TIDEWATER GETTING NEW STADIUM

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 12, 1992                   TAG: 9201120207
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short
TIDEWATER GETTING NEW STADIUM
The first pilings are expected to be driven in February for a proposed new baseball stadium for the Tidewater Tides, says the city's director of civic facilities.
Bill Luther recently showed off a scale model of the $13 million stadium, which will be constructed on a 36-acre downtown waterfront site.
The 12,000-seat stadium is scheduled to open in April 1993. Designed by HOK Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., it features archway entrances similar to old ballparks like Brooklyn's Ebbets Field. It also has light towers, open air ramps, a left field picnic area and a right field courtyard.
"The arches will give the stadium a warm feeling and a rhythm," Luther said. "The light towers will reflect the Elizabeth River cranes. And the ballpark is turned so it looks like a building when pedestrians come up to it."
The stadium will have 9,000 lower-deck seats and 1,500 seats each in a pair of upper decks. The top of the lower deck is lined with 20 luxury boxes, each with 12 seats in climate-controlled areas.
The stadium also will feature a high-tech scoreboard, capable of color graphics, behind the left field fence.
Construction will allow expanding the stadium up to 70,000 seats.
HOK also designed the new Comiskey Park in Chicago and the Camden Yards stadium in Baltimore.
The stadium will replace Met Park, built in 1970 for $1.3 million.
The new stadium is "going to be a prototype of all the things that are new and state of the art," said Tides general manager Dave Rosenfield. The Tides are a Triple A affiliate of the New York Mets.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB