Prospects share vision for new ballpark
If reality ends up matching the vision for their new ballpark in Spruce Grove, the Edmonton Prospects are going to hit the proverbial ball right out of it.
Initial renderings were released this week of what is being branded Spruce Grove Metro Ballpark. And if Edmonton has its Ice District, Spruce Grove may end up with a Diamond District on the east side of the city where Highway 16A meets Pioneer Road.
Besides a 2,500-seat ballpark, the 25-acre plot will look to include a surrounding amphitheatre, shopping, condo space and possibly a microbrewery.
“You’re starting to see more of this down in the U.S., where they’re really trying to bring as much activity into the ballpark as possible and trying to integrate the community into the ballpark and making it part of the culture and lifestyle of what happens and what goes on out there,” said Prospects managing partner Patrick Cassidy.
The trick, of course, is trading in the drafting pencil for the shovel and coming up with an end result that matches initial expectations.
“We’re going to try to stick to the concept as much as we can,” Cassidy said. “The one thing I worry about sometimes is you know, you come up with a visual of the end in mind, and then maybe you stage it or you do it in phases and you don’t get the whole thrust of it all at once. And so I think it can work against you a little bit sometimes.
“But we also know we’re putting something out there that we want to show off to the entire area, and make it an option for people.”
It wasn’t a hard sell to find local developers, including Spruce Grove commercial realtor Victor Moroz of Metro Horizon Corp., when it came to the idea of surrounding the ballpark with all the different accompanying pieces.
“Patrick’s done his research and we all thought, man, this is going to be a great place for a ballpark like that,” Moroz said. “We’re at our due diligence phase, so all of the stuff that has to happen with the city and everybody to get a development permit of this type.
“The same as the Ice District, it’s just not Rogers Place, you need places for people to stay and eat and park and all that type of stuff.”