Proposed Boomers Stadium upgrades have taken another step forward, with Schaumburg village board members endorsing renovations to the ballpark.
The Schaumburg Boomers (independent; Frontier League) are pursuing a four-year, $10.5 million slate of improvements to Boomers Stadium. The Schaumburg Park District, a co-owner of the ballpark with the village, has also offered its endorsement of the plan, and village board members decided to join them on Tuesday.
Under the current plan, the village would issue $5 million in bonding next year, with an additional $5 million in bonding coming in 2020. Some details of the plan still have to be resolved, but Tuesday’s decision was the nonetheless a step forward. More from The Daily Herald:
Still to be hammered out are some finer details of the funding plan as well as how to accommodate village Trustee Tom Dailly’s request to move up the proposed winterization and kitchen upgrades of Schaumburg Boomers Stadium’s Schaumburg Club to make it a sports-themed restaurant that can operate year-round.
“I think there’s an opportunity here, much like Pilot Pete’s at (Schaumburg Regional Airport),” he said.
While Dailly touted this as an idea that could help generate more revenue for the stadium earlier — even at the cost of starting the phased replacement of all the seats a little later — fellow Trustee Marge Connelly argued that improvement of the baseball-watching experience should come first.
The debate wasn’t resolved Tuesday, but it isn’t until the off-season after this one that the plan is expected to start.
A report released in the summer by Indiana-based Jones Petrie Rafinski had pitched a series of renovations to the ballpark at a cost of $13 million. Not all of the improvements outlined in that report will be included in the $10.5-million project, though additional upgrades could be implemented down the road. Officials are also considering whether to replace the ballpark’s natural grass surface with artificial turf, effectively allowing the facility to be used for more events. Boomers Stadium first opened in 1999.
Rendering courtesy of Village of Schaumburg.
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