With two variations surfacing regarding ''the wedge,'' Hamilton County Commission President Bob Bedinghaus said Tuesday a Reds ballpark can squeeze between Cinergy Field and Riverfront Coliseum.
''That's already been determined. We know it can work,'' said Mr. Bedinghaus, who prefers to call the site ''Baseball on Main.''
''Whether it ultimately meets the test of something the county and the team can agree on is something that won't be played out in the newspapers. We're months away from having a final decision on baseball, but it's moving in the right direction.''
On Tuesday, Reds President and CEO Marge Schott said ''We don't know that
much about it. It seems kind of tight. They don't know if the games at the old (stadium) would be disrupted. They seem to keep coming up with new (sites). We just don't know that much about it.''
The Enquirer has obtained from HOK Inc. architects the rough sketches that have reportedly energized the baseball team's efforts at securing a spot on the river.
Labeled as ''quite preliminary,'' the drawings were prepared by HOK, the county's consultants, for last week's meeting with the Reds and county representatives at their Kansas City. Mo., offices.
The drawing shows:
- Stadium construction beginning without the massive renovation of Fort Washington Way, speeding up the timetable by a few years that could put the Reds in the new park for the 2001 season.
- The front of the Coliseum and the outfield fence separated by a street, Broadway.
- The bowl of the current baseball field being invaded to make room for construction of the new field, which would take away some seats from the old Cinergy. But HOK is not sure when, how many, or even whether those seats have to be eliminated.
A slightly different version of the idea was promoted Tuesday by John Schneider, who touted his Baseball on Main site as the solution to keep the Reds on the riverfront.
John Schneider's vision for Baseball on Main.
| ZOOM |
|
Mr. Schneider, chairman of Downtown Cincinnati Inc.'s (DCI) transportation committee, said the reconstruction of Fort Washington Way is Cincinnati's best chance at changing the face of the city and using the riverfront as the city's gateway.
A major difference between Mr. Schneider's plan and the one HOK sketched is that the HOK plan would be about 100 feet farther south, meaning Fort Washington Way would not be involved.
''I don't see these two ideas as competing,'' Mr. Bedinghaus said. ''There seems to be some flexibility. It's like moving the Bengals another block. Moving it a little further south. Maybe you can move it a little to the east or west.
''If it's a dime or a dollar impinging on Cinergy Field itself, maybe you pull it a little bit back and make the final phase of construction (into the bowl) a little more. It's all preliminary.''
Broadway Commons supporters insisted Tuesday there are too many downsides to Baseball on Main.
''Fans would have no way of getting to the (old) stadium from the east. The only access would be from the north and west and way inconvenient,'' county Commissioner John Dowlin said. ''Plus, if you lose Cinergy Field, you lose any hope of getting the Olympics.''
Jim Tarbell, spearheading the Broadway movement, said Baseball on Main is the best thing that has happened to his plan.
''The new proposal makes Broadway Commons look like a gift from the Almighty,'' Mr. Tarbell said. ''It completely refutes the integrity of the professional consultants hired by the county. No official planning body has endorsed it. It essentially suggests we took $250,000 (paid to Urban Design Associates) and threw it out the window.''
But Mr. Bedinghaus said the county won't turn to UDA to study the site more in-depth, leaving it to HOK.
''(UDA) virtually named (the Wedge) in their Cincinnati Nameplate,'' Mr. Bedinghaus said. ''UDA's not intended to fill the need of consultants when it comes to construction decisions. That's what HOK is for.''
City officials have not yet studied in great detail the Broadway Commons or the Baseball on Main sites, but neither of the sites or their variations appears to be knocked out of the running because of traffic concerns, said Steve Bailey, city traffic engineer.
''We haven't found any of them to be so terrible that they would be fatally flawed,'' Mr. Bailey said.
Cincinnati architect Michael Schuster, a longtime Reds supporter who closes his downtown firm each Opening Day so he and his employees can go to the game, said he thinks a Baseball on Main riverfront site could be every bit as ''romantic'' as the Broadway Commons option. Mr. Schuster made the site presentation with Mr. Schneider.
Mr. Schneider, whose First Valley Corp. owns and manages real estate including downtown property, seemed frustrated by what he said were attempts by proponents of Broadway Commons to make his plan seem unworkable.
''When we put a baseball park between Cinergy and the Coliseum, it's a shoehorn approach,''' Mr. Schneider said. ''When they squeeze a park between Reading Road and the jail, it's called brilliant urban planning.''
Mr. Schuster acknowledged some seats in Cinergy Field would have to be moved during phases of the new ballpark's construction under the Baseball on Main plan. But any plan will have conflict to reach the best solution, he said.
Hamilton County Administrator David Krings said HOK has given the county cost estimates on various sites, including Broadway Commons and variations of Baseball on Main. But he declined to release those, saying they were too preliminary at this point.
Recent stories
WEDGE SITE GETS BOOST FROM COUNTY Feb. 22, 1997
REDS, COUNTY RESUME STADIUM TALKS Feb. 19, 1997
ONLY CRIME IS NOT CONSIDERING BROADWAY Feb. 18, 1997
RIVER SITE OR LAWSUIT Feb. 15, 1997
REDS ARE READY TO PLAY HARDBALL Feb. 15, 1997
SCHOTT THREATENS TO MOVE IF REDS AREN'T ON RIVER Feb. 14, 1997
