KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — That raucous roar you hear coming from just east of the Old City on Jackson Avenue is the sound of a new downtown stadium rapidly taking shape.
Favorable weather has helped keep the $116 million project on a sure schedule, said Smokies ballclub CEO Doug Kirchhofer, who along with contractor Denark Construction's Moe Abbas gave WBIR an inside/outside tour on Friday.
The goal is to be open for Smokies baseball in mid April 2025. Could they be finished before then? Project participants politely decline to get ahead of themselves.
"We've been through a pandemic, a lot of economic ups and downs and uncertainty, but it really is exciting to be at this point where we're really within months of completion of this project," Kirchhofer said, while standing outside a suite overlooking home plate.
The AA Tennessee Smokies, who will be known starting next year as the Knoxville Smokies, will use the stadium for about 70 home games. One Knoxville soccer also will play there, and concerts and other community events will help fill out what planners hope is a calendar full of users.
On Friday, much activity at the site focused on interior work -- in the upper-level guest suites, the lower home and visiting clubhouses and the future vending spaces. More than 100 people are on site these days at any given moment, and they're all busy.
Concrete aisles and slabs for the approximately 6,600-seat-capacity facility have been poured, although actual seats aren't read to be put in yet.
The grass field won't emerge until the fall, but a big hole has been dug in the infield to accommodate a retractable pitcher's mound. When the Smokies aren't at home, the mound can be lowered to allow for soccer or any other field usage.
While the stadium continues to take shape, two private residential projects are going up as well.
Overlooking the east side is the Yardley Flats apartment complex, which will feature more than 200 apartments, many overlooking the field. Yardley Flats will include a commons area and swimming pool above the grounds.
On the west side, below Hall of Fame Drive, are the Beauford Delaney condos. Plans call for 47 condos, Kirchhofer said. The building also will feature commercial space.
Businessman, entrepreneur and Smokies team owner Randy Boyd assembled the parcels that make up the stadium site. He'll deed the land over to the public.
The parcels included a vacant plant and other aging, industrial uses.
"A significant part of this property was really underutilized or unutilized, and it's creating jobs, it's creating economic activity. People will begin to, in the next year, move into the residences on either side of the stadium," Kirchhofer said.
The stadium cost is being covered with a combination of funding sources including annual team rent, about $13.5 million provided by the state, Boyd money and anticipated sales tax revenue from sales inside the stadium. The city and county expect to contribute perhaps as much as $800,000 a year each, past discussions have shown.
Since construction started, Boyd and his team have made tweaks and upgrades. He's been picking up the cost for those, which include a distinctive Tennessee-shaped scoreboard instead of a typical square or rectangular scoreboard.
"Naturally, there's been a lot of conversation about the Tennessee-shaped scoreboard. We're excited about that because it will be something unique, something that this stadium will be known for," Kirchhofer said.
The public may get a chance to see the new stadium before the season starts next year -- perhaps with an open house, the CEO said.
The team is an affiliate of the National League Chicago Cubs, which has already been down to look at stadium progress. The Smokies are playing their last season at the stadium in Kodak off Interstate 40.