GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Greenville Drive, a Minor League Baseball team in South Carolina, threw out their first pitch in 2006 at their current stadium, now known as Fluor Field. Since then, the "West End" of Greenville has transformed. The president of the team, Jeff Brown, said the stadium drove the transformation of the area.
"This has exceeded everybody's expectations, in terms of growth and development," Brown said. "Everyone wants to work together and see everyone succeed."
Greenville city leaders and the Greenville Drive baseball team chose an industrial area for the stadium.
"I would've gotten grounded if I was in this part of town," said Elizabeth Hughes, a store manager in the West End.
Now, it's a destination. It attracts people with shops, restaurants and boutiques throughout the year, not just during baseball season.
"It brings people in from out of town that wouldn't normally be in Greenville," Hughes said.
In Knoxville, the downtown baseball stadium will be at the site of an old meatpacking plant and salvage yard. Leaders hope a similar transformation will happen to the area around Knoxville's future stadium.
There are some differences between the construction of the stadiums in the two cities. In Greenville, the city owned the land on which the team built the stadium. Construction for the stadium was about $20 million, all paid for by the Greenville Drive. Planned renovations will cost $15 million, and $2.5 million will be paid for by the city.
In Knoxville, developers estimate the stadium will cost $114 million, and $78.7 million of the stadium's construction will be funded with public money. Smokies' owner Randy Boyd bought the land for the stadium and plans to turn it over to the public.
The Tennessee Smokies will pay $1 million in rent a year to use the stadium, though it will be a public asset when the stadium isn't being used for events.
Through census data and Greenville's Geographic Information Systems, 10News compared the population in a few blocks surrounding the stadium, between 2010 and 2020. In Greenville, the population more than doubled from 784 people to 1,921 people.
With the rising number of people, property values in the area surrounding the stadium in Greenville also increased. In 2008, homeowners could expect to pay around $150 per square foot for a property. This year, that increased to around $250-$430 per square foot, depending on the area and the type of home.
In Knoxville, community members worried the area would be gentrified by developers and wealthy residents because of the baseball stadium. Merriam-Webster defines gentrification as "a process in which a poor area experiences an influx of middle-class or wealthy people who renovate and rebuild homes and businesses and which often results in an increase in property values and the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents."
Hancen Sale, from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors, said he believed community and city leaders need to have "meaningful conversations" to make sure people who live in East Knoxville are not displaced from the area because of development around the stadium.
"We're going to see housing costs go up," said Hancen Sale from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors. "It's inevitable, but it's important to say that declining property values or stagnant property values isn't necessarily a good thing."
Knoxville's Community Development Corporation opened the First Creek at Austin development near the site of the stadium in May 2022. It includes more than 200 affordable housing units.
"I think gentrification is a really interesting concept. It's about minimizing displacement. What's the opposite of gentrification?" Sale said. "It's disinvestment. And I would argue that's not really a great solution either."
Another housing project, named Yardley Flats, will be built overlooking the stadium. It will include 233 units and its design includes two high-rise buildings connected by a sky bridge. It will cost more than $70 million and include a fitness center, swimming pool, game room, gathering spaces, sports lounge, pet spa and 2,500 square feet of retail space.
The Knoxville Chamber said that "the target market for the apartments will be renters seeking an urban lifestyle; renters seeking a second home with no upkeep in an area with plenty of activities; and companies seeking units for corporate housing and entertaining."
Leasing will begin in late 2024, and information about how much the units would cost was not available.