What will the downtown baseball stadium look like when it is completed? City of Amarillo officials don't even know.
According to records obtained by the Amarillo Pioneer as part of a Texas Open Records Act request, City of Amarillo staff revealed that the City is not in possession of any construction plans for the downtown stadium.
"At this time, we have not received a full submittal of the construction plans for the downtown multipurpose event venue," City of Amarillo administrative technician Shayla Junell wrote in response to the Pioneer's records request.
The City of Amarillo broke ground on the site of the stadium earlier this month and hailed the project as a "new beginning." Officials from the City of Amarillo have also stated that the project has a projected completion date of April, 2019, even without the construction plans.
Although officials do not currently possess any construction plans for the sports facility, City officials are still confident that the structure will be completed by the April 2019 deadline. In a post to Facebook following the groundbreaking, City Councilmember Elaine Hays hailed the groundbreaking as "a lot of fun" and said that she is excited for April of 2019.
"It was so exciting to hear the [team owner] Elmore’s speak of their family history with baseball, meet some of the team management and see the final illustrations of the facility," Hays wrote on Facebook. "April, 2019, can’t get here soon enough!"
A projected price tag of $45.5 million has been released for the structure. Officials say that the project will be paid for with the use of hotel occupancy tax collections and revenues from team lease payments. Public improvement district (PID) bonds have also been discussed as a potential source to pay for the stadium.
For more information about the stadium, please visit amarillo.gov.
