Minor League Baseball may be coming to Malden, though hurdles still remain.

Malden Field of Dreams CEO Alexander Bok told the City Council on Tuesday that construction on a 6,000-seat stadium in downtown Malden could begin later this year, with first pitch scheduled for spring 2019.

Tuesday's update at the Senior Center followed a negotiating period that ended Jan. 31 to allow Bok to talk with Minor League owners about the possibility of moving a team to Malden. Bok said he could not disclose the details of those talks due to Minor League rules, but he did say that several owners in the New England region are interested in selling a club to him.

"We're where we need to be with relation to that," Bok said. "We are now in the process of securing a team and aiming to break ground later this year."

Perhaps the greatest challenge left for Bok is to reach sale agreements with the three abutting parcel owners: Spadafora Auto Parts, L&L Services, and Collex Collision. Those agreements proved elusive in recent years as Bok attempted to bring an Independent League team to the same site, an effort that ultimately fell short.

On Tuesday, Bok said he plans to provide an appraisal to the three businesses this month.

"We will provide written full market value offers, which include a premium, to each of the property owners by Feb. 17, along with a request to meet in person before the end of the month," Bok said. "We will do everything we can to negotiate private transactions."

Bok and his team must also re-negotiate deals with the City Council, Malden Redevelopment Authority, and National Grid, which owns most of the site where the ballpark would stand and continues to remove contamination from the soil.

Meanwhile, Minor League Baseball is reviewing information that Bok provided about his negotiations with team owners. The Boston Red Sox must approve any deal, as they are afforded veto power for new affiliates near Fenway Park. Bok said he expects to hear back from MiLB within about a week.

The project would cost approximately $60 million in private funds and $20 million in taxpayer money from the state, Bok said. Bok added that Eastern Bank and East Boston Savings Bank are interested in financing the stadium.

The City of Malden would not be asked to contribute any funding, although the city would serve as a financial backstop in the event that the franchise failed.

Turner Sports Construction, which has built numerous Major League parks around the country, would serve as the contractor, Bok said.

Bok noted that Division 4 soccer club Boston City FC, which plays its home games at Malden's Brother Gilbert field, would move to the new facility. In addition, the Malden High School baseball team would be granted use of the field.

During the winter months, Bok said, a "bubble" would cover the playing surface to promote year-round use.

Following Bok's lengthy statement Tuesday, the entrepreneur took several questions from councilors. Councilor Neal Anderson emphasized that he does not foresee the city using eminent domain to obtain the three abutting parcels.

Before the process of erecting a stadium could begin, Bok said National Grid would need to install a "cap" to prevent the public from being exposed to contaminants. Installing the cap would take 3-6 months, according to Bok, and building the stadium itself would take 10-15 months.

The council agreed to hear another update from Bok on April 11.

What was said

The full text of Bok's prepared remarks to the council is as follows:

Mr. Mayor, thank you. Madame President and members of the Council. My name is Alexander Bok and I’m the founder of Malden Baseball Field of Dreams. I am here to provide you with an update on the status of the proposed project.

I’d like to start with one of the elephants in the room.

I know that a number of you are skeptical about this project given the long time it has been under consideration.

You were right to have had those questions given the lack of visible public progress. I’m sorry that it happened, but unfortunately, it was necessary under the rules of Minor League Baseball as I will explain in a moment.

Tonight, I’m here to start the process of earning your trust and to give you comfort through details that this is a real project, with a team of experts on our side, that now has a chance of happening and we believe more strongly than ever that the project will bring economic development, new jobs and opportunities for Malden's youth.

Most importantly, and I cannot overstate its importance, as you heard from the Mayor in December, our group, Malden Baseball Field of Dreams, had secured in November the right to explore having an affiliated Minor League Baseball team here in Malden. This came about after literally years of on-and-off discussion with Minor League Baseball and its many constituents. Obtaining the rights to explore the Malden territory for an affiliated team has permitted us to reach out to third parties, including team owners, with whom we have had discussions and will continue to do so within the framework of Minor League Baseball’s rules. We remain in contact with MiLB on our progress.

This affiliated team opportunity is a “game-changer” and sets Malden on the path to becoming only the second city in Massachusetts with an affiliated minor league team—the other being Lowell.

The benefits of having an affiliated team rather than a team from an Independent league, which was the original proposal when this process began, are many and substantial. Being an affiliated minor league team means that there is a player development contract with one of the thirty Major League teams which then supplies its players, prospects, manager and coaches to the minor league team in return for a percentage of our revenue. Unlike Independent League baseball teams, it is not unusual for many of the players on an affiliated minor league team to later play in the major leagues.

Our plan remains to build a ballpark with an approximate capacity of 6,000 fans that meets Minor League Baseball requirements. We believe the Malden market will certainly support that size of a facility.

For those who are skeptical about the viability of a minor league baseball team in Malden, let me make several points:

First, no affiliated minor league team anywhere in the country has gone out of business in the last 30 years. Independent baseball has a number of major success stories—Long Island and St. Paul for example. But it also has had a number of failures, including Lynn, Brockton and Worcester. An affiliated team in Malden near the Orange Line with great parking is in a much better location and stronger economic situation than those other teams were.

Secondly, the Greater Boston market is a baseball-focused market where there are hundreds of thousands of families seeking affordable family entertainment. Interestingly, one of the most successful affiliated teams in the country is in Frisco, Texas, which is in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro region, a market known not as a baseball market but as a major football market.

Please also note that in New York City itself, two affiliated minor league teams have done very well in Brooklyn and Staten Island. It is the financial stability of having an affiliated minor league team that will allow the project to go forward and be financeable.

I should note that these projects take a very long time. Both at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio and at Fifth Third Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the presidents of the teams walked me through their project timetable and how it took over ten years from the first idea to the first pitch. The Request for Proposal (RFP) for this project was issued by the Malden Redevelopment Authority (MRA) in 2011.

Most importantly, I would ask that you see and evaluate the ballpark not primarily as a sports venue but as a venue for affordable family entertainment that will serve the residents and families of Malden for decades to come. A family of four will be able to come to the Malden Ballpark and buy 4 tickets, food, drinks and parking and spend under $100.

It is critically important to note that the rules and regulations of Minor League Baseball prevent at this time any speculation or discussion about details on what team, league, or affiliation could be in Malden but the fact that the go ahead was given by Minor League Baseball is crucial to the project moving forward. These same rules unfortunately have kept our group from discussing our efforts publicly over the past few years.

Again, we are very sorry for the lack of communication but even discussing affiliated baseball would have likely endangered the entire project.

To get to where we are now has been a highly-complicated process. Thanks to the Mayor and MRA Director, along with Malden’s own United States Senator, Ed Markey and State Representative Paul Donato, for all they have done. These public officials, in addition to their federal and state colleagues, have worked very hard and as a result we are now in the process of securing a team and aiming to break ground later this year.

Furthermore, we would not be before you but for the continued attention and dedication of many Malden residents and local elected officials, including several of you, who participated in our first public hearing in 2012 and helped shape and improve the project through a public advisory committee.

For those of you who would like more information, I would encourage you to go to our website, maldenballpark.com and click on the FAQ section to see the video from that 2012 hearing and view our most recent renderings.

We on Tuesday, April 11, plan to provide a further update subject to your meeting schedule. In addition, we expect to return later in the spring for a public meeting where we will bring our full team for questioning as we all finalize the details of this project. Final approvals and reviews by all parties, including the City Council, the Mayor, the Malden Redevelopment Authority, state government, National Grid, investors, banks, Minor League Baseball and other nearby affiliated teams, will, of course, be based on the specifics of the final project proposal.

While working with Minor League Baseball, we have also been working with the Boston City Football Club, which is a Division 4 soccer team within the United States soccer system. We have successfully adapted the design of the ballpark to enable a soccer playing field that meets international FIFA standards. As a result, there is now an executed Letter of Intent that the ballpark will be used for the Club’s youth training programs and the Boston City Football Club will play its 10-14 home games at the ballpark, primarily on Sunday evenings with the games ending by 9 p.m. and occasional exhibition games on another night.

Financially, we are pleased that both Eastern Bank and East Boston Savings Bank have indicated their continued strong interest in funding the proposed ballpark. Private investment in the project, through equity and debt, is estimated to be $60M.

The ballpark will be union-built. We have selected Turner Sports Construction as our contractor. Turner is the leading sports construction company in the United States and has built many of the leading minor league and major league ballparks over the past ten years, including Nationals Park in Washington DC, Yankee Stadium, the Wrigley Field expansion, Comerica Park in Detroit, Fifth Third Park—the home of the Toledo Mud Hens, and Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio.

Another significant question is the issue of the three adjacent parcels. Now that we have formal written permission from Minor League Baseball to move forward with exploring an affiliated team here in Malden, we are working toward the private purchase of the abutting property owners parcels. Specifically, we have retained Robert LaPorte of Colliers International to appraise the three adjacent properties. Mr. LaPorte is one of the leading real estate appraisers in Greater Boston. Colliers will be providing us with current market value appraisals, which do not include any deduction for potential environmental cleanup costs. We will provide written full market value offers, which include a premium to each of the property owners, by Feb. 17 along with a request to meet in person before the end of the month. We will do everything we can to negotiate private transactions.

We have also reached out to National Grid as the owner of the largest parcel in the site and will meet soon to restart our previous negotiations and review the expired 2012 26-page Letter of Intent between our group, National Grid and the MRA.

As others have noted, Minor league baseball will not only offer an affordable family entertainment option but will promote Malden to families and businesses throughout the Commonwealth and bring significant economic benefit to Malden’s many outstanding restaurants and other local businesses. The placement of a ballpark, year-round restaurant and related meeting facilities is an optimal way of putting this environmentally-sensitive parcel to use for the community's benefit. We expect to host concerts, movies, festivals, weddings and other community events. The ballpark project will complement and spur the larger economic development that has been occurring in the downtown area and assist with the revitalization of Malden Square. We are hopeful that a hotel in the immediate area could be the result of our future economic activity but that effort will not delay our work on the ballpark.

With respect to year round activity at the site, I would like to announce that we are hoping to have a bubble over the playing field from late November to March. This is not a domed ballpark. The bubble is just over the field, not the seats. It is very similar to what you see today if you drive past Harvard Stadium or Boston College’s Alumni Field. The bubble would make it possible for soccer, lacrosse and baseball teams to rent, play and practice in the winter months. The bubble would cover the entire playing field, allowing full squad scrimmages for baseball teams. We have had significant interest from college baseball teams in the area who believe that being able to use such a practice facility in the winter would dramatically improve their college baseball teams and allow them to recruit a wider range of student-athletes. There is a similar facility in Flemington, N.J., called the Healthquest Sports Dome. No such facility exists in New England. The additional cost of the dome will be paid for by rental fees.

Items I want to mention that are unchanged from before:

• We will not seek bonding authority or financial assistance for construction from the City of Malden.

• The Malden High School Golden Tornadoes varsity baseball team will be able to play its regular season home games at the ballpark.

• The City and Malden High School will be able to use the facility for school, athletic or community activities such as graduations, celebrations or alumni events using a discounted fee schedule.

• Malden Baseball Field of Dreams will voluntarily comply with the Malden local hiring ordinance and make a concerted effort to hire local residents for the construction jobs.

• There will be over 100 part-time jobs at the ballpark during the baseball season, with priority given to Malden residents.

• Each home game will provide an opportunity for a youth group or other non-profit group to raise money. For example: 50/50 raffle, selling of programs, etc.

• There will be a community contest to name-the-team during 2018.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you of the very important family and community building opportunity that the ballpark and minor league baseball will bring to Malden and its residents. Not only will a ballpark provide an opportunity for baseball fans young and old to enjoy the national pastime and catch up with each other in a safe and comfortable environment, but it will also serve as a recreational and job center and forge closer ties with Malden neighbors.

As with other minor league baseball teams around the country, our Malden team will contribute thousands of dollars back to the community.

Once the open items are resolved, our projected timeline would be to open for baseball in spring 2019.