ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607150095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WOODBRIDGE
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Prince William Cannons are only a minor league team, but their owner is making some major league plans.
Arthur Silber says he wants to build a $150 million complex including a new baseball stadium, a 250-room hotel, conference facilities and a performing arts center.
The project, to be built on an undisclosed 100-acre parcel along Interstate 95 in Prince William County, would also include a 12,000-seat hockey arena for a minor league team Silber hopes to buy, a large office building and an upscale shopping area.
``This is the most significant thing to hit Prince William County ever,'' Silber said. ``We are going to create the most significant architectural facility on I-95 from Maine to Florida.''
Silber's Class A Carolina League Cannons now play in the 6,000-seat Prince William County Stadium he says is substandard.
Silber, 55, said he envisions attracting Broadway plays, opera and ballet to the performing arts center.
``There just isn't that much to do or go to in the area that isn't a discount mall,'' Silber said, referring to Potomac Mills, the huge shopping center that is one of Virginia's top tourist attractions. ``I think [county residents] will respond very well to something that is high class.''
Silber, retired president of Baltimore-based Sterling Bank & Trust Co., has said he is ready to finance most of the project privately. But he said he will ask the county to issue revenue bonds to pay for the $12 million baseball stadium and for road and sewer and water improvements to the site. The bonds would be paid back from baseball ticket sales, he said.
Reaction to Silber's proposal, which he made Tuesday in a closed-door session with the Board of County Supervisors, was cautious.
``I want to see the numbers,'' said Michele McQuigg, a frequent critic of the county's borrowing money for projects by issuing bonds. ``We have to have enough cushion to be assured that if the market goes sour that the county isn't left holding the bag.''
Some county officials have expressed concern that the county-financed stadium would be built first and that other parts of the complex would take years to construct, but Silber said he wants to complete the entire facility at one time if possible.
Silber said he expects the complex would draw people from throughout the area.
``It will be a destination,'' he said. ``It's not going to be discount at all. We would be geared to be the direct opposite of Potomac Mills. We will be creating an environment where people will go to have lunch, walk the plazas, go into high-quality stores and go to the games.''
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB