There are still miles to go before New York’s baseball teams get new stadiums — due to the byzantineries of state and city politics, the just-granted approval of the Empire State Development Company is just a first step, and neither stadium will be built until it is signed-off on by a board consisting of ex-players who served with both the Yankees and Mets. Daryl Boston’s swing vote has never been more crucial.
Anyway, provided the two clubs can get D-Bos, Claudell Washington, David Cone, Rick Cerone and Rey Sanchez to agree on the stadiums’ aesthetics and utility, here’s what will happen.
The Yankees are planning to build an $800 million stadium for the 2009 season next to Yankee Stadium, their 82-year-old landmark home in the Bronx.
The cost of the project is roughly $1.2 billion, but the stadium itself will be financed by tax-exempt and taxable bonds issued by the city’s Industrial Development Agency.
The Mets got a preliminary thumbs-up on a new stadium, too:
The Yankees cross-town rivals, the New York Mets, are also preparing to start work on a $600 million stadium near their current home at Shea Stadium in Queens.
The $444 million stadium will be financed by tax-exempt and taxable bonds to be issued by the city’s IDA, the ESDC said.
The city will contribute $85 million in 2006 capital budget funds and $4.7 million in additional reserves and the ESDC will contribute $70 million toward infrastructure improvements.
Hey, got to spend all that money we didn’t spend on the Olympics somewhere, right? Jason Fry, of Faith and Fear in Flushing, has some ideas on what Shea 2.0/Duane Reade Park at Flushing Meadows should include.