In late 2020, Major League Baseball announced a change that put most of the approximately 160 minor league teams on notice that they would have to upgrade their facilities by 2026, or else. Moving forward, commissioner Rob Manfred announced that minor league ballparks would have to meet MLB’s Professional Development League (PDL) standards. This would require ballpark owners and minor league teams to add modern weight room facilities, home and away clubhouses of at least 1,000 square feet, pitching/batting tunnels and other items.
That announcement sparked what would become a major construction boom for minor league ballparks, with teams collectively investing about $2.3 billion in a combination of upgrades and, in some cases, building new facilities, according to Sports Business Journal;
In 2020, Major League Baseball mandated that all minor league ballparks include player development facilities.
Image courtesy of Barton Malow and MSA Sport
While most ballparks needed some level of improvement, one stood out for its historical significance: Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Florida. It first opened in 1914 as City Island Ballpark, and in 1990 was renamed Jackie Robinson Ballpark in recognition of Robinson.
heroic role in the integration of professional baseball, the first step of which occurred in a March 17, 1946, spring training game at City Island Ballpark between the Brooklyn Dodgers and their minor league affiliate, the Montreal Royals.
It should be noted that the historic moment did not happen in Daytona Beach by chance. While every other minor league city in Florida was adhering to state segregation laws at the time, Daytona Beach’s civic leaders, including civil rights activist and community leader Mary McLeod Bethune, chief among them, were resisting and fighting to make sure Robinson could play in their city.
“We’ve had our share of underground surprises.”
—Len Moser, Vice President, Barton Malow
“Jackie Robson was told no, she couldn’t play in a lot of places, but the city of Daytona Beach, with the help of local leaders, said yes,” says Dru Driscoll, deputy city manager of Daytona Beach and principal representative for the project’s owner.
“So while there’s only one place where professional baseball was first played, it’s our responsibility to rehabilitate the ballpark,” adds Driscoll.
For Bill Baker, architect/managing partner of MSA Design, the lead design firm for the ballpark’s ongoing $30 million renovation, the significance of that day in 1946 made it absolutely imperative to elevate Jackie Robinson Ballpark to MLB’s new minor league standard.
“I can’t think of anything more tragic than if Daytona didn’t have one [minor league] team here,” says Baker.
Originally known as City Island Ballpark, the ballpark is located on an island within the Halifax River.
Photo courtesy of Barton Malow and MSA Sport
First release
Barton Malow began construction on the design-build project in 2024, with the first of three phases expected to be completed in time for spring training this year. The project includes the construction of a 38,400 square meter player development facility, new home and away clubhouses, including the complete removal of the existing clubhouses, indoor batting cages and fitness areas, improved ballrooms, office space, clubhouse seating and infrastructure improvements, as well as brighter lighting, padded outfield walls, better outfield drainage and accommodation for women’s staff.
The stadium’s location on a roughly 100-acre island in the middle of the Halifax River, which is also home to a city library and a city courthouse, threw contractors plenty of curveballs, says Len Moser, vice president of Barton Malow. “We’ve had our share of underground surprises,” he says. “We are certain that the renovations and improvements over the years were not well documented.”
The city of Daytona Beach plans to add a 1,500-square-foot Jackie Robinson Museum to celebrate his accomplishments both on and off the baseball field.
Photo courtesy of Barton Malow and MSA Sport
The stadium’s more than 100 years of age also meant that most utilities on the city island had to be repaired, upgraded or replaced to accommodate changes to the stadium and its surrounding infrastructure, Moser explains.
With the island’s water table described as “particularly high” during the summer rainy season, extensive underground utility work was slowed by the need to dewater with well points and high-pressure pumps, Moser says, adding that progress was not always steady. “Sometimes it looked like we were pumping water from the ground to the canal and it was feeding back underground to our pumps, the whole circle, [and we were] it’s not progressing at all,” he says.
“We wanted to modernize the facilities but maintain the historic charm.”
—Dru Driscoll, Deputy City Manager, Daytona Beach
The location of the island posed other complications. With the stadium footprint taking up almost the entire project site, an immediate challenge was finding space for the all-important standard PDL facilities.
“[That] it required more real estate outside of the field footprint,” says architect Baker, calling the ballpark and its dimensions “somewhat sacred” because of its historic designations. The park is also closely bounded by Orange Avenue along the first-base line and a canal along the third-base line.
Fortunately, the formerly city-owned tennis courts, which sat very close to the ballpark’s right field, had fallen into disuse, making them “prime real estate” for player development facilities, Baker says. “It really gave us a chance to do the things we needed to do.”
The building will house team offices, heated weight rooms, fitness and strength training areas and dining spaces that emphasize player nutrition, among other amenities. It should be noted that the new equipment will also include toilets and other spaces designed for women, which the old ball stadium lacked.
The surrounding ballpark will house batting and pitching tunnels, batting cages and improved field lighting.
The stadium provided limited space to build the player development building.
Photos courtesy of Barton Malow and MSA Sport
Other site improvements will create new secure parking spaces for players and team members, accessible parking for fans and dedicated field storage, for example.
At the same time, Driscoll, the assistant city manager of Daytona Beach, pointed out a drawback of the player development building’s right field location.
“The most difficult thing is that we are losing a wonderful view of the river” from the stands, he says. “But I don’t think the new building destroys it; it enhances it by giving you a more immersive feel to the game.”
The player development building will include training facilities, team offices and additional seating for fans.
Photo courtesy of Barton Malow and MSA Sport
In addition, the building offers enhanced seating options found in the building, including 102 outdoor seats and club-level seating for groups of various sizes. In addition, fans seated in this new right field seating section will be the first to have a clear view of downtown Daytona Beach and the park that runs through the left side of the ballpark.
Importantly for the Daytona Tortugas, the minor league affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds that plays at the stadium, the simple fact that the player development building is indoors, and not just outdoors, offers new opportunities to generate revenue.
“We have never had a suitable space like this [PDL building] to be able to host different events,” says Jim Jaworski, general manager of the Tortugas. In the past, regarding the availability of spaces for groups or events, Jaworski says, “We’ve always been asked, and our answer is always yes. But no matter the time of year, we’re going to ask you, “Which outdoor space would you like to be in?” And then the answer is: ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter'”.
Jaworski is particularly pleased with the project’s delivery of a modern, updated facility.
“Not just from a fan perspective, but from a player perspective and player development perspective, and from a staff perspective, this is definitely a space we’re proud of,” he says.
Pointing to the new accommodations for women, which include team employees and referees, Jaworski says, “Now we just have the right spaces and the right facilities to do what we need to do. It’s the standard.”
Utility updates
Additionally, Barton Malow and the team had to install a new water line along Jackie Robinson Parkway to provide domestic water and fire sprinkler service to the stadium. In early February, crews from subcontractor Drewery Site Development began installing a 12-in. water line under the Magnolia Avenue Bridge, spanning approximately 250 feet.
Barton Malow is also replacing a dike that runs along the canal on the west side of the stadium. “I’m not sure how old it is, but it’s safe to say it’s past its useful life,” says Moser.
Keeping the feel of the stadium over 100 years old was a foregone conclusion for the city.
“We wanted to modernize the facility but maintain the historic charm,” Driscoll says. “We added ornaments like the beams on the outside of the new PDL facility to mimic the historic grandstands to give that enveloping feel.”
In addition to the stadium renovation and upgrade, the City of Daytona Beach and Volusia County are funding approximately $23 million in improvements to City Island, including the construction of a new seawall.
“The city is investing heavily in the island, so a lot of people think it’s just a stadium project, but it’s really an infrastructure investment for the city of Daytona Beach,” says MSA Sport’s Baker.
An additional feature of the renovation is the planned construction of a museum of approximately 1,500 square meters.
“We’re planning to build a Jackie Robinson Museum to tell his story of when he was in Daytona Beach and his life and legacy,” says Driscoll. He adds that one of the things he’s learned about Robinson during this project is that “playing baseball was such a small part of his life.”
Still, it seems Robinson’s continued impact on Major League Baseball cannot be overstated.
Driscoll says, “To this day, there’s one player for whom Major League Baseball has a special day, where everyone wears his jersey, and that’s Jackie Robinson.”
While everyone on the project team is excited about the upcoming opening day of the renovated ballpark, Architect Baker summarizes the project team’s efforts to deliver the new Jackie Robinson Ballpark.
“Now it’s going to be an amazing, fun, cool single-A ballpark on an island on a river,” he says. “How cute is that?”
