by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
“We will be playing baseball here next year,” said Dave Schneider, senior project manager for the Better Jacksonville Plan’s new baseball park and arena.
The park, which still doesn’t have a name and is only six weeks from its construction kickoff on March 18, crossed a milestone this week as construction started going vertical.
“Until today, we’ve been just getting the dirt cleared and drainage sorted out,” said Schneider, wearing a requisite hard-hat and orange vest. “But now we’re going up.”
On a tour of the site Wednesday, Schneider, accompanied by Gary Stafford, the project superintendent for Barton Malow, the Detroit-based design and construction company that is building the ballpark, said that the entire project is completely on schedule, which means it will be ready in time for the first pitch in April 2003. Barton Malow is working in conjunction with Baltimore-based sports facilities designers Gilbane and the Jacksonville Beach-based sports marketing and advertising firm Scheer Game. The local contractor is the Renaissance Design Group, which is owned by Carleton Jones.
The new ballpark has exactly the same orientation as Wolfson Park, meaning home plate faces the same angle and pitches are hurled in the same direction. Right now, home plate at Wolfson Park is about 1,000 feet from home plate at the new ballpark.
There are usually about 30 people a day working on the new ballpark, preparing the foundation, and getting water, sewer and drainage configured. In particular, bowl draining, the type that removes peanut shells from the stands when it rains.
“We’re getting ready to ramp-up to about 100 people a day,” said Stafford “We start with the structural side next month, along with HVAC [heating, ventilating, air conditioning], electrical, plumbing and steel.”
Currently, steel reinforcers of all sizes, giant green pipes for bowl drainage and flexible black pipes for storm drainage — several hundred feet of both — dot the landscape of the park-to-be.
The existing Wolfson Park is set for demolition in September, right after the Suns season ends. The remaining property will be used as the midway — where the rides are — for the Greater Jacksonville Agricultural Fair, later this year. The Veterans Memorial Coliseum is slated for demolition in July or August 2003, depending on whether the Jacksonville Tomcats make the playoffs next season.
After that, the space will be used for parking for Jacksonville Jaguars and Florida-Georgia games.
“There is a rumor that they might move the Jaguars practice fields to that spot as part of the overall expansion of Alltel,” said Schneider. “But nobody really knows yet.”
There have been a few roadblocks along the way, but nothing out of the ordinary. The contractors ran across some soft, organic materials, peat in particular, that were unfit for the building foundation so they brought in some new fill dirt. Workers also smelled petroleum once near A. Philip Randolph Boulevard and called in an environmental firm to test the ground. It turned out to be a false alarm.
Right field stadium seating for the new ballpark starts on Georgia Street, about 350 feet west of the Coliseum’s current location. It then winds around Adams Street, meeting the main entrance on the corner of Adams Street and A. Philip Randolph. Left field stadium seating starts at the old St. Andrews Church and continues south to the main entrance. The pitcher’s mound faces directly towards the corner of Adams and A. Philip Randolph, and batted balls fly directly towards the old Wolfson Park.
A brick facade will be built about 200 feet from the rear of Ch. 12’s building and there will be a sidewalk between the stands and Adams Street. It is still to early to speculate about whether, from the seats in right field (which face west) fans will be able to see the city skyline. The brick facade, which is supposed to go about 60 feet on A. Philip Randolph Boulevard, may block the view.
Two elevators are in the works, both along the south facade. One is for freight, the other for the disabled. On the northwest corner of the park, they are building pitching tunnels for players to warm up.
“We want this to be like Camden Yards,” said Stafford. “Open and airy.” Camden Yards is in Baltimore.
The best seats in the house will be directly in front of the main entrance — behind home plate, facing the old Wolfson Park. And food and beverage service runs all the way from first base to third, south and west of home plate. A gift shop will be on the second floor above the main entrance. The northeast corner of the park, left field, will feature berm seating, a small, grass hill.
The scoreboard will be located in the north end of the park, in left center field. Schneider said that the sophistication level of the scoreboard is still a “work in progress,” meaning that it will be equipped for high tech video and audio, but whether the budget will allow for implementation is still unknown.
The new baseball park is a $27 million project which will seat about 10,300 people at full capacity. Wolfson Park currently seats about 8,500.