Kansas City architect to study fate of McCoy Stadium
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Three key players from the Pawtucket Red Sox, the City of Pawtucket and the State of Rhode Island sat shoulder-to-shoulder Monday afternoon, alongside a newcomer — Kansas City, Mo.-based architect Jonathan O'Neil Cole, co-founder of Pendulum Studio II LLC, the firm all three entities have hired to study the fate of McCoy Stadium and surrounding land.
PawSox Chairman Larry Lucchino, Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien and Rhode Island Department of Administration Director Michael DiBiase acknowledged they couldn't have envisioned such a meeting in early 2015. At the time, Lucchino and the rest of a new ownership group for the Triple-A baseball team announced the PawSox would leave its then-73-year-old stadium and move to a new ballpark they'd build in Providence.
Now the PawSox, the state and the City of Pawtucket are back at the drawing board together, after the team failed in 2015 to convince state leaders, fans and Providence officials that the team needed a new stadium and up to $150 million in taxpayer assistance over 30 years.
As he has done before, Lucchino insisted Monday that it's premature to say whether it's feasible for the team to stay at McCoy beyond the terms of its lease, through the baseball season of 2020. McCoy needs a lot of work, he said, including fixing leaky roofs and eroded pipes in the kitchen and adding "certain amenities so that a ballpark appeals more to its fan base these days than it might have 75 years ago." He has no "preconceived notions," Lucchino said.
However, Grebien added, it's unlikely the parties would pay for such a study if they didn't hope they'd discover viable options for the PawSox to stay put. The city, state and the PawSox will equally share the $105,000 cost of the study, plus expenses that include travel costs for Pendulum.
DiBiase added: "The Pawtucket Red Sox are an important business, important player. We want them to be successful ... We want to be partners in this process and help make them successful."
The city owns the stadium and leases it to the state, which subleases to the team — that's why all three are determining its future.
Pendulum will also examine options for developing land around McCoy, which covers 6 acres. The surrounding land includes nearly 22 city-owned acres, about 40 privately owned acres and nearly 10 acres of pavement, according to an earlier analysis for the city.
Some minor-league stadiums have flourished where baseball owners have invested in restaurants and office space around a stadium, as Lucchino observed last year when he led a trip to Durham, North Carolina.
One key difference is that the Durham Bulls' owners invested in land around their stadium. Neither Lucchino, nor the late James J. Skeffington — who was co-principal owner of the minor-league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox — ever talked about such investment in Providence. Asked Monday whether the ownership team is considering investing around McCoy, Lucchino said: "Our focus has been on the ballpark itself and not on ancillary development."
But Lucchino continued, "There's always a concern on our part that it be a win-win proposition, that there be civic benefits that flow to the city and the state, as well as private benefits that flow to the team and its fan base, so we're looking to that. So if some kind of ancillary development can be part of that, we would be open to it."
Who submitted bids to study McCoy?
Pendulum Studio II LLC, of Kansas City, Missouri: Lead applicant was owner and co-founder Jonathan O'Neil Cole, an architect who has directed design work for more than 20 minor-league ballparks. Although Cole worked previously for the firm Populous, which has a long history of working on projects with PawSox Chairman Larry Lucchino, the two met this summer during an interview for the McCoy project, Lucchino said Monday. As a younger architect, Cole had worked on a final punch list for Lucchino's Petco Park stadium project for the San Diego Padres, which opened in 2004, but the two said Monday they did not meet then.
Generator Studio LLC, of Kansas City, Missouri: Lead applicant was Vice President Paul Mitchell.
Populous Architects PC, of Kansas City, Missouri: Lead applicant was senior architect/principal in charge David Bower. Populous was one of two firms that created conceptual designs last year for the stadium the PawSox hoped to build in Providence. Also, the firm conducted the study of McCoy Stadium that the late principal owner of the team, James J. Skeffington, said last year showed McCoy needed $65 million in renovations.
Leshinsky Finance LLC, of Boston, New York and Providence: Lead applicant was president Michael Leshinsky. The consulting firm was disqualified from the selection process because it did not meet criteria in the request for proposals that firms needed "significant experience designing, constructing and/or renovating professional sports facilities." Leshinsky had conducted a feasibility analysis for Pawtucket, at the city's request.
S/L/A/M Collaborative had been read out as one of the bidders when the bids were opened in July. But S/L/A/M was one of Pendulum's listed subcontractors for the project.
—kbramson@providencejournal.com
(401) 277-7470
On Twitter @JournalKate
