Community group panel leaves talks on ballpark project
Leaders of a coalition of local organizations that has worked for the past year and a half to negotiate a community benefits agreement for the new Chattanooga Lookouts stadium said Thursday they are ending talks with officials.
A city official, however, said it’s still happening.
Geoff Meldhal, of the nonprofit Chattanoogans in Action for Love, Equality and Benevolence, said a committee formed to negotiate with the South Broad District landowners and the baseball team has decided to break off talks.
He said in a phone call the group was not able to get “meaningful safeguards” for the community on contracting for the stadium construction and the larger development on the 120-acre former U.S. Pipe/Wheland Foundry site. The minor league team is proposing to move there from AT&T Field on Hawk Hill, its home field since 2000.
Meldhal said the budget for the stadium has also been a factor. Earlier this year, officials revealed the cost of the project had increased from an initial estimate of $80 million to approximately $120 million, although the public exposure has since been reduced to $115 million.
The coalition of community groups includes the South Chattanooga Community Association, Iron Workers Local 704, Chattanooga Building Trades and others.
Community benefits agreements attached to major projects in other cities have included living wage provisions for workers, affordable housing requirements for residential projects and environmental concessions from developers.
The coalition was also seeking an agreement with the city and county to fill any glaring gaps in the community benefits agreement, Meldhal said.
Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly’s chief of staff, Jermaine Freeman, said at a sports authority meeting Thursday that a community benefits agreement is still a work in progress, but he expects there will be one. There will likely be a shift in the primary organization representing the community. The city, county and sports authority cannot be parties to the agreement.
“The city’s expectation is there will continue to be a community benefits agreement,” Freeman said.
He added it will likely address affordable housing, partnerships for The Howard School and opportunities for contractors to work in the stadium.
The private parties that had been negotiating with Chattanoogans in Action for Love, Equality and Benevolence said in a statement they were sorry the coalition dropped out.
“Although CALEB has taken itself out of this conversation, we remain steadfastly committed to working with willing community partners to ensure this project benefits the residents of the South Broad District,” the statement from foundry landowner Perimeter Properties, Lookouts managing owner Hardball Capital and site master developer New City Properties said.
They said they had “all invested more than a year discussing this in countless face-to-face meetings, phone calls, text messages and emails.”
“This project will revitalize a part of Chattanooga that has been overlooked for generations, and we look forward to standing shoulder-toshoulder with community leaders who are willing to agree to reasonable terms that will ensure sustainable economic growth that benefits everyone,” the statement said.
The entities said they will continue to work to codify the commitments made during negotiations for the benefit of the community. The groups said they “stand ready to follow through with the commitments we made.”
Ann Weeks, a sports authority member, at the meeting voiced support for a community benefits agreement.
“It’s not going to stop being complicated,” Weeks said as she thanked CALEB. “Maybe
the platform will change a little in who is involved in it.”
According to plans for the $115 million ballpark, $80 million in bonds would be issued by the sports authority and paid back mostly by new city and county tax revenue generated by the stadium development.
Also, there will be a $26 million private loan obtained by the team and landowner, paid back with new city property tax revenue in a 470-acre tax district around the stadium, but not with county revenue.
In addition, there will be $5 million in additional sports authority debt, also repaid from the city’s property tax revenue and potentially hotel motel taxes or local option sales taxes.
Also, there’s a $3 million up front contribution from the Lookouts along with $1 million interest earnings on the $80 million bond.
A Lookouts official said recently the minor league ball club “almost definitely” will miss opening day 2025 for the debut of the planned new ballpark, but the team is still eyeing to play in the stadium sometime that season.
“We’re still working on 2025 something,” Rich Mozingo, the Chattanooga Lookouts president, said in a recent interview. “But it’s not going to be opening day.”