Fair Board Commissioner to Mayor Cooper: 'Immediately' start demo for MLS stadium

A Fair Board Commissioner is asking Mayor John Cooper to start demolition at Fairgrounds Nashville for the Major League Soccer stadium as an immediate and "good-faith" effort to soccer officials after a "very tense situation" this week.

Commissioner Caleb Hemmer in an email to Cooper Friday night, asked the mayor to consider immediately signing demolition paperwork for the "obsolete" expo buildings at the site, a needed move to make way for the soccer stadium.

"While I am hopeful for an expeditious resolution to all the issues surrounding the MLS Soccer stadium project that leads to a compromise between Metro and the team’s principles in the coming days, I respectfully request you consider immediately executing the demolition permit for the obsolete Fairgrounds Expo buildings," Hemmer said in the email obtained by The Tennessean.

The old expo buildings are no longer in use by the Fairgrounds and utilities have already been prepared for demolition. With no historical significance and salvage, they need to be removed regardless, Hemmer said.

Doing so, he said, would no only signal to Nashville SC and MLS officials that Cooper is moving toward a resolution, but also to Nashville residents.

"While I am hopeful the heightened focus on finding solutions over the past few days produces the results you desire, I along with many Nashvillians, am not only frustrated with the lack of progress by your administration over the past four months since your election, but concerned with the escalation of the issues and dialogue that has occurred this past week," Hemmer wrote.

Hemmer's call for demolition to begin came just hours after Nashville businessman John Ingram, who leads the team's ownership group, blasted Cooper in letter for not following through on a deal to build the now-$335 million stadium in Nashville.

"We are out of time," Ingram said, calling for demolition to begin Monday morning.

Cooper's spokesperson Katie Lentile said "representatives are in further discussion," when asked for a comment on Ingram's letter.

Stadium deal talks go public

Talks of the highly-anticipated MLS deal went public this week after Ingram says he an unsuccessful meeting with Cooper in New York with MLS Commissioner Ron Garber on Thursday.

MLS and the team released a joint statement shortly after, putting the first public pressure on Cooper to follow through on a deal to build the now-$335 million stadium in Nashville.

Soccer officials say there is "deep disappointment" that the mayor has not come to a consensus with the team's ownership group.

Cooper, back in Nashville on Thursday afternoon, said in a statement that he will continue to "chart a path forward that makes good financial sense" for the city.

The next day, the team also took public the details of deal talks with Cooper, saying the team offered $54 million more in potential expenses to accommodate the mayor's demands. Those include $19 million for infrastructure work related to the stadium and taking on all debt payments for the now $335 million stadium, including $35 million the city was on the hook for if ticket and sales tax revenue falls short.

But at the crux of the impasse is the 10-acre development — specifically the parcel closest to Fairgrounds Speedway — as part of the stadium deal.

Speedway Motorsports had made a $60 million pitch to renovate the racetrack to bring NASCAR back to Nashville. The close proximity of the proposed facility to the racetrack makes, the group says, makes the flow in and out of the track nearly impossible and creates a potential public safety issue.

Cooper has not said publicly if he supports a deal with Speedway Motorsports but his office says the deal remains under review.

Ingram said he would not eliminate the section of development in order to honor his commitments in the Community Benefits Agreement with Stand Up Nashville, but said he offered a redesign to allow 100 feet between the speedway and any development.

But Cooper wants it removed. In his response Friday, the mayor said offered several alternatives to the piece of land closest to the racetrack, including relocating it to another location at the fairgrounds.

His office declined to share future details on alternatives, citing on-going talks.

Ingram in turn blasted him in another letter Friday night saying the team cannot hold up moving forward on the stadium because of a not-yet approved deal with Speedway Motorsports and the city to renovate the Fairgrounds Speedway.

'Legal fight ... needs to be adjudicated'

In support of Cooper's stance on the mixed-use development and the ongoing stadium deal talks, the The Nashville Flea Market Vendors Association said in a press release that tearing down the "millions of dollars" in fairgrounds assets before a pending lawsuit plays out, would harm the fairgrounds.

A lawsuit by the Save Our Fairgrounds coalition to stop construction of the stadium is still playing out in court. The group, which includes flea market vendors, sued the city over the MLS stadium plans in September, arguing the construction at the fairgrounds and the elimination of 3,500 parking spaces would make it impossible for the Nashville Flea Market to operate there.

The group won its appeal to overturn a Nashville judge's dismissal of the group's lawsuit, with the the Tennessee Court of Appeals saying lower court's rejections of coalition's argument failed to identify "genuine issues."

"We thank you for considering the probable charter violations of the proposal and demanding a hold on demolition until the next stages of the project are ready to go," states the press release of the letter the group sent to Cooper.

"The legal fight over the charter requirements needs to be completely adjudicated before destroying any Fairgrounds assets. Thank you again for your strong leadership."

A request for more interaction

"MLS stadium update" was been on the fair board's monthly meeting agenda for months. But updates have been sparse with the group waiting to hear from Cooper on where the deal stands, specifically with demolition.

Cooper held on signing paperwork in October, saying questions remain on how much taxpayers will be asked to spend for infrastructure costs surrounding the stadium, including upgrading water and sewer lines, roads and possibly a new bridge.

The demolition contract expired mid-December but officials were in talks about extending the bid at current pricing in order to avoid rebidding the contract. It is not immediately clear where the contract stands currently.

In his email, Hemmer asked that with a successful resolution to the MLS stadium deal, that he requests Cooper's administration to be more interactive with the fair board, Fairgrounds Executive Director Laura Womack and Sports Authority Executive Director Monica Fawknotson and those leading the construction and project at the site.

"The cadence of meetings and quality of interactions between the necessary principles is grossly lacking for a project of this importance/size. Since the project is now already behind schedule due the unexpected delays, this will be of critical importance moving forward and would be welcomed by all participating parties," Hemmer said.

Hemmer had previously spoken to Cooper's senior adviser, Mary Falls, on the progress of the fairgrounds project and about "decoupling" the demolition of old expo centers from the soccer project in order for the work to move along.

Yihyun Jeong covers politics in Nashville for USA TODAY NETWORK - TENNESSEE. Reach her at yjeong@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @yihyun_jeong.