Meeting Wednesday on , Hotel

February 17, 2003

By Katharine McQuaid, Union Leader Staff

Aldermen will be asked to take some important steps towards bringing a baseball stadium, hotel, condominiums and other new development to Manchester's riverfront during a special meeting Wednesday, when they will also hear results of a ballpark feasibility study.

"There's a variety of things they (aldermen) must approve based on an earlier memorandum of understanding," explained Bill Jabjiniak, Destination Manchester coordinator. "They've agreed that this stuff has to get done and this is the final copy of things to be approved."

However, he said, these approvals do not guarantee the project. Aldermen later will be asked to bond $25 million for the construction of the minor league ballpark, expected to hold about 7,700 fans.

"The big vote to make everything definite is the bond vote down the road," Jabjiniak said.

But that step, which requires approval from 10 of the 14 aldermen, won't come unless the Red Sox consent to the New Haven (Conn.) Ravens team relocation to Manchester. The Ravens is an affiliate of the .

Mayor Robert Baines last night said he expects that decision to be made "soon."

In the meantime, Baines and Jabjiniak are pleased an independent analysis by the firm Brailsford & Dunlavey, Inc., showed Manchester could support a Double A baseball team.

Jabjiniak called the study "encouraging" and said it shows Manchester relates strongly with other baseball markets in the Eastern league and New England.

The only negative point it identified, he said, was there are few large corporations headquartered in Manchester. But it also pointed to the success of the Verizon Wireless Arena, showing corporations are willing to invest in the city.

"If that's the worse we have, we're not doing bad at all," he said.

Aldermen will hear about the study Wednesday at 6 p.m.

They will also vote on a master lease that will give developers control of 16 acres of the 26-acre riverfront site. The developers will sublease that land adjacent to the proposed ballpark for a hotel, condominium towers, retail shops, future train station and power plant.

Those properties are expected to add an estimated $40 million to the city's tax base, which Manchester needs to pay for the new stadium and for its portion of renovations at Gill Stadium, where the minor league team would play until the new structure is complete.

A lease agreement to allow the team to play at Gill Stadium is also up for a vote Wednesday.

According to the contract before aldermen, the team can begin the estimated $4.2 million in improvements to Gill Stadium as soon as the lease is signed, as long as construction does not interfere with the city's use of the premises. Renovations will include increasing seats from 3,500 to 5,000 and replacing the grass with artificial turf.

The team, owned by Lowell, Mass., Spinners owner Drew Weber, will pay a minimum of $1 million for the renovations and can occupy Gill Stadium from Aug. 5 of this year through the team's 2004 season, the lease says.

The city and other organizations will have access to Gill Stadium when the minor league team isn't using the field.

But the lease will not go into effect if the bar the Ravens from playing in Manchester, or if other plans for the overall riverfront development fall through.

Aldermen will also vote Wednesday whether to terminate its existing lease with the Riverfront Park Foundation, which oversees Singer Family Park, the site of the proposed development. Plans to move the park to Derryfield Park will also be presented to aldermen that night.

Whether the riverfront area's zoning classification should be changed from "redevelopment" to "central business district," will also be up to aldermen, who will be asked Wednesday to advance that proposal to the Committee on Bills on Second Reading. Officials have said the change will give developers more flexibility.

Finally, aldermen will be asked to request the state exempt the site from the "Shoreline Protection Act," designed to reduce the amount of deforestation near lakes and rivers.