Goodyear moved into the home stretch of its plans to bring baseball to the city when it broke ground Monday on its new $75 million ballpark and recreational sports complex. The facility will be the spring training home of the Cleveland Indians.
The ballpark, which will be built at Estrella Parkway south of Yuma Road, will be the centerpiece of Ballpark Village. The $1 billion mixed-use development will include office, retail, housing and hospitality, developed by Rose Properties Southwest.
Bob Feller, a Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer and former Cleveland Indians pitcher threw out a ceremonial first pitch.
"You've been so good, I might decide to make a comeback," he said of Goodyear.
The stadium will include suites, 8,000 seats and lawn seating for an additional 2,000 fans, and parking for 3,000 vehicles. The complex also will feature a 38,000-square-foot clubhouse, six full practice fields, two half practice fields and an agility field.
"This is obviously a wonderful day for the Cleveland Indians. You can sign contracts and you can issue press releases but when they start moving the dirt, it becomes real," said Paul Dolan, president of the Indians. "I look forward to the day when I come here and there's young men in uniforms playing, not old guys in suits talking about it."
Goodyear-based developer Rose Properties Southwest, LLC, is overseeing the creation of the ballpark village, which will be next to the planned Goodyear City Center.
The ballpark is scheduled to be completed by February 2009, in time for the 2009 spring training season.
