Redevelopment Authority Presents Stadium Findings to Borough Council

The West Chester Redevelopment Authority officially reported its findings about the proposal to build a baseball stadium in the borough.

At the last meeting of the Redevelopment Authority, president Glen Sweet declared that the project was not financially viable.

According to Sweet, if the borough were to go through with the project the stadium would lose the borough close to $93,000 every year.

Here is a rundown of the Authority’s findings.

•  The proposal called for a $14 million state subsidy through the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP).  That money is not expected to be available and creates a huge shortfall from the start.
• The original proposal stated that the stadium would bring in a net revenue for the borough of around $600,000.  However, most of the projected income could vary on the agreement with the franchise that would use the stadium.  It is likely that the financing and the construction approval for the stadium would have to be in place before a franchise would agree to come to West Chester making it almost impossible to predict what a revenue stream would look like.
• The proposal also says that the stadium would have 27,000 square feet of retail space bringing in an estimate income of $500,000.  However, the borough would be responsible for leasing, managing and marketing this space.  The proposal does not include those costs.
• The proposal also included figures on what the borough would have to pay on the bonds taken out to help pay for construction.  The proposal includes those projected costs.  However, the projections were done based on interest rates in October.  Interest rates have gone up, and the added cost to the proposal is in the neighborhood of $300,000.
• The proposal does not include administrative costs for managing the stadium on the borough’s end.  The Authority estimates that it would require 1.5 full-time staff members to manage the stadium.  That is an additional cost in the neighborhood of $100,000.

Sweet also recommended that the borough charge the Redevelopment Authority with creating a comprehensive plan for the proposed stadium site.

“This would give the borough a frame of reference for when the next proposal comes along,” Sweet said.  “It’s a large tract of land in an attractive location.”