Another milestone in the construction of Dunkin’ Donuts Park, new home of the Hartford Yard Goats (Class AA; Eastern League): crews started laying down 90,000 square feet of Kentucky bluegrass.
It’s a three-day process to lay down the sod, and it’s a very visible end to the long and involved process of getting the field ready for play, a process that includes the installation of a drainage system and a sprinkler system. The infield, shown above, was laid out today, with the outfield coming later.
Work continues on the ballpark in anticipation of the May 31 opening. As you can tell from the above photo, there’s still plenty of work to be done on the grandstand. It’s turned into a seven-day-a-week project: yesterday the ballpark’s sign went up, and work continues on the iconic Dunkin’ Donuts cup of coffee in center field.
The opening of Dunkin’ Donuts Park was delayed from a scheduled April 7 after the developer revealed construction delays as well as a funding shortfall, raising the price from $56 million to $63 million. As a result, the Yard Goats are playing the beginning of the 2016 season on the road a la the 2015 Biloxi Shuckers (Class AA; Eastern League).
Image courtesy of the Hartford Yard Goats.
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