State fairgrounds officials who control site weren't consulted and say it will hurt parking; critics say it won't benefit Linden

The plan to convert Mapfre Stadium into a Columbus Crew practice facility and community sports park that was part of the Save the Crew effort is drawing criticism.

Virgil Strickler, general manager of the Ohio Expo Center and whose Ohio Expositions Commission board controls the property, opposes the plan as unveiled in December because it would consume parking needed for the state fair and other events. Others are also expressing doubts about the Mapfre proposal.

Strickler said he was never contacted about the plan before community leaders announced it. The Expositions Commission controls the land under Mapfre Stadium through a lease with the Crew that expires in June 2023.

In addition to building a new Crew stadium in the Arena District, officials of the city of Columbus, Franklin County and the Columbus Partnership announced the plan to convert Mapfre Stadium and some surrounding parking lots into a community sports park, mixed-use development and practice facility for the Crew. The concept shown at the announcement included a complex with seven "community fields," two new practice fields for the Crew and an indoor sports center including "programming space."



That's a problem, Strickler said, because big events that come to the fairgrounds each year — including the state fair, the monthlong All American Quarter Horse Congress and the Arnold Sports Festival — rely on that land.

"We have contracts with big event holders that say we're going to have a certain amount of parking for them when they come here. ... We use every inch of parking we can get our hands on for those events," Strickler said. "I'm not saying we wouldn't talk to people and try to figure something out. But ... it's our property. I wasn't contacted at all."

In announcing the Mapfre redevelopment plan, community leaders said it was necessary to keep the stadium site from deteriorating.

"The alternative is to not act and not make a decision, and we all know what will happen then — Mapfre Stadium will be the largest and probably vacant and abandoned property in the community, and I am not going to sit by and let that happen," Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said at the event.

Strickler and Expo Center spokeswoman Alicia Shoults said the stadium cannot fall into neglect because of the lease between the Crew and the Expo Center. It states that at the end of the contract, the team will return the property to its original condition (without a stadium) and give it back to the state. If the lease is terminated early, the Expo Center has an option to take possession of the property, including the stadium, or compel the team to return the property to its original condition.

Strickler said that about two years ago, he met with Columbus Partnership CEO Alex Fischer about the idea of building a Columbus practice facility for the Cleveland Browns. He said he told Fischer then that any plan that would take away parking wouldn't work. The owner of the Browns, the Haslam family, also is a partner in the new ownership of the Crew.

"Everyone was told then how (the lease agreement) works with the Crew," Strickler said. "I told them the (fairgrounds) couldn't handle the Browns plan, given the other demands on the fairgrounds."

Strickler did not meet again with Fischer until this week. Shoults said that on the business day after The Dispatch spoke to Strickler, he was contacted by and received a visit from Fischer to discuss the project that had been announced three months ago.

Fischer, who was instrumental in the Save the Crew plan on behalf of the business community, acknowledged that the new Mapfre stadium plan was put together in weeks out of necessity. He added, as officials did at the December announcement, that many details remain to be finalized.

"Do you want an old, empty stadium sitting vacant on the edge of one of Columbus' most challenged neighborhoods?" asked Fischer, repeating Ginther's assertion that the fairgrounds plan was necessary to prevent blight.

Robin Davis, spokeswoman for Ginther, reiterated that in an emailed statement this week.

"We were faced with the very real possibility that Mapfre Stadium would become one of the largest vacant and abandoned structures in the community," Davis wrote. "With all of the efforts to invest in this area in recent years, we could not afford to let this happen. ... Transforming it into a practice field for the team and a community sports park is a beautiful solution for the team and the neighborhood."

But others question how much a community sports facility would benefit nearby neighborhoods such as Weinland Park and Linden.

George Walker Jr., a Linden community leader and former chairman of the South Linden Area Commission, said he doubts Linden residents would ever use the Mapfre complex. He said he thinks it would primarily benefit the Crew, and he said that the estimated $50 million the city expects to spend on the new Crew stadium and Mapfre redevelopment could be spent to upgrade parks in Linden.

"We've been fooled before. We don't want to be fooled again," Walker said.

Bret Adams, a Columbus sports agent, charter member of the Columbus sports commission and vocal supporter of the Save the Crew movement, is also critical of the Mapfre plan because of its expense and because it duplicates the practice facility the Crew has in Obetz.

"It is simply beyond comprehension that Columbus City Council and the county would use the Linden community as a pawn to justify this massive waste of taxpayer dollars," Adams wrote in an email. "Thankfully, the Crew were saved, but the Crew already have a world-class training facility. Why would anyone believe taxpayers should subsidize a new, entirely unnecessary training facility?"

Obetz has spent millions of dollars over the years on practice fields, a soccer-camp site, a training center and other amenities to benefit the Crew. The village also has built up adjacent fields for use by the community and other sports groups such as the Ohio Machine professional lacrosse team.

Obetz village administrator Rod Davisson said he, too, was not consulted or informed about the plan to move the Crew's practice facility. The move isn't a big surprise, he said, given that the previous Crew ownership had shopped around for a new practice facility and had allowed its lease with Obetz to run out. He said the team and village are on a month-to-month deal.

Fischer said a new practice facility was required to meet the standards of Major League Soccer, which demands "modern practice facilities."

Fischer expressed confidence that Gov. Mike DeWine — who as Ohio attorney general filed a lawsuit to prevent the Crew's departure, buying time for the Save the Crew effort — will help the effort to reuse and develop the state-owned land around Mapfre Stadium.

Strickler, meanwhile, said that he and everyone else are "in a little bit of a waiting game."

This article has been updated to correct the name of the Ohio Machine lacrosse team, which was incorrectly identified in the earlier version

Dispatch Reporter Mark Ferenchik contributed to this story.



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