In many U.S. cities, a ballpark is a symbol of civic pride and a catalyst for urban development. That is what leaders in Winston-Salem hope will happen now that Warthogs owners and the city have consummated a deal to build a $22.6-million ballpark where Business 40 and Peters Creek Parkway intersect.

They certainly have plenty of reasons to believe it will. Thanks to facilities standards put in place by the governing body of Minor League Baseball in 1991, more than half of the 176 minor-league teams that charge admission have either built new ballparks or completely renovated exisiting facilities since then.

The shining example of a ballpark used as a development tool is AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tenn. The $80.5 million stadium was built in the center of downtown in 2000. Its wild success - the hometown Redbirds average more than ten thousand fans a game - convinced the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies to relocate to Memphis.
A Diamond is Forever

Momentum continued to build from there. A $30 million Westin Hotel is set to open on Beale Street next month, and more than eighty restaurants have sprung up around the ballpark and arena. Other downtown buildings have since been renovated into luxury condominiums, and the city currently draws more than eight million visitors annually. Most of that can be traced back to the city’s decision to build AutoZone Park.

Greensboro has also hitched its future to a new ballpark. In 2005, First Horizon Park was built on the northwest edge of its downtown for $15 million. Attendance figures soared in its debut season and were even higher last year. But more important was the ballpark’s effect beyond the outfield fence.

“First Horizon Park gave developers of several downtown projects the confidence to move forward,” says Ray Gibbs, president of Downtown Greensboro Inc., a nonprofit organization that leads the development of downtown Greensboro. “The real issue is just the image and excitement and general feeling the ballpark creates for downtown. It adds more of a sense that we’re looking to revitalize downtown.”

There have been hiccups in those efforts. Several projects near the ballpark have been delayed because of a lack of interest, but that hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm spurred by First Horizon Park.

“The early wave of people interested in downtown may have passed,” Bobbie Maynard, a real-estate broker with Allen Tate, admitted to The Business Journal in December. “But there is definitely another wave coming.”

Billy Prim, the chairman and CEO of Blue Rhino Corporation and co-owner of the Warthogs, has essentially been the face of the Winston-Salem ballpark project since it became public. His visits to newly built stadiums in Dayton, Ohio, and Lakewood, New Jersey, gave him a vision for the facility he wants to build here.

“I think the main part of the vision, which you already see in most of the new stadiums, is a 360-degree concourse that allows people to circle the entire field,” he says. “It also gives them a lot of general admission seating and grassy areas where they can watch their kids play.”

Prim also wants plenty of playground equipment and entertainment areas for adults. Basically, First Horizon Park, West End Field in Greenville, South Carolina, and Durham Bulls Athletic Park provide a good sense of Prim’s vision. And of course, that’s just one of the many ideas for the ballpark.

A Key Attraction
For Bob McCoy, president of the Winston-Salem Convention & Visitors Bureau, the new ballpark is another asset he can use to draw tourists and meeting planners to town. He has a sister in Greenville, and although he hasn’t been to a ballgame at West End Field there, which opened last season, he’s driven past it a few times.

“It makes me a little jealous, to be honest,” he says, and he means that as a Winston-Salem resident and as the point person at the CVB. “The stadium has built up a lot of excitement down there.”

How much the new Warthogs ballpark can help McCoy and his staff attract meetings and events to town depends largely on the facility. He says he is hoping the new stadium will have multipurpose rooms and facilities that can accommodate meeting planners who are looking for unique sites or newlyweds who are fanatical enough about baseball to hold their wedding receptions there. McCoy insists there are brides who would agree to that.

Then there are the extra uses for the field. McCoy lists music concerts and cheerleading competitions as non-baseball possibilities. Prim, meanwhile, is already eying the chance to host the Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournment and preliminary rounds of the College World Series.

Whatever the case, McCoy says he is thrilled with all the opportunties a new ballpark will give him. He says the bottom line is it will simply make the city a more attractive destination for leisure and business travelers.

“The general feeling is that baseball stadiums are good for visitors and for those of us who do visitor promotions,” he says. “We’re standing by ready to promote whatever it is that they build.”

An Economic Engine
Derwick Paige, the deputy city manager who has been part of the discussions with Prim from the get-go, doesn’t think baseball when he talks about the ballpark project. He thinks about everything that will surround it.

“The project includes a much larger mixed-use development that will include things such as office, residential and retail development,” he says. “It’s still being defined exactly what that will be, but I think that’s the real driver.”

The concept is similar to Greenville’s West End Field, but on a larger scale. Throughout that ballpark’s debut season, a large office building was being constructed just beyond the left field wall. Eventually, Paige hopes multiple projects will be under way by the time the Warthogs are playing at the new stadium.

In the meantime, Paige says he and the city staff are doing their homework. He has talked in detail with developers and city officials in Greensboro and Durham to learn what they went through.

“One of the things Greensboro told us is that they made the mistake of not having all the property under control when they started the project,” says Paige. “Some of the pieces were privately owned and they either had to pay high prices to acquire them or move forward without them.”

Durham officials, meanwhile, suggested involving local universities. Duke University was a major player in the commercial development around Durham Bulls Athletic Park, supporting the construction of nearby research facilities. Winston-Salem has already reached out to Wake Forest, which will purchase Ernie Shore Field and use it as its home baseball field. At press time, Wake officials were also talking to Winston-Salem State University about sharing the field.

“As an economic-development tool and recruitment engine, I think the ballpark is critical,” says Paige. “We’ve struggled over the years to retain our eighteen-to-forty-year-old population. That’s where our future is. I think the new ballpark will help create a perception among them that this is a good place to be.”

A Reason to Relocate
The new ballpark should also make more people think downtown Winston-Salem is a good place to live. The residential boom is already well under way. According to the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership, 38,364 people currently live downtown, and the number of residential units has soared from four hundred in 2000 to more than fourteen hundred this year. Another sixteen will be added this summer when the Trader’s Row condominiums on North Trade Street are completed.

“In a lot of cities, we have seen baseball as something that works very well with residential neighborhoods,” says Jason Thiel, president of Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership. “Memphis has a wonderful downtown baseball stadium, and certainly Durham has done quite a bit around its ballpark. It’s become quite natural for downtown ballparks to be built within the fabric of downtown rather than as a stand-alone facility. It works.”

Thiel saw it happen in Fort Worth, Texas, where he lived and worked for several years before arriving in Winston-Salem about a year ago. LaGrave Field was built in 2002 on the site of the original minor-league ballpark. The site happened to be adjacent to downtown Fort Worth, and Thiel says it quickly became a gathering place for families and other locals who had never been downtown before.

“I think the real opportunity here is once we get people downtown for a baseball game, we really have a chance to market downtown as a place to live,” he says. “We have to make sure we capture them for dinner, a play, or shopping.”

Thiel already has an itinerary mapped out for anyone who’s interested.

“They can go to a day game at 1, do some shopping after the game in the afternoon, then have some dinner at one of our downtown restaurants,” he says.

The foundation hasn’t been laid, but Winston-Salem’s brand-new ballpark has already done wonders for the city. It has created a buzz few people can resist. Paige lives close to downtown and found himself driving by the proposed site often.

Prim has been buoyed by well-wishers ever since his name started showing up in articles about the project in the Winston-Salem Journal. He has also been encouraged by all the support he’s gotten from community leaders who want to see the ballpark built.

“Everyone is helping and supporting each other to make this happen because they know a rising tide will lift all ships,” says Primm. “This ballpark will have the critical mass to lift a lot of ships.”