Do you foresee any land modification to the site? Like excavating out a lower level or building a berm, etc.
Fullsize Pic
love.jpg
Living downtown Little Rock around 2005, I watched our park go up. It cost $40 Million designed by HKS of Dallas. Fixed seating capacity 5,800 (7,200 included berm). They bulldozed the site and dug a big pit. It has multiple seating options and a very accessible concourse. I'm not sure what we are willing to spend. If we spent half that ($20M), we will have a nice ballpark.
I thought of Dickey Stevens once it was announced that Love Field would remain in the same location. It employs both the traditional architecture design and relationship to the street that Tech will be looking for. There are a lot of downtown minor league parks that employ a similar design that could be studied.
The reconstruction of the stadium will provide an opportunity to frame the Tech Drive and Alabama intersection into the more urban and traditional feel Tech is aiming for on campus. I hope this opportunity is used to create a new entryway into campus, announcing to people they are entering campus and a pedestrian zone. In an ideal world I would but a building or new softball field in the NW corner of this intersection, but that would be part of a larger effort to relocate the track (did someone suggest combining the track with a new soccer field).
I also hope they honor the right field rowdy's and create an improved berm seating situation. This could be accomplished with a new retaining wall to also serve as the outfield fence, then back filling with dirt. This would allow for a greater distance between spectators and the railroad.
as is there is not a lot of room behind the right field wall. i remember vandevelde and dooley talking about it in a meeting when the scoreboard for baseball was being discussed. i think techs property line is right at the pine trees behind right field fence. anything past that is railroad property. i too hope there is enough room with the new configuration to have a better area behind right field. i think the retaining wall suggestion is a cool idea.
"Hello, Mr. Railroad Exec? Hi, this is Joe Friendly from Louisiana Tech. We'd like to scootch our scoreboard back maybe 7 or 8 feet, but that's gonna put us in your right of way. Can we work out a deal? Yes,we can assume all liability, and even name the scoreboard for you. Yeah, Kansas City Southern scoreboard at Patterson Park sounds nice, huh? Ok, so you're amenable in principle, provided we can work through all the details? Great, we'll be back in touch soon!"
A soccer/track facility has been discussed on this board and elsewhere.
As for the idea of building softball at the NW corner of the intersection (where the current track is located), Tommy said in the release that repairs to the track would begin soon. So it appears the track will remain in its current location.
Put softball at or near the old baseball location.
IMG_20190730_204202.jpg
I had cropped it from a screenshot and posted it to BTB. If you are interested in seeing the rest of campus, Ruston, and Lincoln parish...I pulled it from here... http://webserv.lincolnparish.org/gisviewer/ Just pick the 1955/1949 Aerial layer. It is really cool to see Ruston pre-I20 and pre-Tech Drive.
Interesting to see a huge creek under the current Love Shack site.