Four months after pitching in $1 million to keep the Diamond District ballpark project on track, Richmond’s Economic Development Authority is stepping back up to the plate with more funding for the stadium’s design.
In a special meeting Tuesday, the EDA board authorized staff to put another $1.5 million toward design and development of the new ballpark, via an amendment to its contract with the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ ownership group that provided the initial $1 million in December.
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Didn’t the Squirrels have to request a year extension on the deadline for the new stadium already? I really thought a new stadium and a build up of that area would be pretty dope, but I’m getting progressively more worried that it’s going to wind up as a cluster fuck.
Not sure what the original timeline was, but from the article:
[Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Sharon Ebert] also said Machete Group and Odell are aiming to split up the design and construction work so that site work on the stadium can start in July and foundation work can be packaged later in the summer, with vertical construction on the stadium breaking ground this fall.
“That will guarantee us that the stadium will be complete for the 2026 baseball season,” Ebert said.
I had heard something about the extension over dinner the other night, so I just looked it up to verify. I guess the MLB said a new stadium had to be built by April 2025 or they’d move the Squirrels to a new city, but the Squirrels and the city were able to get that deadline extended by a year, back in April 2023.
Yeah, I’m getting progressively less hopeful this is going to turn out any different than the Redskins Training Camp, the whole Navy Hill shitshow, etc. Plus with that whole Dogwood Dell shooting hoax fuckery, pretty much anything Stoney or anyone who works for him even tangentially touches is suss as fuck imo.
