BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It started as a discussion among Hamilton County officials about how to hire an architect and construction manager to plan the new Reds ballpark.
But the talk Wednesday quickly shifted to which of two methods would best contain costs on the $297 million baseball project.
At issue is whether the county should hire an architect and construction manager and keep primary control over the project, as happened with the Bengals project, or hire the firms separately but require the architect to report to the construction manager.
Hamilton County's director of stadium development recommended a method the county did not use while planning the Bengals' new stadium. The football planning resulted in months of sometimes contentious negotiations between the county and team -- after the two sides had a lease -- over what should be included in the football stadium's cost.
"If you believe the system you had in place for the Bengals worked, that's what you should do," said Cary Self, who recommended the alternate method.
Commissioners Tom Neyer Jr. and Bob Bedinghaus voted against the alternate method, saying the problems with the Bengals' planning might not have been corrected with the method Mr. Self recommended. Commissioner John Dowlin was absent.
"I don't think that the process with the Bengals worked flawlessly, but to some degree I think that had to do with the people at the table more so than the process," Mr. Neyer said.
In a preliminary deal with the Reds, the county pledged to build a $235 million stadium by 2003, with that cost set in 1998 dollars. By the time inflation and other costs are added, the county estimates the project will cost $297 million.
The football complex is estimated to open in August 2000 and cost $404 million, including land, the team's three practice fields and the stadium itself. Construction is under way, with crews clearing the site and pouring some concrete for supports.
Mr. Self argued that giving the construction manager more responsibility would provide a better way to control costs. If the architect were to design something too expensive, he said, the construction manager could overrule if it were over budget.
"If you don't have somebody who can say no because it costs too much, it's going to creep. And that's what it did with the Bengals, creep, creep, creep," Mr. Self said.
But Mr. Neyer, a developer, said the county also has the responsibility to get the best ballpark possible for the money, and county officials will be more attuned to that need.
"If the $235 million is sacred, then you have the architect responding to the contractor's mandate," he said. "What you want is both of them responding at their highest professional level to the county's mandate."
Mr. Bedinghaus agreed, saying, "With costs in mind all the time, we want to make sure we are pushing the envelope on what a baseball stadium is in the year 2000."
No matter what, Mr. Neyer said, the architect will work to make the team happy because the team's recommendation could lead to more stadium work in the future.
But Mr. Self said his method would give the county more leverage to ask the Reds to contribute more to the project if the costs were higher than the agreed budget. He questioned whether county officials could "exercise restraint" to keep the project on budget.
"It may be more burdensome on us," Mr. Bedinghaus said. "It may require more difficult decisions on our level. But I think that's where those decisions ought to be."
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