With a vote looming in the next several weeks, at least some Hamilton County commissioners and Chattanooga City Council members feel better about the plans to plug a funding gap for the new Lookouts minor league baseball stadium, which has seen its price tag jump to as much as $129 million.
There are, however, still questions, and a number elected leaders who did not respond to requests for comment Friday. Members of the two panels heard a presentation from the developers and finance team at the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce’s offices Thursday, which marked their first opportunity in a public forum to hear an update on the project.
“I think on a long enough time horizon the project is going to work,” Commissioner Lee Helton, R-East Brainerd, said in a phone call. “It’s just a matter of how much money are we going to have to front as the public until this thing fully comes online.”
(READ MORE: Hamilton County, Chattanooga leaders hear the pitch for more expensive Lookouts stadium)
The owner of the team, Hardball Capital, and owner of the stadium land, Perimeter Properties, have offered to cover the recent growth in the price tag for the stadium with a $40 million loan, which would be paid back using new property tax revenue generated in a 470-acre special tax district around the stadium. They would borrow that money from a consortium of banks.