Earlier this week, the Fayetteville City Council granted approval of a preliminary design of its future downtown ballpark.
The current Buies Creek Astros (High A; Carolina League) are set to play the 2017 and 2018 seasons at Campbell Unviersity’s Jim Perry Stadium before moving into the new Fayetteville ballpark in 2019. In the meantime, officials have been working to ensure that the ballpark comes in at its $33 million budget while retaining some of the amenities desired by the city and the Houston Astros.
During a meeting on Monday, the city council expressed its support of the preliminary ballpark design, voting 9-0 voting to approve a concept that includes numerous fan amenities. More from The Fayetteville Observer:
Mike Sabatini, a licensed architect with the architectural design firm Populous, presented a design update on the multipurpose facility, which would hold capacity seating for 4,800.
“There’s a lot of unique pieces that make this one of the best in the country,” Sabatini said.
The approved preliminary design includes a Kid’s Zone, a berm area for first-come lawn seating, a party deck area, concourse suites behind home plate, a venue for rocking chairs in left field and a variety of group-type activities. One seating area of the stadium would be pitched to Fort Bragg, specifically created for military visitors in mind.
Construction on the ballpark could begin in the summer or early fall months of this year, allowing it to wrap up by the 2019 campaign. Spirit Communications Park–home of the Columbia Fireflies (Low A; Sally League) and our 2016 Ballpark of the Year–has previously been cited as a model for Fayetteville’s facility.
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