Andrew Zito, the Lookouts’ vice president, says Erlanger Field, the minor baseball team’s next home, will be much more than a baseball park.
“It will really be about gathering and creating memories,” he told the Rotary Club of Cleveland during their meeting last week, which was broadcast on Zoom.
The new $115 million multi-use park and stadium is being constructed on a 120-acre site in Chattanooga’s South Broad Street District that was the former location of Wheland Foundry and U.S. Pipe.
The site was vacant for more than two decades until the idea was hatched for it to serve as the Lookouts’ new home, replacing the cramped AT&T Field, where expansion space is scarce.
When completed later this year, Zito said the new Lookouts venue will offer thousands of feet of event space, making it an ideal location for a variety of sports and social events.
“We will have 17,000 square feet of uninterrupted event space,” he said. “We can host galas and hundreds of people for plated dinners, weddings and receptions,” he said, adding the site will boast 2,700 parking spaces. “It’s going to be a gathering place, because it’s not just baseball; it’s tens of thousands of square feet of event space,” he said.
Additionally, Zito said Erlanger Park will offer restaurants, bars and breweries.
“I like to say you can come out five times and experience it five different ways,” he said.
The Chattanooga Lookouts will play their first home game of the 2016 season against the Montgomery Biscuits at the new stadium on April 14.