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Fort Wayne rebuffs effort to renegotiate TinCaps ballpark lease

An effort to renegotiate the lease of Parkview Field with the Fort Wayne TinCaps failed to pass the City Council yesterday, as city officials are more inclined to let the development process run its course in a bad economy.
An effort to renegotiate the lease of Parkview Field with the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Low Class A; Midwest League) failed to pass the City Council yesterday, as city officials are more inclined to let the development process run its course in a bad economy.

The issue: when the ballpark deal was approved by the city, it was predicated on development in the general Harrison Square area. And while the ballpark has opened to wide acclaim — we’ve been, and we’ll be writing about the ballpark tomorrow — not all the associated development is in place. Given the general state of the economy, the fact that a $14.5 condo project is on hold isn’t a surprise, but that’s the only piece of the development stalled, as a parking ramp is done and a new hotel will begin construction in June.

The theory was that if the city was missing out on property-tax revenue from the condo project, the city should be receiving more in rent from the ballpark. That notion was struck down by the rest of the City Council, who voted to give Hardball Capital more time to work on the condo project.

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