New Downtown Baseball Stadium, AAA Club, and Associated RE Development

[Veritas]

Underwhelming and poor presentation. Architectects must be from JoCo. Boring

I’m not much of a fan of dug out stadiums though which might be part of the issue. I like the original concept better. The new design doesn’t much get me excited to attend a game.

[ShockCrazy]

Wasn't Eck Stadium built in 1999 or something? How much did it cost? What do those dollars inflate to? Doesn't Eck seat more than 6k? Am I missing the box offices in the city's rendering? Can't we directly compare costs for the two projects, Eck and this building? Maybe not, I dunno.

Got me curious. https://goshockers.com/sports/2015/5...ium.aspx?id=13 Soooo yeah... Eck even accounting for inflation cost substantially less. According to an rough inflation calculator that 7.8 mil would be less than 12 today. Soooooo....

[Kung Wu]

Got me curious. https://goshockers.com/sports/2015/5...ium.aspx?id=13 Soooo yeah... Eck even accounting for inflation cost substantially less. According to an rough inflation calculator that 7.8 mil would be less than 12 today. Soooooo....

Wow, Eck seats 7800. I didn't realize that.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

I was so hopeful for a really spectacular project. So to say I'm underwhelmed is a sizable understatement. I'm actually a little pissed. I wasn't a huge fan of the original concept drawing, but I liked it a WHOLE lot more than the actual rendering.

If that puny plain jane piece of **** is $75 million, then I'm Bill Self and John Higgins' love child.

[ShockCrazy]

Also random question... Since the stadium is now being moved further west, and we can't see it in the pictures and it's not not mentioned, did the pedestrian bridge thing die? If so, is the cost coming down? The whole thing is so strange to me. We have this great resource right near downtown, the river, and we consistently refuse to utilize it in interesting ways.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

I am sending an email to Mayor Longwell and the city's stadium project manager. If anyone wants to do the same, here are their email addresses:

Paul Gunzelman, Stadium Project Manager, PGunzelman@wichita.gov
Jeff Longwell, Mayor, JLongwell@wichita.gov



Here's a copy (more or less) of my email...

Mayor Longwell,

I'd like to offer you some feedback on the new baseball stadium design. In full disclosure, I live in Denver, so I'm not a constituent. However, I was born and raised in Wichita, lived there for 28 years, it's still home to all of my family, and I closely follow local news and developments. So while I am not a voter, I hope you still consider my feedback.

Frankly, I'm underwhelmed by the design. As you are well aware, building a new baseball stadium for the first time in 80 years presents a unique opportunity for the city to make a statement about its future. This is THE moment for leadership, for vision, for boldness. This is not the time to play it safe. Yet the design looks like an updated LDS. I liked the original concept design (released a few months ago) better because it was unique.

I am hopeful that as the design and feedback process continues, you place pressure on the architect for more imagination and more excitement in the design. Move the stadium east to the west bank of the river in a similar way San Francisco placed Oracle Park next to the bay. This would closely integrate the stadium and the river and provide better skyline views for spectators. A promenade or party deck along the first base line, with dramatic river and skyline views, would surely be a favorite hangout for fans. Removing McLean might be a political risk, but Wichita needs leadership and it needs leaders to take risks. Also, just 6,000 fixed seats? WSU's Eck Stadium has almost 8,000. Wichita is notorious for thinking small. I urge you to think big. The current design looks like just another minor league park in a midwestern city. Wichita deserves much more than what this design provides. It deserves a destination, a showpiece for AAA, a stadium that says Wichita is not just another midwestern city.

You're doing a great job, Mayor. Thank you for your service to my hometown.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]
Denver, CO
[RMS's email address]

[SHOCKvalue]

I’m not even sure this new stadium will be a more imposing and visually impressive structure than what we just tore down. The renderings point towards nope. That’s kinda depressing.

It will be newer, cleaner, more fan-friendly, etc... not making that silly argument.

I mean it appears we have taken the ped bridge and McLean work off of the table and out of the budget, and there are no land acquisition costs, so the $75M is purely going into the stadium itself, specifically. And we are going to end up with THAT? Talk about head-scratching. Are they setting the Hope Diamond in the first concrete pour or something?

[WstateU]

https://media.giphy.com/media/j4ZP7tCGXNgfS/giphy.gif

[shocker_torero]

I just sent the following email to Mayor Longwell. This is not meant to offend, but to encourage you to send your own constructive thoughts to those in power.

Mayor Longwell,

You are a man that thinks BIG, this much is clear. From facilitating the much needed conversation about replacing Century II, leading the charge on getting a AAA team to relocate to Wichita, and championing other quality of life improvement projects to lure an educated workforce to live and thrive in Wichita, you’ve broken the mold of too common mediocrity in Wichita’s Mayors.

I am a man that thinks big too, and this is why unfortunately, I no longer live in Wichita, and will never live there if things don’t change. As someone born and raised in Wichita, this is truly sad.

My wife and I are exactly the type of people you NEED to attract, retain, and allow to thrive within Wichita. Both holders of Masters of Science degrees, we are the working-class professionals that cities need to survive. But, most importantly, WE need to WANT to move to Wichita, and WE need to HAVE the career opportunities available to us there, in order to settle down in the great Midwest.

The trajectory of Wichita’s economic and social future rests in your hands - and now is the opportunity not just think big but to do BIG.

As is currently proposed, the ballpark and surrounding development is no where close to being attractive, to me, my wife, or the companies Wichita needs to lure to the heartland in order to bring us home.

Please consider advising the design team to reconsider certain elements of their proposal in order to WOW people like my wife and I, and any professional company looking to relocate to or grow within Wichita. As it stands, the initial design is lacking essential elements of neighborhood walkability, urban density, and connection to what can be a vibrant area.

We look forward to seeing further progress, and hope one day we may be able to call Wichita home.

Thank you for your time.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Great. Thank you.

[WstateU]

You nailed it!

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

I received the following response from Mayor Longwell:

[Rocky Mountain Shock],
Thank you and the design is very similar to concept
Minus the hotel and other buildings that will be included but focus is on baseball.
I appreciate all input from caring people. Thank you

Jeff Longwell
Sent from my iPhone


Short and mildly defensive, but I didn't expect much more considering I have less political clout than even an average voter. I was somewhat surprised I received a response at all.

At any rate, from this I get the feeling it will be difficult to force any design changes. Please continue to email, call, or write to the Mayor and other city leaders.

[ShockerFever]

I’m not even sure this new stadium will be a more imposing and visually impressive structure than what we just tore down. The renderings point towards nope. That’s kinda depressing.

It will be newer, cleaner, more fan-friendly, etc... not making that silly argument.

I mean it appears we have taken the ped bridge and McLean work off of the table and out of the budget, and there are no land acquisition costs, so the $75M is purely going into the stadium itself, specifically. And we are going to end up with THAT? Talk about head-scratching. Are they setting the Hope Diamond in the first concrete pour or something?

It honestly is mind-boggling. It's like they just expect little ol' Wichita to be happy with anything and the $75 million was just an arbitrary number thrown out to impress people and that we would be satisfied because by golly gee whiz, it's a $75 million stadium; it has to be good.

Something is definitely fishy here. Like you said, no inflated land acquisition costs. And it seriously looks like a file pulled out from a standard filing cabinet. I think Tulsa built their stadium for like $40 million. It's nice and solid. I would say it compares to this rendition maybe even slightly better.. FOR NEARLY HALF THE PRICE.

They're seriously gonna **** this **** up. Why do we have the most ignorant, out-of-touch goobers always deciding what to do with millions of dollars in a basically once-in-a-lifetime type opportunity not to **** it up?

And they're supposed to break ground in February? So it tells me that this thing is already in ink. Sure they say they're open to feedback but they have less than a month to change anything. And they surely can't make sweeping changes in a month. So this is what's gonna happen.

This stadium design is worth no more than $40 million. There's some people that are gonna pocket millions of dollars in this deal is what I think.

[ShockerFever]

I received the following response from Mayor Longwell:

[Rocky Mountain Shock],
Thank you and the design is very similar to concept
Minus the hotel and other buildings that will be included but focus is on baseball.
I appreciate all input from caring people. Thank you

Jeff Longwell
Sent from my iPhone


Short and mildly defensive, but I didn't expect much more considering I have less political clout than even an average voter. I was somewhat surprised I received a response at all.

At any rate, from this I get the feeling it will be difficult to force any design changes. Please continue to email, call, or write to the Mayor and other city leaders.

lol that was a nice thank you but **** off response.

What a joke.

[pogo]

Noticed an article in WBJ about “emerging leaders” not comfortable with the city being ok with average and not going for spectacular. Not sure who these emerging leaders are but I like the way they rhink

[WstateU]

Here’s an excerpt from the referenced article...

“By Kirk Seminoff / A group of Emerging Leaders, gathered for a roundtable discussion Friday, are underwhelmed with the renderings they see for the new Wichita baseball stadium. When it comes to big decisions and projects they want Wichita — and its leaders — to aspire to greatness, not settle.

That story leads off the Sunday 7, followed closely by a story with more information about the ballpark.”

[Shox The Revenant]

Intrust Bank Arena was originally designed to be far grander than what we got. Budget and time constraints resulted in a reduced version of the original. Something tells me that this stadium is headed that way. Our dreams our major league but our execution is Independent/Single A level.

[WstateU]

I find myself agreeing with you again; please continue to keep the keyboard away from KCShox.

[pogo]

In all fairness to the powers that were back in the day they were constrained by the amount of money available due to the length of the the tax levy. The money that was left over was placed into an account to help with needed future upgrades and maintenance. Thus far the powers that are have not asked for additional monies to upset those that were against it in the first place of which there were many. Not as great if more money had been available but still nothing to hang our heads in shame.

[WuShock16]

For accuracy's sake, there is NO WAY that Eck SEATS almost 8,000 (meaning permanent seating). The attendance for the Super Regional games against Cal-Irvine in 2007 was 8153, and that was when people were standing anywhere and everywhere that people could stand. The hill was full. The standing room area was full. For all I know, there were probably many, many people watching from inside the All-American Club.

That's what the mayor means when he mentions X-amount of permanent seating with other areas for gathering more people.

[Shockm]

Wasn't Eck Stadium built in 1999 or something? How much did it cost? What do those dollars inflate to? Doesn't Eck seat more than 6k? Am I missing the box offices in the city's rendering? Can't we directly compare costs for the two projects, Eck and this building? Maybe not, I dunno.

With the hill and outside bleachers hauled in, I think attendance into the 8500 range. That is not permanent seating though.

[NCAABound]

I love our negative Nancy's in this city (in the comments section). They act like people are banging down the doors to relocate and do business in Wichita. In my company, we have an extremely hard time getting people to relocate here. They open up a position within the company and NOBODY requests to transfer here. Sometimes you have to accept that reality but some people just can't seem to get it.