RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – Nearly $130 million in bonds have been sold by the City of Richmond to help the construction of a new baseball stadium and the Diamond District’s site infrastructure, the city announced Thursday.
City officials touted the finalized sale of the tax-exempt general obligation bonds because it was locked in with an interest rate of 3.99%, not the 4.25% rate that the city initially expected, per a release from the city.
Per city officials, this true interest cost rate will save Richmond about $11.5 million over the next 32 years compared to previous predictions.
“Our finance and development teams have put in so much time and effort toward making this moment possible,” Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said in a statement. “I’m grateful for their hard work and can’t wait to break ground on this project!”
The city expects construction of the new stadium, which is set to be the new home of the Flying Squirrels, will begin later this fall and an official groundbreaking in August, per a release. Site work for the new stadium is also slated to start in August, per the city.
Richmond has until the 2026 season to have a new stadium or Major League Baseball could take the team away for not fulfilling facility upgrade requirements. City officials said the stadium will be ready for the 2026 season.
Stoney’s administration pitched a new way to pay for the stadium earlier this year, which city leaders said would help keep the Flying Squirrels in the city and save money. The plan, which was approved by the City Council, comes with a risk for taxpayers, officials said in April.
The new financing structure uses city-issued revenue bonds to pay for its new stadium instead of creating a community development authority (CDA) that would issue revenue bonds to finance it.
There’s also the risk of higher taxes in Richmond if revenues don’t match expectations as the special revenue bond path “is backed by the full faith and credit of the City,” per city documents.
“I know we said a hundred times we would never do this,” Sharon Ebert, Richmond’s deputy chief administrative officer of planning and economic development, said about the city using general obligation bonds during a City Council committee meeting on April 18.
“In fact, we really were in a situation where this makes just a lot more sense because of the major savings to the city and to be able to move this forward,” Ebert added in that meeting.
The Diamond District also includes plans to construct private developments, including a hotel, retail stores and housing units. The construction of those private developments will start in early 2025, per the city’s release.