State Funds to Allow Clemens Renovation Project to Gain Momentum

By DANNY HENLEY

Hannibal Courier-Post

Posted Sep 10, 2008 @ 06:15 AM

Last update Sep 10, 2008 @ 11:09 AM

Hannibal, MO —

Expect the renovation of Clemens Field in Hannibal to gather steam now that the Hannibal Cavemen have learned that the project has been approved for $884,091 in Downtown Preservation financing by the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

Larry Owens, a member of the Cavemen ownership group, said the team’s hands were tied in terms of the work that could be done at the complex until the state approved the application.

“I asked the question in one of my meetings with the state, ‘Is there leniency for preliminary this or that?’” he said. “I could not do anything until it was approved. What I did, we did out-of-pocket, like redoing the clubhouse and things like that.”
An assortment of work at Clemens Field is on tap in the weeks ahead.
“We’ve brought 100 loads of dirt in. We’re going to bring in another 250 (loads) of fill. We will be leveling and creating the actual field itself quite rapidly,” said Owens. “I’ve ordered the lights. They’ll go up quickly because if there’s any delays that allows me to work late into the evening up to the point where we’re not disturbing anybody. Then we’ll start sandblasting and renovating the stadium. There will be excavation equipment and underground stuff going in. We’ve got the field drawn. We’ve got the site plan done. The suites have been drawn. Architecturally we’re ready to go, so we’ll just start doing construction now.”

Factoring in the state’s decision is the fact Hannibal is a Downtown Revitalization and Economic Assistance for Missouri (DREAM) community.  “With this (DREAM) program in place, it (renovation project) literally fit into the box of what the program was designed for,” said Owens. “This will revitalize downtown. I believe that’s what it’s for and that’s what it will do. We’re going to bring some life to the evening part of downtown Hannibal, the same as the theater will. Plus we bought the adjacent property and that will be a place for Tom Sawyer Days to be there on a permanent basis which allows it to grow to be what it can be.”

Owens was optimistic the project would receive state financing.  “We had done a lot of preliminary talking with people at the state about how the project would be received,” he said. “I was fairly confident we would get it without saying it was a slam dunk or anything. We met all the criteria that the DREAM Initiative was designed for.”

The amount of financing awarded the project is not what the team had sought, but Owens is not complaining.

“It was close to the amount that we had gone after,” he said, adding that the total approved was within 10 percent of the amount requested. “They have a diversion formula they use. They ask if you’re creating all new sales tax or if some of this would already have been spent in the city or entity anyway? They were very kind to us on that portion I can tell you.”  The state funding will enable the Hannibal Baseball Group to undertake a more extensive renovation project.

“We could have gone in for $1 million or so, taken the existing field and turned it into something we could have played on. That wasn’t our objective. Our objective was to create the suites and party decks, and restore the old field with authenticity and create something that would allow us down the road to bring minor league baseball, single-A, into town,” he said.

The Cavemen will be a member of the Central Illinois Collegiate League, beginning in 2009.

D2’s Role

D2 prepared a blight analysis and tax projections and analysis as part of the Project’s qualification requirements for state assistance.