Clarence C. Elebash says,
Pensacola’s waterfront redevelopment project may be a great success. We all should hope so. However, it is not going to be the same Community Maritime Park that voters approved. It has become the Downtown Baseball Park.
Outside events overtook the 2006 Maritime Park referendum. The sharp decline in real estate values and deep recession caused big changes. The current plan is very different from the initial proposal. The baseball stadium is the only major component remaining pretty much as planned, and it is being expanded. There will still be a public park area with amphitheater but access will be awkward.
City Hall “puts a good face” on the project, but the City is not fulfilling promises Council made or implied during the referendum campaign.
- Ironically, the most controversial component (the stadium) now dominates the entire project.
- The very popular maritime museum will probably never be built. If it is built, it may be at another location.
- A UWF classroom/conference center building dropped out of the project early on.
- The public area and privately funded amphitheater are over-shadowed by and encroached upon by the enlarged stadium.
- The public area is not conveniently connected with the existing downtown commercial and cultural districts. Entry to the public area will be on the west side of the ballpark.
- “Tall ships” and other large vessels will not dock at the Park. There is no navigable deep water approach.
- The "1910 fishing village" theme apparently was nothing but ballyhoo.
The good news is that the old Trillium property will be environmentally “green”. This is a major achievement. Congratulations to the Park Trustees for successfully working through this frustrating task.
The City's next challenge is to lease out available Park property for development. Park success depends on commercial development. This is the “make or break” element in the overall financial scheme.
City Council was foolish to continue the entire Park project after the real estate market declined and recession set in. They were imprudent to build a baseball park with borrowed money at a time like this. Hopefully, it will work out OK but, in the meantime, the City is at serious risk. (Look no further than Mobile to see the sort of money problems that baseball teams can create.)
Pensacola could face major financial difficulty. The City has substantial future obligations for Park debt, pensions, other unfunded retiree benefits, and funds pledged to ECUA for sewer plant relocation. This financial burden, coupled with “iffy” revenue forecasts, portends trouble.
The “jury is out” on the Downtown Baseball Park. It will be years before the outcome is clear. Hopefully, the project will be a flourishing success, but it could turn out to be a prolonged and costly misadventure.
Meanwhile, these questions are germane: Will the Downtown Baseball Park produce the grand results the promoters tout? … Is it going to rejuvenate Pensacola’s westside? … Is there a tooth fairy?
(Clarence C. Elebash is retired from the Air Force and is a UWF emeritus professor of finance and economics. He lives in the City of Pensacola.)
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