This week the Mooresville Tribune reported that there has been a change of ownership of the development of the America’s Park youth baseball facility. “Lou Presutti of Salisbury, who unveiled his plan last April to build a 25-field private youth baseball facility, is no longer involved in the project. Todd Hines and Jeff Cernuto are now the principal partners, the Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corp. said Tuesday.” You can read the whole article HERE. 
The article goes on to note that Mr. Cernuto owns the land on which the park will be built, so obviously, he has good cause to have an interest in it. Any kind of land development is especially difficult in our current economic environment, so it’s not surprising that at least part of the reason for the change has to do with financing issues.
We certainly hope the new partners will be successful in bringing the park to fruition, given the large positive impact on our area around Mooresville and Troutman. It does serve as a warning though that when we read about the grand plans of various developers about their plans for wonderful new developments that will be a boon to the area, we can be sure we’re not let in on the whole story. Developers need buy-in from many different kinds of people. Certainly those who can help finance a project must be comfortable with it, but the process also involves local and state government plus the sentiment of local residents in order to make the project work and get all the necessary approvals. Developers will always describe a project in the most positive light in order to help get that buy-in. I certainly don’t blame them, since the success of many projects will also bring economic benefits to many other residents of the area. We just need to read news of such projects through a filter of a bit of skepticism.
I’m a card-carrying skeptic, so that’s not a problem for me.
