Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy progress report: The $4 million federal earmark, key to preserving what's left of Tiger Stadium, is in the U.S. Senate's Budget Committee. Thom Linn, president of the Conservancy, puts the earmark's chances of passage at "extremely likely" and expects that to happen early next year.
The Conservancy just finished making a presentation to the
Detroit Economic Growth Corporation Monday that covered its design and feasibility plans. A financial feasibility presentation to the DEGC is scheduled for March. Linn expects the Conservancy to close on the field in the summer, start construction shortly thereafter and finish the project about 18 months later sometime in 2011.
"This is a historic opportunity for Detroit and the region," Linn says. "If we're successful this will be the only pre-World War II baseball stadium that has been preserved."
It would be an example of forward-thinking by Metro Detroit's leaders. All of the beloved centurian baseball parks no longer hosting Major League Baseball games, such as
Ebbets Field and
Comiskey Park, are now reduced to rubble in history's dustbin. They're lucky if they even have a plaque dedicated to them.
Tiger Stadium has a more than a better chance of beating those odds because a number of the region's power players have lined up to save part of it. They include big hitters like U.S. Sen. and former Detroit City Councilman
Carl Levin and local leaders like
Linn, who is a principal and chairman emeritus of the Miller Canfield law firm.
They have been able to line up the $4 million in federal funds and another $6 million in tax credits for the $15 million project. They are raising the rest from local fund raisers and philanthropic organizations. For information on the project or to make a donation, click
here.
"These are rough numbers," Linn says. "We're still in the design phase."
The current plans call for saving about 3,000 seats and the field. The 90-foot baseball diamond will maintain its major league dimensions but be used principally for youth baseball. It will also tie into the city's emerging greenway network. The project is expected to also serve as a catalyst for tourism and development in Corktown and Southwest Detroit.
Source: Thom Linn, president of Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy
Writer: Jon Zemke
Photo:
Marvin Shaouni
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