Ray Winder put officially up for bids
Posted on Monday, October 13, 2008
After sitting vacant for two years, Ray Winder Field’s future officially is up for grabs. Little Rock will accept proposals from organizations interested in leasing the former minor-league baseball stadium and will entertain offers to buy the city’s share of land.
What to do with Ray Winder Field has stumped residents who have served on committees dealing with the future of War Memorial Park.
“It’s such valuable real estate and we’ve heard a number of proposals,” said Vice Mayor Stacy Hurst, who has led the War Memorial Park planning efforts. “There’s some emotion involved in this, so really the best process will be to gather as many proposals as possible and go through the process of making the decision.”
At least two organizations already have staked claims on the property: Ray Winder fans who want to preserve the ball field for high schools games and tournaments, and the Arkansas Zoological Foundation, which says the land is ideal for a Little Rock Zoo expansion.
“We have no primary baseball venue for youth at that level with 90-foot bases and basically a big-league ball park where the athletes would have an opportunity to play in a facility that I think they would always remember,” said Russ Meeks, an Arkansas Travelers Baseball Club vice president.
Meeks and Rex Nelson, a board member of the Arkansas Travelers and Arkansas Baseball Foundation, have formed the Ray Winder Foundation with other stadium fans. Last week, Nelson told city directors about the organization’s interest and intent to respond to the request for proposals, which was issued Thursday afternoon.
Area high schools, and even Arkansas Baptist College, could use the field, Nelson said. The stadium also could be rented on Arkansas Razorback game days, or used for concerts and tournaments, he said.
“Our problem is not going to be getting enough users, it will be shuffling the schedule,” Nelson told directors.
The zoo, on the other hand, could use the property to expand its elephant program, possibly for breeding. Bull elephants require more space than female elephants.
The Arkansas Zoological Foundation and the zoo’s board of governors plan to respond together on behalf of the zoo. The Zoological Foundation is the private fundraising arm of the zoo.
Neither organization has submitted a proposal yet. The deadline to submit proposals to the city is 4 p. m. Dec. 1, and if leased, the property would be handed over as is.
Truman Tolefree, the city’s parks and recreation director, said Friday he isn’t aware of other groups interested in the property.
“I’m just kind of wide open to see what kind of interest we get,” Tolefree said. “I think it’s been quite a long process and I’m happy to see we’ve gotten to the point where we can go ahead and advertise it and get some kind of resolution to it.”
The group responsible for reviewing proposals and selecting a project has yet to be organized, Tolefree said.
Opened in 1932, Ray Winder Field was home to the Arkansas Travelers for 74 years before the team moved last year to Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. Tall weeds have grown up on the abandoned field.
In May, the ball club turned over the park to the capital city, a responsibility the city wasn’t enthusiastic about accepting. The Travelers had owned the structure, while the city and state owned the land. The boundary between the city’s portion and the 3. 35 acres that belong to the state runs between first and second base and out through right-center field.
The city’s request for proposals includes the state’s land, although the option to buy extends only to the city’s 3. 8 acres. If the proposal includes buying the city’s land, the sale would have to close within 120 days of any contract signed. Proceeds from a sale would be used on War Memorial Park or acquiring more land for the midtown park.
“Anybody who’s going to be submitting a bid will have to submit it with the thought in mind that it may not be for sale. The city can only guarantee the part that we own,” Tolefree said.
In May, state officials said they were following the city’s lead and anything that happened with the property rested with the city. A spokesman for the Department of Human Services did not return a message left Friday for comment.
The panel that manages War Memorial Stadium paid the state $ 100 in November 2006 to have the right to match any offer to buy the state-owned land.
“Our original plan... was just to try and make sure the state lands ended up in the city’s hands for the park,” said Gary Smith, chairman of the War Memorial Stadium Commission.
The commission hasn’t talked about responding to the city’s request for proposals.
“We have not been thinking that way at all,” he said.
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