With additional investors in place, the team behind the creation of a new Richmond ballpark as well as other development in The Diamond vicinity expects a groundbreaking on the Flying Squirrels facility later in the spring.
RVA Diamond Partners is spearheading the development, while the Flying Squirrels are now overseeing the ballpark construction. With the additional capital, the project is now back on track; earlier Richmond’s chief administrative officer Lincoln Saunders predicted a late spring/early summer groundbreaking, putting an opening in the 2026 MiLB season.
The new ballpark is the centerpiece of a $2.4 billion, 67-acre, mixed-use development at the current Diamond site and beyond. The development, to be implemented in four stages over 15 years, will include the ballpark, 6,800 structured parking spaces, 2,863 rental units, 157 homes, 935,000 square feet of office space, two hotels offering 330 rooms and 195,000 square feet of retail space. Previous announcements regarding the ballpark indicated a capacity of 9,400, with approximately 8,000 fixed seats and room for approximately 2,000 standing room patrons. In addition, the new ballpark would feature 20 suites and 500 club seats, with adjacent private club space that would be designed to be able to accommodate additional events like meetings, receptions, parties and other events. And, obviously, the new ballpark would meet current MiLB facility standards. The Flying Squirrels would play 70 games there, with VCU playing another 30. An additional 100 events are projected, with the cost of the ballpark in the past 9,400 and is now projected to cost between $110 million and $120 million, up from an earlier estimate of $90 million.
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