Jason Freier is Chairman and CEO of Hardball Capital in Atlanta. Hardball Capital has owned the Savannah Sand Gnats baseball team since 2008. The Sand Gnats are a Class “A” Minor League team in the New York Mets farm system. Hardball also owns Minor League teams in Fort Wayne, Ind., and is currently building a stadium in Columbia, S.C. to bring a Minor League team to that city.

All of these Minor League teams are affiliated with Major League Baseball teams. Teams are members of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues – known to the public as Minor League Baseball – and serves as the farm system for all Major League Baseball teams. These are not to be confused with independent minor league teams that have no connection to Major League Baseball.

Freier said conversations with the City about building a new stadium complex for the Sand Gnats began in 2009. “We’d like to build a new multiuse outdoor venue that would be an anchor for a larger mixed-use development,” he said. In August 2010, Freier led a delegation from the City and other interested entities to Fort Wayne, Ind., to get a taste of what he was proposing for Savannah. A second trip to Fort Wayne was conducted in June 2012, consisting of some local business leaders, eight of the nine Council members, and a good number of City staff, according to Freier.

Then, in December of last year, Freier came back to Savannah and made a detailed presentation to City Council. In his presentation, Freier said he felt that the site known as Savannah River Landing would be most preferable; however, he and his company were open to other site possibilities.

Savannah River Landing, once intended for a luxury, 54-acre, $800 million mega-development, sits just east of the Savannah Riverfront Marriott near where of E. Bay Street becomes General McIntosh Boulevard, and Randolph Street. “We think that would be an ideal site,” said Freier. “We’re not rooted to that site and that site only, but we do think that would be an ideal site for a variety of reasons. It’s in a good location for the facility to function well and serve both the tourists and the locals. We’re also thinking in terms of what kind of impact a facility like this can make. The Savannah River Landing site is ripe for development.”

The site is in a Tax Allocation District, which means the City keeps 100 percent of the tax revenue and is not required to share it with the County or any other public entity. Georgia State law provides important tools that enable local governments to do projects that spawn public/private partnerships and spur economic growth. Tax Allocation Districts (TADs) are one of the tools available to support economic development ventures in Georgia cities.

Hardball Capital is considering doing something in Savannah similar to what they’ve been doing in Ft. Wayne, Ind., and what they are currently launching in Columbia, S.C., which is to form a partnership with the City to build a new, multiuse outdoor venue that can be an anchor for a larger mixed-use development. All of these parks require a public/private partnership with their respective cities.

Hardball Capital’s Ft. Wayne stadium, Parkview Field, is home to the Fort Wayne TinCaps, a Class “A” Minor League team in the San Diego Padres farm system and owned by Hardball. Parkview is expected to draw about 560,000 people for various organized events, and more than that, if one considers that the Ft. Wayne stadium is open as a public park when not in use. “We think if you brought over a half-million people a year to the Landing site it would spur a lot of development there in a very short period of time, similar to what we’ve seen in other cities that have constructed these sorts of venues,” said Freier.

Freier said the plan would be to take just a small portion of the Savannah River Landing site, and not to build a venue with a huge parking lot around it that would preclude development of that space. He said they would leave 70 to 80 percent of Savannah River Landing to taxable development such has retail, housing, offices, hotels, etc.

“Ballparks like these serve as great catalysts for development,” said Freier. “In the six years since it opened, the one we have in Ft. Wayne has spawned over $200 million in development that is either completed or currently underway.” The ballpark in Durham, N.C., for the Class “AAA” Durham Bulls (the subject of the Orion Pictures move Bull Durham, featuring an all-star cast headlined by Kevin Costner), is the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. It is not connected with Hardball Capital, but it serves as another outstanding example of how these Minor League parks spawn additional development in a big way. The Durham Bulls Athletic Park has been around about 19 years. Freier said Durham Mayor Bill Bell said that the presence of the Bulls and the park has drawn over $1 billion in local development. Durham Bulls are a farm team of the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Toronto-based PSP (Public Sector Pension) Investments, which manages the pension fund of Canada's public service employees, is the majority owner of Savannah River Landing. “We have not had conversations with PSP directly,” said Freier. He said they have spoken previously to PSP’s representative, the Tampa-based asset management company, Morrison Grove Capital Advisors, which manages that particular investment. However, unless and until City Council ultimately votes to approve the construction of the new stadium as a public/private partnership, there is really nothing to talk about.

“[Freier] gave a pretty extensive proposal to the City Council,” said Brett Bell, spokesman for the City of Savannah. “Our response to that was to contract for a feasibility study, and that’s going on right now.” The Chicago-based C.H. Johnson Consulting is conducting the study at a cost to the City of $55,000. The scope of the study takes in several possible sites, including the Savannah River Landing, for a new, multipurpose stadium and home for the Sand Gnats, according to Bell. Bell also said the completed study is expected to go before Council near the end of September or early October of this year.

“We’re offering a long-term commitment,” said Freier. “In other words, we would be making a long-term commitment to keep the team there and to support the city and the facility, and we would need the same kind of commitment from the city.”

Renovation of Grayson is not an option, according to Bell. “The owners of the Sand Gnats have been very clear,” said Bell. “If we don’t build a new stadium, they’re going to pick up the team and move it elsewhere.”

“Grayson Stadium is an outdated venue,” said Freier. “It is one of the oldest operating venues in the country where professional baseball is still played.” Originally named Municipal Stadium and now dubbed “Historic” Grayson Stadium, the beloved old ball yard has a seating capacity of 4,000. It is located at Savannah’s Daffin Park where construction was completed on it in April of 1926. Municipal Stadium was renovated in 1941 after being devastated by a hurricane the previous year. Spanish-American War General William L. Grayson spearheaded the fund drive that raised the $150,000 in renovation costs. When the renovations were completed, the stadium was renamed for him. It has been home to five different Minor League teams since it first opened and, in 1996, became home field for its sixth team, the Savannah Sand Gnats.

Freier explained that the age of Grayson Stadium poses a host of operational challenges. “Keeping Grayson operational, from the City’s perspective, is far more expensive than, quite frankly, it’s worth at this point,” he said. “The more wear-and-tear we put on Grayson, the more difficult it becomes to maintain and operate it. The more successful we are each year the more wear-and-tear there is on it.”

The Sand Gnats have had increasing success over the years since Hardball Capital acquired the team, and have clearly outgrown the place. The crowds now are sometimes greater than the venue’s seating, concession and restroom capacities. “There have been several games this year where we have had to turn fans away,” said Freier. “Baseball has been in Savannah for 100-plus years. It’s a great tradition there and Savannah is a great baseball town,” he said. “But we’re not able to offer the fans the kind of experience we’d like to offer there and in the long term, it will become more and more difficult.”

So, if the City Council votes later this year to build a new stadium, what happens to Grayson? The answer to that question has not yet been determined, according to Bell. In all likelihood, Grayson would remain the jewel of Daffin Park. Bell said it would probably be utilized for amateur and scholastic sports.

About Savannah River Landing

The A. F. Ambling Company began development of Savannah River Landing in early 2006. The lush, new 54-acre development was five years in the planning. Its original owner was ALR Oglethorpe LLC. The development was touted as the first extension of downtown Savannah in more than 150 years. It would consist of commercial, residential, and public spaces, including six new squares, reminiscent of the six original squares laid out by Savannah’s founder, Gen. James Oglethorpe, in 1733.

The plan for Savannah River Landing included two hotels, luxury riverfront estates, condominiums, lofts, Savannah townhomes, luxury retail, dining and premium office space. There were to be 11 mid-rise buildings with 350,000 total square feet of office and retail space, condos and lofts above street-level, shops and restaurants, a luxury hotel and a boutique hotel. Residential space was planned for 850 units totaling 1.6 million square feet.

Ambling invested at least $80 million in preparing the site before the recession halted work in mid-2008. Streets, sewers, water service, drainage and other infrastructure were mostly completed. However, the economic downturn put the developer, Ambling Land & Resort, an affiliate of A. F. Ambling, out of business.