The Padres have named former San Diego City Manager
Jack McGrory as Exec VP & COO "in charge of implementing"
the team's ballpark and downtown development plans,
according to Philip LaVelle of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE.
The team also announced that CA attorney Bob Vizas, a Yale
Law School classmate of Padres President & CEO Larry
Lucchino, was named VP & Special Counsel. The hirings come
in the midst of the team's environmental-review phase, "with
key hearings before the City Council slated for next month."
Lucchino said that McGrory "is going to have a great deal of
responsibility" over the team's downtown development
projects. In addition to his new role, McGrory will be
President of a new Padres development arm in charge of the
Park at the Park, which will include office and retail space
around the ballpark. His hiring "continues a pattern in
which the Padres have hired top City Hall talent to help
them maneuver through the maze of San Diego politics and
government" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/21).
TAKING SHAPE: Plans for the ballpark, which is being
designed by HOK+LOB, include 42,000 seats, room for 2,500
ticket holders for the Park at the Park's grassy knoll in
right field and standing room for 1,500 throughout the
facility. Among other features: irregular dimensions in the
outfield; an artificial beach, complete with sand and
lifeguard chairs located behind right-center field; and
party suites in the Western Metal Supply Building in left
field. The ballpark will also have 15,500 field-level seats
between the foul poles, about 34% of the capacity, which is
8,562 more than at Qualcomm Stadium (UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/19).