Greensboro's new downtown ballpark

here is info about Greensboro, NC's future downtown ballpark which is currently under construction. Hopefully Charlotte will follow Durham and Greensboro. Greensboro's stadium will seat 6,200 with expansion capabilities beyond that. The stadium will have architectural features that remind you of Camden Yards, Brooklyn's Ebbots Field and Churchhill Downs in Kentucky. It will also has distinct, historic Greensboro architectural cues. The main entrance will be located on Bellemeade Street. A local or national company will have naming rights so the stadium will likely be named something like "Jefferson-Pilot Field", "BellSouth Park" or "FedEx Field House". Unlike the current War Memorial Stadium, the new ballpark will have an upperdeck with skyboxes. Local companies have already leased most of the boxes which goes as much as $30,000 a year. There was such a great demand for them, two extra suites had to be added to the plan. The ends of the skyboxes will have party decks. The grand stand will have a sports bar. The old stadium is located in the historic Aycock Neighborhood just outside of downtown. Because of its historical signifigance, it will not be demolished but instead use as an ameatuer and college baseball stadium. The 77 year old stadium will also become a tournament stadium and a museum, veterans plaza and year round restaurant is proposed. The old stadium even has seats from Yankee Stadium.

http://www.downtownstadium.org

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RENDERINGS!












THE CURRENT 7,500 seat WAR MEMORIAL STADIUM (built in 1926)

 

the ballpark that has given me the most foul balls caught. 3.

 

To the ballpark where I called many a UNCG baseball game, and played Hava Nagila during the seventh inning stretch because I thought it was funny.

3

 

WHO cares. we got an nba team

 

here is a photo of River Front Stadium in Newark, NJ. While the design of Greensboro's ballpark will be different. This is pretty much a cookie cutter layout of Greensboro's future ballpark. The ballpark in this photo also seats 6,200 so this should give you a better idea of the size of the future ballpark. This difference is that Riverfront stadium doesn't have extra grassy berm seating. Maybe if Charlotte ever gets a major league team, the AAA Knights could move to Greensboro. The stadium should be able to expand to AAA standards. and the team could be affiliated with Charlotte's new major league expansion franchise. But it may be at least a decade before Charlotte is ready for the majors.

 

Do they still have land reserved for a ballpark in uptown Charlotte?

 

the ballpark where my boss gave me $100 to run the bases w/ the kids after the game....of course i slid face first into home takin' out 3 little kids, but I got $100 for it.

 

Uptown Politcos/Bigwigs are now looking at the ex-Uptown Arena Site on West Trade Street now as a possible ballpark site . . . Only problem is, the Mecklenburg Co. Commissioners own that land for a county park which may never get built (right now they don't have the money for it) B-U-T certain commissioners (i.e. Bill James) still want to hold on to for whatever reason . . . . The Knights hired some consultant to look at how other cities built their ballparks with little or no public money (i.e. 5/3 Bank Ballpark in Toledo)

 

Charlotte should follow what Memphis did and what Greensboro is doing in terms of financing the ballpark. The only tax dollars that are going into Greensboro's ballpark is for the infrastructure and associated cost with redirecting traffic because that had to close a street so the stadium could have a large enough foot print. Greensboro's stadium is being built completely with private dollars. Where did the money come from you might ask? It came from the local foundations who have an interest in revitalizing downtown Greensboro. The Foundations are spearheaded by a non-profit called Action Greensboro. AG is trying to improve the economic climate in Greensboro and part of its agenda focuses on downtown revitalization. The non-profit has a number of ambitious downtown proposals additional to the downtown ballpark which includes a center-city park/civic plaza, International Civil Rights Museum, an Art Museum, A science museum with an IMAX theater, an urban research/technology park, A linear park that stretches along the railroad track through downtown. This linear park will have a mile long artificial waterway, developers are interested in building an apartment tower. The 16-story Old Wachovia building will be redeveloped into offices, condos and will have a restaurant on the second floor with a balcony over looking the center-city park. Elon University will build a law school downtown. A block area that stretches through downtown will have formal gardens, water gardens, residential condos and a street car/trolley system is proposed here. This stretch through downtown will be known as "Grand Boulevard. The trolley line will connect UNC-Greensboro and Greensboro College west of downtown to NC A&T State Univ & Bennett College just east of downtown. Students or any one can use the trolley to get around downtown. An "Inter-University is also proposed to be build along the trolley line in downtown. All the city's colleges will share this facilty for colaboration and research. The new multi-modal transportation hub that just opened was part renovation of the old 1926 Depot and part new construction. It was the first multi-modal station built in North Carolina and is hub for city bus, coach bus, taxi cabs and soon, high speed and light/commuter rail. Four restaturants are considering opening up in the transportation center. Another proposal that seem to be coming together behind to scenes is a possible Atlantic Coast Conference Sports Hall of Fame to be built somewhere downtown. a site near the ballpark would be best. Other attractions civic leaders would like to see is an entertainment complex which would include a multi-plex theatre. A 1,500 seat concert hall is also proposed for downtown and that project could include an office tower that would house federal offices. Things are looking bright for downtown Greensboro. The city is at the beginning stages of becoming an urban destination.

 

What are you, a city council member or something?