Builder may purchase stadium's naming rights
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/state_news/article/0,1651,TCP_1021_2666539,00.html

Core Communities, developer of Tradition, is in
"active discussions" to put its name on Thomas J.
White Stadium.

By Eve Modzelewski, TCPalm staff writer
February 19, 2004

PORT ST. LUCIE — Core Communities is closing in on a
deal to purchase the naming rights to Thomas J. White
Stadium, the New York Mets' spring-training park.

The team scheduled a news conference for 1:30 p.m.
today to announce a partnership, and Mets officials
would not comment on the arrangement before then. But
sources close to Core Communities confirmed late
Wednesday they are in "active discussions" with the
team.

St. Lucie County Commission Chairwoman Paula Lewis
said she thought Core Communities — the current
developer of St. Lucie West and the Tradition
community west of Interstate 95 — is a smart choice.

"Its roots are in the community there," Lewis said.
"It's certainly a local company that's done a lot of
good business in the area."

Stadium namesake Thomas J. White paid for the
ballpark's construction and lured the Mets to the area
in the mid-1980s when he started St. Lucie West.

He funneled millions of his own money into developing
the community and was in deep debt when he died in
1989. Core Communities took over the St. Lucie West
development in the 1990s.

His son, Thomas White Jr., has urged the commission to
keep his father's name on the county-owned facility.
At the least, he asked the County Commission and the
Mets to name the St. Lucie County Sports Complex,
which includes the stadium, after his father.

Lewis said the county and the Mets might name a plaza
in front of the stadium for the elder White. It could
include a bronze plaque bearing White's name and
likeness, she said.

When the Mets signed a new spring-training contract
with the county last year, they promised to find a
naming-rights sponsor that would pay at least $150,000
a year to have its name on the facility.

With that in mind, the county borrowed an additional
$1.6 million to help pay for a $10 million renovation
project expected to be complete in time for the first
game March 5.

Lewis said she wasn't sure what the stadium's new name
will be, but she was adamant about preserving White's
memory there. "As much as the development company has
done in later years ... it did begin with Thomas J.
White," she said.



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