The City of High Point is moving forward on a high-stakes downtown development project just days after the county delayed committing to it.
The High Point City Council met in closed session Monday to discuss the future of the deal, which would include a baseball stadium, apartments, a museum and more.
They eventually emerged with a resolution to move forward, and allocated $5 million for demolition and design costs. The measure, which passed 8-1, also keeps the door open for Guilford County to step in to help fund the development if it chooses to do so.
Local leaders already have commitments of tens of millions of dollars in private funds and donations, along with agreements with developers to build on blighted land downtown.
Mayor Bill Bencini says the plan could be a boon for High Point's center city, and needs to get going.
“It would be foolish of us at this point just to say ‘well, the county's not going to participate,' if in fact they're not,” he said. “We don't know that. We hope they are going to participate. But it would be foolish to walk away and say ‘well, nice try.'”
The city is under a tight deadline to jump-start the project.
The reason: a AAA minor league baseball team is committed to playing in High Point starting in April 2019. If the team has no stadium, the deal could fall apart.