State approves aid for Cardinals' Ballpark Village

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A $387 million plan to build shops, restaurants, offices and condominiums near the St. Louis Cardinals' ballpark won the backing Tuesday of a state board that dishes out financial aid.

Approval by the Missouri Development Finance Board moved the long-proposed Ballpark Village significantly closer to reality. After the city of St. Louis issues revenue bonds, groundbreaking could occur yet this fall, said Cardinals senior vice president Bill DeWitt III.

The goal is to have a substantial part of the project complete by July 2009, when Busch Stadium hosts the Major League Baseball All-Star game. The rest of the project could take several more years to finish.

The scope of the project has fluctuated several times, with the state board last month considering a $280 million initial phase that would not have included any housing units.

But since then, the Cardinals, their developers, the city and state agreed to put 250 housing units back into the plan, as well as additional retail space. The total project now includes 360,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space, plus 100,000 square feet for offices and 1,200 parking places.

"Adding this condo component is -- no pun intended -- a home run," said state finance board member Nelson Grumney Jr.

As part of the newly negotiated deal, the Cardinals also are to work with Missouri in its business recruitment efforts.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who is chairman of the finance board, said the Cardinals have agreed to allow recruited business officials come to the ballpark facilities, including its conference room, suites and potentially go on the field during batting practice or meet Cardinals players in the clubhouse.

He called the revised plan a "substantially meatier and substantially better proposal."

Of the $387 million construction cost, public aid is projected to account for $116 million, with the state's share at nearly $30 million and the rest coming from the city and special sales tax districts.

The St. Louis project would be just the second in the state -- the first was in Kansas City -- to be funded through a downtown economic stimulus law enacted in 2003.

Under the plan, St. Louis would issue revenue bonds to finance the infrastructure for Ballpark Village, including a parking garage, utilities, streets, sidewalks and trees. The state then would redirect half of the new sales and payroll withholding taxes received from businesses in Ballpark Village to help pay off those bonds. The city would do the same.

Although the net present value of the state's aid is $29.6 million, it's actual cost is projected at $78.3 million over 25 years.

The state Department of Economic Development estimates that the Ballpark Village project will generate an additional $100.6 million in net new taxes to the state over 25 years. It estimated an economic output of $5.6 billion.

DeWitt praised the project as "an unbelievable economic deal for the city and the state." And "for those who want to live within a home run of home plate, that's going to happen," he told reporters after the board approved the deal.

The finance board on Tuesday also approved $1.3 million in tax credits to help finance a $14 million fundraising campaign to expand the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.

Mark Bryant, president of the museum's board of directors, has said the project would convert a nearby vacant building into a baseball academy and learning center, where youths could use batting cages and develop math and science skills by calculating such things as the speed of a pitched baseball, swung bat or base runner. The new facility also would be rented for special events, such as parties and meetings.