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Sarasota's Payne Park Considered For Red Sox

Sarasot Herald-Tribune file photo

Payne Park is the newest site being considered for a possible baseball stadium as local officials continue efforts to get the Red Sox to move their spring training operations.

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By ROGER DROUIN

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: August 15, 2008

SARASOTA - Payne Park is the newest site being considered for a possible baseball stadium as local officials continue efforts to get the Red Sox to move their spring training operations here.

The park is now at least the fourth site local officials have considered in their quest to woo the world champion team from Fort Myers.

"That is the primary site right now," City Manager Robert Bartolotta said about the 29-acre park. "I like the idea of having a central park and baseball in one place and people being able to walk to downtown. Rather than just a stadium for spring training, we can revitalize that part of downtown."

Bartolotta and other local officials were quietly working to buy up 1.2 acres near Payne Park at the same time plans for another potential stadium site -- the fairgrounds on Fruitville Road -- were falling apart.

The $4.8 million purchase of land near the park, which local officials say they expect to close on in September, includes a strip club, a vacant tire store and other businesses.

The City Commission will vote on the proposed purchase Monday and the County Commission will vote on it Aug. 26.

"Regardless of whatever happens with baseball, this property was purchased at a great price and we are getting an adult businesses offline and a tire shop that has been closed," City Commissioner Kelly Kirschner said.

A five-acre portion of the park is big enough for the 10,000-seat stadium local officials hope to build for the Red Sox, but too small for the practice fields the team says it needs. That means the team would practice at existing fields about a mile away at Ed Smith Stadium.

Payne Park, which recently underwent a $9 million renovation, is popular among residents for its jogging paths, tennis courts and skate park.

Mike Dee, chief operating officer for the Red Sox, said the latest plan shows that Sarasota is serious about trying to bring the team here.

The team trained in Sarasota from 1933 to 1942 and then after the war from 1946 to 1958. It has trained in Fort Myers, 80 miles to the south of Sarasota, for the past 15 springs.

"We appreciate and are encouraged by the ongoing effort of both the elected officials and community leaders to collaborate on a plan that addresses our criteria -- to provide the ultimate spring training experience for our players and for our fans," Dee wrote in an e-mail to Red Sox supporters.

City and county officials were quick to extol the virtues of the Payne Park site -- including its proximity to downtown restaurants, shops and parking garages. They also said they plan to include the public in the planning process before deciding where at Payne Park to build the stadium.

"We don't want anyone to panic," Bartolotta said.

County Commissioner Joe Barbetta said that if the stadium is built in the northwest corner, new tennis courts will be built elsewhere in the park.

"We do not want to impact the park -- that is a community asset," Barbetta said. "Initially there might be some opposition if the public thinks we are taking away from the park. This is strictly adjacent to and complementing the park."

The negotiations for property near the park were kept top-secret because if word got out that local governments were buying the property the sellers would have likely demanded a higher selling price, Bartolotta said.

For the past month a third party working on behalf of the county and city was negotiating with three property owners about selling their land.

The third party, whom Bartolotta declined to name, secured an option this week and the property will be turned over to the city and county next month.

"As of now the owners don't even know this was a government deal," Bartolotta said.

Another unnamed person put up $150,000 for a down payment on the property, he said.

Supporters of the effort to bring the Red Sox to town said they are delighted with new plans.

Elsie Souza, leader of the group Citizens for Sox, wrote an e-mail to supporters.

"Well it is here, the news we have all been waiting for," she wrote. "The location for the Red Sox Training Facility at Payne Park will take us back to the roots of baseball in our city and county, to the Field of Dreams where Ted Williams walked."

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