Politics & Government

Redevelopment Authority Declares Stadium Proposal Not Financially Viable

The proposal to build a baseball stadium has a $14 million shortfall without state subsidies.

The West Chester Redevelopment Authority will tell borough council at its next meeting that the current proposal to build a baseball stadium is not financially viable.

“There is a $14 million shortfall in this proposal,” said authority president Glen Sweet.  “The numbers just don’t work.”

A huge chunk of the cost for the construction of the stadium was supposed to be covered by a subsidy from the state.  However, that money is no longer available.

“We need to find new ways to subsidize the construction costs,” Sweet said.  “The proposal needs to be restructured.”

Sweet also added that there was no firm proposal from Pfizer, who owns the land the stadium would be built on, and that the current proposal makes too many assumptions.

“Part of the proposal says that we would bring in so much money from renting out retail space,” Sweet said.  “But the proposal assumes 100 percent occupancy.”

Ray Ott who serves on the authority said that the stadium could be beneficial, but that the issue is complicated.

“When we talked to people in York who built a similar stadium, it’s a definite asset to the community,” Ott said.

Ott added, “The stadium in York gave people a lot of confidence to invest in the surrounding area.  There was an abandoned warehouse across the street that the city couldn’t do anything with.  But the stadium was built, and they built a residential condominium complex on that lot.”

“The numbers just don’t add up,” Ott said.  “And when the RACP (state subsidy) money fell through it just got worse.  I don’t know if having a stadium is something the people of West Chester want.”

Sweet recommended that the borough come up with a master plan for the site.  Because as one resident put it “the borough said no to a shopping center, and now it looks like they’re going to say no to a stadium.  Well, what do they want to do with it?”

Currently the borough receives between $750,000 and $850,000 annually from Pfizer for use of the borough’s sewers.

Under the current proposal, that revenue would go away in exchange for the land to build the stadium.

The authority also determined that while the proposed numbers match what Lancaster and York receive in funds for their stadiums it’s impossible to know what the projections for West Chester would be until there was a franchise agreement.

“I could do 20 different analyses and they would all have 20 different results,” Ott said.  “They need to find a way to make the numbers work.”


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