Where do you want the stadium to be?

[Spartan]

This is related to this thread: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=6875

It seems certain that the Upstate will soon have a new baseball team and stadium. So, based soley on location, in which city would you rather the stadium be built?

[vicupstate]

I was at Falls Park yesterday and also strolled down to the proposed baseball site. There was a decent size crowd downtown and at the park as well. Many businesses were closed but the ones that were open were doing a good business. I noticed a new business had opened on Pendleton (now renamed S. Main), and the space next to it is renovated and available for lease. The Riverplace construction is taking shape as well.

I think putting the baseball stadium in the West End is a no-brainer if there ever was one. So much money has already been invested in Main Street and the West End, both private and public money. The ballpark would serve as another anchor for redevelopment, just as the Peace Center, Hyatt Regency and Falls Park already have.

The current stadium is in Mauldin. In it's isolated location, it did not foster additional economic development around it.

A ballpark in either Greer or Mauldin would put more traffic on either I-85 or 385, often during afternoon rush hour. Who wants to deal with that? I only get on I-85 if it is unavoidable. Going to a ball game is suppose to be a relaxing event. Dealing with traffic to get there would detract from that.

Also, the Mauldin proposal would be mostly paid for with public tax money, not private investment. That alone should nix that option.

If only the brain-dead county council had coughed up a million or two a couple of years ago, a West End stadium would be finished now, and all this drama and controversy would never have happened.

[goodbye]

I agree completely with vicupstate. build the stadium where it can easily survive, rather than a location where you must do more work to keep it alive. I believe that all of the pieces areeither already set, or are being set in place for the true success of a ballpark in the West End district of Greenville. On top of that, you've got a great part of history, which relates to the game, right in that exact location in downtown. Shoeless Joe Jackson grew up only a couple of blocks down the road, and no baseball player has ever had a higher profile in Greenville than he.

[goodbye]

Forgive my typing errors in the last post...

Also, downtown Greenville is the epicenter of both business and tourism in the upstate, so it only makes sense that anything requiring an audience to support it for survival, should have less trouble in the long run if it is located there.

[Greenville]

Someone else must've voted to bring this to the top, so I voted too.

P.S. I voted for the West End.

[goodbye]

I think you have chosen well, Greenville.

[RestedTraveler]

Someone else must've voted to bring this to the top, so I voted too.

P.S. I voted for the West End.

Ditto!

[gs3]

Why is this thread up at the front? Has somebody been in a cave?