HispanicBusiness

MountainStar Sports Group, which is bringing Triple-A minor league baseball to El Paso, will donate its profits to local non-profit groups, officials announced today.

Details of the intended donations were not immediately available this afternoon, and it was unclear how much of the profits will be donated.

The group has received all but final approval from the Pacific Coast League and Minor League Baseball to bring the Tucson Padres, which are affiliated to the San Diego Padres, to El Paso.

The group's members include local business leaders Paul Foster, Woody Hunt, Joshua Hunt and Alejandra De La Vega Foster. The Foster and Hunt families have donated more than $80 million to the community in the last five years alone.

MountainStar members haven't disclosed the team's purchase price, nor how much it might cost them to operate the ballpark annually.

Some experts have said Triple-A teams sell for an average $20 million, and the cost to operate a minor league ballpark averages about $1 million to $2 million a year depending on how many and what type of events it hosts.

The City Council on June 26 agreed to build a $50 million baseball stadium if a team was secured by MountainStar. Under the agreement, the stadium will be built where the City Hall and the Insights El Paso Science Center buildings now stand. The buildings would likely be demolished by February 0and the stadium would open by April 2014.

While the demolition of City Hall and Insights are included

in the $50 million, city officials have estimated it would cost the average homeowner $5.75 more annually to fund the relocation of city operations if it purchases two other Downtown buildings for about $22 million.

The city is in negotiations to purchase the El Paso Times building and the two parking lots that sandwich it, as well as another building on Texas Avenue. The $22 million and its estimated impact on the taxpayer don't include the cost of the two parking lots, which will likely raise both estimates.

City Council is expected to discuss and possibly finalize its ballpark contract with MountainStar, as well as the purchase of the El Paso Times building and another on Texas Avenue, during its Sept. 11 meeting.

Final approval from the Pacific Coast League would come after those final negotiations, officials said.