Harrison Square Condo/retail Fly-thru from dfwb and Vimeo.
Notes:
Around 40 handicap parking spaces will be available in the garage with direct, at grade access to the ballpark.
Question asked: If Jefferson Pointe appeals their taxes, where will the money come from?
Mark Becker answer: Money from the city was a conservative estimate, the city portion of the cost will be covered even if Jefferson Pointe appeals.
The parking garage was noted as not being primarily for baseball, but to serve Lincoln's employees, the new hotel, and future development in the area.
The parking garage will have an entrance off Harrison and with 4 in/out lanes on Douglas. The Firehouse Cafe on Washington was noted as being the inspiration for the design of the garage. There was also discussion of whether or not there might be some retail at the east elevation of the garage.
The condos were noted as having a ramp off of Ewing for access to underground parking for condo owners.
A realtor from Coldwell Banker noted that he has people begging for downtown condos.
Question asked: What guarantee is there of retail usage? Are the people of Fort Wayne going to have to pay?
Jason Freier answer: Hardball is privately financing the retail portion and will take on the financial risk involved.
Question asked: What advertising options will be available at the ballpark?
Freier answer: There will be more options available than just the outfield wall, as seen at Memorial Stadium and other venues around the league.
Jason Freier also gave a hint at a possible team affiliation change sometime down the road when he said, in response to a question, "right now we're with the Padres".
Freier also noted that the team would try to get their MLB affiliate to come to town to play an exhibition game at the new ballpark.
Another exciting opportunity mentioned was that the ballpark could be the neutral site for the Big 10 Tournament or any other tournament that could use a neutral site.
Question asked: What kinds of retail tenants can be expected?
Brad Sturges answer: Restaurants, bar/brewery, grocery/convenience store, and small retail such as banking, cell phone store, etc. Jason Freier made sure to point out, as a response to a question, that a strip club will not be part of the retail portion of the project.
5 comments:
What a great event, there was easily over 100 people crammed into the room (maybe over 200)! I felt all the guys present did a good job of answering questions posed to them. Even when one misinformed citizen was CONVINCED that Hardball was going to put a strip club in one of the retail spaces! Haha!
Agree, this is a fantastic project, providing a much-needed downtown (evening) gathering place for various activities. Seems like the concept of this and other modern ballparks is you don't necessarily have to love baseball to enjoy your time at HS. I also support the idea of not letting the outfield wall become a solid strip of signs.
Like the man said, downtown people/traffic congestion is a problem they'd love to have.
In reference to your comment, I thought the one question was funny where the guy said "what would happen traffic-wise if there was a perfect storm of a packed Wizards game, the Grand Wayne is packed and the Embassy has an event". Freier said "thats a problem I'm sure Fort Wayne would love to have."
Also agree with your statement about this ballpark in that you won't HAVE to be a baseball fan to attend games. This is something John doesn't understand. If you've ever been to Wrigley, Turner Field in Atlanta, etc...there are many "big fans" there as well as people going there to have a good time with friends and hang out. It's like going to a bar for some people. With all the different amenities Hardball is providing at this facility, it will be perfect for this type of crowd. And how many companies in the Ft. Wayne area currently have outings or whatever to Wizards games at Memorial Stadium?? Not many. With a downtown stadium I could see MANY more of these type of outings, attracting several downtown businesses.
So how is the new outdoor Wizard Baseball Staduim downtown going to pay for itself during the Winter?
What's the attraction then?
Is it mult-purpose in the winter to attract folks downtown?
Bobbett,
Have you not been paying attention to what the owners of the Wizards have been saying? They are trying to build the stadium so it can be used as much as possible, including in the winter. The suites in the stadium will have retractable walls so small convensions can use it. It would be very helpful if you gave ideas on other uses of the stadium during the winter instead of just asking if it would be used during the winter.
By the way, this is far different than the current stadium which is truly only used 70-80 days a year. Why would you invest more money into something that will remain that way. At least the new stadium has the opportunity to be used more often. Especially if they find a way to keep the turf in good condition to use it for football and soccer. And it would be great if they could get the Big Ten baseball tourney as well.
The usefulness of this stadium is far better than MS.
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