What looks like an enormous stretch of dirt is undergoing a total transformation.
“We're going to be ready for baseball in February,” said Douglas Utt, the vice president of Hunt Construction. “We're so excited.”
The site on Haverhill Road and Military Trail will be the newest spring training home of the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros.
The message from the contractors and teams is the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches will be ready on time.
“This site had over 200 thousand yards of trash and rubble, material that had to be removed,” explained Utt. “We have the palm trees in place, all of the irrigation is in place, our sod work begins a little later this week.”
Exclusive Chopper 5 video offers a bird’s eye view of the 161-acre property. The complex will house six practice fields for each team, including replicas of Minute Maid Ballpark in Houston. The grass on some of the practice fields is already green and soon every other one will be ready for play.
For their first game, the Nationals and Astros will face off in the 360 degree stadium bowl. You can walk around the entire field without leaving.
“This is a fast-track project, so we put a lot of work in place,” said Utt.
Both teams’ clubhouses are in place, so is the netting to prevent foul balls from pelting traffic. Soon, this $148 million project will be one for the history books in Palm Beach County.
“I love this ballpark,” said Utt. “It's going to be so fabulous. I can't wait to bring my family to opening day, having a hot dog, a soda and watching two great teams play.”
In late January, the players will report to the stadium. The first game is February 28 and tickets will go on sale soon.
The addition of the Nationals and Astros will bring the total to five spring training teams in our area.
