Update on new stadium

Here's the latest on the new voter-approved baseball stadium that is slated to be built next to the Laredo Entertainment Center.

The bolded text provides news of particular interest.

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By ZACH LINDSEY
LAREDO MORNING TIMES

Three nationally based companies have responded to the city’s request for proposals for the construction of a voter-approved baseball stadium next to the Laredo Entertainment Center.

The three companies presented their qualifications, without specific plans for a stadium, to City Council during a Monday workshop. The three companies interested in the stadium are Kansas City-based HOK Sport, Dallas-based HKS and Crafton Tull Sparks of Tulsa, Okla.

All three have experience in the stadium construction business, such as Crafton Tull Sparks, which built the QuikTrip Park in Grand Prairie, ranked 2008’s best new ballpark by Ballpark Digest.

HSK was involved in the construction of the Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi, a 350,000-square-foot stadium with 6,500 seats, and HOK Sports was involved in the construction of the Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla., which has nearly 8,000 regular seats.

“We just need to find out exactly how much we really want to invest,” said Councilman Johnny Rendon. The ballpark will be in his council district.

Rendon has long been a proponent of the new baseball stadium.

“I really believe the City of Laredo is a baseball town, and if we can just bring those types of amenities to Laredo, the quality of life for our citizens will be improving,” Rendon said.
At least one council member considered local cooperation with the project to be one of the most important aspects of picking a firm.

“Two groups (had) very strong local presentation,” said Councilman Gene Belmares. “One was kind of weak on (what) they had locally in terms of who they were involving upfront on those projects.”

HKS recommends Humphries and Sanchez Architects as its associate architect. Juan Homero Sanchez of Humphries and Sanchez has worked with the Texas Department of Transportation to construct its Laredo District Headquarters, and also helped design the Webb County Justice Center and the Lamar Bruni Vergara Inner City Park.

The engineering team HKS envisions is Puig Engineering, also a local company.

Crafton Tull Sparks also recommends Humphries and Sanchez in an architectural role and Puig Engineering as civil engineering consultants.

HOK Sport worked in the past on a study for the possible convention center, and did tour the site, but has not completed any projects in the Laredo area. HOK proposes the locally based Architects Plus as subconsultant, but the rest of the team consists of out-of-towners.

The baseball stadium will likely be funded by revenue from the sports venue tax, created to pay for the LEC.

The larger the amount of money the City Council is willing to spend on a baseball stadium, the less money will be available for future projects that can also be financed with the sports venue tax money, such as a planned downtown convention center.

“It’s how much money I can spend on one without affecting the other one,” said City Manager Carlos Villarreal.

Villarreal said he will draft a few scenarios after meeting with the city’s financial advisers. He expects to have a plan by either the July 20 council meeting or the following one.

The convention center is still a long way off. It must go before voters, in either a special election in November 2009 or the regular November 2010 election. Voters could say no to the referendum.

“We might just put up half of (the money) and finance the rest,” Villarreal said. “I need to take a look at all the variables and come back to council.”

Also, the sports venue tax money is used for the maintenance of the LEC.

“I want to make sure that council is aware of a possible dilemma if we spend it all at one time for a baseball stadium,” Villarreal said.

The city spends about $750,000 a year on maintenance for the LEC, according to Villarreal.

“The challenge is going to be, now, making that selection and coming back with the programming which is what is going to tell us the size of the facility and an estimated budget for that type of facility based on inputs of council, the community and an operator of the baseball team,” Belmares said. “Staff’s got a pretty hard task on their hands.”

Other unknowns in the baseball stadium equation are who will be the operator of the stadium and what team the stadium will host. At first, the Laredo Broncos seemed like the shoo-ins for the stadium, but Ventura Sports Group, owner of the El Paso Diablos and the Grand Prairie AirHogs, also has put forth a proposal for the operation of the stadium.

Staff still needs to make a formal recommendation to council regarding which would better serve the interests of Laredo.

“That’s a decision council will make, and that will complete the package,” Belmares said.