Marking a major milestone in the construction of the Phillies New Ballpark, the full-scale excavation of the ballpark site began last week.
With bulk excavation now taking place, a hole will be dug 23 feet below street level for the recessed field and seating bowl at the New Ballpark project site. Excavation on the Veterans Stadium North Parking Lot has already been in motion, where workers started the process by removing large amounts of pavement and soil from the area.
Specializing in this kind of site work, Philadelphia-based contractor D’Angelo Brothers Inc. is responsible for overseeing the excavation, shoring and underpinning. D’Angelo Brothers have been involved in many major projects in the Philadelphia area, including the newly opened Kimmel Center, along with Liberty Place Tower; Blue Cross Tower; Mellon Bank Tower and various buildings at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, D’Angelo Brothers is working on the new Eagles Football Stadium.
In addition, the following Minority-Diverse Business Enterprise (M-DBE) subcontractors are working with D’Angelo Brothers during excavation: New Life Services (clearing and grubbing services); Road Runner Construction (hauling and various construction services); Tierra Construction Co. (erosion control services); and Paul Mass (hauling services). Alexson Supply Co. Inc. (miscellaneous construction supplier services) and Multifacet, Inc. (shoring services) -- both Women-Diverse Business Enterprise (W-DBE) vendors – are also working with D’Angelo Brothers.
The New Ballpark will be constructed just east of Veterans Stadium on the north side of Pattison Avenue, between 11th and Darien Streets in South Philadelphia and will span a 21-acre site. Nearly 400,000 cubic yards of soil will ultimately be excavated from the New Ballpark site during the construction process.
The Phillies New Ballpark, a 43,000-seat, natural-grass and dirt-field venue, is set to open in April 2004. The Phillies are developing the New Ballpark as a world-class baseball-only venue that offers fans an intimate and exciting experience.
With the Philadelphia Center City skyline as the backdrop, the New Ballpark will feature "bowl-style" seating with the playing field scooped out 23 feet below street level. Created to place fans on top of the action, the cantilevered steel structure of the park allows for more open seating areas. Less than one-third of the seats will be in the upper deck. To allow for a view of the downtown skyline, the field will be oriented with home plate to the south and centerfield to the north, counter-clockwise from the current Veterans Stadium orientation.
The new venue will feature numerous special features including family-friendly entertainment areas, convenient open concourse concessions, and accommodations to provide for comfortable accessibility for all fans. All suites will be in close proximity to the playing field -- with the majority being only 13 feet above the main concourse. In addition, all suites will be located on the infield side of the foul poles.
The design of the New Ballpark is under the direction of two leading national architectural firms: Ewing Cole Cherry Brott, based in Philadelphia, and HOK Sport + Venue + Event, based in Kansas City. Included among Ewing Cole’s work: Singapore Turf Club, Kranji, Singapore; Emerald Downs in Seattle, Washington; Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey; Boardwalk Hall, home of the Boardwalk Bulleys hockey team in Atlantic City, New Jersey; and several venues in Philadelphia: Fox Chase Cancer Center, Federal Reserve Bank, LaSalle University’s Tom Gola Arena, and Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard. HOK Sport includes among its work: PNC Park, Pittsburgh; Pacific Bell Park, San Francisco; Enron Field, Houston; Comerica Park, Detroit; Coors Field, Denver; Jacobs Field, Cleveland; and Camden Yards, Baltimore.
Locally based L.F. Driscoll, builders of the First Union Center, One Liberty Place and the new Kimmel Center, has formed a joint venture with Hunt Construction Group to serve as the construction management team. Hunt, a national stadium/ballpark construction firm out of Indianapolis, includes among its work: Comerica Park; Pacific Bell Park; Miller Park, Milwaukee; Jacobs Field; and Bank One Ballpark, Phoenix. L.F. Driscoll and Hunt Group lead the construction for the Phillies New Ballpark in association with Synterra Ltd. and Don Todd Associates Inc.
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