What's Going Down(town)

Parkview Field
Johnny Appleseed would be proud
Link (baseballparks.com)

“As has become customary when a team moves into a new ballpark, the Fort Wayne Wizards of the Midwest League decided to switch to a different nickname for 2009. They came up with the name TinCaps, because Johnny Appleseed allegedly wore a tin cooking pot on his head as he traveled about cultivating apple trees. ”

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“Decidedly younger than the Johnny Appleseed legend is Fort Wayne’s Memorial Stadium. It was built in 1993, but after only 14 years of life, the city decided to replace it. It was a ballpark that was “charmless, featureless and amenity-less” said Jason Freier, the CEO of Hardball Capital, which owns the TinCaps. Other than that, it was quite a facility.

The fate of the sterile ballpark, which was located only four miles away from downtown (but when you look at its surroundings, it seems more like a thousand miles away), was sealed in 2007. That’s when it was decided that a shiny new baseball facility would be the anchor for a significant urban-renewal project downtown known as Harrison Square.”

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“You know, with Populous — the new name for HOK — being heavily involved in the two new Major League parks opening in New York this year, as well as the very ambitious spring-training park in Goodyear (not to mention Target Field that will open in Minneapolis next year), I was fearful that a ballpark in the low-A Midwest League might not get the best and brightest designers at Populous. My fears were unfounded.

In fact, Populous associate principal Martin DiNitto put it this way: “Projects like Parkview Field are at the heart and soul of our practice.” The effort they put into the park’s design certainly attest to this fact.

Indeed, the architectural work here is first-rate. Not only does it pass the “first glance” test with flying colors, it also blows you away when you start doing a thorough analysis of the finer points of the design — especially as “themes” are carried out in different parts of the facility.”

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“Overall, the food offerings at this Low-A facility are what you would expect to find at nicer Double-A or Triple-A ballparks. Both the variety and quality are quite high. Right off the bat, I have to tell you that my favorite stand is the Center Field Grill, which serves up some of the best barbecued ribs (below left, $8.75 for the “plate” as shown) I’ve had outside of my home state of Texas, which I consider to be the BBQ Capital of the civilized world.”

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“Jason Freier, who was a tremendous help in putting this review together, told me that he is “thrilled with the way the ballpark turned out.” He should be. He, and the fans of Fort Wayne, received a tremendous ballpark for their $30-million investment.”