With new baseball stadium likely, VCU must replace Sports Backers Stadium – Richmond Times-Dispatch
-
- 86
With a new baseball stadium likely coming to the city of Richmond, the clock is ticking for Virginia Commonwealth University to sell the adjacent Sports Backers Stadium and build new soccer and track facilities on the other side of Hermitage Road.
VCU needs new facilities as part of its sprawling athletics village by 2025 when the baseball stadium opens, athletics director Ed McLaughlin said Thursday.
“We’re in a tight window to make sure everything is built on time,” McLaughlin told the board of visitors.
People are also reading…
This week, a city committee chose RVA Diamond Partners as the developer for the $2.4 billion Diamond District project. As the centerpiece of the redevelopment, the city expects to open a new minor league baseball stadium in the spring of 2025 in order to meet a deadline set by Major League Baseball.
Seven of nine City Council members would need to approve the project, but seven have already expressed support.
Sports Backers Stadium, which VCU owns, houses the university’s soccer and track programs and office space for Sports Backers, the authority that operates the Monument Avenue 10K and other events. VCU intends to sell the property to the city, which will raze the stadium, field and track to make room for the redevelopment.
$2.4 billion Diamond District project takes shape after developer selected
Sports Backers expects to move its offices to the athletics village, a spokesperson for the organization said Thursday.
McLaughlin did not know when VCU will sell Sports Backers Stadium or how much money the property should fetch.
It’s VCU’s understanding that Sports Backers will be demolished before the baseball stadium is built, meaning Sports Backers will be gone by 2025. A concept drawing shows the construction of the baseball stadium and redevelopment of Sports Backers as Phase 1A of construction.
Without Sports Backers, VCU doesn’t have a track, so it will need a new one in less than three years. VCU hasn’t set a schedule for the move.
“We don’t have a track otherwise,” McLaughlin said.
City officials, Richmond School Board at odds over Arthur Ashe Center
The VCU men’s and women’s soccer teams could temporarily play in a field inside the track, McLaughlin said. Eventually, the soccer and track programs will have separate facilities. VCU expects to build a soccer stadium with capacity for 4,000 spectators and room for expansion. Sports Backers holds about 3,200.
In the past three years, VCU has purchased 41 acres along Hermitage Road for multiple athletics facilities, including indoor and outdoor tennis courts and an indoor facility with other courts.
“It’s really hard to put together 41 acres in the middle of the city,” McLaughlin said.
While there is a deadline for building a new track facility, VCU’s top priority is constructing new tennis courts, which will unlock a chain reaction of new construction. The university plans to build a new student center on the site of its current courts on campus and an academic building on the site of the current student center.
It’s possible VCU will construct tennis and track facilities simultaneously, McLaughlin said. VCU announced Thursday it received a $2.5 million donation to …….
With a new baseball stadium likely coming to the city of Richmond, the clock is ticking for Virginia Commonwealth University to sell the adjacent Sports Backers Stadium and build new soccer and track facilities on the other side of Hermitage Road.
VCU needs new facilities as part of its sprawling athletics village by 2025 when the baseball stadium opens, athletics director Ed McLaughlin said Thursday.
“We’re in a tight window to make sure everything is built on time,” McLaughlin told the board of visitors.
People are also reading…
…….
With a new baseball stadium likely coming to the city of Richmond, the clock is ticking for Virginia Commonwealth University to sell the adjacent Sports Backers Stadium and build new soccer and track facilities on the other side of Hermitage Road.
VCU needs new facilities as part of its sprawling athletics village by 2025 when the baseball stadium opens, athletics director Ed McLaughlin said Thursday.
“We’re in a tight window to make sure everything is built on time,” McLaughlin told the board of visitors.
People are also reading…
…….