FORT WORTH -- LaGrave Field, home to the Fort Worth Cats minor-league baseball team, was bought Tuesday by an affiliate of the team's ownership group for $4.5 million, ending months of uncertainty about the stadium's future.
The transaction, conducted outside the Tarrant County Courthouse during a foreclosure auction, will give the team a home "for a long, long time," said John Bryant, managing partner of FW Stadium Group Llc., which bought the property. Bryant, a Dallas lawyer and former U.S. representative, and longtime minor-league baseball executive Byron Pierce lead a group that bought the team in December.The 13.2-acre parcel includes the 5,200-seat stadium and land around it.The sale follows several foreclosure filings in recent years against the team's former owner, Carl Bell, who built the north Fort Worth stadium and laid plans for a massive development, only to default after the economy collapsed and eventually file for bankruptcy.Amegy Bank of Houston, which holds a $12.5 million loan on the property, foreclosed.Bryant said his group plans "significant improvements" at LaGrave Field for the team's opener in 2013, which will be the 125th anniversary of the Cats' founding. He declined to be more specific and said his group has no financial obligations to Amegy or any other previous creditor.Bell said Tuesday that his goal was always to put the stadium in the hands of owners who would be good for the Cats."The main thing is, this group stepped up. The Cats are preserved, and Fort Worth has a wonderful, historic ballpark that won't be demolished for condos" or other development, said Bell, a retired Dallas insurance executive.Unfortunately, he said, he guaranteed the notes and is in discussions with Amegy to settle the remaining debt.Bell opened the stadium in 2002 with 4,100 seats and expanded to 5,200 seats, adding amenities that eventually pushed his investment to $13.9 million, he said. In the years after he bought the Cats, the team won three straight league championships and Bell accumulated 58 acres in the area, with plans for a mixed-use development. But he ran into financial difficulties, and by the middle of 2008, he was trying to sell the team.About a dozen people watched Tuesday's process, including Michael J. Foltz, who said he has attended Cats games since the team resumed play at LaGrave Field in 2002.Jim Fuquay, 817-390-7552Twitter: @jimfuquayHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
