Crew Stadium 2.0 - Construction News and Notes

Discussion in 'Columbus Crew' started by LaMacchia, Oct 6, 2019.

  1. Crew96Fan

    Crew96Fan Member+

    Jul 27, 2013
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My dad and I got to the stands.. He decided to take a trip to the concessions and I stayed at the seats - As soon as he left, the downpour started. Spent the game soaked while he was dry. Insane.
     
  2. TrueCrew

    TrueCrew Member+

    Dec 22, 2003
    Columbus, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    We have played USOC games away from the main stadium before. I can remember watching us lose to FCD (in aet) at Jesse Owens. Epic Hejduk red card in that one.
     
  3. Tobias C

    Tobias C Member+

    Columbus Crew
    United States
    Mar 6, 2014
    Toledo, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've always thought this would be a great place to stash more parking. All the railroads binding the property in make it difficult for big development projects, but it seems to me like you could easily build a huge parking garage in there, and maybe surround it with a little bit of surface lot on the ground (tailgating!).

    The triangle of land basically has no main road frontage so it's not like any business would get noticed back there. It's the ideal type of place to hide unattractive parking structures. The arena and ballpark would benefit from it equally as well.
     
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  4. TKyle

    TKyle Moderator
    Staff Member

    Columbus Crew
    United States
    Dec 28, 2014
    Nordecke’s Porch
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This. I completely agree.
    Small, awkwardly shaped parcel with no aesthetic value.
    Surface lots or parking garage!!
     
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  5. kgilbert78

    kgilbert78 Member+

    Borussia Mönchengladbach
    United States
    Dec 28, 2006
    Cowlumbus, OH
    Club:
    Borussia Mönchengladbach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    One issue: auto and pedestrian connections to the stadium. You don't want people crossing active tracks. I doubt those tracks are going away any time soon (you often see activity on one of those lines if you watch the construction cam). I'd expect tunnels are out due to being too close to the river (flooding issues). You used to see some of that at Riverfront, especially in the early spring. Bridges could work, but there would have to be multiple access points. One way would be to have the connection go into the second floor of a garage.
     
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  6. Bill Archer

    Bill Archer BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 19, 2002
    Washington, NC
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wasn't there some talk that one of those lines wasn't used much and could be vacated if you asked the RR nicely and/or offered a sufficient bribe?
     
  7. kgilbert78

    kgilbert78 Member+

    Borussia Mönchengladbach
    United States
    Dec 28, 2006
    Cowlumbus, OH
    Club:
    Borussia Mönchengladbach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Perhaps--but a "wye" (which is what that triangle is) is quite useful for turning trains and the like, so it might cost a fair bit.

    One thing with trains--remember that "grade" is everything, so you won't see the tracks go down into a tunnel or up over a bridge. Heavy trains, which use at least one branch here, do not like to have sudden changes in slope. One might be able to build over the tracks, however. Given some of the stuff that goes thru downtown, I'm not sure they'd take the risk (I have seen tank cars, for example, on that line, and even if it's something as innocuous as corn syrup, it could get really messy if there was a derailment).
     
  8. POdinCowtown

    POdinCowtown Member+

    Jan 15, 2002
    Columbus
    I was taking 3 friends and we went out for dinner before the match. So we missed the big storm. Wearing layers under a rain suit, I was comfortable the whole match but one of the ladies had a cold for a month afterward and said she'd never attend another soccer match.
     
  9. WhiteHartShame

    WhiteHartShame Member+

    Nov 16, 2008
    Columbus, Ohio
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The Savko lot really needs to be controlled by The Crew. In the near term it could provide extra surface parking close to the stadium, and could be themed as a tailgate zone. Long term, with the success of Confluence Village, the lot could be developed as Confluence Village Phase 2 with a parking garage and residential development. A pedestrian bridge over railroad tracks has been done before, as a matter of fact there is one right down the street...

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. crewfan_in_columbus

    Feb 25, 2001
    Columbus is home
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Where is the $25 million dollar parking garage supposed to be built?
     
  11. crewfan_in_columbus

    Feb 25, 2001
    Columbus is home
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I wonder if they'll do a Stadium Open House or Stadium Tours for Season Ticket Members before it opens like they did for Mapfre back in the day.

    I remember a quick 30-60 second conversation with Jamey Rootes that day and you could just see the happiness and pride exuding from every pore on his skin. Man, that was a GREAT day.
     
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  12. TKyle

    TKyle Moderator
    Staff Member

    Columbus Crew
    United States
    Dec 28, 2014
    Nordecke’s Porch
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    One thought and one question.

    Certainly some kind of fence or barrier could be put up to limit crossing of the tracks. Sure that will cost some money, but a chickenwire fence is pennies compared to the stadium itself. Of course, that begs the question ([emoji6]): who actually pays for it?

    The question: are those “wye” tracks actually still used? I thought those two sides of the triangle were abandoned, or at least not in use.
     
  13. POdinCowtown

    POdinCowtown Member+

    Jan 15, 2002
    Columbus
    Just west of the stadium. It will be on the Confluence Village parcel to the east of their buildings.

    I believe they are still in use. Wyes are used to change direction on a single track line. How far above grade are the tracks built? I'd think if the Savko lot eventually became Crew parking they could use an at-grade ramp for moving between the 2 parcels. That wouldn't work if a train was using the tracks between or was parked there but I bet that's rare.
     
  14. speedye1

    speedye1 Member+

    Dec 31, 2002
    I recall discussion about the Crew purchasing the Savko triangle plot and I think Savko wanted way too much money for it. They probably thought they could put the team over a barrel and the Crew haven't blinked.
     
  15. crewfan_in_columbus

    Feb 25, 2001
    Columbus is home
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm certainly no expert, but the all three arms of the "WYE" appear to be CSX Tracks. Conrail/Norfolk Southern owns a second set of tracks just north of the northernmost CSX track (the east/west portion of the wye).
    Just east of the river, the southern CSR track crosses the Conrail/NS track.

    I would imagine, that for the right amount of $, CSX could be convinced that it's ok to go straight on the Conrail/NS track and build a switch to turn onto their track that heads NW and parallels 315 up through Grandview and UA, etc.

    That's if they even use that southern spur. It looks awfully unkempt on google maps.
     
  16. kgilbert78

    kgilbert78 Member+

    Borussia Mönchengladbach
    United States
    Dec 28, 2006
    Cowlumbus, OH
    Club:
    Borussia Mönchengladbach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The main reason for the wye is to be able to turn around, if you need to. A passing siding or a new switch does not do that. It's possible that the southern spur is not used much--but the wye may still be important.
     
  17. Ch(Elsey)

    Ch(Elsey) Member+

    Columbus Crew
    United States
    May 2, 2003
    Green, Ohio
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Inevitably, I find Chris LaMacchia (you) name drop (not in a negative way) soccer people who I end up having to internet search for to understand the name reference.
     
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  18. Bill Archer

    Bill Archer BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 19, 2002
    Washington, NC
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You wouldn't put up with Tanya Keith for 30 seconds. You don't waste your time on fake-ass, phony, attention-whore women any more than my wife does.
     
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  19. Minnman

    Minnman Member+

    Feb 11, 2000
    Columbus, OH, USA
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The Crew isn't going to acquire that lot, which I believe is valued at something like $15M. It's, of course, also part of the AD, so the Crew couldn't just drop a bunch of parking there if it wanted to. Savko is interesting in selling it for the right price and developing it into something integrated into the Arena District. It had been part of the huge Grand Central development that was planned for the entire end section of W Nationwide a few years ago, but then cancelled.

    That last plot will become even more valuable once the stadium and Confluence Village development is done. No way it'll get wasted on parking. At least not just parking.
     
  20. Bill Archer

    Bill Archer BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 19, 2002
    Washington, NC
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Plus, a parking lot would inevitably become, as some have anticipated, a tailgate venue. But the City and the local merchants, not to mention the Crew, would never sit still for that.
     
  21. LaMacchia

    LaMacchia Member+

    Jul 12, 2008
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Seconded. She's a joke - among other, less nice, things.
     
  22. POdinCowtown

    POdinCowtown Member+

    Jan 15, 2002
    Columbus
    Last year before the new stadium site became final, the Savko site was on the tax rolls with a valuation of $900K. They were trying to sell it for $3 mil but nobody thought that was reasonable. It's only got about 30 feet of frontage on Nationwide Blvd.
     
  23. Minnman

    Minnman Member+

    Feb 11, 2000
    Columbus, OH, USA
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Maybe so, and my $15M amount was from memory. But it is 9 acres in the Arena District. And the Crew bought 21 acres in the AD last year for close to $26M.

    The Crew aren't a real estate development company (the Edwards family, on the other hand...). To date, the club hasn't come anywhere near putting up its own cash for downtown parking. And why would it? At some point, someone will acquire and develop that odd, triangular site. I understand its access issues now. But it could eventually connect to Neil Avenue, as well, via bridge or tunnel. Perhaps might even be able to connect through to the new White Castle mixed-use development.

    In any event, I have to think that Savko sees this plot as potentially increasing dramatically in value. Once Confluence Village is done, it'll represent 9 acres of undeveloped land in the heart of downtown. They've sat on that land for 20+ years. In a few more, they might eventually be able to cash in.
     
  24. Crewster

    Crewster Member+

    Jan 28, 2005
    Worthington
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Getting in and out of a parking garage built on that triangle might be a nightmare on game days.
     
  25. stanger

    stanger BigSoccer Supporter

    Nov 29, 2008
    Columbus
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I have parked in all the garages around Nationwide for jackets games and they are all a shitshow if you don’t get a spot low.
     
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