April 12, 2007
Twins stadium moves ahead (kinda)
The Minnesota Twins released the designs for their new stadium today - see renderings here if you've always wondered what Kauffman Stadium in K.C. would look like with three layers of luxury seating crammed in - amid talk that the months-old stalemate with property owners on the proposed stadium site could soon be resolved. On Tuesday, the Hennepin County board of commissioners approved spending $13 million to do a "quick take" of the land by eminent domain, which they hope will enable site preparation work to begin next month.
Doing a quick take, though, still doesn't resolve the underlying problem, which is that the landowners want more for their property - as much as $10 million more - than the county says it's worth. If they win in court, and drive the total land acquisition cost above the county's $90 million spending cap, no one knows what will happen, though there's certainly historical precedent for an educated guess.
None of which stopped the Twins' best pal, Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman, from declaring today that only "minor issues" are left to resolve before a Twins groundbreaking. And what minor issues would those be? As Hennepin commissioner Mike Opat told Hartman: "We have to reroute the [train] tracks, and the railroad has tentatively approved that, and then there's some [insurance] liability issues that the Twins have to work out with the railroad. And then we have some purchasing details we have to work out. But all of those, I think, show some progress."
Funny thing - "purchasing details" are also the only thing that stands between me and buying this.
We had snow last night in Minneapolis. Been cold lately, too. No need to fear. The new stadium will have a heated field (did I mention this is a return to outdoor baseball) that will magically melt any late Spring snows by keeping the field a toasty 65 degrees.
I'm glad we finally licked that energy shortage thing
Posted by basball Fan - not on April 12, 2007 10:52 PM
Train tracks? Will they be as close as the trains in back of Safeco in Seattle? Every couple of minutes you hear them in the park and even on the radio broadcasts the announcers have to stop for a sec. What a joke for a half billion dollars.
Posted by Joe on April 13, 2007 07:14 AM
A heated baseball field to melt any late spring snow? Now that's hilarious!
If the team could have cough up enough money for a retractable roof their would be no need for a heated baseball field.
Posted by Daniel F. on April 13, 2007 05:09 PM
I hope the new twins stadium will have grass. I can't stand artificial grass. Then only toronto and tampa bay will have artificial grass.
Posted by dan on April 13, 2007 06:57 PM
Except that Safeco has pretty much embraced the train horn sound as part of the ambiance... They sound a train horn whenever there's a home run, even.
Posted by Aaron on April 16, 2007 10:09 PM
Safeco trains > Shea/Citi planes.
Posted by Vincent on April 17, 2007 12:37 AM
The Pohlad family has more than enough money to
cover this stadium's costs, with or without a
retractable roof. The idea that not enough cash is
or was available for such a roof is false!!!!
The lack of a retractable roof is not due to a lack of money. It is due to a lack of space. The available location is not big enough for a retractable roof and the ballpark must be at the chosen location. A major venue anywhere other than on the existing mass transit light rail does not make sense. This location has the added benefits of future outstate commuter rail access as well as two major freeways and three huge existing parking ramps. Its only limitation is space. It is sandwiched between the bridges for 7th St on the SW, 5th St on the NE, 394 freeway on the SE, and the BNSF railroad (future outstate commuter rail) on the NW. The incredible transit access, central location, and amount of parking far outweigh any benefit from the extra space needed for a retractable roof. Link to Google maps http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&q=&z=15&ll=44.981648,-93.278174&spn=0.022493,0.039911&om=1
Posted by another fan on April 23, 2007 02:48 PM