City seeks approval to declare Golden Park surplus property

Golden Park, the venue for minor league baseball over the years and softball events during the 1996 Summer Olympics, may be sold if Columbus Council agrees to declare the property at 110 Fourth St. surplus.

During its 5:30 p.m. Tuesday meeting at the City Services Center, the 10-member council will consider a proposal from City Manager Isaiah Hugley to authorize the sale of 5.53 acres of property valued at $3.7 million.

The park has been in the hands of the city for 88 years, since it was conveyed to the Commissioners of Commons of the City of Columbus on Jan. 30, 1928.

Although the 4,500-seat stadium was renovated in 1994 for softball events during the Olympics, it was used for minor league baseball teams until 2008. With no minor league team using the facility, the park is currently used only for special events.

The park is costing the city an average of $93,000 a year, with expenses exceeding revenues. It also needs about $2.7 million in renovations.

Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson said Golden Park is among a handful of various properties the city has assessed on whether they should be put on the block to be disposed of through public bid.

“It really is an opportunity to see what the market is for the property, what the value may be in the market, then for council to assess their choices,” she said.

If approval is granted to put the property up for public bid, Tomlinson said council still has the final decision once the bids come back.

“It’s still in council’s absolute discretion whether to accept the bid or not,” she said.

The mayor identified the old fire station on Talbotton Road and maybe two other properties the city considers surplus. Council has been aware that the city has been looking at properties to eliminate cost the city has to maintain them and because of the potential cash value they could bring in a tight budget year.

Golden Park was considered because it has no legal ties from Community Development Block Grants or other legal sources.

The mayor said the park, which fronts the Chattahoochee RiverWalk, was going to be part of the Liberty District Tax Allocation District but it was cut out.

“They just wanted to separate those two things and make it very clear,” Tomlinson said. “The public bidding process for Golden Park was not related to the TAD process. They stand separate and alone. There was a lot of discussion about excluding Golden Park for that reason.”

Over the years, the city has been approached about Sally League and other types of baseball opportunities on the site. Brokers made pitches to the city to bring a team to Columbus but wanted the city to spend $6 million to $20 million on Golden Park.

“As you well know, we are not quite in that position,” she said.

The city didn’t have the resources to bring Golden Park up to standards.

“We knew it was really a competitive and complex process that usually left cities holding the bag with investments they have made,” she said. “They were always constantly in threat of having a team pulled away by somebody else.”

Once a team arrives in a city, another broker is trying to lure the team to another city.

“At this particular time, we weren’t in a situation to make those investments,” she said.

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 2:46 PM with the headline "City seeks approval to declare Golden Park surplus property."