Final at-bat for ballpark

By Opening Day on April 25, 1995, most of the players had been signed and Homestead’s stadium was vacated again. It would remain that way except for one series played between Florida International University and the University of Miami until July 2011 when John H. Ruiz, of Spanishlanguage TV, brought his company, La Ley Sports, and a new vision to the stadium.

According to city manager George Gretsas, La Ley was going to turn the stadium into “a first class youth and athletic sports venue” when he signed the leaseto-own contract on July 14, 2012. But La Ley ran into problems. “La Ley was unable to find insurance coverage for the property, as required by the contract, and fell behind on utility payments,” explained Gretsas.

Then he quickly fell behind on his rent and tied the city up in lawsuits for several years. One is still pending.

In the middle of all of that, in April 2012, the Department of Children and Families was also called in to investigate 23 Venezuelan teenagers found living in bad conditions in the locker rooms. Ruiz said he was not responsible for them as he had rented the space to Gigantes Baseball Group, which recruits high school-aged baseball players and had brought the teens there.

In 2013, La Ley vacated the property, and once again the city was left scrambling to fill it. Years before, MLB spring training had moved away from South Florida, killing any hope that a team may decide to call the field home.

“We tried everything,” said Maytan. His team even offered the complex to David Beckham when they heard he was looking for a place to put a soccer stadium in South Florida. “It’s too far south,” was Beckham’s response, according to Maytan.

In 2015, the stadium received a new paint job and a $3 million renovation and became the Homestead Police Station, after the previous location became uninhabitable because of mold and other serious toxins. The sky boxes became offices, the ticket booth a place for a secretary, and the pink exterior was painted over a classic blue and white. The police used the converted stadium facilities until they moved in to a newly constructed precinct in early 2017.

Using the stadium in the interim saved the city millions, Maytan said. For him, that’s a silver lining to the field’s sad history.

After Hurricane Irma caused more damage to the empty structure last year, the City Commission asked Maytan to do a feasibility study on the complex. “It’s a money pit,” Maytan admitted. Five out of the six options that came back in the study involve tearing down the ball park.

So the city solicited demolition bids. Four companies offered their services with price tags ranging from $594,800 to over $1 million. The commission could discuss the bids at its July 10 meeting but won’t be able to make any final decisions until July 25 at the earliest. Maytan says he thinks the demolition will move ahead. What will replace the stadium remains to be seen. The city could try to sell the land, but it cannot be developed for most purposes because of being in the crash zone of the air base. Maytan hopes it will become a park.

“It breaks my heart to hear that they are looking at an option to demolish it,” said Muxo. “Do we wish things would have turned out different, yes. But you can’t change nature and what happened.”