West Villages: Sarasota Herald-Tribune says, "Final pieces falling into place for Atlanta Braves spring training."

Sarasota Herald-Tribune article By Zach Murdock, Staff Writer

Posted Aug 5, 2017 at 12:00 PM
Updated Aug 5, 2017 at 5:05 PM
 
After months of wrangling agreements and funding, local officials are working on the final, formal development agreement

NORTH PORT — The final pieces of the plan to bring the Atlanta Braves to a new spring training complex in North Port are expected to fall into place over the next few weeks.

After months of wrangling agreements and funding, local officials are working on the final, formal development agreement for the public-private project and waiting on approval of a $20 million state stadium grant to round out the full $75 to $80 million project.

Then it will become a matter of turning a pasture into a professional baseball stadium and Major League training campus in less than 18 months — just in time for spring training in February 2019.

“There’s still a ways to go,” said Sarasota County Economic Development Director Jeff Maultsby, who has helped lead negotiations with the team for more than two years.

August and September mark an important turning point for the project. For the past 18 months, Maultsby and leaders from North Port and the West Villages commercial and residential development have negotiated with team executives about building the training campus near U.S. 41 and River Road in the West Villages.

Now the West Villages only waits for word back on its application for a $20 million spring training stadium through the Florida Sports Foundation to complete the financing package for the project. Local and foundation leaders have been in discussions about the grant since before negotiations were even public in early 2016, but there is no deadline on when the state must respond to the application made in mid-June.

“We’re just waiting on them to complete their review, do their due diligence on the application from the West Villages,” Maultsby said. “As soon as they’ve got their decision, they’ll let us know ... that will be the final piece of funding and of this capital stack, if you will.”

See the original article at http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20170805/final-pieces-falling-into-place-for-atlanta-braves-spring-training

Check out information about the surrounding communities at westvillageshome.com