Cedar Rapids’ Prospect Meadows project receives $1.3 million

CEDAR RAPIDS - Prospect Meadows' $11 million, 17-field ballpark project won a $1.266 million grant from the Iowa Transportation Commission on Tuesday to help build two entrances and an interior road on the project site.

'We got the full amount,” Jack Roeder, president and general manager of the Prospect Meadows project, said after the commission's meeting in Perry. 'It's great news. It's a big step forward for us.”

The Transportation Commission support is called a RISE grant for Revitalize Iowa's Sound Economy, and it will pay half the cost of the road work needed into and through the Prospect Meadows site near County Home Road and Highway 13.

Last week, the Linn County Board of Supervisors reaffirmed its commitment to the Prospect Meadows project by extending the time line for when the project needs to start until the end of this year. The supervisors intend to lease the county-owned land for $1 a year to Prospect Meadows if the project is built.

The land now is being farmed, and the supervisors are letting Prospect Meadows have the roughly $50,000 a year in revenue from crops grown on the site for a third year.

Last week, Roeder, the retired former general manager of the Cedar Rapids Kernels minor league baseball team, said the hope is that construction of Prospect Meadows could start as soon as late this year.

However, Roeder said the project organizers continue to work on their goal of raising $4.2 million in private funds and $6.5 million in public funds.

To date, they have raised about $2.8 million in private funds, including $600,000 from Perfect Game, $400,000 from Hall & Hall Engineers and $300,000 from Transamerica.

On the public side, the city of Marion has agreed to contribute $750,000 in addition to the $1.266 million grant from the Transportation Commission.

Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson on Tuesday called the commission decision 'absolutely great news” and 'one more piece of the plan to bring the project to fruition.”

He said he will work this summer to help round up more public funds for the project.

By the Numbers

'$11 million - Estimated cost of the proposed 17-field Prospect Meadows ballpark near County Home Road and Highway 13 in Marion.

'$1.3 million - Amount the project received from the Iowa Transportation Commission to help build two entrances and an interior road at the site.

'$6.5 million - Amount the project is hoping to raise in public funds.

'$2 million - Amount of public money the project has raised so far, including the Transportation Commission grant and $750,000 from the city of Marion.