We have a price tag on that 13 acres of state-owned land (with state-owned buildings on it) that would-be MLS owners in Raleigh want for a stadium, and it’s $91 million, at least. Which the MLS backers say they’ll pay for by, um, er, something about a “public-private partnership”:
State Property Office Director Tim Walton … told Department of Administration officials in an email last month that $7 million an acre would be the “minimum starting point” for the 13-acre parcel of state land the club hopes will become home to a new Major League Soccer franchise.
Rather than buy the land outright, NCFC wants to form a public-private partnership with the state to use the property, which is bounded by Peace, Salisbury and Lane streets just north of downtown.
“Public-private partnership,” for those not familiar with the term of art, can mean lots of things — anywhere from “we’ll get together with the government and share profits on a joint investment” to (more commonly) “we’ll be the partner that gets the money, and you be the partner who spends it.” While details haven’t been released yet, clearly this would be an easy way to stick to a “no public money” pledge while still collecting lots of public money — either by promising to repay the state for its land with revenues that aren’t a sure bet to turn up, or by charging the state a premium to rent space for new offices in a joint development, or really any of a million other ways that could be hidden deep within a development agreement.
Is this 100% absolutely surely a scam? No! Is it something that we should be raising an eyebrow at until enough details are released to tell if it’s a scam? Hell yeah! Billie Redmond, chief executive Trademark Properties, the company tasked with site selection for North Carolina F.C. (nice way to include the state name when you’re seeking state money, btw), said, “What we are proposing is complicated, but it’s an opportunity to do something extraordinary”; whether that’s extraordinary in terms of “a win-win for all concerned” or “I can’t believe they fell for that!” is yet to be determined.
Lots of hair on this one.