Saints seek new St. Paul ballpark site

A new possibility has popped up in the search for a new ballpark for the St. Paul Saints independent baseball team.

It's part of a chunk of land on the West End once envisioned as the city's largest residential development.

Discussions about that location, as well as a previously considered site in Lowertown, have picked up recently. The Saints say they have outgrown Midway Stadium but want to stay in St. Paul. A new deal has yet to be completed and community input is still being sought.

"It's very, very, very preliminary," said Saints General Manager Derek Sharrer.

The St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce and other downtown business folks have been pushing the idea of a ballpark on part of the former Diamond Products land near the downtown Farmer's Market. It was recently decided that one of the vacant buildings there will house a Central Corridor maintenance facility.

The site would be "cozy," said Susan Kimberly, vice president of economic development for the chamber, but a great way to liven up downtown.

"The first thing to do is talk to the neighborhoods," she said.

The site is between W. 7th Street and the Mississippi River at Otto Avenue, about 3 miles southwest of downtown.

At one time, plans for the 65-acre Victoria Park called for 850 housing units, which would have been the city's largest residential project. But the real estate market tanked and much of the land remains undeveloped.

The city has been trying to get control of the 37 acres that once housed oil tanks. ExxonMobil, which owns the land, doesn't want to sell if housing would be built on it. The company is concerned about future liability for the contaminated land.

The city tried to condemn the property, and the parties have been in and out of court over the last several years.

Mayor Chris Coleman's spokesman, Bob Hume, said -- without endorsing one site over the other -- that the administration is interested in helping the Saints find a new home.

He reiterated that talks are in very early stages, but added that a ballpark at the Victoria Park site could carry momentum from the new Mississippi Market going up there and the Sholom Home East senior living facility.

"The Lowertown site could have an incredibly positive impact downtown," Sharrer said. As for the West End location, he said: "We're newer to that, but it's a beautiful area."

The Saints are coming up on their 17th season at Midway, which was built in 1982, the same year the Metrodome opened in Minneapolis. The Saints typically draw between 6,000 and 7,000 people to their games.

The chamber sees the land that Midway currently sits on as a great location for a business to bring in new jobs. "That's a benefit of a move," Kimberly said.

A new stadium is going to cost between $25 million and $30 million, Sharrer said.

Sharrer said the team will contribute its fair share to build a new home, but it's going to need a partner, whether public or private. He acknowledged the rough economy and the city's tight finances and said the team would need to move for a private developer to make things work.

He's not expecting things to move at lightning speed, and there's no threat of the team leaving.

"We're focused on the sooner the better, and wanting to do what we've done here for the next 10 to 15 years, which is serving the community," Sharrer said.