Dash owner throws the Twin City a curve.

• Position: Triad

In for $12 million, in for $26.7 million? That's the question Winston-Salem city leaders will grapple with this month. They might have to keep playing ball with the owner of the city's minor-league baseball team to protect their original investment in a downtown stadium.

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In 2007, the city agreed to front Winston-Salem Dash owners Billy Prim and Andrew Filipowski $12 million to build what was then a $22.6 million stadium to replace Ernie Shore Field, opened in 1956. About $5.5 million was a loan, which the city expects to recoup over 25 years through the property taxes generated by the stadium and a $ 1-a-ticket surcharge. Once that debt was retired, ownership would transfer to the city. The plan started falling apart in November, when Prim began negotiating to buy Filipowski's half of the team, formerly known as the Warthogs. As negotiations dragged into the spring, work stopped on the stadium, which the city says is about 60% finished, because subcontractors weren't being paid. In late May, Prim announced that the deal with Filipowski was nearly complete and construction would resume soon.

Two weeks later, his message changed. Citing the tight credit market, he asked the city to put up an additional $14.7 million for what he now says is a $40.7 million project. Otherwise, according to city officials, the stadium...