(Photo courtesy of Heinlein Schrock Stearns)

By Greg Lewicki
The author, a freelance writer and editor, lives in
Weehawken, N.J. He has written articles for Engi-
neering News-Record, which he also proofreads.

In August 2002, Ehlert Development Corp. announced that it was moving the Duluth, Minn., Dukes of baseball’s independent Northern League. Nine months later, the Kansas City, Kan., T-Bones ran onto the field of their brand-new, $14-million stadium in front of a standing-room-only crowd of over 4,500. Like a winning season, design-build delivery was essential to the success of Community America Ballpark.

When John Ehlert, a former magazine publisher, bought the Dukes in 2001, he had no intention of relocating the team. A native of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Ehlert thought there was potential for growth in Duluth. But after two seasons of lagging attendance and foul weather (the last three games of the Dukes’ existence were fogged out), he decided to pack the team up and move. "We struggled up there for a couple of years and realized that our league was evolving out of markets like Duluth; Madison, Wisc.; and Thunder Bay, Ontario, and into markets like Kansas City and Lincoln, Neb.," says Adam Ehlert, general manager of the Kansas City T-Bones and John Ehlert’s son. "In order to be able to survive, we needed to move to a bigger and more vibrant market."

The Northern League was originally founded in 1902. Since it emerged in its fourth reincarnation in 1993, it has undergone a period of growth, going from six to ten teams, with smaller markets giving way to larger markets. The most prominent Northern League team is the St. Paul Saints, which has fielded rosters with notable players such as the former major league slugger Daryl Strawberry and J.D. Drew, who now plays for the St. Louis Cardinals. The population of the St. Paul metro region is roughly 3 million. Duluth, with a metro population of around 243,000, simply wasn’t supplying enough of a fan base.

The Ehlerts considered a number of cities but ultimately chose Kansas City for a variety of reasons, including its proximity to the Kansas City, Mo., metro region. Kansas City has a rich sports tradition that includes the National Football League’s Kansas City Chiefs and Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals. In addition, Kansas City is home to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and has a vibrant college sports scene. The region’s population of roughly 1.7 million also was a plus.

Speed the Plow

Privately financed 4,500-seat stadium was built in only eight months. (Photo courtesy of Heinlein Schrock Stearns)

An enticing 400-acre site called Village West was available. With its proximity to the NASCAR-affiliated Kansas City Speedway, a 940,000-sq-ft shopping center, an indoor/outdoor waterpark as well as a 1-million-sq-ft furniture store, the location would greatly help increase traffic to a new stadium. But once the site was selected, there was still the critical issue of navigating construction through a narrow time frame, which is where design-build came into play. "The decision was made that if we wanted to be ready to open on June 6, 2003, the only way to do this was with design-build procurement," says Mike Thiessen, principal in The Madison Group, Western Springs, Ill., which acted as the owner’s representative on the project.

Thiessen and the Ehlerts selected Titan Construction, Olathe, Kan., which has built a number of design-build projects around the Kansas City area, including some high school stadiums and athletic fields. The ownership team also tapped Heinlein Schrock Stearns, Kansas City, Mo., as design consultant. The firm is known for its sports facility work, including design of the Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field in Denver, design consultation for the Seattle Mariners’ Safeco Field and design of numerous minor-league ballparks.

Marrying the two firms with "design-build gave us the ability to make sure that...the architect and the contractor knew what the final budget was," says Thiessen. "There could be no surprises, because they had to work together to make sure the project was open."

Titan subcontracted the concrete work out to two local subcontractors. This helped to improve efficiency and speed construction, according to Steve Graham, vice president of project development for Titan. The electrical engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering and plumbing also went to subs. The design and installation of the playing field was handled by Roger Bossard, who is the groundskeeper for Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field, which is home to the White Sox.

Since it is connected to the shopping center by a pedestrian walkway, the ballpark needed to complement that center’s "urban feel" and early industrial design style. "We used some industrial-type materials because... similar materials had been chosen for the shopping area and we wanted the same context with that," says Carrie Rezac, senior project architect for Heinlein Schrock Stearns. Some of the materials included brick and corrugated metal.

Six concession stands all have 'fan-friendly' views of the ballpark. (Photo courtesy of Heinlein Schrock Stearns)

John Ehlert also wanted the park to be fan friendly, so the architect included a number of amenities in the design. "We tried to create some different areas [including] lawn seating where people could just bring blankets out and sit down," says Rezac. "And then we also have a picnic terrace with picnic tables where families or groups can watch the game." A large plaza greets fans entering at the main entrance. A public concourse encircles the whole playing field and offers different vantage points for fans who want to use the six concession stands or simply stretch their legs. The upper level holds 20 private suites, two club terraces and press facilities.

Every seat in the park is no more that 50 ft away from the field and the seats are between 19 to 21 in. wide, which is more generous than normal. The tread distance between seats is set at 39 in.–6 in. greater than the industry standard–so that fans can stay seated if someone needs to get by, according to Rezac. Another comfort feature is that there are two-thirds more womens’ bathrooms than are required by code.

The ballpark was designed to have a quirky, intimate feel. The outfield is asymmetrical, and measures 300 ft down the left field line, where it meets the 18-ft-high outfield wall, 396 ft to dead center and 328 ft down the right field line. Because of the time and budget constraints, the locker rooms were not placed below the seating areas, as in most stadiums, but were built at grade in a separate building adjacent to the outfield. That also wound up contributing to the homey atmosphere. "When [the players] walk out, they walk down through the lawn seating areas to get down to the field. [It] provides a little bit of interest because you feel like you’re a little bit closer to the team," says Rezac.

While design-build helped speed along construction, two other factors also played a major role in the project’s success. Fine weather was a huge help. After ground was broken in October with the placement of the outfield wall, the Kansas City area experienced unusually mild and dry weather for the duration of construction."I think we may be the only folks in the state of Kansas who benefited from the drought last fall and winter," says Ehlert. "We didn’t have rain for close to three months and very little snow in the winter, so we were able to continue construction." The only potential curve ball from Mother Nature occurred on May 4, 2003, when a tornado came close to touching down on the construction site. "It basically skipped right over our building," he says.

Good Government

Another key element was the cooperation of Kansas City. For one thing, city inspectors sped up the approval process. "A lot of the formal processes that a typical city has for reviews were accomplished on a more informal basis through direct interaction with the city and us," says Graham. "We didn’t turn a set of drawings in and wait six weeks for the comments. We turned in the parts of the drawings as [the architect] was designing them and met with the city and went over them. It was a real testimony to a great community that wanted to get things done."

The city also provided Ehlert Development Corp. and Redd Development, which developed the adjacent shopping center and recreation area, with STAR Bond financing. This helped to cover the cost of infrastructure and development costs such as retaining walls, landscaping and common areas. Sales tax revenue goes into a common pot and will eventually pay back the bonds, according to Thiessen.

The bonds also enabled Ehlert to increase the budget. "The STAR Bond financing allowed the team owner, who probably would have built maybe an $8 to $9-million dollar stadium, to be able to build a $14 to $16-million dollar stadium," says Graham. "The public subsidy was used to enhance the project and to be able to build a much nicer product."

Once ground was broken, there were not too many complications for the design-build team. About the only change in the design that was needed involved the roof. "One issue that came up was the original design had a pitched roof over the suite level and...the lights [behind the stadium] would have had to have been about 185 ft in the air, and obviously that was not going to work," says Graham. The pitch of the roof was lowered so that the lights could be mounted on shorter poles.

Thiessen says that he would recommend design-build to his clients if the circumstances warrant it and you are "allowed to bring the players together so that they understand the mentality of the owner from a design and construction perspective." He definitely thinks design-build made a difference in the building of the Community America Ballpark. "From an owner’s perspective, it worked out fabulous," says Thiessen. "We were absolutely pleased with the ultimate design and use of materials and we were very pleased with [how] the contractor did in terms of timing, budget, and the flow of information."

"Everyone knew we were under the gun and everybody just stepped up and performed," adds Graham. "It was fun to be involved in a project that turned out so well and had to be delivered so fast. Nobody believed we could get it done, but fortunately we did.... It’s just a result of everybody working hard to make the decisions in a timely fashion." After all is said and done, adds Graham, "How do you miss an opening day?"

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