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Soon a brownfield in Tennessee, US, will turn “outfield green” as an abandoned industrial site in the City of Chattanooga is set to become a bustling entertainment and residential region, with the scheme’s main feature – a professional baseball diamond and stadium – currently under construction.

Called the South Broad Chattanooga project (South Broad), the programme seeks to rejuvenate a dilapidated brownfield area just south of the city’s downtown.

The site, which totals more than 140 acres (56.7 hectares), was the former home of industrial companies Wheland Foundry and US Pipe and Foundry. The redevelopment scheme will highlight reuse and recycling, as two structures wherein metal was forged and steel patterned will now be used for the enjoyment of America’s oldest sporting pastime.

Once complete, the stadium will be the new home of the Chattanooga Lookouts. The club is an MiLB Double-A affiliate of the Major League Baseball (MLB) Cincinnati Reds.

What will result could be one-of-a-kind, Jason Freier, CEO of the Lookouts’ ownership group Hardball Capital, told Construction Briefing. “The buildings will be incorporated more comprehensively than historic buildings in any other ballpark at the Major or Minor League levels, or at any sports facility of which we are aware,” Freier said.

In addition to the baseball stadium, which started construction last month, stakeholders and city officials have also planned and approved development for housing, lodging, dining and entertainment. The entire South Broad redevelopment scheme is expected to bring in more than $1 billion worth of construction work and last one decade, with the first phase alone (including the stadium) valued around $300 million.

Former foundry buildings will retrofit to $120 million new stadium

The “powerhouse”, on right in red brick, and the “pattern shop”, center in background, are historic buildings from the South Broad project site that will be reused as part of the future stadium. (Image courtesy South Broad Chattanooga)

Freier offered more information on the two historic buildings scheduled for a “big-league” fitout. 

The project seeks to reuse the site’s “powerhouse” building – formerly belonging to the Wheland Foundry (Wheland) – which was built in the 1880s, and the “pattern shop” building – formerly belonging to US Pipe and Foundry (US Pipe) – which was built in 1936. 

Wheland, which closed its South Broad site operations in 2003, was best known for producing materials and parts during the Detroit auto manufacturing boom during the turn into the 20^th century. The company also made products for the US’ efforts in WWII.

US Pipe was a leading US iron fabricator at the time the pattern house was built in the 1930s. The company’s owner ceased operations at the Chattanooga site in 2006, and it has been largely abandoned since.

The Wheland powerhouse is the oldest – at more than 140 years old – and smallest of the two reclaimed buildings. It’s located just north and west of the pattern shop. It will become part of the Lookouts’ stadium entrance in the right field corner. Renders also show the brick building with accompanying patio space and plazas on the future field-side of the structure.

The larger US Pipe pattern house will be integrated into the stadium’s first-base-line concourse and seating, which will connect with the third-base-line concourse via skywalk.

“We will be adding a large patio [made of] concrete and steel coming off [the pattern shop] toward the field,” added Freier. “That patio will then have two rows of baseball seating on the field side.”

The project also intends to reuse and recycle other components from the site “such as large wooden patterns that were used to form the steel into pipe and hydrant parts back when the foundry and manufacturing facilities were still in use,” Freier said.

Construction will also install and build relevant features for stormwater mitigation, recycling, composting, heat-effect reduction and additional “green features”.

Freier added the project will also make use of a sustainability consultant, install riparian buffers around creeks, and use monitoring tools and data tracking to log energy and water consumption.

Playing hardball on soft ground: Chattanooga’s construction challenges

An aerial render of the Chattanooga Lookouts future baseball stadium, including residential and office space plans beyond the outfield. (Image courtesy South Broad Chattanooga)

Construction on the stadium began with a groundbreaking ceremony last month, 15 July. Chattanooga-based EMJ Construction is signed-on as construction manager at-risk and confirmed on 25 July that preliminary works had started.

Initially valued around $80 million, the new baseball stadium construction cost has since ballooned to $120 million.

New City Properties of Atlanta, Georgia, is the master developer for the overall South Broad project. DH&W Architects and consultancy Brasfield & Gorrie assisted EMJ with design and preconstruction.

Freier explained the basic scheme for baseball stadium construction, and then highlighted adjustments that will need to be made in this case.

“[First], we dig out the seating bowl and then pour the concrete in tiers below grade to form the bowl. Usually, we are digging something like 18 to 21 ft (5.5m to 6.4m) in order to get in enough rows of seating,” he said of a typical baseball-field build.

“Here, due to water table issues – the Tennessee River is on the other side of [the motorway] from our site – and the nature of the soils on site, we are only able to go down about 8 ft (1.4m).”

This led design to call for an elevated concourse on the third-base side and throughout the outfield of the stadium to install enough seats.

“We will be adding a large patio [made of] concrete and steel… [and] that patio will then have two rows of baseball seating on the field side,” he said.

“The concourse on the first-base side needs to remain at grade because we will be reusing [the powerhouse and pattern shop buildings], so the concourse needed to remain at the same level as those buildings,” said Freier, referring to the infrastructure left behind by US Pipe and Wheland.

Why are the Chattanooga Lookouts building a new baseball field?

Render of the former US Pipe and Foundry “pattern house” reused as a stadium concourse and seating platform. (Image courtesy South Broad Chattanooga)

Freier highlighted several issues with the Lookouts’ current stadium, located less than 1 mi (1.2km) northeast of the future-stadium site, as driving the need for a new build.

“Discussions regarding a public-private partnership to build a ballpark as part of a mixed-use development began before [Hardball Capital] even purchased the team in 2014,” Freier said. “We purchased this team knowing that it would need a new facility and wanted to be sure Chattanooga was open to the concept before investing in the team.”

The company also owns the High-A Fort Wayne Tincaps (affiliate of MLB’s San Diego Padres) and the Sinlge-A Columbia Fireflies (affiliate of MLB’s Kansas City Royals).

And sometimes structural updates in US professional baseball are mandatory. A source with knowledge of MLB stadium standards told Construction Briefing the most recent round of facility standard requirements set forth by the parent league will expire in 2025, meaning the time for MiLB clubs to reach minimum stadium standards is running out.

“Pretty much every team has had to do some form of a renovation,” noted the source, “unless they received a waiver to be finished later.”

For a sport as old as baseball, it’s no surprise that the field elements (the infield, outfield, dugouts) will look the same as always, but Freier noted increasing expectations from parent company MLB means stadiums need to be more accommodating to fans’ modern expectations.

“A modern Minor League ballpark is a mix of indoor and outdoor spaces and a mix of traditional ballpark seating and social areas,” he said, addressing infrastructure for non-sporting spaces like children’s play areas and green spaces.

Baseball being a fixed sport (the pitcher and batters perform from the same position on each pitch), stadiums across the country are typically angled northeast from the centre axis (about 22-degrees north of east, according to MLB rules). This angle prevents the setting sun from getting in batters’ eyes.

But stadium angling and the sun effect spectators, too. As games are mostly played in afternoons and evenings in the US summer, the sun is in the western sky for most contests. When stadiums are angled northeast, stadium infrastructure and the perspective prevent the sun from overwhelming the bulk of the grandstands.

The Lookouts’ current stadium, though, is angled slightly northwest.

“The stadium we inherited… was not oriented correctly,” said Freier, “leading to most fans having the sun in their eyes for a few months of the season.”

The new stadium design shows the future field’s centre axis pointing distinctly northeast, which should make home runs and foul balls a little easier to spot for Lookouts fans in the future.

Once complete, the stadium will hold up to 10,000 people with 6,000 fixed seats and include dining, entertainment, and open spaces around the diamond.

Timeline for Lookouts’ stadium and more on the South Broad project

Render of the “powerhouse” building, formerly belonging to Wheland Foundry. The structure will be incorporated into the new baseball stadium near the right-field entrance. (Image courtesy South Broad Chattanooga)

With construction starting this summer, first pitch is now scheduled for the Lookouts’ 2026 season. Developers and project leaders initially hoped to have it ready by 2025.

In addition to the sporting venue, New City Properties is developing two more projects in phase one of the South Broad project: a 300-unit high-end, multi-family residential complex and an office building. Together, the builds are expected to cost more than $100 million.

Project partner Premier Properties, which owns most of the land on the site, donated 8 acres (3.2 hectares) to public authorities to develop the stadium. Premier will own and finance the ballpark after completion.

CORE Nashville, a real estate developer, purchased 10 acres on the site from Premier to build multi-family dwellings. Details were not yet available as the company obtains permits, but Freier said the firm could ‘begin construction shortly.’

A completion date for the whole South Broad development is not available, as the entire scope of the site has not yet been realised.

A mix of public and private investment is covering the costs of the South Broad redevelopment, some of which is expected to be reimbursed through use of a Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) district. TIF districts in the US are designated areas where the additional property tax revenue generated by new developments (in the designated district) is reinvested into that same district.

Municipal governments identify regions for and create TIF districts to help fund infrastructure improvements and to attract further commercial investment and economic growth. Broadly, it’s a mechanism for governments to use future tax gains to support present development efforts.

The South Broad TIF district is also much larger than the phase one stadium site: the region totals 450 acres (182 hectares).

The TIF programme expires in 2054, at which point the value of the district and its property will be assessed to the general municipal tax rolls.