Sims Hinds is putting 40 years of experience in facility operations and event promotion to use with Odell, a Charlotte architect. He joined the company in January, the latest stop in a career that’s seen him with AEG, SMG, the Carolina Hurricanes and HKS. At Odell, he is managing director of venue and events consulting, steering municipalities through the process for funding sports and entertainment developments. It’s an area that’s especially hot in the Carolinas these days, with multiple downtown mixed-use projects being tied to proposed minor league ballparks.
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Smaller cities are using baseball as a tool to bring people back downtown.”
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Photo: COURTESY OF SIMS HINDS
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On current projects: Odell is the architect on a ballpark that’s part of a mixed-use project in North Augusta, S.C., across the Savannah River. The [Class A] Augusta Greenjackets are the tenant and the developer. It includes the $35 million ballpark, a hotel, office space, rental units and restaurants. That project is underway now after getting held up in court for about a year after a resident challenged the legality of creating a TIF district to fund the project. The state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the project, so everything is full speed ahead now.
On additional work with the PGA Tour: We’ve also been working with the PGA Tour over the last six years on the The Players Championship to help make it a better guest experience, so that people buy more tickets, stay longer and spend more money. It’s the only tour stop that takes place on a course that the PGA actually owns. They’ve been able to make investments and improve the facilities and dramatically increase points-of-sale. Per capita spending has doubled over those six years.
On his particular role at Odell: You don’t want me designing anything. My role is more on the development side, helping communities navigate their way through the process — when they need to bring in architects, financial consultants, venue management, and helping them figure out their way to what is the right facility they need for that market. [There are] lessons they can learn from other cities: What to do right and what to avoid.
On secondary markets in North Carolina considering mixed-use projects: I’m vice chair for a nonprofit called Forward High Point. We’re looking at using a downtown ballpark as a catalyst for mixed use. Fayetteville just released its study done by Barrett Sports Group. They’re doing the same thing. Kannapolis is going through a study right now with Brailsford & Dunlavey. Odell and CSL are working on a study in Gastonia. They’re all using downtown developments built around ballparks.
