Centene pulls out of Ballpark Village; is the project dead?
We’re reporting now that “Centene Corp.’s much touted move to Ballpark Village in downtown St. Louis is dead.”
That’s according to the early version of our story on STLtoday here.
The company put out a news release today, coinciding with the release of documents the Post-Dispatch had requested two months ago related to the Ballpark Village project.
City leaders and Centene officials announced in September that the company would relocate its headquarters to the proposed retailing and entertainment district near Busch Stadium. Few details have been forthcoming about Centene’s $250 million proposal or the Ballpark Village development since then and speculation has been growing that Centene would pull out.
Now it’s happened. Are you surprised? What does this mean for the Ballpark Village project at large?
UPDATE: Here is the full text of Centene’s statement.
Ballpark Village was unable to accommodate Centene’s plans for our world headquarters which we deeply regret and are disappointed to announce. Since our announcement in September 2007 , we have been working closely with representatives of Ballpark Village to finalize details for this project.
Despite the best efforts of everyone involved, we could not bring our plans to fruition. We were committed and excited to move our headquarters downtown, as we recognize that Ballpark Village will help strengthen the region and we wanted to be part of this. We wish the Cardinals and the developers of Ballpark Village nothing but the best in their efforts to complete this important retail and mixed-use development.
We are currently resuming the evaluation of other potential options for the location of our corporate headquarters, both in and out of the region. We very much appreciate the commitment that leaders of this community, especially Mayor Francis Slay and his staff, have shown throughout this unusually long and public process. We remain hopeful that we can work together with local leaders to keep our growing company in the St. Louis region, if not downtown.
We will keep you updated as our search progresses.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Here’s the statement that just came out from the Cardinals and Cordish.
STATEMENT: ST. LOUIS CARDINALS AND THE CORDISH COMPANY
The St. Louis Cardinals and The Cordish Company believe that Centene would have been a great addition to Ballpark Village. We are disappointed that the parties could not come to an agreement, despite months of effort and the best intentions of the City, Centene, and the Ballpark Village team. Ultimately, the many complexities of Centene’s proposed project in Ballpark Village proved insurmountable.
We will now work immediately with the City and State to finalize all public approvals and commence construction of Ballpark Village. The Ballpark Village partnership is in the unique position of having its private financing in place, and we are ready, willing, and able to proceed. Our vision has not changed — Ballpark Village will be a world-class mixed-use project that will positively transform the City of St. Louis.
Kurt is the director of social media for the Post-Dispatch, where he has worked since August 2002. He's been a journalist since 1982, covering municipal government, courts, education and two hurricanes as a reporter before becoming an editor. 
Todd,
14 years now the city has been wasting my 1%. Are things any better in the city as a whole. No. infrastructure crumbling, trash everywhere, bridges and roads in shambles, city leaders clueless, At some point things have to change. But alas, there isn’t a democrook or a tax increase that the city voters don’t like.
Centene tried to force a deal in Clayton and it fell apart. Then it tried to force a deal in St. Louis and it falls apart. Certainly St Louis can do better in these things, but I don’t think the City gets all the blame on this one. In fact I think they get some credit for holding the line.
I would’ve liked to see Centene build their building, but clearly the deal was untenable, and someone else will come along. Look. st louis has it’s issues, but so does every other major city; those issues do not diminish all the great things st louis has. If anything this is an opportunity to take a clear look at what st louis wants to be and go after, and pursue those goals in a deliberate and methodical manner.
How many times have we heard “revitilization of downtown”. How many drawings have we seen during the last 25 years. I recall early 80’s seeing great pictures/plans on what downtown could become. Ballpark Village is just another smokeless pipedream. I recall the opening of St. Louis Centre. That was to revitalize downtown. We watched drug deals in the Food Court. We watched O’Connells close down because the night manager had taken off with the kitty (or so it was rumored.) We watched one store after another close. Now I’m not sure if anything is open there, because I stay away from downtown. If they ever do succeed, I guarantee you it will become St. Louis Centre….nearly vacant and a new place for drug dealers to do business.
Some of you have mentioned that St. Louis is not only behind big cities when it comes to getting these types of projects done, but we are also behind smaller cities such as Louisville. What is the one thing that haunts St. Louis, that other cities do not deal with? A city that is separate from it’s county, thats what!!! If the two were all one entity, I think we could actually get something done. The bureaucracy & red tape down at City Hall have cost this city over and over again. It is politics as usual down at City Hall. Whether or not it is the fault of City officials or not, I think not having the two entities (city & county) merged as one will always hurt the region. That on top of the decades of population loss/lost tax revenue that the city has lost to other parts of the region. It is really sad that St. Louis may never reach the potential that it is capable of reaching. It could be such a GREAT city!!! Very frustrating!!!
PS…I disagree with the people that say merger between county/city necessary. That is truly a joke. I saved oodles of money on auto insurance by changing my address to the county. The city would go after that 1% that I’ve also saved by moving to the county. Too big of a difference between city and county to merge. Also, if they merged…that would be the end of the yuppie trend of moving to the lofts rehabs in the city…would be no reason. City neighborhoods would end up losing residents. And Lord Have Mercy! No police protection in the city. We have it in the county, so let’s be realistic and at least have somewhere for us former city dwellers to go!! Best thing to do is just humor the city and oooh and ahhh over all the neat plans and dreams they create for us. Then we can wake up!! I love the city I grew up in….but prefer to only visit…during the day…away from downtown….and I’ve not been to new stadium and don’t intend to. I think it’s UGLY!!
Don’t blame Slay. If you are going to blame someone blame it on the DeWitt family and Centene for giving the city false hopes and false promises. I don’t blame Cordish at all. Let the man do his job and save the city of St. Louis from being a ghost town. It seems that the Dewitt family and Centene are getting in the way of progress. If Gussie Busch were alive today. He would have seen to it that ballpark village would have been built in the first place.Take cities like New York city, Los Angeles, Chicago and Nashville are reinventing the downtown areas for people who work and live in the cities. The only people who are getting are the citizens who live in the city of St. Louis.
It seems that everyone is forgetting that most everyone in St. Louis, Co. left the city because it was getting so bad. Now you want to combine them. Thanks a lot. The county is having problems but is staying a desirable place to live. If it weren’t for the sports complexes in the city, knowone would go there. As far as I’m concerned the ballpark, dome and Savis should all be in the county. It a fact that the county is making it on it’s own and the city can’t.
Let’s evaluate what’s going on in the City. In the past 8 years, there has been unprecedented growth, both in the residential and business markets, and this can be attributed to Mayor Slay who puts in 12 hr+ days, Monday through Friday, and countless additional hours over the weekend. He’s everywhere! And because of his tenacity, he has been very successful. The Centene failure should not reflect poorly on the City, but probably on Centene (let’s not forget what happened in Clayton). Comptroller Darlene Greene is another prime example of excellence: she’s cleaned up the comptoller’s office and is largely responsible for increasing the City’s bonding capacity and for improving the finacial outlook of the City in general. She’s a class act, one that every City resident can be proud of! Treasurer Larry Williams continues to work toward improving the City as a whole, with his aggressive building program placing parking garages in strategic places, which gives downtowners a place to park their vehicles so they can shop and work in the City. Whether or not you like the parking garage concept, they’re essential to the growth of a major downtown area. Show me another city the size of St. Louis that has been equal growth in this regard! There is little doubt in my mind that the City is a better place to live than it was even 5 years ago. I am trying to sell my Clayton condo so I can become a part of the City’s renaissance.
Just a funny “heads up” - the Wikipedia entry for the Ballpark village was…..modified (mostly by including the word ‘not’, and the renaming of BV to ‘crater village’). It’s now pretty funny - in a negative sort of way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Ballpark_Village
I would say that there was not enough money on the table for the St. Louis Cardinal’s to be a real partner in this venture. Centene wanted the project to go their way. The Cardinal’s may have wanted the project to go another way that would enrich their pockets. After all, the team have the treasury’s of the State, City, and the County, ready to front the cost, with the proceed’s, to go into their pocket. It is hard to guess what the plan was intended to accomplish, since the plan was not published. What we do know is that the Centene Co. is not going to play ball.