Alexander Bok plans to pitch Malden officials next week on a proposed $45-million ballpark on the city’s central National Grid site — but there will be plenty of questions about whether this is the best use for a prime open tract.
The 6.4-acre parcel will be open once National Grid moves its operations from the Boston suburb. The city let the site out for bid, and Bok was one of the few developers to show an interest in the site. His pitch: a $45-million ballpark that would host Atlantic League baseball and high-school games, as well as a year-round restaurant.
A public hearing on the ballpark proposal is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. in the city’s Council Chambers.
However, it’s not entirely clear whether the Atlantic League wants Malden. After our last story about Bok’s baseball plans — where he explicitly referenced the Atlantic League — we heard from more than one person connected with the league warning that Bok had no affiliation with the league and was improperly invoking the league’s name in his pursuit of the ballpark site. It may be a matter of geography, with Malden some 160 miles away from the circuit’s northernmost team, the Bridgeport Bluefish; it may be a matter of territory, as Malden is squarely in the Can-Am League footprint; it may be financial, as all new-ballpark development in recent years has gone through Opening Day Partners. (We don’t count Loudoun yet — after all, there still is no ballpark.) In any case, it could be Bok is overselling his relationship with the Atlantic League — and that should be a prime topic during next week’s meeting.
RELATED STORES: New ballpark pitched in Malden; Archives: Sept. 3-9, 2006; Archives: March 5-11, 2006
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