Mooresville topped 26 cities for baseball

The owner of what could be America’s largest youth invitational baseball complex said 26 cities across the country tried to lure the project before he chose Mooresville.

Louis Presutti is founder of a similar but smaller complex in Cooperstown, N.Y., called Cooperstown Dreams Park.

The N.Y. complex has 22 fields and draws players from all 50 states and across Canada. The project off Rankin Hill Road between Mooresville and Troutman will have 25 fields because it will attract teams from more age brackets.

Presutti and his business partner in the venture, Todd Hines of Mooresville, detailed plans for the complex before receiving economic incentives Tuesday night from the Iredell County Board of Commissioners.

Commissioners voted 4-to-1 to provide an incentive grant of $50,000 a year over 10 years to America’s Park LLC. Commissioner Scott Keadle, who opposes government incentives for private businesses, voted against the measure

The Observer first detailed plans for the $20 million complex on May 4, after the Mooresville Board of Commissioners approved a similar $500,000 incentive package.

The complex is expected to generate about $33 million in direct spending for the Mooresville area, Russ Rogerson, executive director of the Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corp., told the commissioners before their vote.

During the prime three-month youth baseball season, 80,000 people are expected to visit the area and book 100,000 nights at local hotels, he said.

The complex is expected to open by 2012. It will have 1,400 parking spaces and a 4,000-5,000-seat stadium.

Presutti lives in Salisbury. He told the commissioners that he continues to operate Cooperstown Dreams Park from his home.

He said he visited the 26 cities at their request but concluded the Mooresville area was best, in part because of how excited and welcoming people were about having the complex here.

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