Location. Location. Location.

It was fool’s gold.

The only thing built near the stadium was a Gulf service station that has since closed. Three Rivers — as opponents of a new baseball park have pointed out over and over — sits like a monolith, a circle of concrete surrounded by a moat of asphalt.

The same mistake had to be avoided with a new ballpark. It had to have the three most important criteria in real estate: location, location, location. And it had to generate spin-off businesses.

On the Friday morning of Oct. 27, 1995, when the new ballpark was both a condition and a potential stumbling block in the Pirates sale, Murphy announced he would form the 27-member Forbes Field II Task Force to pick the best spot.

At that same news conference, atop the Duquesne Incline with a spectacular view of the city as a backdrop, Gov. Ridge touted his own 15-member blue-ribbon panel to develop a unified strategy for state funding for the Pirates, Steelers, Phillies and Eagles.

Ultimately, Forbes Field II chose the site on the North Shore of the Allegheny River adjacent to the Sixth Street Bridge, east of Three Rivers Stadium and not far from the locations of the Exposition, Recreation and Union ballparks of another era.

Kevin McClatchy calls it "the best site in the United States to build a ballpark."

The task force, co-chaired by Bill Newlin, recommended that the state to pony up half of the cost of a new ballpark — an idea that sank like a stone.

The committee envisioned a small ballpark , but with all the ambiance lacking in Three Rivers. It would boast a view of the city’s skyline. Home runs would land in the Allegheny River. The Sixth Street Bridge could become an attraction like the Santa Monica Pier or the shop-lined pedestrian Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence, Italy.

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The site was picked because it "holds the greatest promise" for spin-off development. The Pirates liked it, the land was relatively cheap and it had the best combination of transportation, parking and pedestrian access.

Not only must the ballpark be a superb aesthetic achievement, it must provide the critical mass for a bustling social life 81 times a year, the task force said.

It must also remedy the Pirates’ bottom line through increased attendance, sale of premium seating, more and better advertising signage, higher sales of food and other concessions and more parking money.

"Think of it as a new mall. Old shopping centers sometimes fail to attract customers because they do not offer the latest conveniences," Newlin said. "We want to change the store to make it more attractive to family groups and new customers. It’s not just a question of dollars and cents. It’s a feel. Three Rivers Stadium failed to deliver that ambiance by the mid-1980s."

Meanwhile, on Sept. 4, 1996, the governor’s Sports and Exposition Facilities Task Force issued its 138-page report entitled "Weaving a Community Fabric for the 21st Century."

It concluded the state should pay up to one-third of the costs to nurture and preserve the state’s major- league sports teams, cultural facilities and convention centers. The seed money should come from the sale of state liquor stores, a state-run monopoly of 657 outlets created upon the repeal of Prohibition in 1933.

The one-third promise from the state became a reality for the Pirates, Steelers, Phillies and Eagles; selling the liquor stores didn’t happen.

Gov. Ridge was firmly on board.

"I believe Pennsylvania’s major- league sports teams are part of the fabric of Pennsylvania. Their stadiums and arenas are part of our skylines. Their commerce is part of our economy. And their players — the Clementes, the Stargells, the Lamberts, the Swanns — are part of our history, our culture and our sense of community," Ridge said.

"Pittsburgh’s teams are community assets — Pennsylvania assets — and they belong nowhere else. Pennyslvania has a legitimate public interest in keeping our teams," he added.

On the field, McClatchy’s Pirates were at a crossroads. So he implemented a five-year plan that began with pain in hopes of paying off down the road.

The team traded its highest-paid players for prospects. A series of 10 trades dumped high-priced contracts and brought in 17 younger players. Among those leaving were Denny Neagle, Carlos Garcia, Orlando Merced, Jay Bell and Jeff King. Among those arriving were Rich Loiselle, Jason Schmidt, Jose Silva, Abraham Nunez, Jeff Wallace and Joe Randa. The few holdovers included Al Martin and Jason Kendall.

What McClatchy did was buy time.

When the team nucleus of talented players would be ready to compete for a championship in 2001, the Pirates would be able to afford them because of revenue streams from the new ballpark.

McClatchy had no choice.

"We had to bite the bullet. We would have fallen flat on our face if we went the other way," he said.