Accountability
The city expects to have results back within weeks on a consultant study looking at whether Wahoo Stadium could be retrofitted to host soccer, Mayor D.C. Reeves said Wednesday, laying out his financial reasoning for exploring the idea in detail.
The timeline: The city hired LaBella, a firm Reeves said has handled full new constructions and retrofits for this exact purpose, to study the stadium’s feasibility for soccer along with broader improvements. LaBella visited the site around August 12 and Reeves estimated an eight-week turnaround, putting results back around October.
- What the study covers: Reeves described it as a general feasibility review, with renderings of what improvements might look like and a rough cost estimate. He cautioned, “This is very early, and it might be a rough cost estimate.”
“We can solve a problem of a 16-year-old aging stadium that already is going to need some TLC. We can solve a problem of not having to reinvent the wheel with a 50, 60, $70 million potential soccer stadium, and get it done for much less.”
- Why now: Reeves said the idea grew out of simply looking at construction costs for new sports facilities elsewhere, and weighing that against the city’s other major venue priority right now, the Pensacola Bay Center overhaul. He said it would be “shortsighted” to assume there will be significant bed-tax dollars available for a new soccer stadium on top of that.
The financing angle: Rather than relying on CRA bond dollars or bed-tax revenue, Reeves floated using leverageable city-owned property around the stadium, through ground rent, private development, or generated property tax, to help offset renovation costs. He pointed to newer, mixed-use models around minor and major league ballparks (he cited the Atlanta Braves) that pair a venue with a surrounding entertainment district, rather than a stadium alone.
- Next steps: Reeves said once the study comes back, the city will “roll that out and listen to the community” before deciding whether to move forward. “If we feel like it isn’t [something of value], then we’ll pivot and do something else.”