Wayne County has three of the four Detroit major league sports teams. Oakland County has one.
Macomb has none and isn't likely to get one soon. Still, the county is throwing its hat into the sports ring in what's seen as a highly-ambitious project.
Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and Utica Mayor Jackie Noonan announced Monday plans for construction of an $8 million-$10 million, 2,500-seat minor league baseball park in Utica that will host a newly formed local league as early as next year, Chad Selweski of the Macomb Daily reports.
The stadium will be on the outskirts of Utica on land just off of Moscone Drive, north of Auburn Road. The second phase of the project will include a mixed-use condominium and retail project..
"This ballpark is a welcomed development in Macomb County,” Macomb County Executive Mark A.
Hackel said in a statement in a press release. “This minor league stadium is a great economic advantage for the city of Utica. It is also a major league quality-of-life opportunity for the region.”
The paper reports that the plans for the creation of a local, three-team league that will play 48 games a year. A fourth team will be added in the future, the paper reported.
“In my 27 years as mayor, lots of ideas have crossed my desk regarding this land. But this one is incomparable to anything that has come along," said Mayor Noonan, according to the paper.
"We are thrilled that General Sports selected Utica for this exciting project,” Noonan said in a press release. “Our businesses will surely be positively impacted by the visitors that it will attract. We have worked for decades to get our downtown to a vibrant state and now the work of our office and the Downtown
Development Authority is coming to fruition. We are enormously proud and excited."
The paper writes:
Rochester-based General Sports & Entertainment hopes to quickly get to work on the stadium and an accompanying 500-space parking deck at an estimated cost of $8 million to $10 million. The company, with some help from tax revenues generated by the business community’s Downtown Development Authority, will pay for all expenses. The Auburn Road land, valued at $600,000 and currently under control of the DDA after a tax foreclosure, will be donated to General Sports.
"The Macomb County Department of Planning & Economic Development Department has been very supportive and actively involved since the ballparks inception,” Stephen Cassin, director of the Macomb County Department of Planning & Economic Development, said in the press release. “Besides the obvious economic development advantages such as job creation, increased property values and increased consumer spending, the new baseball stadium will further enhance the city of Utica as a great destination point for families and people of all ages." -- Allan Lengel
