Planning for the renovation of a classic ballpark continues, as city officials are lining up details for a Hamtramck Stadium restoration effort.
Work has been taking place to bring the venerable Negro Leagues facility into working order, with the plan being to convert the ballpark into a multi-purpose recreation and community space. The City of Hamtramck has taken another step in that process by hiring Smith Group JJR, which will be tasked with coming up with a pre-development plan for Hamtramck Stadium.
The firm’s task will be to generate the plan as a step before construction begins, with renderings and a cost estimate among the items outlined in its contract. Once the report is complete, the city should be able to move forward with construction plans. More from MLive.com:
“So the grant from the National Park Service was capped out at $50,000,” Hamtramck City Planner Melanie Markowicz said at the latest Transition Advisory Board meeting, when the contract was approved. “However, for what we’re asking for … it was going to cost more than $50,000 and all the bids came in more than $50,000.
“They ranged anywhere from $56,000 all the way up to $140,000. So it was a large kind of range there for this predevelopment work.”
The difference, $26,900, will come from Community Development Block Grant funds, federal monies that can be used in grant matches.
The contract calls for a historic structures report, conditions assessment, conceptual architectural drawings, renderings, and an accurate rehabilitation cost estimate. The work is expected to be completed by the spring of 2018, at which time construction plans could commence.
Hamtramck Stadium opened in 1930 and was home to a variety of Negro Leagues teams, including the Detroit Stars and Detroit Wolves. Its preservation effort is notable in several respects, with one of them being that it is among a limited group of Negro League ballparks that remain standing today. Should the renovation be completed, Hamtramck Stadium would serve a wide range of sports as well as community events.
Image courtesy Hamtramck Stadium preservation group.
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