Everett committee finds downtown AquaSox stadium more viable

EVERETT — After nearly a year of meetings, Everett’s Stadium Fiscal Advisory Committee released its final report Wednesday, detailing ways the city could find money to build or renovate a stadium for the AquaSox.

The committee recommended against raising taxes or using general fund dollars to build a stadium — city staff had previously expressed they did not want to do either. Instead, Everett could pay for the project using a swath of funding sources, the report said, including federal and state money, private investment, capital improvement funds and bonds issued based on future revenue projections.

But the total cost of constructing both stadiums is still higher than the amount of funding available for either of them, with the downtown site being “the most fiscally beneficial option,” the report reads. To construct a stadium, the city will have to use a “design-to-budget” approach, which may require an initial phase of construction to simply meet the minimum Major League Baseball standards by 2027.

The city could also find other sources of funding for the project before construction begins, said Ben Franz, a consultant at Shiels Obletz Johnson hired by the city to help with the stadium project, at a City Council meeting Wednesday. The city could look to the state, county and other private investors — including the Seattle Mariners — for additional funding once the project has moved further along.

In 2021, planning for a new stadium began after Major League Baseball set new requirements for minor league teams. Funko Field, the Everett Public Schools-owned stadium where the AquaSox currently play, needs major renovations to be compliant with the league’s standards.

The city considered a number of options, eventually narrowed down to three: Renovate Funko Field, build a new stadium downtown or do nothing — and lose the AquaSox.

Keeping the AquaSox is in the city’s best interests, the committee wrote, noting the team is “a valuable community asset worthy of significant investment by the City of Everett.” A downtown stadium — with a new urban park — would also drive economic development, according to an economic impact analysis prepared for the city in 2022, although researchers say claims of economic benefits from stadium construction are often exaggerated.

“I’m really excited about this project because it’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make a significant economic investment,” Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin said Wednesday. “Cities often make investments in big infrastructure projects … however it’s not often we can make an infrastructure investment that has such a significant return on that investment, not just for our community and quality of life, but also to our local economy.”

The downtown site could also allow men’s and women’s United Soccer League teams to come to Everett. The soccer league would construct a practice facility, possibly along Casino Road and open to the public when the teams aren’t using it, said Scott Pattison, a special projects manager at the city, at Wednesday’s council meeting.

The soccer teams would not be able to move to Everett if Funko Field was remodeled, because the stadium’s footprint isn’t large enough to accommodate a soccer field.

The cost of a Funko Field remodel could range between $68 million and $73.5 million, with another $2.5 million needed for property acquisition, according to the report. A new downtown stadium would cost significantly more, with a low end of $84.4 million and a high end of $114.6 million, along with $18 million needed for property acquisition.

Those numbers are likely higher than what the actual construction projects would cost, Everett’s Economic Development Director Dan Eernissee said Wednesday.

“Our team will be designing,” Eernissee said. “Maybe we don’t have to pay for a Lexus, we can pay for a Toyota instead.”

Under the high end of the committee’s projections, the city would be able to raise about $95 million for a downtown stadium and about $39 million for a Funko Field remodel.

Both projections are still under the amount the city would need to complete either project, the report said.

“The level of City of Everett investment required to meet current MLB Facility Standards and keep the AquaSox in Everett will require significant net revenue for the City to support short-term debt that will be required to support construction in either scenario,” the report states. “Ongoing ownership of Funko Field by the Everett School District will mean only modest ancillary revenue for the City of Everett to support debt service.”

The largest source of money for the downtown location would come from bonds, issued based on net revenue projections at the new stadium. The committee estimated between $28 to $48 million could come from such bonds.

The city could also spend up to $3 million in restricted capital improvement dollars and $1.5 million in park impact fees, the committee said, without impacting city services.

All the funding the committee recommended spending cannot be used on general government services, like parks, libraries or staff salaries. Capital funds can only be used for large construction projects.

Other funding sources could be up to $10 million from the AquaSox, $15 million from the United Soccer League and $5 million from private or corporate donors. Public dollars would include $7.4 million from the state’s direct appropriations grant fund and $5 million from Snohomish County.

By comparison, a bond to help renovate Funko Field may only bring in as much as $16 million, the committee estimated, because the city’s revenue at Funko Field would be limited.

That bond would also be contingent on a “three-party agreement” between Everett, Everett Public Schools and the AquaSox, the report read.

The United Soccer League would also not be able to field its two teams there, leaving their investment and lease revenues off the table. The AquaSox would also invest less in a Funko Field remodel, to the tune of $5 million.

“We would get one new group area and one suite to sell,” AquaSox co-owner Chad Volpe said of the Funko Field remodel at a committee meeting last month. “Those are nice, but they’re certainly not going to be huge drivers for financial returns, right?”

The funding gap left over — $39 million in available money for a $70 million stadium, in the best case scenario — means the financial viability of a Funko Field remodel is shaky.

“I have real doubts now that [Funko Field] even could be done for the money that’s available, that it could be brought into compliance,” advisory committee chair Fred Safstrom said at last month’s committee meeting. “There’s just not enough revenue. I’m sure there’s savings to be realized, but there’s a huge gap.”

The committee explored other funding options, like direct federal funding or new market tax credits, but those are unlikely to materialize.

Everett approved the use of a progressive design-build team for the project in October, a method where owners, contractors and architects work together through the entire process, from initial design to final construction. It would allow the city to design a new or renovated stadium to a specific budget. The costs and revenues are preliminary because the stadium has not yet been designed.

The city has narrowed the search for a progressive design-build team to three possible options, Franz said Wednesday.

“When it comes to the actual cost of either option, until we get that progressive design-build team engaged, we’re not going to have any greater clarity than the wide range of costs we’ve established today,” Franz said at a Fiscal Advisory Committee meeting last month.

The council is expected to vote on a site for the stadium Dec. 18. If the council votes to move a stadium project forward, it could select a progressive design-build team in January.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.