Northern Virginia Baseball Site In Disarray

27 July 2004 - 11:00am

The plan to bring the Montreal Expos to Loudoun County hinges on the viability of a 450-acre mixed-use "new town" called "Virginia's Ballpark at Diamond Lake." Small problems: there's no lake, and the baseball supporters own, at most, a third of the site.

Rumor has it that Commissioner Bud Selig will announce the future home of the forgotten Montreal Expos sometime in August. While cities such as San Juan, Portland, Or., and Las Vegas all have submitted proposals, insiders believe only Washington DC and Northern Virginia are in the running. New information about the Loudoun County plan seems to suggest that the proposed site near Dulles Airport is not as ready for development as backers claimed. Their plan, a groundbreaking mix of new homes, retail space, offices, and the ballpark, would become the most ambitious suburban stadium plan ever built.

Source: The Washington Post, July 26, 2004
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The decision to abandon a property is a symptom of the loss of confidence. And while abandonment certainly affects confidence among surrounding homeowners, the most important question to answer is not "how do we deal with abandoned properties?" but "what is the most cost-effective way to restore market confidence, and how do abandoned properties fit into that picture?"