FREDERICKSBURG — Baseball in Fredericksburg took a big step forward as the Fredericksburg Baseball Club held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $35 million multi-purpose stadium that will be the new home of the Potomac Nationals.
The owner of the Minor League Baseball team, Art Silber and his family, Mayor Mary Kathrine Greenlaw and City Council members attended, along with others who played a key role in bringing baseball to the city.
A ceremony for the new stadium was held Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019, at the Fredericksburg Expo Center on Gordon W. Shelton Jr. Boulevard, next to where the new stadium will be built.
Delegate Robert M. (Bob) Thomas Jr. (R-28, Fredericksburg, Stafford) spoke at the event. It was also the final day fo the General Assembly’s 45-day session in Richmond, and the House of Delegates were working on their budget.
“I told the Speaker of the House [Kirk Cox] if we don’t have a budget by noon, I’m out of here and going to the groundbreaking,” Thomas said.
Silber said Fredericksburg residents appear to be excited to welcome the team, which is relocating from Woodbridge, where its been since 1984.
“We’ve has a staggering 1,260 members join the Founders Club,” Silber said.
The team and city plan to have the new ballpark ready by Opening Day 2020. Silber is mulling a name change for the team and says that “Fredericksburg” will be part of the new name.
“If you build it they will come,” Silber said, quoting the movie “Field of Dreams.” “We are building it and you are coming.”
The Silber family is privately paying for the construction of the stadium, and the city will pay the club $1.05 million for 30 years to lease it. The agreement gives the city exclusive use of the stadium for up to 183 days each year for such things as high school, college and amateur athletics, as well as concerts and other events.
The deal is similar to one the Prince William County Board of Supervisors passed on in 2017 when it decided not to back a stadium project at Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center in Woodbridge.
Second time’s a charm for the city
It wasn’t always easy for Fredericksburg to acquire a baseball team, as they tried to acquire the Hagerstown Suns in 2013. The Suns and their partners, a New Jersey-based company named Diamond Nation and a Fredericksburg-area automotive company, agreed to purchase a 38-acre stadium site inside the Fredericksburg city limits.
The multi-use stadium was initially planned to be ready for the start of the 2015 season at a cost of $29 million. However, in November 2014 Diamond Nation announced that it was terminating its option to purchase the Suns.
A contributing factor in this decision was the increase in estimated cost to build the facility to $53 million.
Prince William troubles
Silber and the ballclub had their own trouble trying to find a new location for a stadium. The issues for funding and finding a site started as early as 2010 when Art Silber formally announced their plans to locate a site for their new stadium in Woodbridge, in Prince William County.
In 2012, the proposal was focused on a site near Wegmans at Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center. The team and the Prince William County Board of Supervisors were reported to be close to a deal in December 2016.
The county would raise $35 million in municipal bonds, lease the site, pay for site’s preparation, construct the stadium, and lease it to the team for thirty years. The team would cover the county’s annual debt service and site lease costs. The county also would build a 1,400-space parking garage next to the stadium for stadium and commuter parking.
The deal fell through, and the team decided it leave its current home, at Richard G. Pfitzner Stadium behind the Prince William County Government Center due to poor field conditions, by the end of the 2018 season.
In July 2017, Silber announced that he would be seeking other localities as locations for his team’s new home. Ultimately, Fredericksburg stepped up last June and agreed to give the team land for a ballpark for the next 30 years.
