One thing that the Braves were able to do with SunTrust Park’s construction: keep costs close to the originally intended budget. But that’s already proving difficult down in Florida.
The Atlanta Braves‘ new Spring complex at North Port, FL was originally drawn up as a $75-80 million facility to host the team for 30 years, starting in 2019. When submitted to the state of Florida for their sports grant program, that cost was estimated to be $100 million.
But according to a new report noted in the AJC, that number is now up an additional 10% to $110 million.
That seems to be a trend for new Florida facilities lately. When originally announced in 2013, the new complex in West Palm Beach (pictured) that now houses the Astros and Nationals – perhaps as close as the Nationals might ever be to seeing the World Series trophy – was projected to cost around $100 million.
Once completed, though, the cost of their new digs came to around $152-153 million, up more than 50%. If that percentage ultimately holds for the Braves, then that would push their final number from that $75-80 million estimate to something in the $115-120+ million range… and we’re already getting close to that.
Happily, the taxpayers of Sarasota County need not be concerned (well, at least not concerned any further than they already might have been):Â all cost overruns are owned by the Braves.
Atlanta is responsible for every new dollar spent, as the developer and government agencies involved assumed a strictly fixed cost in exchange for their participation. That was also the case with the Astros/Nationals spring training venue venture.
Still, if Atlanta had planned on something around $100 million or less, this will mean that they now have to shell out a significantly higher portion to get construction to completion.
The Braves’ commitment was to absorb anything above the roughly $50 million provided by the taxpayers (from all sources, including the developer). So from an initial hope of $30 million or less to spend, they are now looking at at least $60 million. That could probably be deferred a bit if necessary, but it’s still significant dollars – obviously.
Things could be worse. The Diamondbacks/Rockies co-located training site in Arizona came in at $226 million – six years ago. The Camelback Ranch site for the White Sox and Dodgers was $200 million.
That said, it looks like the Braves might set a record: the most expensive single-team Spring venue… for either Arizona or Florida.