The Wichita City Council next Tuesday (Dec. 4) is expected to take another step toward construction of a new, $75-million baseball stadium at the site of the now former Lawrence-Dumont Stadium downtown.

The council specifically is set to approve a design team for the project leading up to affiliated baseball returning to the city.

Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell says a couple key factors that go into choosing a design team are keeping the cost under the proposed price tag and completing construction on time.

There's a tight timeline for the new stadium as it's planned to begin hosting a Triple-A minor league baseball team in the spring of 2020.

Longwell says by December 19, we'll know where home plate will be on the site. From there, the vision for Wichita's baseball future can expand with construction not too far behind.

Longwell says you'll start to see footings for the new stadium going into the ground as early as February.

Early this month, demolition of historic Lawrence-Dumont Stadium began.

"(The new stadium is) truly going to transform this community in a way that we haven't seen for many decades," Longwell says.

The team committed to moving to Wichita from New Orleans is called The Baby Cakes.
That name will change when the Miami-Marlins' Triple-A affiliate moves.

The team moving to Wichita will organize the process of giving it a new name, but the public will have some input. The future Wichita team is in the process completing its new website that is anticipated to launch soon.

 

Source: kwch.com

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