CAFR 2017

In 2005, a $20 million minor league baseball stadium with a 7,499 seat capacity, opened with annual attendance topping 400,000 in each of the past five years. The Greensboro “Grasshoppers” are a Class A affiliate team of the Florida Marlins. The owners of the “Grasshoppers”, Greensboro Baseball LLC, purchased the First National Bank Field for $12.8 million, becoming one of just a handful of groups that own the park where their team plays. Adjacent to First National Bank Field, a $17 Million, 75,000 square-foot office building project has been proposed by a group of Triad developers. The building will be integrated into the ballpark’s entrance and overlook the stadium. The Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball team will own a portion of the project, and the building will maintain many of the thematic elements of the ballpark. Retail space will be available on the first floor along with 65,000 square feet of office space. Construction is expected to begin in early 2018. Also next to the baseball park, a 196-unit apartment complex and a 68-unit luxury apartment complex opened within the past five years. Further supplementing this existing housing, an approximate $65 million large-scale mixed-use project, Carroll at Bellemeade, is planned for completion in 2018. The development will include 300 upscale apartments and a 110 room, six-story mid-market Hyatt Place Hotel. The hotel will be within walking distance of Center City Park, LeBauer Park and the planned Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to the Hyatt Place Hotel that will be part of the Carroll at Bellemeade mixed use project, another three hotels are being planned for the downtown Greensboro area. CN Hotels plans to build a 120-room Hampton Inn & Suites on a 1.02-acre parcel near the governmental plaza at 332 S. Greene Street. Starwood Hotels has also confirmed plans for a new 180-room Westin Hotel at 203 S. Elm Street to be completed in 2019 and has future plans for a new, 150-room Aloft Greensboro Hotel at 201 N. Eugene Street.

To accommodate heightened demand for more downtown parking near the proposed new Westin Hotel, the City has approved, through a private-public partnership, development of a new $28 million, City owned and operated 850-space parking deck at 100 South Davie Street, with an overhead walkway connecting to the new hotel. Similarly, City Council approved the design of a new 1,050-space parking deck adjacent to First National Bank baseball park to accommodate parking needs for the proposed Aloft Hotel, the new office building, and for general public use. This roughly $35 million project will also serve as the foundation for a 15 to 20-story multi- tenant building.

Many of these downtown developments are along Greensboro’s Greenway, a “linear park” that will allow residents to walk or bike safely across the city. This greenway, part of Greensboro’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan, is a 4 mile downtown pedestrian and cycling loop, to be funded through public-private partnership. The greenway will connect the 80-plus miles of greenways and trails that already exist within the City and also connect to a broader network of trails and parks, including statewide efforts such as the Mountains to the Sea Trail. Construction costs are estimated at $34 million with the City contributing up to $7 million from bond funds and $3.8 million from federal and state grant funds to this community project. Portions of Phase I and Phase III of the loop are open with other Phases either under construction or in design. The full project is expected to be completed by 2018. Economic development studies related to greenway projects in Charlotte and Apex, North Carolina and in other states have shown that property values in close proximity to a greenway or park were valued higher and homes in these areas were reported to sell quicker. The greenways have also contributed to increases in adjacent commercial investment and real estate absorption, which the Greensboro Greenway is already experiencing.

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