NEWPORT, Ky. - Even if the Cincinnati Reds could persuade Newport to consider building a new baseball stadium, the most talked-about Kentucky riverfront site might prove too impractical.
Officials say the Northern Kentucky property often linked with such speculation - occupied by the city's 202-unit public housing complex - would take at least two to three years to vacate for development.
That would make it difficult to build a stadium by 2002, the goal set by the Reds.
State and regional officials, unwilling to hunt for public money to fund a $200 million stadium, reiterated Northern Kentucky is best served by the Reds remaining on the opposite side of the Ohio River - but preferably within reach on the riverfront.
"It's in our best interest that they stay on the riverfront," Covington Commissioner Jerry Bamberger said Tuesday. "They stay at our hotels. They eat at our restaurants. They go to our entertainment complex. They definitely help our economy."
The team said Monday it would explore opportunities outside downtown Cincinnati for a ballpark.
Because the Reds have said they prefer the riverfront, attention has focused on the 15-acre housing complex north of Newport's Fourth Street. Newport officials have explored future redevelopment options for the site, which is bounded by the Ohio and Licking rivers.
But Mark Brown, executive director of the Newport Housing Authority, said the two- to three-year estimate to ready the site for any development would be optimistic at best.
A developer wanting to ensure speedy access to the site would have to pay to place residents in other housing. And any demolition and relocation plans would have to be approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Although Northern Kentucky leaders aren't interested in putting home plate in the commonwealth, they don't want the team to stray too far from the banks of the Ohio.
Northern Kentucky leaders make no secret that the Reds' leaving the riverfront could hurt their attractions, hotels and restaurants.
SIDES TALKING BUT NOT BUDGING
IF REDS GO, STADIUM FUNDS WOULD WHITTLE BENGALS' BILL
PREVIOUS STADIUM STORIES
REDS PAGE
