CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The overhaul of Progressive Field won’t begin until after the 2023 baseball season the Cleveland Guardians announced Thursday.
The team remains in the planning and design stages of the $435 million project which was originally supposed to begin construction two months ago.
“The Guardians Ballpark Improvements Project Management Team is in the process of finalizing scope across a series of construction projects and timeline for project completion,” the team said in an email sent to fans Thursday. “We expect to announce in the coming weeks our final plans, with construction not beginning until the conclusion of the 2023 baseball season.
Pending hitting our timelines for Schematic Designs, Design Development and Construction Documents, we hope to start preparing bid packages by mid to late Spring of 2023.”
In addition to announcing the construction delay, the Guardians announced that The AKA Team, a local minority and female-owned company, has been selected to serve as an additional associate construction manager.
The overhaul to the ballpark, which opened in 1994, was approved as part of a new 15-year lease agreement extension with the club that was finalized in January, keeping the team in Cleveland through at least the 2036 season with two five-year options that could run through 2046.
The renovation of Progressive Field is expected to include a transformation of left field, including the Terrace Club, re-imagining the upper concourse, eliminating the massive crates in the right field upper deck and building a more engaging social space as well as extensive clubhouse, service level and executive office building renovations.
Under terms of the agreement, the city and county will contribute a combined $17 million annually, the state of Ohio will contribute $2 million annually and the Guardians will contribute $10 million annually to fund the project over the next 15 years.