Triple-A PCL Nashville Sounds co-Owners Frank Ward and Masahiro Honzawa are not only "looking to secure new digs" for the team in the Sulphur Dell area, but also planning a $50M private development that "would play off the promise of a 10,000-seat stadium next door," according to a front-page piece by Joey Garrison of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. While the residential and retail component would "add to the partners' private real estate portfolio, it's also a major leg in Mayor Karl Dean's public stadium financing plan." The development's property-tax revenues would "pay off a chunk" of the $4.3M a year in new debt the city "would take on over 30 years." However, the team "isn't contractually obligated to follow through on it," and if it does not, an "expected $345,000 yearly city subsidy to pay for the stadium would increase by $750,000." The Nashville Metropolitan Council "backed the financing on the first of three votes Tuesday evening after a brief but heated discussion on what is normally a procedural vote." The Sounds' primary investment, "notwithstanding lease payments made years down the road ... is a project meant for profit." Ward said the stadium proposal and his group's mixed-use project are "two distinct issues." He added that he is "fully committed" to the effort, and that architectural designs are "in the works for a residential/retail project." Ward: "I'm pushing the architects as fast as they can go" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 11/20).
HIT BULL, WIN SCOREBOARD? In Raleigh, Jason deBruyn reported Durham Bulls Athletic Park, home to the Triple-A Int'l League Bulls, will undergo $19M worth of renovations, "including three new video displays." The largest of the HD boards "will be 25 feet by 63 feet, three times the size of the current board." A new LED display "will run the length of the outfield wall from center to right field." Dallas-based TS Sports "has been contracted to install the three video displays" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/19).
