Winston-Salem's downtown baseball stadium is now scheduled to be finished by April 4 -- three days after the April 1 deadline set by the city last summer, and nine days before the home opener.
But city officials say they are not concerned.
City Attorney Angela Carmon said yesterday that a provision in the contract signed last summer gave team owner Billy Prim's development company wiggle room in case construction fell behind.
"As long as the delay does not impact opening day and ticket sales, it's not likely that the city's going to declare them in default and try to do anything," Carmon said.
The city of Winston-Salem took ownership of the stadium last summer in a deal with Prim, who said then that he could not pay to finish the ballpark on his own.
Geoff Lassiter, the new president of the Winston-Salem Dash baseball team, said that cold, rainy weather caused the date to be pushed back.
"That target date is going to be different every day that you ask, based on the weather," Lassiter said. "If it rains 10 days in a row, it could back up, or if it's sunny and 60 degrees 10 days in a row, we'll probably make some headway and that date could be earlier."
The city, which contributed $12 million toward construction in 2007, pledged $15.7 million more to help get the ballpark built. In exchange, the city took control of the $48.7 million stadium and leased it back to Prim. Under that agreement construction was to have been finished by the end of March.
The Dash home opener is scheduled for April 13, against the Potomac Nationals. Lassiter said he had no doubt that the stadium would be finished by then.
"We're still 100 percent confident that it's going to be ready for the opening day," Lassiter said.
Lassiter said that crews would likely start installing the seats at the beginning of February. Crews have laid gravel that will help the field drain, and they put in the scoreboard this week. The large video screen still has to be installed, and crews still have to pave the areas around the ballpark and finish the interiors.
Eric Prior, the chairman of the Citizens Baseball Stadium Review Committee, said he was not concerned about a few days' lag in construction.
"April 3 or 4 probably isn't that big of a deal," Prior said. "As long as it doesn't start to creep much beyond that."
Greg Turner, an assistant Winston-Salem city manager, said that the construction delays would become a problem for the city only if they affect the stadium's ability to make money.
"The key is it's a no-harm, no-foul position as far as I'm concerned," Turner said. "And that means that as long as the delay does not affect the opening -- meaning the operation -- and as long as it doesn't affect revenues, I don't see us having a particularly strong concern about it."
lgraff@wsjournal.com | 727-7279
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement