Butler’s historic baseball stadium is under new ownership.

The city Parks, Recreation Grounds and Facilities authority Monday night announced it has reached a deal to buy Kelly Automotive Park from Dollar Bank for $300,000.

That authority, commonly called the stadium authority, is taking over ownership of the park from the city redevelopment authority, which could not pay its mortgage on the property.

“I never thought we’d get here,” said Nick Ban, chairman of the stadium board. “I’m very pleased.”

The stadium authority, which was created to manage the park, will use a bond issue from NexTier Bank to finance the purchase. It will be paid off in 10 years, at which time the park will remain a city asset, Ban said.

The stadium authority had been working with Dollar Bank and the U.S. Department of Agriculture throughout the summer to reach an agreement to buy the property.

The city redevelopment authority owed more than $1.6 million on the park to banks and hundreds of thousands more to other bond holders.

That debt was wiped away with the new deal, as the USDA had guaranteed most of the original financing used in 2007 to renovate the stadium, formerly called Pullman Park.

The redevelopment authority defaulted on its mortgage in January and has been unable to make payments this year. The stadium authority previously used its revenue to help make those payments, but instead focused on paying off its own debts this year while working out this deal with the bank.

Ban said Dollar Bank had discussions this year with four private parties about the possibility of selling the park, but none expressed any interest.

The stadium authority offered $300,000 for the property.

“That was what we calculated we could afford,” Ban said. “That’s based on real-world numbers. Not pie in the sky hopes.”

Ban said the board used its past revenues in figuring out a conservative estimate for how much it could afford to pay each year on the park.

The revenue generated from events at the stadium will be what pays off the new debt.

That debt will be backed by the city, which must now pass an ordinance to make it a guarantor.

Mayor Tom Donaldson said council has full faith that the stadium authority will handle the payments.

“I’m extremely pleased,” he said. “To look at where we are now compared to this time last year — it’s amazing what this board has done.”

Donaldson said had the authority not reached a deal to buy the property, Dollar Bank would have likely foreclosed on the stadium and sold off everything it could from the park.

“Then we’d have an empty shell sitting there,” he said.

The deal had the support of William “Wink” Robinson, who leads the ownership group of the Butler BlueSox baseball team — the park’s primary tenant which signed a 10-year lease agreement this year.

“Phew,” Robinson said after the announcement of the deal, jokingly wiping sweat from his brow.

Ban said he was excited in the direction of the stadium, which has been in the city since 1934, and said the board’s hope has been to secure the property for future city generations.

“I’m very proud that this board worked so well together to get this done,” Ban said. “It was a collective effort.”