It isn't the simplest site, either. A new ballpark could be built sooner at Broadway Commons. That site, at Broadway and Reading Road, is covered mainly by parking lots and would be fast and easy to clear.
Still, the Wedge with all its complications has become the focus of talks between the county and team. Both sides are ''cautiously optimistic'' they can reach a deal, perhaps within the next month or so.
A model prepared by downtown architect Michael Schuster, a proponent of Baseball on Main, offers an attractive vision for the new riverfront ballpark.
But many of the county's concerns about the site center more on construction than how the stadium will look once it's finished.
''A stadium at that location is quite viable but is more complicated to construct because the site permits less staging area, involves demolition of a facility that's immediately adjacent, has a closer network of major roads and relies on the timely completion of Fort Washington Way,'' County Commission President Tom Neyer Jr. said.
The city's $146.9 million overhaul of Fort Washington Way is an important factor in the site. For the location to work as it's envisioned, the ballpark would sit just south of the narrowed highway, using land freed up by the massive highway project.
City officials have said they don't think a ballpark on the Wedge could be built until after the highway project is completed in August 2000.
But Mr. Neyer, a developer, said work could start on another part of the site when the Bengals finish their 1999 season in Cinergy Field.
County Commissioner John Dowlin, a fan of Broadway who thinks the Wedge is too complicated and expensive, said he thinks the Reds could be hurt financially during construction of a Wedge ballpark.
Construction of a stadium between The Crown and Cinergy Field could eliminate as much as one-fourth of Cinergy's massive parking deck and parking between Cinergy Field and The Crown.
Mr. Dowlin questioned how the county would meet its commitments to provide parking for the Reds and The Crown during construction.
''I really believe if we look at this in more detail, one will see the Wedge site is terribly, terribly expensive and terribly, terribly complicated,'' Mr. Dowlin said.
''But I'm told the Reds will not listen to anything other than the riverfront,'' he said. ''It will take a demonstration that the Wedge won't work.''
If the two sides take the plunge in the coming weeks, a new Baseball on Main ballpark could be ready for Opening Day 2002.
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