FC Cincinnati president: Cincinnati Ballet request for $1M 'sure feels like a shakedown.' Ballet calls charge 'patently false.'

The Cincinnati Ballet is pressuring FC Cincinnati to pay it $1 million for land it doesn't own, knowing the team needs at least some of the land it uses for a Major League Soccer stadium, the team president says. 

FC Cincinnati President and CEO Jeff Berding, the ballet's landlord, said no, prompting the ballet to make their case public.

"This sure feels like a shakedown to me," Berding said. 

But President and CEO Scott Altman said the ballet never authorized anyone to request $1 million from FC Cincinnati and the ballet doesn't want to move from its West End location.

"That is patently false," Altman said. "I can say with 100 percent certainty that no one from the Cincinnati ballet has discussed any kind of financial request with FCC and no one is authorized to financially negotiate on the ballet's behalf," Altman said.

The backdrop of the dispute is FC Cincinnati's move into the West End.
Since 1995, the ballet has leased land at Central Parkway and Liberty Street from Tri-State Wholesale, a manufacturing company.

Because part of the land is needed for the new soccer stadium, FC Cincinnati has agreed to purchase Tri-State, whose land includes the ballet building and the parking lot the ballet uses, becoming the ballet's landlord. Cincinnati Councilman Chris Seelbach has publicly said FC Cincinnati paid $25 million for the property, though The Enquirer has not confirmed that number. That price was in part because the ballet pays roughly $15,000 a month in rent, money that FC Cincinnati would get once it owns the land.  

So, if FC Cincinnati said yes to the $1 million request, it would be paying for land it already owns.

The ballet itself is not in the stadium footprint, just the parking lot across the street. And that's what the ballet says it is concerned about. 

A recent stadium rendering released to the public made it clear the parking lot would be used for the stadium.

The ballet's lease permits it to rent the building and the parking lot for seven more years, with an option to renew for an additional 10 years.

"We want to leave everything as it is," Altman said.

And for that to happen, the parking lot "is mission critical," he said. The reason it was built was for accessibility for children and so young drivers can park nearby.

Altman said the ballet has been planning for two years to expand, but that has always meant staying in the West End and adding another building somewhere else. The West End location is important because it is close to Music Hall, where the ballet performs, and because it has large rooms with high ceilings used for practice and classes.

Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. CEO Steve Leeper, when asked by The Enquirer, said the ballet had previously intended to move.

"We were approached by them over a year ago and the discussions at the time were about identifying potential locations and providing development support for a potential new facility." Leeper said.  Those discussions have ceased, he said. 

More:FC Cincinnati stadium will break ground Dec. 19, open March 2021

More:FC Cincinnati reveals initial designs for West End stadium

A statement from FC Cincinnati suggests the soccer team does plan to take the parking lot. Team officials pledged that once the stadium is built, the ballet will have even better parking because a garage is being built where the Tri-State manufacturing plant currently sits. And the garage could be connected directly to the ballet, eliminating the need to cross the street or even go outside.

The garage the team references is the one being built by the county.

While the Tri-State site is a possibility, no decision about exactly where it would be built has been made, Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus told The Enquirer.

A study is underway about where a garage would best be placed for a maximum return on investment, but the county resolution calls for it to be used by FC Cincinnati fans on game days. So it would be close to the stadium, but not necessarily connected to the ballet, a worry for the ballet if it loses the lot it's currently leasing.

FC Cincinnati spokeswoman Lizz Summers said the team is hoping for a deal that helps both ballet and soccer fans. 

 "FC Cincinnati understands the importance of both the ballet and FCC co-existing at the new West End stadium site. If the ballet chooses to stay at this location long-term, we will continue to work with them to achieve that result."

Altman said FC Cincinnati officials aren't talking to them. So ballet officials are making their case to city officials, hoping they can help. And it's crunch time. Fencing is set to go up around the site within the month.

"FC Cincinnati has most certainly been working with the ballet," Berding said. He added there have been several meetings between lawyers for the team and the ballet, along with email discussions.