Thursday, July 20, 2000
Ballpark cost cut by $17M
Reds agree to pay $6.5 million more
By Andrea Tortora
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A smaller stadium club, less expensive materials and an agreement by the Reds to assume an additional $6.7 million in costs helped knock $17 million off the price for the new Great American Ball Park.
The good news: a total ballpark budget of $280 million, and fans still get 42,500 seats equipped with cup holders.
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CUTTING COSTS
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When fans enter Great American Ball Park for the first time on Opening Day 2003, they likely won't notice the common steel connections, the cheaper glazings on wall surfaces or the lack of urethane floor coatings. What they might notice are missing convenience items and the reuse of equipment from Cinergy Field among the following attempts to cut costs:
• Combine two-level stadium club into one: $780,000.
• Cut toilet seat cover dispensers: $6,965.
• Cut suite toilet room purse shelves: $83,500.
• Drop 25 toilets in press area: $25,000.
• Reduce the number of escalators in the Hall of Fame: $175,000.
• Cut bullet-resistant glass at ticket window storefront: $23,500.
• Change wood floor in satellite team store to sheet vinyl flooring: $10,000.
• Reuse portable concession carts from Cinergy: $90,000.
• Reuse bases, plates, pitching machine, backstops and tarps: $52,000.
• Cut one elevator in administration building: $158,000.
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Project engineers announced the budget changes Wednesday in a presentation to Hamilton County commissioners. They also presented a letter from John Allen, Reds chief operating officer, accepting the budget adjustments.
The new budget is down from the $297 million budget proposed in June.
The cost-saving changes won't be noticeable to fans, said project manager Arnie Rosenberg, with Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc.
“The reason people go to a baseball stadium is to see good baseball,” Mr. Rosenberg said, “not to look at the tile on the floor.”
The reductions came from a process called “value engineering.”
Planners looked at 178 ways to provide the same features at less cost. Of those suggestions, 70 were accepted, for a total savings of just over $7 million. Other cost savings came from reusing some items from Cinergy Field and dropping some proposed features in the new park.
Through the same proc ess, the Reds decided to ante up roughly $6.7 million for items they will purchase on their own.
The team will spend $4 million for food service equipment; $2 million for office furniture; $500,000 for bronze sculptures in the entrance plaza called Crosley Terrace; and $160,000 for paper towel and soap dispensers.
Planners also looked at what was missing from the new Reds ballpark and made additions that increase the park's long-term viability. An enclosed picnic area ($350,000) and mosaics at two locations in the terrace level concourse ($200,000) “added cost but brought more value,” Mr. Rosenberg said.
Commissioners will review the new budget and accept the changes no later than July 31, Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said.
The $280 million budget breaks down into $204 million for construction; $53 million for soft costs; and $22 million in contin gency funds. The Reds have agreed to pay any cost overruns above the $280 million budgeted.
The ballpark complex will cost an estimated $330 million when other costs, such as tearing down Cinergy Field, are added.
Commissioner John Dowlin said the price tag is appropriate.
“Some people say we are building the stadium on the cheap to disadvantage the Reds,” Mr. Dowlin said. “The Reds have agreed to this cost and design and seating capacity.”
The ballpark is scheduled to open in April 2003. Construction will begin this October, with parts of Cinergy Field being demolished in August.
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Ballpark cost cut by $17M
