Xanadu Developers Reach Deal To Build Minor League Ballpark

Xanadu Developers Reach Deal To Build $20M Ballpark

Xanadu developers Mills Corp. and Mack-Cali Realty and independent Atlantic League Bergen Cliff Hawks Owner Steve Kalafer “have reached a deal to build” a $20M minor league ballpark at the complex, according to Matthew Futterman of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. Mills and Mack-Cali would contribute $6M, Kalafer would pay $1M and the state of New Jersey would contribute a $3M cash loan and $10M in bonds. Kalafer’s annual $1.15M rent payments “would repay the state’s debt.” New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine must approve the $13M in public funding, but three sources said that Corzine “has not yet decided whether the ballpark is a good investment.” Corzine’s spokesperson, Brendan Gilfillan, said that Corzine “remains committed to making minor league baseball a part of Xanadu, but he stopped short of committing funding” (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 5/17).

MISSING LINK? NJSEA President & CEO George Zoffinger said that the $150M price tag for the planned Meadowlands rail link “may be on the way up, and it could need additional funding.” In a separate piece, Futterman notes Zoffinger two years ago “convinced the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ... to cover the $150[M] cost,” but construction prices “have risen substantially” since then (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 5/17).