WHO's involved?

WHO bought the Fort Worth Cats?

WHO do you think?

Trinity Vision Partners Llc.  

WHO are THEY??

Read the article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. And check out what the Dallas Observer had to say.  Yeah, Dallas is watching too.

We 'll hold off on saying, we told you so.

Owner Carl Bell has agreed to sell the baseball team to a group led by John Bryant and Byron Pierce, co-founders of United League Baseball. 

The Cats will be the fifth independent team owned by Bryant and Pierce.  Former Texas Rangers President Mike Stone is also part of the ownership group, Trinity Vision Partners Llc., and will be the team's chairman.

Financial terms were not disclosed, although Bell said he did not profit from the sale. The costs of independent teams vary depending on financial conditions, attendance and other factors.LaGrave Reconstruction Co., which Bell runs, still owns LaGrave Field and the surrounding 131/2 acres.

Bell felt that the proper business decision was to split the two entities. Most professional teams are tenants of the stadiums they play in, and the Cats have a 20-year lease at LaGrave.

Observer:

That said, "I really don't care who our landlord is," Stone says. "We have a 20-year lease. We bought the Cats, the property, the right to do business as the Cats, and that's what crucial to us." When it comes to the land, he explains, "It's a complicated process, a complicated transaction. The Tarrant Regional Water District is involved. Carl is involved. Amegy Bank is involved. We're involved. The bottom line is we end up owning the Cats and the right to play ball as the Cats."

Owner rl Bell has agreed to sell the baseball team to a group led by John Bryant and Byron Pierce, co-founders of United League Baseball. The Cats will be the fifth independent team owned by Bryant and Pierce.Former Texas Rangers President Mike Stone is also part of the ownership group, Trinity Vision Partners Llc., and will be the team's chairman.Financial terms were not disclosed, although Bell said he did not profit from the sale. The costs of independent teams vary depending on financial conditions, attendance and other factors.LaGrave Reconstruction Co., which Bell runs, still owns LaGrave Field and the surrounding 131/2 acres.Bell felt that the proper business decision was to split the two entities. Most professional teams are tenants of the stadiums they play in, and the Cats have a 20-year lease at LaGrave.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/12/21/3611839/fort-worth-cats-sold-will-play.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy

Remember when

We said Place your bets on WHO will end up with LaGrave field?

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, your bet is about to pay off.  Notice there is always a "but".  The taxpayers will then own a restaurant and a ball field.

J.D. Granger, executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority, reiterated that the authority and the water district have no interest in running a team or owning a stadium. But he said the agencies might consider buying the property if it is auctioned on the courthouse steps.

That wasn't even in the article about the Cats and LaGrave field.  That was in the article about the contaminated site clean up.

The environmental director for the TRWD talks about long term health risks.  Is this the same one WHO forgot to test the water in the Trinity River before promoting to the citizens to float with filth?

How much was budgeted for environmental clean up, again?

As part of a "dig and haul" project, crews are loading heavy metals buried years ago at the site of the former American Cyanamid chemical plant and trucking them to a landfill in the Hill County town of Itasca.

For the Tarrant Regional Water District and its political subdivision, the Trinity River Vision Authority, this is the first of at least 15 environmental projects that are expected to be completed within five years to make room for the $909 million flood control and economic development project.

"If you want to have residential use, then you need to clean it up to higher level so that long-term risk at the site is minimized," said Woody Frossard, the water district's environmental director.

J.D. Granger, executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority, reiterated that the authority and the water district have no interest in running a team or owning a stadium. But he said the agencies might consider buying the property if it is auctioned on the courthouse steps.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/12/05/3573053/contaminated-soil-being-removed.html#storylink=cpy

Who will come to their rescue?

We have a couple of guesses.

Another piece of Fort Worth history is in danger of ending up like Heritage Park. 

Will anyone save Carl Bell and the beloved Fort Worth Cats?

How many of you from the "old school" have black and white photos of you or family members entering the Cats game? 

Priceless.

Check it out on the Fort Worth Weekly.

The city’s oldest and most popular sports team is in danger of folding. If the Cats get skinned, that’s a lot of history down the drain, seeing as how they played their first game here in 1888.

Keep your eye on the ball

Actually LaGrave field.

We've mentioned before how certain entities are eyeing the stadium.

Now a city commission has designated LaGrave Field historic designation by a city panel.  (WHO is on the panel?)  Now LaGrave can get tax breaks.

The story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram points out a few of the things that make you go hmmm...

A city commission granted its highest historic designation to LaGrave Field on Monday, which will allow for property tax breaks if the minor-league ballpark is ever improved.

Bell, who has struggled financially in recent years and has been seeking a buyer for the stadium, said he wanted the designation to make the tax break available, but that he also wants the field to be "preserved forever." The stadium, he said, "is a vital and integral part of the community."

Bell has wanted the city to take over ownership of LaGrave and said Monday he still hopes that can happen. He is still working on permanent financing for the stadium.

Bell bought a tract of land around LaGrave from the city of Fort Worth in 2007 and once planned a multimillion-dollar residential and retail development. But by last summer he faced foreclosure on the 38-acre property. Bell renegotiated bank notes to keep the stadium, and was released from other notes after the property was sold to the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Bell owes more than $195,000 in property taxes and penalties for 2010, according to county tax records.
 
Just another day in the Wild West.

Play ball.

In the news...

The Tarrant Regional Water District popped up in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram twice today.  We are betting we see it more in the near future.

The low-water dam is one of three in Trinity Park that feature chutes or channels. The dams are maintained by the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Water district officials are gathering facts surrounding Monday's drowning.

"As we do with all tragedies of this nature, we will gather facts and evaluate how the public accesses this low-water dam," spokesman Chad Lorance said.

The district maintains 16 low-water dams throughout the Fort Worth floodway, which covers the Trinity River from downtown to near Camp Carter on the West Fork, and to Southwest Boulevard on the Clear Fork. The three low-water dams in Trinity Park are the only ones to feature chutes.

The chutes are used by kayakers, but the district said they weren't built for recreation.

"The low-water dams are built to slow the flow of the river and to serve as a sediment retention area," Lorance said.

The water moving through the chutes appears to move more quickly than other areas of the river, but whether the chutes played a part in Monday's drowning is unknown.

"We are still gathering the facts of this tragedy," Lorance said. "We don't know what if any part the chutes may have played in this incident."

Adelaide Leavens, executive director of Streams and Valleys Inc., a nonprofit that helps fund recreational development along the Trinity, said the river varies from wading depth to as deep as 10 feet. Storm runoff can increase flows greatly.

Water district officials said that on Monday the flow was minimal through the section of the river in question.

And again when the Fort Worth Cats are mentioned, the Water District isn't far behind.

The move comes after the bank was paid from Bell's $17.5 million sale last month of 38 acres south of the stadium to the Tarrant Regional Water District. Amegy had posted the property for the March foreclosure auction in the wake of the default.

The water district said it will use some of the land for rights of way, canals, easements, parkland and levee work as part of the Trinity River Vision flood control and economic development project.

The water district also bought 4 acres from Michael Balloun of Arlington. Bell sold that tract to Balloun in March and used the proceeds to begin paying tens of thousands of dollars he owed to vendors and others.

Bell also has a 10-year lease with the water district on some land to be used for stadium parking.

"We have put things in place going forward that ensure LaGrave Field and the Cats will be a part of the development and part of Trinity Uptown for decades to come," Bell said.

Bell bought the greater LaGrave tract in 2007 from the city of Fort Worth. He once planned a multimillion-dollar residential and retail development, but the recession and other factors halted that development.

Is Mitch Schnurman turning tide on TRV?

We aren't going to comment too much on this as several of our contributors are writing Letters to the Editor.  We'll post those as soon as we have them as well.  YOU NEED to read the article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Don't miss the comments from THE PEOPLE.  WHO's listening?

The water board has become the ultimate can-do agency, because it's empowered by a gusher of gas revenue from the Barnett Shale. The water district has $160 million in surplus funds from its mineral rights and forecasts $30 million more in annual royalties for the next five years or so.

More than a decade ago, the water district threw its weight behind the TRV, an epic project that aims to reroute the Trinity, provide flood control and turn a depressed area into a vibrant collection of new residents and waterfront properties.

But it bets heavily on private companies creating dozens of acres of dense development, an idea that sounds like something from an earlier go-go era. In this climate, it's good to know that the key funding mechanism is in place for 40 years, if necessary.

Local government will provide almost half the costs, with the Army Corps of Engineers and federal sources filling in the rest. Naysayers have long predicted that the TRV will grind to a halt, but the water district is proving to be a creative backstop.

It puts roughly half the land in the central city project under the control of two public entities, the water district and Tarrant County College.

"If we didn't have the gas money, this probably wouldn't happen," says Vic Henderson, president of the water board.

A project as large as the TRV needs more than a champion. It needs a rich uncle.

Pay up

We took bets back in  December when JD Granger said "Trinity River Vision has no desire to own LaGrave or the entire 58-acre tract."   We asked again in February.

Why then did they purchase it?  Note "at their price". 

TCEQ and TRWD working together to clean up the environmental issues, that should go well. 

And someone please tell us, is Bill Hanna on the TRWD payroll too?  Read his latest about the Tarrant Regional Water District buying out Bell in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The $17.5 million will paid from the water district's mineral revenues.

It isn't the first time the water district has chosen to go that route. The water has already pledged to loan Trinity River Vision's tax increment financing district up to $226 million from its mineral revenue until the TIF can start generating money. The TIF was extended to 40 years late last year, far longer than most tax increment financing districts.

Place your bets

Today's article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper says LaGrave field has been lost...

We wonder WHO will end up with it? And at what cost.

Place your bet

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper says the Sale of LaGrave Field could be completed by the end of the year.


The current owner declined to name any of the involved parties.


J.D. Granger, executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority, confirmed that he met with Amegy officials Thursday. Trinity River Vision is a political subdivision of the water district and has expressed interest in 16 acres of Bell’s property for canals that are part of the huge Trinity Uptown project.

Granger said Trinity River Vision has no desire to own LaGrave or the entire 58-acre tract.


Bell said his negotiations could be strengthened by higher appraisals on two nearby properties in late November, sought by the Tarrant County Water District for the Trinity River project.

Remember what they said in October?