Ward 4 City Council candidates sound off on the proposed stadium at the Midway bus barn site

Public investment needed to make site viable

By RUSS STARK

I recently voted to support a City Council resolution that outlines the conditions under which the Council would support property tax exemption for a new MLS Soccer Stadium on the Snelling Bus Garage site.

My initial reaction to the stadium idea was negative. At first blush, the idea seemed inconsistent with community plans for a high-density mix of office, housing, retail, and other uses. What changed my mind is that the current situation with the property as it relates to the Midway Shopping Center is a Catch-22—despite the central location, without major improvements and investments in the shopping center site, the Bus Garage site is not an appealing place to invest for developers, nor an appealing place to live or work for possible tenants.

Recent media attention to the possible stadium has created a great deal of interest in being located on the site from companies looking to relocate or expand their offices. So while the academic literature suggests that stadia do not catalyze economic development, in this case, it seems that this proposal may do just that. As a result, I believe a property tax exemption for the stadium would be a worthwhile tradeoff under certain conditions. For me, those conditions are:

1) The team agrees to pay the entire cost of developing the stadium itself, and then hands it over to the City or another public entity to own;

2) The facility would be used for many other events and purposes, including amateur and youth soccer, and some tickets be made available at affordable prices;

3) A sensible plan can be developed for financing the public infrastructure for the overall 35 acres (the whole area bounded by Snelling, Pascal, University and St. Anthony), including streets, walkways, parks, bikeways, stormwater management, and shared parking;

4) Substantial property taxpaying redevelopment of the remainder of the site begins concurrently with the stadium that increases living wage jobs and/or new housing options.

I think it’s important to put the issue of the possible property tax exemption in context:

1. The “Bus Barn” site has been tax exempt for decades as it has been owned by the Metropolitan Council.

2. Both the Xcel Energy Center and CHS Field “deals” included state approved property tax exemptions.

3. A recent assessment of the development potential for the entire 35-acre superblock site concluded that in today’s market, any private development there would require a substantial public subsidy for the needed public infrastructure. In other words, there does not seem to be a scenario in which the site gets redeveloped by the private market anytime soon.

4. If the stadium is to happen, it will involve a purchase or lease of the land from the Metropolitan Council and those proceeds will support their operations, likely transit operations.

Enriching the wealthy owners of the soccer franchise is definitely not a goal of mine. However, any development on the site will only occur if there is a profit to be made (with the exception of government or non-profit buildings which would be property tax-exempt). For me to support the development of a soccer stadium on the site, I will need to be convinced that the benefits to St. Paul and the neighborhoods around the site outweigh the costs, and that public monies are only being spent on infrastructure that has clear public benefits.

Russ Stark is the current president of the St. Paul City Council. He is running for re-election in Ward 4 to retain his council seat.

A stadium distraction we don’t need

By TOM GOLDSTEIN

Here we go again. After seven years of having the St. Paul Saints ballpark the #1 capital project in the city, we’re going to chase yet another stadium for billionaires? Sure, soccer is a great game, and professional soccer provides lots of excitement for fans. But it’s not so lucrative a sport that team owners can turn a profit if they also foot the bill for a brand-new stadium.

That’s just the tantalizing fantasy Bill McGuire and his partners are offering in hopes that somebody will bite. Unfortunately for taxpayers, the mayor has been all too willing to take the bait, as has the city council with its recent resolution in favor of keeping the old Midway Bus Barn site tax-exempt.

Economists who have been studying the stadium boom for the past 25 years have found little evidence that these projects generate additional development beyond the bars and restaurants that sometimes spring up around them. And for all the talk about a stadium serving as a “catalyst” for additional investment, the owners of the Minnesota United franchise have no interest in spending $150 million of their money on a soccer stadium just so folks will patronize nearby businesses. They want to capture as much of the revenue as possible for themselves.

In case anybody has forgotten, taxpayers have been to this dance before.

The Saints’ ballpark quest began as innocently as did the push for a soccer stadium: a modest $25 million venue at Harriet Island for which the Saints would provide 60 percent of the funding through advertising revenue, naming rights, and other sources. However, by the time the project was completed, the cost had mushroomed to $63 million, and the Saints contribution had been reduced to a mere 4%, or $2.5 million. For that minimal investment, the team was awarded all ballpark revenue, including naming rights for CHS Field

Now the same mayor and virtually the same city council that approved funding of the Saints boondoggle want us to believe that the soccer stadium will be different because the owners have agreed to cover the entire cost of construction out of their own pockets.

That’s exactly what former Milwaukee Brewers team owner Bud Selig told the city of Milwaukee in 1989: “reroute a highway at a cost of $6 million and we’ll build the stadium ourselves.” Six years later that $6 million turned into a $250 million publicly-funded stadium in which the Brewers contributed nothing.

This pattern of stadium shenanigans has been repeated time and again for the past 25 years. Anybody who believes “this time will be different” is either not paying attention or deluding themselves.

I know that people will complain about how ugly the Bus Barn site looks or how nothing has happened there for years. All true. But plopping a stadium down to deal with an eyesore that the city has neglected for the past 20 years just means that we’ll all have to continue shouldering the property tax burden of another expensive, non-revenue producing asset.

How about if we focus instead on human-scale amenities like repairing the city’s long-neglected infrastructure, first class parks, modern rec centers, free after school programming, added green space, and affordable, high speed internet access for everyone?

That’s what families want—just ask them.

A lawyer and former school board member, Tom Goldstein is a candidate for city council in St. Paul’s Ward 4.