Thursday, October 16, 2008

Somerville Stadium Gaining Traction?

This mornings Boston Globe website (www.boston.com) ran a new story about the potential new stadium which has been rumored in Somerville:

"They make no bones about the fact that they want to be in the urban core, which is a smart move on their part, and we're excited about it," Joseph A. Curtatone, Somerville's mayor, said.

While this potential project is still very much in its infancy, there seems to be a bit of momentum towards the potential Revolution stadium being built in Somerville. Curtatone seems encouraged, and even inviting in his comments about a potential stadium, as Somerville goes through a large redevelopment project.

The article points out one of the possible problems with the stadium location would be the extention of Bostons Green-Line Train that is being extended through that area. However:

That "conceptual possibility" of a stadium above a railyard has emerged from the ongoing study funded by the Krafts and led by planners Greenberg/CBT Architects, with input from pro bono consultants who have helped Somerville with sustainable, transit-oriented planning, such as former state development secretary Douglas I. Foy, city officials said.

There have been many stadiums around the country (and world) which have incorporated their buildings with local public transportation stations. One such building is only a few miles away. The TD Banknorth Garden is built on top of Boston's North Station.

Some Somerville city officials seem worried that the rail station may curtail the development of the area around it. However, a local attraction (like a stadium) may be exactly what the project needs to fullfill both the requirments of improving infrastructure, and at the same time help redevelopment of businesses.

This news is also met with a bit of skepticismas fears over the economy as whole continue to take hold. As we all know the credit markets have been all but frozen for a while now, and it may be very hard for a project such as a stadium, to secure proper financing. This article in the Wall Street Journal points out how sports may be effected in the near future. A potential Somerville stadium is not mentioned in the article, but it may shed some light onto the goings on in the sports business world in trying to get stadium projects moving. This could be a potential problem for the Revolution in trying to build a new stadium any time soon.

Kraft has already built a brand new stadium facility in Massachusetts (Gillette Stadium, the Revs current home). He is also in the middle of developing the area around the stadium in Foxboro, known as Patriot Place. The $350 million plus complex is still in the works, and seems to be Kraft's primary area of focus. With the world wide credit crunch, it seems a bit naive to assume that Kraft Sports Group could garner the support from creditors that so many developers are having a hard time doing at this time.

We are constantly digging for information about this story, and hope to bring you an in depth report of our own, which we have been trying to nail information about down.

Glory Glory Revolution

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Come on you REVS!!!!! Bring us a new stadium in the city!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Please let this be true