Baseball complex first step toward Greenville County’s outdoor recreation center

By Nathaniel Cary Staff writer

ncary@greenvillenews.com

Decades from today, a first-time partnership between the city of Greenville and the Greenville County Recreation District may be seen as the linchpin that turned an abandoned and aging baseball stadium into what some are already calling the centerpiece of a “Central Park” with more than 800 acres of green space on the outskirts of Greenville.

The site owned by Greenville but leased for 40 years to the recreation district includes Municipal Stadium where the Greenville Braves played baseball for two decades. It’s soon to be home to a $4 million four-field baseball complex that will feature a $1 million renovation to the 25-year-old stadium.

It will also become home to a Greenville Little League baseball program that has been stunted in its growth for lack of playing space. Officials hope to attract regional tournaments and traveling teams that would bring rental income to the site and a boost to local restaurants and hotels.

The baseball complex will connect to an expanding Swamp Rabbit Trail and the 400-acre Lake Conestee Nature Park to form the nucleus of a park centrally located in the county and offering active and passive recreation opportunities.

“This is going to be the center park, our own Greenville, South Carolina, Central Park,” said Greenville City Councilwoman Lillian Brock Flemming. “This is a great day.”

Greenville has moved from “the bottom rung” of recreation “just a few years ago” to become “the envy of the nation,” County Council Chairman Butch Kirven said.

When the Braves skipped town and left an empty Municipal Stadium in 2004, the city immediately began to receive offers to purchase the aging stadium on Mauldin Road, Greenville Mayor Knox White said.

Proposals came and went to turn it into a warehouse, soccer complex or racetrack that could have netted the city $1 million or more, but city leaders held to their belief that the site’s best use would be for recreation in a decision that “was never about dollars and cents,” White said.

“The question we had when we moved the stadium downtown was the reuse of the site, do we want to simply sell it and realize a windfall or do we want to hold back and see if we can find a recreation reuse for the area?” White said.

That question was answered Wednesday when a bulldozer leveled two saplings on a 12-acre barren lot to break ground as officials chanted “break that ground” from under a nearby tent.

At the heart of the complex will be renovations to turn Municipal Stadium into a 1,500-seat stadium with new restrooms in a more intimate atmosphere to watch Little League games, said Gene Smith, executive director of the recreation department.

The new Municipal Stadium baseball complex will connect to Lake Conestee Nature Park and an extension of the Swamp Rabbit Trail

Four new fields will be split into two sizes. Two fields will have 225- to 250-foot fences and 60-foot base paths for younger players, a third field can be converted between a smaller and full-sized field and another full-sized field will have a 380-foot fence, plans show.

One field may be left with a dirt infield for softball use.

The diamonds will each have batting cages, and a central media tower will have a view of each field, Smith said. Two parking lots will add 206 spaces to 1,400 available at Municipal Stadium.

The fields should be open by summer 2011, Smith said.

The project is funded through the county’s restaurant tax as part of the recreation district’s Tourism, Recreation and Athletics Coalition plan started in 2006, Smith said.

Its ability to attract regional and traveling tournaments to Greenville will make it a valuable use of those tax dollars that will benefit local hotels and restaurants, White said, while its strategic location close to Interstate 85 and central location in Greenville County make it an ideal recreation site for county residents, Smith said.

The city of Greenville still owns the 40-acre site, but has leased it to the recreation district for 40 years, Smith said.

Lake Conestee Nature Park already offers more than five miles of trails that residents are just starting to explore, said Jeffery Beacham, executive director of the Lake Conestee Foundation.

The baseball complex will raise awareness of the park, which plans to add an outdoor education facility on site and eventually connect its trails to the Swamp Rabbit Trail, Beacham said.

It furthers a partnership that includes Renewable Water Resources’ 200 acres of land near I-85 that it has allowed for the Swamp Rabbit Trail connection to be built on the banks of the Reedy River.

ReWa, formerly called Western Carolina Regional Sewer Authority, is committed to helping construct an “urban city park” on the site, said ReWa Executive Director Ray Orvin.

Another 150 acres the city of Greenville owns could become a golf course or some other green space on a closed landfill site, White said.

The new complex will become home to Greenville Little League, which has outgrown its single field at Timmons Park in Greenville, said Neil Jones, past president and board member of Greenville Little League.

The league offered baseball for ages 7-12 to about 250 children this year, but has been using two county fields at Butler Springs Park and has run out of space, Jones said.

It hopes to start softball and expand its baseball league with the additional space, Jones said.

“We want to be able to reach out to some of the kids in Greenville that have not been playing baseball before, some of the inner-city kids, and with one field, we just haven’t been able to do that,” Jones said.

Staff writer Nathaniel Cary can be reached at 864-616-4209.

A message from Mahalia Kennedy, Store Manager of Half-moon Outfitters:

Hey Folks!

We know many of you are wondering about the weather this Saturday and whether or not we plan to hold the race.  Looks like we are in for a 90% chance of rain/freezing rain and we think that Clint Eastwood would want each of you to bundle up, strap on your running shoes and show us what you are made of! You can’t win if you don’t show and we have some awesome prizes (Montrail running shoes, Native sunglasses, Mountain Khakis, Camelbaks, Osprey packs).  Whole Foods is donating post race grub and we don’t want to have to eat it all by ourselves.

If you need inspiration or motivation to bring the heat on Saturday morning, let one of these quotes from our Fearless Leader, Clint Eastwood guide you.

“I don’t believe in pessimism.  If something doesn’t come up the way you want, forge ahead.  If you think it’s going to rain, it will.”

“If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.”

“Go ahead, make my day.”

“Do you feel lucky punk? Well, do you?”

See you Saturday morning!
Half-Moon Greenville

The Conestee Foundation, in collaboration with the Greenville County Recreation District, will be hosting an event on December 10, 2009, celebrating LCNP’s newest addition, a 215 linear foot pedestrian bridge that spans across the Reedy River.

This event will recognize the multiple stakeholders in which provided support and funding to make the Conestee Foundation’s dreams become a reality.  This event will include the unveiling of Conestee Park; Home of Lake Conestee Nature Park, the future Greenville County Recreation District Sports Complex, and the Greenville Hospital System Swamp Rabbit Trail.