Real deal for new S.L. stadium?

Some Salt Lake City leaders, including Mayor Rocky Anderson, have said they would be willing to purchase land where Real Salt Lake could build a new soccer stadium. Now they have a price tag — some $15.5 million.

That figure is the assessed 2004 property value of the 10-acre block Salt Lake City hopes Real Salt Lake will choose to build its stadium. The site is between 600 and 700 South and Main and West Temple streets. The competition is from Murray, which has pitched its own site in the Fireclay district near 4500 South and I-15.

Real Salt Lake spokesman Josh Ewing said the team expects to have public meetings in both cities this month before deciding on a site.

Salt Lake City's block is currently owned by five different groups, the largest being billionaire Earl Holding's Sinclair Oil Corp., which owns roughly three-quarters of the 10-acre area.

All but one of the property owners have been contacted about selling their land, Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency executive director Dave Oka said.

Sinclair Vice President Clint Ensign said a land sale is "something that we're looking into right now."

The $15.5 million the land is worth would be in addition to the $30 million Real Salt Lake wants Salt Lake County taxpayers to bond for to help pay the stadium's estimated $60 million construction costs.

The city or the RDA, however, might be able to put together a deal in which Sinclair keeps some of the land but allows the soccer stadium to be built.

"This is a spectacular site. It's got ready access off the freeway off Sixth South, and it's right off a light-rail line," Anderson said. If selected, "It will provide the impetus for significant development, all of which will provide a badly needed south anchor to Main Street."

The city is also committed to building an additional light-rail stop at the proposed stadium, near 650 South, Anderson said. That stop would be stuck between the 550 South stop and the 900 South stop currently under construction.

The one block owner not contacted by the city is Tony Martinez, who owns a small sliver of land on the block's southern side. Martinez, who also owns several Blue Boutique shops in the Salt Lake Valley, told the Deseret Morning News from Las Vegas Friday that he is a very willing seller.

"I was actually thinking of selling anyway," Martinez said. "I had already contacted a real estate agent to list it in November."

Still, at least one property owner claimed he hadn't been contacted and said any sale would need approval from his company's board.