Appeals

Nothing is easy when it comes to stadiums in Minnesota. Sure, clearing of the Twins ballpark site has started, and there will be a ballpark in 2010. The price of the land has not yet been determined, however. After Hennepin County announced that they would proceed with the condemnation process, a three person panel was named to determine the price of that land, which has been valued in the past at around $9 million. You may remember (who wouldn't) that Hennepin County offered Land Partners II roughly $14 million for the land and LPII countered by saying the land was worth (please put pinky by mouth and say in Dr. Evil voice) 65 MILLION DOLLARS!

Well, on Monday the three person panel determined that the land is worth $23.8 million dollars, nearly $10 million more that Hennepin County offered, but far less than the $65 million that Dr. Evil - I mean LPII - wanted. Oddly enough, one of the panelists did not sign the document and publicly stated he believes the ditch by the garbage burner is worth $33 million. After hearing what their buddy - er, I mean the third panelist - had to say, LPII decided to APPEAL the ruling, which means there will be a long, drawn-out case brought before a jury to determine the value of the land that could last into 2008. This will certainly cost the taxpayers some money.

Now, I am not surprised at all that LPII appealed this decision. After all, they represent widows and orphans who own this land, and we do not want them to go hungry by only splitting the $23.8 million. Hey, this is America - get what you can, right? But please remember that it was LPII that orginally thought their land would be an outstanding spot for a stadium, and even created a web site to enlighten the public on this. They brought the idea to the Hennepin County politicians. However, somewhere along the line Hines Interests from Houston got involved and whispered to LPII that their ditch was worth considerably more cash money to build something other than a stadium. You know, like condo's or something that you can't possibly find anywhere else downtown. Let's just say the rest is history, the Legislature actually passed the stadium bill, and Hines whispered to LPII that they are in for a shit load of money. Cool and calculated, baby.

Now, LPII does not like the decision of the panel, and has decided to appeal and bog this thing down in the courts. As I mentioned, they're looking out for themselves and always have been pretty greedy, so have at it boys. However, the more LPII is awarded for their land, the more the surrounding area around the new stadium is impacted. The ballpark itself will not suffer, but the landscape, bridges, and other amenities will disappear. This will affect the overall quality of the urban ballpark.

This is what makes me wonder about the boys from Hines. From what I hear, Hines is very interested in the development rights around the stadium. Here is what an editorial from the Star Tribune has to say on the subject:

"These details may seem insignificant, but such amenities are vital to the success of urban ballparks, which rely on attractive surroundings to generate adjacent economic activity.

That's what's so perplexing about Hines' posture in this case. The company has extraordinarily creative plans for housing/office/retail development near the new ballpark and may seek city subsidy to pursue its aims. So it seems self-destructive to risk stripping the ballpark of its external amenities and to antagonize local governments by trying to raid the ballpark's public infrastructure fund."

If I was a city or county official, I think I would go tell Hines to screw themselves if they came to me asking for public money for development. This is like a dog biting it's owner's hand and then whimpering for a snack. I'm not sure what Hines is thinking.

Oh well. As I said, nothing is easy when it comes to stadiums in Minnesota.

Peace,

Jeff