John Moores did a lot more than just own the San Diego Padres: his leadership led both to Petco Park and an impressive economic renaissance of the ballpark area. Will he continue those efforts now that he’s selling the team?
When it comes to tangible economic development relating to ballpark development, there’s no better success story than Petco Park and the Gaslight/East Village area of downtown San Diego: a $301 million investment in the ballpark has directly led to $355 million in tax revenue for the city, along with $1.6 billion in new investments. Moores, as owner of the Padres and a major development, was in the middle of that renaissance, putting his money behind big development efforts.
His firm, JMI Realty, still has one big development left: a proposed $1.4 billion mix of retail, office and residential on a 7.1-acre plot near the ballpark. That development was stalled by the recession, but recently Moores and partners have looked about relaunching those development efforts, focusing on residential. If Moores continues to be involved in downtown redevelopment efforts, that’s good news for San Diego — and it further cements the ballpark’s legacy as an economic engine.
RELATED STORIES: O’Malley group reaches agreement to buy Padres; Mickelson joins potential Padres ownership group; Three groups approved to negotiate purchase of Padres; O’Malleys may make run at Padres; Moores puts San Diego Padres back on the market
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