Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell announced the team that will design and build the city’s new baseball stadium.
The team announced Thursday is made up of Wichita firms Eby Construction, Professional Engineering Consultants and Schaefer Johnson Cox and Frey Architecture. They will work with Kansas City companies DLR Group and JE Dunn Construction.
A group consisting of Longwell, Wichita City Council members Jeff Blubaugh and Cindy Claycomb, and representatives from the New Orleans Baby Cakes baseball team — which is moving to Wichita — selected the firms.
“We’re thrilled to use these local firms, and what they’re going to do to build something quite spectacular on that site,” Longwell said during a media briefing. “More importantly, they’re going to reinvest in our city and bring their talents at the local and regional level and put it on the national stage.”
Longwell said the firms promised to finish the ballpark by the March 2020 deadline while staying below the $75 million budget.
The build team selection will go to the Wichita City Council for a formal vote on Tuesday. City staff is recommending approval.
The new stadium will replace Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, which began the demolition process earlier this month. Longwell said the previous stadium was in unusable condition.
“Initially we were looking at doing a major remodel" at Lawrence-Dumont, Longwell said. “We did some extensive testing and found that the concrete was in such shape that we could not build it.”
The Triple-A minor league baseball team is set to begin playing at the new stadium in April 2020.
Ray Strunk is an intern in the KMUW News Lab.
