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Cards: Ballpark Village may appear in ’11

The perils of tying commercial development to a ballpark project: Cards officials now say Ballpark Village construction may begin in 2011, but it's not a given.

The perils of tying commercial development to a ballpark project: Cards officials now say Ballpark Village construction may begin in 2011, but it's not a given.

The issue: The Cards and development partner Cordish Cos. still have not arranged financing for the multiuse project, which was pitched as part of the original Busch Stadium construction but delayed because of financial issues. The development, slated for the site of the previous Busch Stadium, would contain the Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum, studios for a Cards-owned radio station, retail and office space.

Every once in a while the Cards front office says they're working hard on making the project a reality. Like yesterday, when Bill DeWitt had this to say to a reporter from KMOX:

"Moving shovels in 2011 wouldn't be out of the question," DeWitt said, "but I want to make sure it's clear that there's some economic issues outside of our control that need to break our way to get started."

The project isn't totally dead, but we hear the principals here are looking to put as little of their own money into the project as they can while retaining control. Those situations are difficult in today's economy. So we're not especially optimistic about any shovels on the site next year, either.

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