KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The city-county sports authority overseeing the construction of a downtown stadium authorized the preparation of final financing documents that will lead to a 2023 bond issue for the $114 million project on Tuesday.
The seven-member authority also said it wanted to offer input for authority chairman Alvin Nance in advance of him signing the development agreement with Boyd Sports to proceed in earnest with the project east of James White Parkway by Jackson Avenue. Legally, Nance can sign the agreement on his own but he said he'd welcome final input ahead of his signature.
The stadium is expected to open in 2025 in time for Tennessee Smokies baseball. Site work is ongoing.
With the authority's approval Tuesday, bond counsel Mark Mamantov said he'd finish preparing funding documents that will allow the bond sale to advance. The authority must bless the final documents.
Funding for the project includes a $65 million bond issued by the Sports Authority, to be paid back over 30 years.
Smokies team owner Randy Boyd has or will put in about $30 million of his own money, the state has contributed $13.5 million and other revenue sources, including sales tax collections from proceeds inside the stadium, will help fund construction.
The city, county and Boyd Sports announced Monday the long-awaited "guaranteed maximum price" for the project --- $114 million.
Bids for multiple aspects of the project have been submitted but not awarded, according to Moe Abbas, senior project manager for Denark Construction.
For more than two years, as part of the stadium planning process, various project partners including Denark have sought to find and attract minority business participants.
Authority Director Nikitia Thompson said Tuesday she wanted to learn more about the scope of efforts to include "disadvantaged business enterprise," or DBE, participants in planning and building the stadium.
The authority next meets on March 28. Abbas said he could further brief authority directors on the extent of efforts to involve minority and "disadvantaged" businesses.
A DBE team has met regularly to brainstorm ways to find and bring in more potential participants, he said. Abbas told WBIR those efforts have included Knoxville, all of Tennessee and beyond -- with a Southeastern focus.
Aspects of the total project have been isolated to try to be more inclusive for minority contractors, he said. Actual participation among qualified businesses right now has proved relatively low, but Abbas thinks the number will increase once contracts are awarded.
The DBE team includes Denark, the Knoxville Area Urban League and representatives from Partners Development, Compass Partners, LLC, and Barton Malow.
Knoxville City Council member Gwen McKenzie told the authority that she, too, was interested in learning more specifics about the extent of efforts to involve disadvantaged contractors.
"I really want to understand and look at some of the reporting and the notes that the DBE team has taken of the last 2.5 years of their work," McKenzie said.
The Knoxville Area Urban League and GEM Community Development Group asks any disadvantaged businesses who would like to be part of the project to reach out to them on the KAUL website.
Barry Brooke is executive vice president of LawlerWood, LLC, which represents the Sports Authority in the nuts and bolts workings of the project. Brooke told directors in his judgment the development team had gotten the best value for the project that could be expected.
They're anxious to get started and they face pressure to get it started, he said. It's a unique project.
"These don't get built every day," he told the authority.
