A few months ago, with construction stalled on the downtown baseball stadium, the critics' worst predictions seemed a possibility: The ballpark would become a multi-million dollar mud hole on the western edge of downtown, a symbol of poor stewardship of public dollars by the Winston-Salem City Council. But the citizens' oversight committee, created by the council to appease angry taxpayers, toured the stadium last week and reported a far different picture.
"I'm just tickled, quite frankly," committee member J. Aubrey Kirby told the Journal's Laura Graff. "I think, if anything, the stadium is ahead of schedule."
Although much of the work isn't visible to those driving by on Peters Creek Parkway, stadium officials say that the job is almost 90 percent done. It's on track to be completed about a week before the April 1 deadline -- more than two weeks before the scheduled opening game for the stadium's tenant, the Winston-Salem Dash. Barring significant weather delays, developer Billy Prim should meet the deadline.
Since work resumed in October, crews have erected stadium lighting around the outfield walls, framed the press box, almost finished the row of luxury suites that line the second level of the stadium, and installed utilities and a drainage system. The remaining work includes installing seats, grading the field and paving around the stadium.
Once the park opens, the Dash must sell enough tickets to pay off the city and the banks. That means selling 300,000 tickets per season, or about 4,300 tickets for each home game. So far, the Dash has sold about 1,600 tickets per game through ticket packages, said Kevin Terry, the team president. The team is hoping to have several sell-outs in which about 5,400 tickets are sold. It's only counting on walk-up ticket sales for about 10-12 percent of its total sales.
The stadium, as envisioned by city officials, could become the anchor of new residential and commercial development on the west side of downtown.
The city council, which approved $27.7 million in financial backing for the stadium, was disorganized and inconsistent in its handling of the deal, particularly in its early stages. It couldn't have anticipated the severity of the recession or the fact that Prim's partner Flip Filipowski would withdraw, but it should have been more thorough and aggressive from the start in nailing down its agreement with the developer.
However, it took courage and vision for council members in an election year to stick with the project, even as many critics said it shouldn't approve any more financial backing for Prim. That would have left the project in wasteful limbo as the council began a long -- and possibly fruitless -- search for another developer.
Instead, the project is gaining steam. With continued pressure and vigilance from the council and the oversight committee, the stadium should be completed on time.
We look forward to opening day.
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