K.C.-based HOK+LOB Sport Principal Joe Spear "unveiled
color images and a three-dimensional video" yesterday
"showing off" plans for the Reds' new $280M ballpark,
according to Dan Klepal of the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, who
notes the project will cost the Reds $30M. Spear, on the
design: "The cool thing about this is that a guy on the
street who wants to see a traditional ballpark will see it.
An art critic may see it as a modern, fresh expression."
The Reds teams of the mid-'70's will be "honored" as part of
a 21,000-square foot Reds HOF and museum, connected to the
facility by a bridge walkway and opened "year-round." Fans
"will get to vote on which four" Reds players will be
"immortalized" in Crosley Terrace, an area "most fans will
pass through before entering the ballpark." Other ballpark
features include: a clock that will be a replica of the one
from the old Crosley Field; dark green or blue seats for a
"more intimate" feel; about 20,000 field-level seats; and a
"players only" chapel (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 5/12).
REAX: In Cincinnati, Cliff Radel writes that the city
"will have a ballpark that feels like home" if the design
becomes "reality" because "it embraces tradition" and the
team's "rich history" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 5/12). Also in
Cincinnati, Bill Koch writes that the ballpark "will tie
neatly into downtown." Koch: "The 21st century version of
the Palace for the Fans will be a striking place to watch a
baseball game, an enormous improvement over both the
cavernous, sterile Cinergy Field and cozy, intimate Crosley
Field" (CINCINNATI POST, 5/12). Paul Daugherty writes the
ballpark is "not a place you'd look at and say, 'Wow.' It's
beautiful, in a functional, Honda Civic sort of way. If it
were an actress, it would be Meryl Streep. ... You will go
to the new place to watch baseball (imagine that), not drool
over the design. Which in Cincinnati ... is as it should
be." The ballpark "is somewhere in the sensible in-between"
of Camden Yards and the new Comiskey Park. Reds COO John
Allen: "So many of our fans come to the games because
they're baseball fans. (They want to) get to the concession
stand, get (a) beer and watch the ballgame." Daugherty
notes that there will be "many more" concession areas and
bathrooms than there are at Cinergy Field and that
concourses will be "twice as wide" (CINC. ENQUIRER, 5/12).
WATCHDOG: In Cincinnati, Mike Rutledge wrote that
Hamilton County (OH) officials this week hired Mike Sieving
"as a watchdog" in a $120,000-a-year position, responsible
for construction and development of the Reds' ballpark and
"other riverfront" development "as determined by the county
administrator" (CINCINNATI POST, 5/11).
