From baseball to beer, Braves’ new home a marvel
Barely 20 years after the Atlanta Braves began play at Turner Field, they’ll christen a new stadium.
SunTrust Park will host its first real baseball Friday night, a testament to the restless nature of modern franchises, along with the desire to mix sport into an atmosphere in which fans can integrate a live- work- play experience into their patronage of the local squad.
With that, a few key facts and figures on the new yard before Braves righthander Julio Teheran fires the first pitch against the San Diego Padres:
$ 400 million: Amount in public funds that went toward construction of the ballpark, largely from bonds and transportation taxes. The contribution from Cobb County came merely through approval of the five- person county commission, rather than a referendum.
$ 1.1 billion: Estimated cost of the entire project, including the ballpark and the adjacent entertainment district, dubbed The Battery Atlanta. The Braves are footing the $ 400 million cost for The Battery, which will eventually include a hotel, office buildings and about 60 restaurants and bars. For now, about half the franchises that have signed on will be operational by opening night, according to The Atlanta Journal- Constitution.
And 100 of an eventual 500 apartment units are available for rent.
7: 35: That’s the start time for night games, a nod to the horrendous traffic in Atlanta and its surrounding suburbs. The already overburdened traffic grid took a massive hit with the March 30 collapse of an elevated portion of I- 85.
While the area immediately surrounding SunTrust Park is far away from the I- 85 mess, it will greatly complicate getting there — particularly since public transportation options are not as abundant as they were downtown.
In short: Planning ahead and exercising patience are not merely a guide for the Braves’ on- field rebuild.
41,149: Capacity of SunTrust Park, down from almost 50,000 at Turner Field. The reduced capacity and modern design will make for a far more intimate ballpark experience — and quite possibly a very loud one, once the Braves reverse their baseball fortunes.
15: Capacity for the rooftop cabanas available for rental before every game. The Braves have turned the rightfield corner into a party on a roof, with the aforementioned cabanas featuring foosball, table tennis and cornhole games. The rooftop can accommodate up to 300 people, and features the ballpark’s lone Waffle House restaurant.
300: Number of Braves- themed art pieces throughout the ballpark. The team is celebrating the new by honoring the old, including a statue of former manager Bobby Cox that was just unveiled. A 9- foot snapshot of Hank Aaron’s record- breaking 715th home run headlines the club’s Monument Garden in Section 125, an area that also features plaques of the club’s 31 Braves Hall of Fame members.
5%: Alcohol by volume of Chopsecutioner Ale, a brew aged atop wood from real Mizuno baseball bats. Made by Terrapin Brewing Co. of Athens, Ga., it’s toned down from the usual 7.3% Hopsecutioner Ale, a more palatable bouquet for a hot afternoon at the ballpark.