We had let this news slide for a bit whilst we watched and waited for Hall of Fame and Trade news to break… but there’s still other important things going on elsewhere.
A new city is rising up in Southwest Florida out of an area that was recently a barren collection of marshlands, palmettos, scrub oaks and the usual critters that Florida offers in abundance. At its edge, the Atlanta Braves are fashioning a hub for themselves that they will call home for the next 30 Springs starting in 2020.
The city is North Port, Florida, though its West Villages development is at the heart of a real estate and development boom that’s expecting to grow 500% in the coming years.
Roughly a week and a half ago, the construction crew held the traditional ‘topping off’ ceremony – the point at which the final and topmost steel beam is secured to the metal skeleton that the rest of the steel and concrete will be secured to.
The Atlanta Braves Spring Training Stadium in North Port is one step closer to completion with the highest steel beam being placed in a “Topping Off” ceremony.@SamanthaSonner
— SNN (@SNNTV) July 21, 2018
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It’s a major milestone in the work being done in Florida that aims to bring the Braves to Sarasota County in time for the last game of the 2019 Grapefruit League season.
While the West Villages is situated to the West of North Port’s (current) geographic center, plans are to develop a ‘more traditional downtown’ area within the West Villages. That will also have the effect of positioning the stadium complex closer to the new center of town once all of that is completed.
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The construction costs still make this the most expensive facility of its kind ever built: $125 million for a single-team Spring venue. As we’ve noted before, the cost overruns (the original cost estimate was closer to $70 million!) are owned by the Braves – taxpayer monies were capped early on, so this is a fairly sizeable hunk of cash on top of debt-servicing already imposed by SunTrust Park.
In fact, it was just over 2 years ago that the Braves “topped off” SunTrust Park… not so long ago.
The Spring stadium site is located along US 41 – also known as the Tamiami Trail – between North Port and Plantation. The team will have easy access to I-75, which will allow quicker travel to 9 other clubs located on the West side of Florida.
North Port itself consists almost entirely of a fascinating maze of residential roads Northwest and adjacent to Port Charlotte – current Spring home of the Rays. In 2010, the Census bureau counted over 57,000 residents in this sprawling community that could use some additional business presence… hence part of the work in West Villages.
A lot of work still needs to be done to get a playable field by the end of next March, but so far… it’s looking good to get there.