Piece of SLU property considered for possible MLS stadium site

[slufanskip]

Thanks for all the info

[TheChosenOne]

5 minutes ago, brianstl said:

This is what scares me most about both groups now.  These groups have money, but the MLS seems to like ownership groups that have at least one billionaire that can personally absorb big financial losses.  All four incoming teams to the MLS have at least one billionaire in the ownership.  Maybe if the Dewitt part of the one group is actually the Cardinals as an owner that would work.  Kavanaugh has some big bucks, but I don't know if he is in billionaire territory.  I think Dave Steward owns the vast majority of WWT.  Maybe there are other members of both groups whose names are not public yet that would fit the bill.

It just reminds of the St Louis expansion bid for the NFL when we were scrambling at the last minute to find an owner with deep enough pockets for the NFL.  That didn't end up working out very well.

Any chance the Taylor family could be convinced to back one of the groups? Aren't they primary owner of the Blues?

[Box and Won]

I believe the guy behind this project (Paul, not Smith) is part of the Foundry group.  He's big money.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/bull-moose-to-move-chesterfield-headquarters-to-grand-center/article_1040da28-1fc2-54e1-ac0e-66c0b8064a85.html

 

[brianstl]

8 minutes ago, TheChosenOne said:

Any chance the Taylor family could be convinced to back one of the groups? Aren't they primary owner of the Blues?

The Taylors stepping up would be great.  Stillman who is the lead owner of the Blues is married into the Taylor family.  

Their is big some big money in this area.  There are billionaires in this area that are not even listed on Forbes list.  Dave Steward is an example.  

1 minute ago, Box and Won said:

I believe the guy behind this project (Paul, not Smith) is part of the Foundry group.  He's big money.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/bull-moose-to-move-chesterfield-headquarters-to-grand-center/article_1040da28-1fc2-54e1-ac0e-66c0b8064a85.html

 

That is what I was thinking yesterday, but Aron says that at the meeting last night they said that the Foundry soccer project was not connected to the Foundry development project.

[brianstl]

19 minutes ago, Box and Won said:

I believe the guy behind this project (Paul, not Smith) is part of the Foundry group.  He's big money.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/bull-moose-to-move-chesterfield-headquarters-to-grand-center/article_1040da28-1fc2-54e1-ac0e-66c0b8064a85.html

 

 

On another note about Paul.......  It is pretty interesting that this guy is making some big bets on the future of St. Louis.  He is putting some serious money into both the Foundry project and the Missouri Theater project.  A guy from India who has lived in London for 20 years just starts dumping hundreds of millions into property redevelopment in St. Louis.

[Bills_06]

1 minute ago, brianstl said:

 

On another note about Paul.......  It is pretty interesting that this guy is making some big bets on the future of St. Louis.  He is putting some serious money into both the Foundry project and the Missouri Theater project.  A guy from India who has lived in London for 20 years just starts dumping hundreds of millions in property redevelopment in St. Louis.

Yea that's why when you mentioned him it made perfect sense.  Even this article that talked about the 340 million City Foundry development at Cortex, they talk about transforming midtown and it being able to "explode" in the next 5 years.  The MLS stadium development would make sense for him to increase exposure to his other property redevelopments around the area. 

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/work-begins-on-million-midtown-redevelopment-that-will-include-stores/article_4731548d-0206-5970-9c7c-d1d5f9d603ec.html

[Westy03]

16 minutes ago, brianstl said:

The Taylors stepping up would be great.  Stillman who is the lead owner of the Blues is married into the Taylor family.  

 

Stillman married John Danforth's daughter

[brianstl]

8 minutes ago, Westy03 said:

Stillman married John Danforth's daughter

That is right. Stupid mistake on my part.

[bonwich]

Has anyone figured out why a relatively minor advertising ("digital marketing") agency has its name on the stadium? 

[Cowboy]

 

-is it good for St Louis to have two separate groups presenting to MLS? 

-is there anything to read into Frank Viverito not attending Foundry's presentation last night?

-I guess I should not be surprised that SLU owns the land Foundry is proposing

-any other MLS teams 'share' a stadium with a school? I would think this would be a boost for the soccer programs although takes the ADept out from all being under one roof which is one thing Cheryl Levick was really into

[brianstl]

4 minutes ago, Cowboy said:

 

-is it good for St Louis to have two separate groups presenting to MLS? 

-is there anything to read into Frank Viverito not attending Foundry's presentation last night?

-I guess I should not be surprised that SLU owns the land Foundry is proposing

-any other MLS teams 'share' a stadium with a school? I would think this would be a boost for the soccer programs although takes the ADept out from all being under one roof which is one thing Cheryl Levick was really into

My guess is that because a bunch of guys who are technically his boss at the sports commission are part of the other group played a major role in him deciding not to show up last night

[TheChosenOne]

1 hour ago, brianstl said:

Stillman who is the lead owner of the Blues is married into the Taylor family.

A guy I grew up with (in school and playing sports) married into the Taylor family. He is a huge sports fan so I might have to reintroduce myself.

[wgstl]

10 minutes ago, Cowboy said:

 

-is it good for St Louis to have two separate groups presenting to MLS? 

-any other MLS teams 'share' a stadium with a school? I would think this would be a boost for the soccer programs although takes the ADept out from all being under one roof which is one thing Cheryl Levick was really into

I could see two groups makes it look like there's a real urge to land a team, but what do I know. 

And no, not that I could find.  I was wondering is maybe U of Portland, but they have their own stadium. 

 

The Thing that really stands out to me about the Grand location, it will really clean up/connect the two campuses. 

[brianstl]

Just now, TheChosenOne said:

A guy I grew up with (in school and playing sports) married into the Taylor family. He is a huge sports fan so I might have to reintroduce myself.

The point I forgot to make earlier is that the Taylors and some of the other obvious really big money people like the Kienath's don't seem really interested in owning sports teams.

[Bills_06]

3 minutes ago, brianstl said:

The point I forgot to make earlier is that the Taylors and some of the other obvious really big money people like the Kienath's don't seem really interested in owning sports teams.

It's always seemed that way but Andy Taylor and Jo Ann Taylor Kindle are both part of the Blues ownership group which consists of 16 people.  They are Jack Taylor's two kids and Jack Taylor was divorced.  Since he passed away this summer, I'm guessing they have even more money than before so could it be something they may want to get more involved with?

[TheChosenOne]

25 minutes ago, brianstl said:

The point I forgot to make earlier is that the Taylors and some of the other obvious really big money people like the Kienath's don't seem really interested in owning sports teams.

I agree that they haven't wanted to be the face of a professional sports organization, but my understanding is that the Taylor family is the primary owner of the Blues (I'm not sure how you would find that though) while Stilman is the face. Apparently they didn't want the team to leave St. Louis, so I think if you could sell them on the benefit to St. Louis they could be in play.

[ARon]

39 minutes ago, wgstl said:

The Thing that really stands out to me about the Grand location, it will really clean up/connect the two campuses. 

That was mentioned last night as the real benefit to SLU should his happen.

[TheChosenOne]

Just now, ARon said:

That was mentioned last night as the real benefit to SLU should his happen.

Agreed, that would be fantastic.

[Bills_06]

National Enterprise also stepped up to buy naming rights of St. Louis football stadium so I am sure the Taylor family did that to try and help keep the Rams here.  It wouldn't shock me at all to hear that they will be involved in some way, be it naming rights again and part owner but they just seem to have more connections to the MLS2STL group than to the Foundry group. 

[brianstl]

20 minutes ago, Bills_06 said:

National Enterprise also stepped up to buy naming rights of St. Louis football stadium so I am sure the Taylor family did that to try and help keep the Rams here.  It wouldn't shock me at all to hear that they will be involved in some way, be it naming rights again and part owner but they just seem to have more connections to the MLS2STL group than to the Foundry group. 

Yeah, I think if they are involved it would be the MLS2STL group.

[brianstl]

19 minutes ago, TheChosenOne said:

I agree that they haven't wanted to be the face of a professional sports organization, but my understanding is that the Taylor family is the primary owner of the Blues (I'm not sure how you would find that though) while Stilman is the face. Apparently they didn't want the team to leave St. Louis, so I think if you could sell them on the benefit to St. Louis they could be in play.

I not sure who owns what of the Blues, but it is a pretty big ownership group.  A lot of people step upped in situation where they are going to lose some money for bit.

[TheChosenOne]

Just now, brianstl said:

I not sure who owns what of the Blues, but it is a pretty big ownership group.  A lot of people step upped in situation where they are going to lose some money for bit.

Here is the ownership group for the Blues, my understanding is that most of the $ is in fact from the Taylor family.

• Thomas H. Stillman - Chairman & CEO, Summit Distributing
• Jerald L. Kent - Chairman & CEO, Suddenlink Communications, CEO, Cequel III
• Donn S. Lux- Chairman & CEO, Luxco
• James A. Cooper- Managing Partner, Thompson Street Capital Partners
• Jo Ann Taylor Kindle - President, Enterprise Holdings Foundation
• W. Stephen Maritz - Chairman & CEO, Maritz Inc.
• Edward M. Potter- Private investor
• Mr. & Mrs. Andrew C. Taylor - Mr. Taylor is Chairman & CEO of Enterprise Holdings, Inc.
• David L. Steward- Chairman,  World Wide Technology, Inc.
• James P. Kavanaugh - CEO, World Wide Technology, Inc.
• John C. Danforth- Partner, Bryan Cave LLP, Former U.S. Senator, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
• Christopher B. Danforth- Owner & CMO, Kennelwood Pet Resorts
• James L. Johnson- Senior Vice President, Stifel Nicolaus & Co.
• Scott B. McCuaig- Former President, Stifel Nicolaus & Co.
• John S. Ross, Jr. - President, Summit Development Group
• Thomas F. Schlafly - Partner, Thompson Coburn, Founder, The Saint Louis Brewery

[Box and Won]

1 hour ago, bonwich said:

Has anyone figured out why a relatively minor advertising ("digital marketing") agency has its name on the stadium? 

I took it to be a placeholder until a "real" sponsor steps up.

[HoosierPal]

1)  There were two competing groups for the Minnesota MLS franchise.  That turned out okay.

2)  The new Minnesota stadium is 15 miles from Minneapolis and about half that from St. Paul.  It is not remotely "downtown". 

3)  How many people live in downtown STL?  I know some do, but not all that many, not like Seattle or Portland.  Limiting STL to downtown, which I will define as including Union Station, doesn't make sense here.  Yes there are restaurants and pubs closer to Union Station, but those can be built.

Bottom line, I don't think the 'downtown stadium' is anywhere near a hard rule for the MLS.  What they don't want is another Frisco, Bridgeview, or Commerce City.

[brianstl]

14 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

1)  There were two competing groups for the Minnesota MLS franchise.  That turned out okay.

2)  The new Minnesota stadium is 15 miles from Minneapolis and about half that from St. Paul.  It is not remotely "downtown". 

3)  How many people live in downtown STL?  I know some do, but not all that many, not like Seattle or Portland.  Limiting STL to downtown, which I will define as including Union Station, doesn't make sense here.  Yes there are restaurants and pubs closer to Union Station, but those can be built.

Bottom line, I don't think the 'downtown stadium' is anywhere near a hard rule for the MLS.  What they don't want is another Frisco, Bridgeview, or Commerce City.

I think it is around 14,000.  Box might know the most up to date accurate number. @Box and Won