Sounds sold to New York investors

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Sounds sold to New York investors

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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 08:03

The Nashville Sounds baseball team has been sold to MFP Real Estate, a New York-based real estate holding company.

The new owners will take over operations of the Triple AAA ball club prior to the 2009 season, if both Major League and Minor League Baseball approve the sale. The group said in a statement that approval could come as soon as December, during baseball’s annual winter meetings.

MFP is comprised of partners Frank Ward, Masahiro Honzawa and Steve Posner. The three managed U.S. operations of Tokyo-based Hiro Real Estate Co., owned by the Honzawa family, before forming their own firm earlier this year.

Ward said the three, all baseball fans, are “serious about improving the Nashville baseball experience” and said the partners would have a presence at the games and in the community.

The announcement of the deal confirms speculation the team would be sold after the Nashville Sounds Baseball Club and its general partner, Amerisports Companies, failed to reach agreement with Metro Government on a number of issues, including the lease and upgrades to Greer Stadium and plans to build a new stadium downtown.

Ward said the partners must now undergo extensive application and background checks, and ask Metro to renew the team’s lease at Greer. If that goes through, he promised the new owners would begin upgrades to the aging facility. He also said that the group would like to reopen discussions with the city for a new downtown stadium.

Ward is a real estate manager and investor in New York and a baseball fan who said he became interested in Nashville after traveling here to visit a daughter who attends Vanderbilt University. Honzawa also is a New York real estate investor who sold his share in Hiro before joining with Posner and Ward.

Posner is an accountant, attorney and tax adviser with commercial real estate experience. He was a financial and tax consultant to the New York Mets.

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