Today, Kannapolis celebrated the start of a new era of baseball in the City. The Kannapolis City Council, city officials, Temerity Capital Partners, the owners of the Kannapolis Intimidators, and other special guests batted ceremonial balls onto the future site of the new Sports and Entertainment Venue during a ceremony which marked the start of construction on the new facility. The venue will be near Chestnut Avenue in downtown Kannapolis.
“Baseball great Yogi Berra once said when you come to a fork in the road – you take it and that is what we, the Kannapolis City Council have done. We have reached a fork in the City’s road - when it is time for bold choices in order to achieve our vision of a revitalized downtown. We have dreamed of this Sports and Entertainment Venue and now the day is here. We are very excited to begin construction of this premier venue,” said Kannapolis Mayor Darrell Hinnant.
“Today’s groundbreaking is the start of an exciting journey toward a revitalized Kannapolis with a thriving Sports and Entertainment Venue. Temerity Baseball looks forward to partnering with the Kannapolis community on this endeavor,” Andy Sandler, Chairman of Temerity Capital Partners, and owner of the Kannapolis Intimidators commented.
“The county is proud to collaborate in this revitalization. Success for Kannapolis means success for Cabarrus County,” said Cabarrus County Commission Chair Steve Morris. “This opportunity is incredible for Kannapolis and for Cabarrus County. We’ve assembled a tremendous team of public and private partners to turn our dreams into reality.”
The venue will be the new home of the City’s Minor League Baseball Team – the Kannapolis Intimidators, an affiliate of the White Sox Major League Team. The venue will also have 6,000 square feet of banquet and meeting space that people can rent for conferences, meetings, and special events. It is designed as a public park with restrooms, includes a kids zone and will accommodate special events such as concerts.
The stadium will have a seating capacity of 4,930 with 3,218 of those being fixed seats. Other seating options will include luxury suites, a party deck, berm seating, premium dugout box seats, a picnic terrace, an outfield bar, and right field boxes.
The Sports & Entertainment Venue is the catalyst for the City’s Downtown Revitalization Project and has already resulted in commitments by private investors for adjacent mixed use developments totaling more than $100 million.
During the ceremony the City recognized numerous partners who have helped bring the project to life: Barton-Malow, Brailsford & Dunlavey, Cabarrus County Commissioners, Cabarrus CVB, Creech & Associates, Davenport & Company, LLC, Development Finance Initiative, UNC-CH, Hart & Hickman, Land Design, Parker and Poe, PNC Bank, Pope Flynn, Populous and R.W. Baird.
The ceremony, concluded with fireworks, confetti, music by the A.L. Brown Marching Band, and the public hitting balls onto the chalked outline of the baseball field.
Construction will be completed by April 2020 in time for the start of the baseball season. For more information on the construction of the Sports and Entertainment Venue and the Downtown Revitalization Project visit www.kannapolisnc.gov/revitalization
Steve Morris, Cabarrus County Commission Chair; Kannapolis City Council Member Doug Wilson, Temerity Capital Partners and Kannapolis Intimidators Andy Sandler; Kannapolis Mayor Darrell Hinnant; Kannapolis City Council Members Roger Haas and Dianne Berry; Kannapolis City Manager Mike Legg, Kannapolis City Council Members Tom Kincaid, Ryan Dayvault and Van Rowell take turns at bat during the groundbreaking ceremony.
Mayor Darrell Hinnant and members of City Council
Celebrating with fireworks and confetti!
Intimidators' staff distribute t-shirts to the crowd.