Fifth Third Park | $425 million MiLB Stadium + Mixed-Use Development

[gman430]

It IS time: 

https://www.postandcourier.com/spartanburg/news/spartanburg-gets-a-minor-league-baseball-team-plans-downtown-stadium/article_1e221f9c-f597-11ed-b574-7f6b7753c03b.html?fbclid=IwAR1G-qJG3UcXVbj-5IvUbrfcNHbu-PL8ujUgjgvLEXl9HwpcnePm2sgVNV8&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Minor league baseball will return to Spartanburg for the first time in three decades when a Texas Rangers Class A affiliate moves into a new stadium to be built downtown next to the A.C. Hotel.

The Down East Wood Ducks, currently based in Kinston, N.C., will relocate to Spartanburg and could start playing as early as the 2025 season, according to a news release shared with The Post and Courier.

The team is moving to Spartanburg thanks to a group of public and private entities, including the city and county of Spartanburg, OneSpartanburg Inc., The Johnson Group, the state of South Carolina and Diamond Baseball Holdings.

In the last three years, the city has accumulated $34 million in state earmarks for downtown development while staying reticent on the details. That money will help fund infrastructure for the $250 million-plus project that includes the baseball stadium, multi-family housing, office space and entertainment options. 

General contractor Robins and Morton will build the 3,500-seat stadium with a 5,000-square-foot club room on a 16-acre parcel owned by The Johnson Group, which is based in Spartanburg and will retain ownership of the land. The city will own the stadium and lease it to Diamond Baseball Holdings. The stadium will also serve as a year-round event venue.

“Additional affordable family entertainment coupled with needed white collar office space and other world class amenities will ensure downtown Spartanburg is an increasingly impactful economic engine for this region,” said Spartanburg Mayor Jerome Rice in a news release.

[hub-city]

This is awesome!!  Can't wait to see some renderings.  Combine that with what the city is planning for the joint complex, will really transform that area of town.  Just hope Nautilus sells so it can be an entirely new couple of blocks of development.  I don't see a lot of architectural interest in an old car dealership.

[westsider28]

Very exciting! Stadium capacity of 3,500  seems kinda small. I hope it's built with the ability to be expanded in the future.  I'll be impressed if they can open it by the 2025 season.  Definitely looking forward to seeing the site plans / renderings for the entire site.

Also, the team we're getting plays in the Carolina League, which includes Columbia, Charleston, Augusta, Kannapolis, and Myrtle Beach; so lots of good regional rivalries.

Edit: Herald-Journal article   

Edited May 23, 2023 by westsider28

[roads-scholar]

3 minutes ago, westsider28 said:

Very exciting! Stadium capacity of 3,500  seems kinda small. I hope it's built with the ability to be expanded in the future.  Definitely looking forward to seeing the site plans / renderings for the entire site.

We have to see the renderings and long-term plans but many larger cities have ballparks with similar seating capacities.  Smaller ballparks can have a more intimate feel too.  

This is an exciting time to live and work in "The Burg".  

[spartanburgh]

Wow! This is great. I hope they will be able to pull in the Southern Conference baseball tournament, Clemson, USC, Wofford, USC-Upstate etc. 

3500 seats seems minimal, but hopefully it will be designed to be enlarged if the need ever developed. Also, seems maybe a limited service hotel

could now work if the Fairfield is not going to happen.

[camtology]

I knew this project was coming sometime in the future but I am very happy to see it be announced before my time as a college student in Spartanburg ends!!!!

[gman430]

Spartanburg County Councilman David Britt said the project is the biggest development project to happen to Spartanburg since BMW's 1992 announcement that its North American manufacturing plant would be built in Spartanburg County.

"May 23, 2023, is a day we will not forget – just like June 19, 1992 (BMW's announcement)," said Britt, the county's economic development committee chairman. "This will transform the city and county for generations to come. This sends a message to the world that we not only build the finest products, but have quality of life second to none."

[Spartanburg Guy]

Sweet!

[NotNotSanti]

Heard that the designs for the West Main Street corridor beautification project should be in my the end of summer. So the stadium, with this, plus what is in store for Highland... truly amazingly exciting stuff!

[clemsonfn]

Interested to see how parking and traffic are going to be handled.

Very excited about this project, huge impact on Morgan Square and surrounding businesses. 

[gman430]

Surveyors on this site earlier today. And why no renderings or site plans with today’s news release? Seems odd.

Edited May 24, 2023 by gman430

[spartanburgh]

The average capacity of Carolina's League stadiums is 5266. The largest capacity is the Columbia Fireflies at 7501 and the current 

smallest of all 12 stadiums is Augusta and Lynchburg Va at 4000 each.  It seems that Spartanburg would have a plan to expand to at

least 4500 or so if the need arises.  Can't wait to see the site plan and how this is situated with surrounding buildings.  The Charlotte

Knights stadium is so cool with the buildings downtown in the backdrop. Hopefully, Spartanburg will have a similar setting on a much

smaller scale.  

 

[westsider28]

17 hours ago, clemsonfn said:

Interested to see how parking and traffic are going to be handled.

I assume this site will have a large parking deck to serve the stadium and other development.  Plus the City/County site will have a deck.  As long as everyone spreads out around downtown and come at different times (i.e. come early to eat dinner downtown), it should be fine.  I've been to a few games in Greenville, and traffic was never a problem.

4 hours ago, spartanburgh said:

The average capacity of Carolina's League stadiums is 5266. The largest capacity is the Columbia Fireflies at 7501 and the current 

smallest of all 12 stadiums is Augusta and Lynchburg Va at 4000 each.  It seems that Spartanburg would have a plan to expand to at

least 4500 or so if the need arises. 

Looking at the article again, it says 3,500 "fixed seats" (your typical stadium seats, I assume), so capacity may be higher when you consider bar seating, table seating, and grass seating that are increasingly popular in ballparks these days.  Could easily be 4000-4500 if you include those.

I also hope the stadium is designed to be able to accommodate soccer and football (High Point and Gastonia's new stadiums can do this).

[Spartan]

Wow this is phenomenal news! I honestly thought this was sort of a pipe dream (but a fun one to talk about!).  This could be a real shot in the arm for the area just south of Downtown. Can't wait to see how this unfolds!

[spartanburgh]

I spoke with someone tonight that seems to have a little inside information on this project.  Did not want to disclose much but 

they said there would be a parking deck with residential on top of the deck.  Hopefully, this will be sufficient to keep parking 

problems at bay.  It was also stated that the development has a 24 month completion deadline.  That seems pretty fast considering

surveying just finished up.

[westsider28]

On 5/30/2023 at 9:54 PM, spartanburgh said:

I spoke with someone tonight that seems to have a little inside information on this project.  Did not want to disclose much but 

they said there would be a parking deck with residential on top of the deck.  Hopefully, this will be sufficient to keep parking 

problems at bay.  It was also stated that the development has a 24 month completion deadline.  That seems pretty fast considering

surveying just finished up.

I believe residential on top of a parking deck would require the deck to be cast-in-place (vs precast, which is what all our other decks are).  I find this highly unlikely, as cast-in-place is more expensive and takes longer to build.  It's typically only worth it if you're building a tower above (see Charlotte, ATL, etc).  I suspect the apartments are more likely to abut or wrap a deck, as that can be done with precast decks (see the ubiquitous "Texas-donut"-style, 5-over-1 apartments all over the country).

Herald-Journal has an article musing about team names.  The article mentions various historic names (Sluggers, Spinners, Peaches); wonders about Spartanburg vs Hub City vs Sparkle City; suggests possible animals (Woodcocks, Spaniels) or something music- or trail-related.  As I said with the Spartanburgers, I heavily favor "Spartanburg Peaches".  What do y'all think?

[roads-scholar]

7 hours ago, westsider28 said:

I believe residential on top of a parking deck would require the deck to be cast-in-place (vs precast, which is what all our other decks are).  I find this highly unlikely, as cast-in-place is more expensive and takes longer to build.  It's typically only worth it if you're building a tower above (see Charlotte, ATL, etc).  I suspect the apartments are more likely to abut or wrap a deck, as that can be done with precast decks (see the ubiquitous "Texas-donut"-style, 5-over-1 apartments all over the country).

Herald-Journal has an article musing about team names.  The article mentions various historic names (Sluggers, Spinners, Peaches); wonders about Spartanburg vs Hub City vs Sparkle City; suggests possible animals (Woodcocks, Spaniels) or something music- or trail-related.  As I said with the Spartanburgers, I heavily favor "Spartanburg Peaches".  What do y'all think?

IMO "Peaches" doesn't reflect the Spartanburg of today.   Peach production in Spartanburg County hardly exists today.  Lots of people who live here now have little if no recollection of Spartanburg's peach growing history.  
 

 

[westsider28]

15 hours ago, roads-scholar said:

IMO "Peaches" doesn't reflect the Spartanburg of today.   Peach production in Spartanburg County hardly exists today.  Lots of people who live here now have little if no recollection of Spartanburg's peach growing history.  

Sure, but lots of sports teams' names represent historic characteristics of their city.  It's generally better than a "modern" name (see Greenville Drive; a terrible name) and it can educate new residents.  Plus the mascot and promotional possibilities are fantastic.

What would you suggest as a name?

[NotNotSanti]

6 minutes ago, westsider28 said:

Sure, but lots of sports teams' names represent historic characteristics of their city.  It's generally better than a "modern" name (see Greenville Drive; a terrible name) and it can educate new residents.  Plus the mascot and promotional possibilities are fantastic.

What would you suggest as a name?

I say Spartanduckers -- combine all legacies in the most confusing of manners.

Kidding aside, a creative friend of mine brainstormed a bunch of possibilities on his social media account. Maybe something sticks?

Grain District related:

The Wild Oats!

The Glutenators

Spartan Hops

Barley Spartans

Spartanburg Fermenters

Piedmont Mason Jars

Others:

Spartanburg Peaches

Spartanburg Foothills

Morgan Squares

Hub City Hatchers

Legion of Loom

Spartan Shuttles

GristGrinders

Tree Bears

The Beacons

Greasers

Spartan Burglars

Copperheads

Snakehandlers

Spartanburg Sprinklers

The Revolution

Spartanburg Revivals

The Sparkle

Spartan Liberty

Spartanburg Bobcats

Neo-Cons

Water wheels

Lawson’s Forkers

Boykin Spaniels

Spartanburg Internationals

Spartanburg A-Plenties

The Trotting Sallies

Spartanburg Engines

Spartanburg Railroaders

Spartanburg Shape Notes

The Spartanburg Generals

Spartan Bibliophiles

Spartan Bookworms

Spartanburg Collegiates

The Snapping Turtles

Spartanburg Fiddlers

Spartanburg Spark

Spartan Goobers

The BlueWall

The Spartan Regiment

Spartanburg Patriots

Dead Horse Canyon Rangers

[westsider28]

7 minutes ago, NotNotSanti said:

I say Spartanduckers -- combine all legacies in the most confusing of manners.

Kidding aside, a creative friend of mine brainstormed a bunch of possibilities on his social media account. Maybe something sticks?

Grain District related:

The Wild Oats!

The Glutenators

Spartan Hops

Barley Spartans

Spartanburg Fermenters

Piedmont Mason Jars

Others:

Spartanburg Peaches

Spartanburg Foothills

Morgan Squares

Hub City Hatchers

Legion of Loom

Spartan Shuttles

GristGrinders

Tree Bears

The Beacons

Greasers

Spartan Burglars

Copperheads

Snakehandlers

Spartanburg Sprinklers

The Revolution

Spartanburg Revivals

The Sparkle

Spartan Liberty

Spartanburg Bobcats

Neo-Cons

Water wheels

Lawson’s Forkers

Boykin Spaniels

Spartanburg Internationals

Spartanburg A-Plenties

The Trotting Sallies

Spartanburg Engines

Spartanburg Railroaders

Spartanburg Shape Notes

The Spartanburg Generals

Spartan Bibliophiles

Spartan Bookworms

Spartanburg Collegiates

The Snapping Turtles

Spartanburg Fiddlers

Spartanburg Spark

Spartan Goobers

The BlueWall

The Spartan Regiment

Spartanburg Patriots

Dead Horse Canyon Rangers

Holy crap that's a lot of ideas.  I like Copperheads, Patriots, a bear-related name, or a railroad-related name.

[gman430]

Could we maybe see a high rise or two with this project as in at least 15 stories tall? $250 million is A LOT of money even with inflation. For comparison sakes. the Gateway site redevelopment project in Greenville is going to cost $100 million-$120 million so this one is more than double that amount. 

Edited June 3, 2023 by gman430

[hub-city]

I heard that the condo building would be next to highest in Spartanburg, only topped by Denny’s but don’t know how reliable the source…..

[spartanburgh]

Some of those would be great names. Also, maybe condider these:

Canine Crush or Crush Cats or just Crush

Advance

Trail Dogs 

Trail Horse

Trail Pony

Progress

Wood Grain

Grain 

River Otter's

Crush

Canine Crush

Crush Cats

Draft

Racers

Shag

Fire Ants

Rangers

Cruise

 

[MidtownSpartanburg]

Spartanbirds! 

[hub-city]

Spartanburg Marshals - homage to the Rangers and Marshall Tucker Band (or Hub-City Marshals)  I would probably support any name that doesn't have Sparkle City in it......

Edited June 5, 2023 by hub-city