A groundbreaking ceremony for Worcester, MA’s upcoming Polar Park will be held July 11, marking a milestone in the push to open the ballpark for the relocating Pawtucket Red Sox (Class AAA; International League) in 2021.
The PawSox and Worcester officials have been working to plan Polar Park, the upcoming facility that will serve as the anchor of a planned redevelopment initiative in the city’s Kelley Square/Canal District area. Under the current concept, the facility is expected to provide traditional seating for roughly 7,000. Gathering spaces and non-traditional seating areas will fill out the remainder of the ballpark’s offerings, bringing the overall capacity to 10,000.
Project officials have been aiming to begin construction this month, and that hope is set to come to fruition. The city has announced that a groundbreaking ceremony will take place at the ballpark’s site on Thursday, July 11 at 3:30 p.m. local time. More from MassLive.
Polar Park has been expected to cost $86-$90 million, and is envisioned as the anchor of a larger redevelopment initiative. The funding formula for the ballpark calls for the City of Worcester to borrow $100.8 million ($70.6 million in general obligations bonds, $30.2 in bonds backed by team rent payments) to cover construction costs and PawSox owners paying $6 million toward construction. Rent payments are pegged at a little over a million dollars annually, for a total of $30.2 million over 30 years. Naming rights for the ballpark will come from Worcester’s Polar Beverages.
The PawSox are playing the 2019 season at Pawtucket’s McCoy Stadium, and will play there in 2020 as well.
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