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Boom times in Chester
Chester is about to take “one giant leap” closer to becoming a major league town.
Again.
As reported in today’s Daily Times, a deal is expected to be announced Thursday securing the final piece of a funding puzzle to build a stadium on the Chester waterfront. That in turn will be used to lure a Major League Soccer franchise to the city, providing a huge boost in the city’s effort to turn around its struggling fortunes.
It is expected the state will sign off on a deal to kick in $45 million to the $115 million project. Delaware County already is on board for a $30 million stake, in exchange for owning the stadium and ground where it will sit.
With the funding in place, the Chester site is expected to separate from the pack as the frontrunner for an MLS expansion franchise. The city proposal has been running neck and neck with St. Louis. The league has indicated it wanted to make its decision by Jan. 31.
Coincidentally, that’s when the press conference announcing the state funding for the project also is likely to take place.
The $115 million stadium project has been the brainchild of New York-based iStar Financial hotshot Jay Sugarman, along with James Nevels of the Swarthmore Group, and developers Robert Puccini and David Pollin.
It’s that last dynamic duo who hold a big chunk of the allure tied to this project. They run the Buccini/Pollin Group. Their vision is not just for a stadium, but instead using the sports palace as the centerpiece of a $400 million development of shops, retail outlets, restaurants and new housing that would become a huge new engine in the economic boom taking place on the Chester waterfront.
State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, D-159, of Chester, who voiced early opposition to the use of state funds for the project in a city that does not have a major supermarket, indicated yesterday that funding for some of those community projects he has pushed for could be included in the plan.
State Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-9, of Chester, the former mayor turned state Senate power broker, has been the moving force in Harrisburg behind the effort to raise the debt ceiling, thus clearing the way for the $45 million. Yesterday Pileggi was not talking about a possible breakthrough on the state funding issue.
But Pileggi also has been clear that it’s never been his vision to simply plop a stadium down under the Commodore Barry Bridge. Instead Pileggi is interested in the total redevelopment of the Chester waterfront.
It looks like that is about to happen.
And Chester, for years struggling to reverse decades of decline, too often the butt of jokes and ridicule, even by many in its own county, will then be called something else.
A Major League town.
Again.
As reported in today’s Daily Times, a deal is expected to be announced Thursday securing the final piece of a funding puzzle to build a stadium on the Chester waterfront. That in turn will be used to lure a Major League Soccer franchise to the city, providing a huge boost in the city’s effort to turn around its struggling fortunes.
It is expected the state will sign off on a deal to kick in $45 million to the $115 million project. Delaware County already is on board for a $30 million stake, in exchange for owning the stadium and ground where it will sit.
With the funding in place, the Chester site is expected to separate from the pack as the frontrunner for an MLS expansion franchise. The city proposal has been running neck and neck with St. Louis. The league has indicated it wanted to make its decision by Jan. 31.
Coincidentally, that’s when the press conference announcing the state funding for the project also is likely to take place.
The $115 million stadium project has been the brainchild of New York-based iStar Financial hotshot Jay Sugarman, along with James Nevels of the Swarthmore Group, and developers Robert Puccini and David Pollin.
It’s that last dynamic duo who hold a big chunk of the allure tied to this project. They run the Buccini/Pollin Group. Their vision is not just for a stadium, but instead using the sports palace as the centerpiece of a $400 million development of shops, retail outlets, restaurants and new housing that would become a huge new engine in the economic boom taking place on the Chester waterfront.
State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, D-159, of Chester, who voiced early opposition to the use of state funds for the project in a city that does not have a major supermarket, indicated yesterday that funding for some of those community projects he has pushed for could be included in the plan.
State Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-9, of Chester, the former mayor turned state Senate power broker, has been the moving force in Harrisburg behind the effort to raise the debt ceiling, thus clearing the way for the $45 million. Yesterday Pileggi was not talking about a possible breakthrough on the state funding issue.
But Pileggi also has been clear that it’s never been his vision to simply plop a stadium down under the Commodore Barry Bridge. Instead Pileggi is interested in the total redevelopment of the Chester waterfront.
It looks like that is about to happen.
And Chester, for years struggling to reverse decades of decline, too often the butt of jokes and ridicule, even by many in its own county, will then be called something else.
A Major League town.
posted by Heron's Nest at
7:37 AM
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