Sprindale Minor League Sports Complex and Minor League Baseball Stadium

[zman9810]

Actually, that's exactly how Arvest Ballpark is being built. Concrete walls with a layer of limestone being applied. Can't really blame them though as there's a tidbit of how the pyramids of Giza were built using a similar method.

Here's a couple more pics courtesy the Naturals website:

You can see here how the walls are built using limestone applied over concrete.

Its really looking like a ballpark. I do hope they plant lots of trees around the perimeter so it doesn't look like there's just wall and sky.

[Mith242]

Thanks for the pics. I wish they put some bigger pics on their website so I could try to zoom in a bit to get a better look.

[KJW]

itk or anyone in the know...apart from the changes to the roads near the stadium have there been any announcements made as to how traffic will be handled in the area particularly in the stadium's first few years?

Many of these games will occur during afternoon rush, and the main Springdale exit that will probably be the initial feeder for this stadium tends to get backed up as it is. Couple that with all the expected southbound traffic from Benton County and I fear we're in for a bit of a (traffic) shock when the Naturals' home games begin play...

(I say this having navigated a few gametime traffic jams in Springfield MO around the fellow Texas League Springfield Cardinals stadium.)

[zman9810]

Plans to add an interchange at I540 and the Southern Corridor are quickly moving forward. Springdale city officials are looking at beginning design work and a possible funding source has been indentified. Instead of waiting for federal matching funds (which can take years to get) the city is looking at using money from the same bond program that is funding the Southern Corridor to build the interchange. That will move the project forward at a much quicker pace and provide much needed access to the ballpark and allow easier development of the whole area around it.

Springdale city officials should be commended for seeing the need for this project and working to make it happen. As one council member said, they need to make sure that the $50 million investment in the ballpark pays off and this is a big step in ensuring that it does.

Morning News article

[Mith242]

Plans to add an interchange at I540 and the Southern Corridor are quickly moving forward. Springdale city officials are looking at beginning design work and a possible funding source has been indentified. Instead of waiting for federal matching funds (which can take years to get) the city is looking at using money from the same bond program that is funding the Southern Corridor to build the interchange. That will move the project forward at a much quicker pace and provide much needed access to the ballpark and allow easier development of the whole area around it.

Springdale city officials should be commended for seeing the need for this project and working to make it happen. As one council member said, they need to make sure that the $50 million investment in the ballpark pays off and this is a big step in ensuring that it does.

Morning News article

[KJW]

Plans to add an interchange at I540 and the Southern Corridor are quickly moving forward. Springdale city officials are looking at beginning design work and a possible funding source has been indentified. Instead of waiting for federal matching funds (which can take years to get) the city is looking at using money from the same bond program that is funding the Southern Corridor to build the interchange. That will move the project forward at a much quicker pace and provide much needed access to the ballpark and allow easier development of the whole area around it.

Springdale city officials should be commended for seeing the need for this project and working to make it happen. As one council member said, they need to make sure that the $50 million investment in the ballpark pays off and this is a big step in ensuring that it does.

Morning News article

[Mith242]

Yeah I haven't been over there yet to see it. I need to stop by and see what it looks like. Or at least just actually see where exactly it's at. Maybe when the holidays are over I'll finally make it over.

[zman9810]

Here's a couple of photos I managed to take before I was told I needed to sign in and get a hard hat.

It's very busy site- people and machines everywhere going full force.

[masons_dad1]

Here's a couple of photos I managed to take before I was told I needed to sign in and get a hard hat.

It's very busy site- people and machines everywhere going full force.

[Mith242]

Hey thanks for the shots. Sounds like you got a little better response than I have at most sites I've visited. I don't think I look like a bad person but I seem to get negative responses out of people when I'm taking pics.

[KJW]

Those of you who live near or are driving by the stadium in the next couple of days, keep an eye out...they've installed the ballpark lighting over the weekend and are going to be running a "24 hour test" on it according to 40/29 TV.

We're going to get a taste of how that corner is going to light up in the near future...

[Mith242]

Here's an interesting article from ArkansasBusiness.com about the ballpark and it's construction.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.as...15114&cID=2

I was thinking of heading up to Springdale this weekend and maybe taking some pics. But looks like the weather isn't going to cooperate.

[thewizard16]

I did notice the lights have been on the last two nights. I was driving up to Rogers (as long ago mentioned, I have family at a retreat up there at Embassy now, so I'm getting to go back and forth across the area a bit this weekend, nice to see how things have progressed since I haven't made the drive to Rogers in a few months) and noticed how bright those lights were on the interstate.

[Mith242]

The weather was bad so no taking pics at the site of the stadium. But there's a small exhibit at the Shiloh Museum in Springdale focusing on the history of baseball in the area and even has a little bit about the former Wichita Wranglers. Here's some pics from my little trip there earlier.

[mzweig]

I did notice the lights have been on the last two nights. I was driving up to Rogers (as long ago mentioned, I have family at a retreat up there at Embassy now, so I'm getting to go back and forth across the area a bit this weekend, nice to see how things have progressed since I haven't made the drive to Rogers in a few months) and noticed how bright those lights were on the interstate.

[KJW]

I did notice the lights have been on the last two nights. I was driving up to Rogers (as long ago mentioned, I have family at a retreat up there at Embassy now, so I'm getting to go back and forth across the area a bit this weekend, nice to see how things have progressed since I haven't made the drive to Rogers in a few months) and noticed how bright those lights were on the interstate. (EDIT: You ain't kiddin' those lights are bright - they look like arc welders in the sky. You can see their low level glow from Pinnacle Hills, and they appear (on a cloudy night like this, at least) to be making the southern part of the metro ambient light even brighter.)

[Aporkalypse]

The weather was bad so no taking pics at the site of the stadium. But there's a small exhibit at the Shiloh Museum in Springdale focusing on the history of baseball in the area and even has a little bit about the former Wichita Wranglers. Here's some pics from my little trip there earlier.

[KJW]

Gang,

I'm too pressed for time to give you links on mapquest for the addresses I'm about to furnish but...

WOW. W-O-W.

WOW!

I was on "the hill" west of Centerton where we used to have our business, then on Herbaugh Road at 102 near where my daughter goes to school (NW of Centerton, South of Hiwasse). You can see the lights of Arvest Stadium at both places as though they were only a mile away. I swear it looked as if one could almost READ by the light at the former location...they are that bright.

St. Louis has its arch. Seattle has its space needle. San Francisco has its bridges, the Transamerica building, etc.

There may be a signature landmark for NWA someday (perhaps Crystal Bridges, perhaps something far bigger) but right now NWA has a new landmark and it's a friggin' inland LIGHTHOUSE. I'm serious - I'm 47 years old and I've never in my life seen anything this bright save for perhaps a burning structure viewed from a distance.

In the Centerton locations I told, these stadium lights also give an interesting sense of perspective to where things are in NWA, and how big this area's getting.

[cowbreath]

The weather was bad so no taking pics at the site of the stadium. But there's a small exhibit at the Shiloh Museum in Springdale focusing on the history of baseball in the area and even has a little bit about the former Wichita Wranglers. Here's some pics from my little trip there earlier.

[Mith242]

Those guys need to go out and save private ryan.

[KJW]

Coming in from Springfield, MO tonight, I noticed you can see the tallest of the stadium lights, quite clearly, from Garfield, AR (which is NE of Rogers and whose name is obscured by the "Pea Ridge Natl. Military Park" on the map).

[masons_dad1]

St. Louis has its arch. Seattle has its space needle. San Francisco has its bridges, the Transamerica building, etc.

[cocothief]

I haven't seen the lights myself yet, but it'll be exciting to go to a night game. I'm not sure I would call it a landmark though since you can only see it at night. Now a supertall flagpole would be interesting.

[Mith242]

Or a cross...

[masons_dad1]

Or a cross...