If a baseball stadium isn't brought downtown, Augusta could wind up with little more than dirt on a prime piece of real estate, Mayor Deke Copenhaver said Thursday.

"If we don't make the project happen and if the community doesn't get behind it, you're looking at a vacant piece of riverfront dirt for the foreseeable future," the mayor told members of the Augusta Exchange Club during a luncheon.

Mr. Copenhaver has been pushing to build a multiuse facility adjacent to the Georgia Golf and Gardens for the Augusta GreenJackets, the minor league baseball team based at Lake Olmstead Stadium. He hopes to have a new baseball complex downtown and ready for the opening of the 2010 baseball season.

He envisions a development that could include restaurants, lofts and office space, but that vision is long from reality, he said Thursday.

The mayor said whoever develops the property must pay $9.5 million -- $6 million to the city to reimburse sales tax investments and $3.5 million for bond indebtedness. That's why the mayor thinks a private-public partnership is best for the site, because a private developer would have to incur all those costs.

The mayor said after the luncheon that some of the developers don't want to touch the property "with a 10-foot pole" because of the finances tied into the deal. But he reiterated his belief in the project.

"I feel that strongly about that I'm willing to do what it takes," he said.

That includes turning to the private sector to ensure taxpayers shoulder as little of the burden as possible. Among the considerations are naming rights for a new stadium.

Another holdup is the land itself.

The state owns it, and Gov. Sonny Perdue must sign off on transferring the land to the city.

In mid-July, a request was put out to solicit ideas for developing the property, Mr. Copenhaver said. In meetings with the governor, he has shared his support of the mayor's plans but is awaiting the ideas for the land, which are due in September.

"My greatest concern is if somebody came in and speculated and purchased the property and just sat on it," the mayor said. "We have done a very poor job of utilizing our riverfront."

The ultimate goal is a development that generates foot traffic downtown, he said, noting that the only restaurant that overlooks the Savannah River is the sandwich shop at Fort Discovery.

Mr. Copenhaver would also like to see a Double-A baseball team in Augusta.

"We're a Double-A market, with a Single-A team," he said.