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. 
Why isn’t anyone accountable for this? Downtown is a joke. Remeber Selig? If a new stadium were built we “could” see an All Star game. Done, congratulations. Now DeWitt - “Ballpark Village may be delayed or may not be ready for the All-Star game”. What a load of crap. It’s a dump around that stadium and nothing is being done to hold the Cardinals accountable because they are the Cardinals. Nothing will come of this, they will erect a couple of buildings but nothing further because of “unanticpated costs”, i.e. we aren’t spending any more money on tis project and like the Kiel, it will sit.
This city makes me ill.
What a shame. It would have been nice to have seen a decent-sized building on the south side of downtown. Goodness knows downtown St. Louis could use some new height. Instead we now have a muddy mess to look at and no plans to move forward with anything.
Simply put, just more of Slay’s folly!
Yeah, typical bungling from The Gang That Can’t Develop Straight. People are flocking to urban centers all over the country, and cities are selling their unique urban character to make the most of the influx. But here we get strip malls in Lafayette Square and Carondelet and Soulard, vacant lots and vacant buildings at Grand & Chippewa, and now a huge muddy hole in the middle of downtown for who knows how many years. Oh, but we’ll also get a few expensive sculptures to fill those empty spaces downtown. Whoopee.
I am shocked! So, you mean to tell me that promises were made that if we (city residents) are willing to pay for a new ballpark, other development would be included and it has not? Who say this coming? For one, I did! That is exactly what I told people when all this first happened. While I do love the new stadium, I KNEW that the development would take forever if ever! It has happened in other cities and it is happening here. City residents, we were dupped. And let it come as no surprise. Hell, the Kiel Opera house is still nothing and it was promised over a decade ago. Mayor Slay, you should be ashamed of yourself. You get so much credit for bringing more people into St. Louis. You have done it on the backs of the poor and have not followed through with your promises. Yeah, you have your stadium, now do two more things. 1 - deliver on your promsies and 2 - show that you really do care about the poor in St. Louis. Much like Ballpark village, neither of these things will likely happen! I dare you to prove me wrong!
Here’s a city, with so much potential, it makes baby Paul McCartney look bad. How in the world does a deal like this fall through?
It’s beyond ridiculous. People need to really start questioning themselves about their pride and love for their city. Cause more upsets like this is going to drive st. louis straight to the grave.
GET IT TOGETHER for crying out loud. You’d think that 1960-present would knock some sense into people thinking that we’re NOT doing it right. We need a coup d’etat.
What does it mean? It means that the Cardinal ownership lied to the city and the surrounding areas, selling us a bill of goods that they pretty much knew would never be fulfilled. It means that the area politicians and business leaders cannot close deals. It means the city of St. Louis got screwed, again. Has anyone else notices that every since St. Louis was named the “Best Sports Town in America” area sports have fallen apart?
Ah, men and their egos!
How funny…Slay says Mission Accomplished and claims Biggest Victory in the last 50 years! Only fools would believe that but of course St Lou is number one in that category too.
I find it hard to believe the city is behind this failure. This smells more like the Cardinals ownership and their pathetic cheap-mindedness.