Developer looking to bring Minor League Baseball team to Murfreesboro
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) —The Cannonsburgh Village whisks visitors back in time to the early days of Tennessee living.
“This is the house that I grew up in,” said Lisa Cisco.
Cisco’s childhood home is part of the few buildings that make up this quaint little town.
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“Cannonsburgh was the original name for Murfreesboro, and it was changed about a month later to Murfreesboro,” she said.
Over the last couple of weeks, Cisco has heard rumblings.
“The ability to market a campus of Cannonsburgh and a cool baseball stadium…I mean think of that,” said Jason Rose.
Rose is a developer from Arizona who is interested in bringing Minor League Baseball to the city of Murfreesboro.
“In early June (I) drove here and looked at a variety of sites around the city and really got a sense that a downtown setting here could be fantastic,” he said.
Rose said around that time, he got to know owners associated with the American Association of Professional Baseball.
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“They put me in touch with a commissioner, and from that he gave me 15 different cities where the league thought it could be successful and they would be interested in expanding,” he said.
Rose has been eyeing the Cannonsburgh area for this new venture, but said he has no plans of demolishing the village.
“Being able to work with it and work with the passion behind it creates a potential athletic and historic campus that’s one of one in America,” he said.
Rose has met with Cisco and others across the city, including Mayor Shane McFarland, who said he is open to the idea.
“I think it’s exciting to hear how you can mesh history with new things at the same time, and to be able to expose people not only to history, but to new things that are happening in the community,” he said.
Rose said the proposed stadium would only hold 4,500 seats, and he wouldn’t build onsite parking, saying fans could utilizing street and downtown parking nearby.
Cisco likes the idea as long as Cannonsburgh can stay where it’s at.
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“We just want to preserve our history,” said Cisco. “This is important to us.”
The village’s unique charm is something Rose said is needed for baseball to make its way into Murfreesboro.
“If we can take that passion for Cannonsburgh and put it into a baseball stadium rooting on a new team….I think we could have something special,” he said.
McFarland said right now, the city doesn’t have plans on moving the Cannonsburgh Village.
Rose said because the city owns the property, they would have to agree to build the stadium.
The baseball team would then be a tenant and pay rent to utilize it.
Rose said the proposed stadium could go right behind the village, or there’s possible space nearby off Front Street.
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He’s currently working on an ownership group called Invest Murfreesboro LLC that would be comprised of other people across the country, as well as those from the Murfreesboro community.
Rose will be presenting his plans to city councilmembers at their next workshop meeting on Thursday, Sept. 14.
The meeting will be held at the Municipal Airport Business Center’s community room starting at 11:30 a.m.
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