive for the county."
Vice-Chairman Bruce Tulloch expressed confidence in the developers' ability to handle the issues. "I'm cautiously optimistic and excited."
Loudoun Planning Commission chairman Larry Beerman said the development strategy is better than a previous recommendation to build a ballpark only. "It's going to attract people to the site for other things, work, shopping, restaurants," he said. "It's the whole notion of making it a suburban mixed-use complex."
The development's location near a quarry also makes sense, because it can be an added amenity once it is converted to a lake. The quarry's useful life is coming to an end, he said. "It's the perfect time for this to occur."
Paul said Major League Baseball will select a site by midsummer, then proceed to sell the team.
The Virginia Baseball Club, which finances the Authority, and Williams and his investors group are competing for ownership of the players. If either end up owning the Expos, the team will play at RFK stadium until a new ballpark is built, according to Paul. Washington's professional baseball team, the Senators, played their final season at RFK in1971.
JERRY BURKOT, a spokesman for the Virginia Baseball Club in Alexandria, said Major League Baseball should sell the team to the Club because Northern Virginia represents the best available market in terms of demographics. "We are the fourth largest metropolitan area, eighth largest media market in the country," he said. "Certainly, we're second in terms of disposable income.
"The economy in Northern Virginia in contrast to other areas of the country is rapidly growing. We're adding jobs while many other parts of the country are losing them."
In 1997, the legislature allowed the Authority to use tax revenue to finance the ballpark. The owners of the team would pay one third of the cost, and the Authority would assume the rest using income, sales, business, professional and licensing taxes and revenues from a 10 percent admission tax to retire ballpark construction bonds. Proceeds from an additional 2 percent admission tax would be used to reimburse the county for services associated with stadium events.