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Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams (center) joined the City Council and Nats owner Mark Lerner at the new stadium site yesterday. |
By TODD JACOBSON
WASHINGTON--Flanked by orange wrecking machines, abandoned buildings and hundreds of fans and well-wishers wearing red Nationals hats, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams stood on a stage in what will eventually be the outfield at the team's new stadium and thought of what it will become.
"This is a little, dusty place," said Williams, wearing a red Nationals hat, "but imagine this place a few years from now."
The city officially broke ground on a $611 million glass, steel and concrete baseball stadium to be built for the Nationals yesterday.
New team owner Theodore N. Lerner was among the dozens of dignitaries that sunk golden shovels into a patch of sand to signal the ceremonial start of construction less than 24 hours after MLB commissioner Bud Selig selected the Lerners as the owners of the team.
And true to form, Lerner laid out an ambitious timetable for the stadium, which he hopes will be ready for the start of the 2008 season.
"It's going to take a great deal of work and effort to get done but it's possible to get it done," Lerner said.
Lerner, who wore a gray suit and red Nationals hat for the occasion, was joined by many of the investors of his winning group, city government officials, D.C. City Council chair Linda Cropp and even manager Frank Robinson and players Brian Schneider and Marlon Anderson.
Jazz musicians provided the soundtrack before officials paraded in front of the group of fans, thankful that the often-contentious search for an owner and stadium was over.
The ceremony was briefly interrupted by protesters holding signs and chanting "Feed the needy, not the greedy," but it was mostly a day of celebration.
"It's incredible," said Mark Lerner, Theodore Lerner's son and a co-owner of the franchise. "It's a dream come true. I never thought I'd be standing here today but it's something I'll never forget."
Truth is, construction has already begun at the site blocks away from the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington, and it stopped briefly only for yesterday's ceremony.
Bonds were sold by the city Wednesday to pay for the $611 million stadium, and large wrecking machines churned up chunks of asphalt and swirled dust in the air behind a portable stage brought in for the ceremony as master of ceremonies Charlie Brotman introduced a handful of speakers.
Several abandoned buildings were still standing around a large arrow pointing toward the future location of home plate, but they are targeted to come down soon.
Construction is to start in earnest later this month when the main bowl of the stadium is excavated.
By fall, construction officials hope to begin building the frame of the stadium, and by spring of next year, they hope to be working on the stadium's glass and stone skin, moving quickly in order to meet the Opening Day 2008 deadline.
"I have always been a little skeptical about an April '08 opening but the construction people are confident and if they are confident I hope they're right," said outgoing Nationals president Tony Tavares, who will be replaced by Lerner group investor and former Atlanta Braves president Stan Kasten.
The weather and how many changes the Lerner group would like to make to the stadium could dictate much of the timeline.
The 41,000-seat stadium will be constructed of steel, glass and pre-poured concrete to evoke a feeling that mirrors the city's monuments, and officials envision a retail and dining complex sprouting up in what has been a downtrodden area of the city.
However, the Lerners had no say in initial design of the stadium. Developers by trade, they said they'd like to make some changes in the coming weeks and months.
The changes are not likely to be major, D.C. government officials expect, because much of the raw materials for the project have been ordered and any cost overruns attributed to design changes would be shouldered by the new owners, said Allen Lew, chief executive officer of the D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission.
A stadium lease agreement between Major League Baseball and the city caps spending on the city-funded stadium
"We think we can add a lot of great ideas to the stadium with our experience as developers," said Mark Lerner. "I am a fan of many stadiums around the country and we've found a lot of things we'd like to suggest."
Among the Lerner's favorite stadiums: Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
"Any changes that we suggest I think we will be able to get in within budget," Mark Lerner said.
Schneider, the catcher who has been with the Nationals since they were owned in 2001 by Jeffrey Loria, stood amid a group of fans and politicians and, like Williams, tried to imagine a permanent home for the team.
With the franchise, Schneider has weathered near-contraction by Major League Baseball, a grueling schedule that included dozens of games in Puerto Rico in 2003 and 2004, a move to Washington and new ownership.
"It feels like a reward," he said yesterday after participating in the groundbreaking. "We are less than two years away from getting a ballpark. We have a new owner. I think everybody in the clubhouse and even in the city was rewarded today."
To reach TODD JACOBSON:
Email: tjacobson@freelancestar.com
