Busch Memorial Stadium - Future Ballparks
New Busch Stadium Construction Gallery
St. Louis, Missouri
Groundbreaking: January 17, 2004
1st National League Game: Scheduled April 10, 2006
Surface: Natural Grass
Architect: HOK Sport
Construction: Alberici Construction Company
Cost: $387million (Projection)
Financing: Privately financed by a naming rights agreement with Anheuser-Busch, $90 million in cash from Cardinals Ownership, $200 million in private bond sales, tax breaks, bank loans and a long-term loan from St. Louis County.
Owner: St. Louis Cardinals
Seating capacity: 46,000
Playing Field Dimensions:
RF foul line: 336 ft.
Power alleys: 390 ft.
Centerfield: 400 ft.
LF foul line: 335 ft.
Outfield Fences: N/A
Courtesy Kevin Manning / St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Alex Fees - KSDK - November 5, 2005
The stark contrast provided by the new Busch Stadium and the old Busch Stadium -- the former under contruction, the latter being demolished -- make for an amazing comparison.
For the first time in more than forty years, the old Busch Stadium is both literally and figuratively out of the limelight. The view from the twenty-first floor of a hotel just north of old Busch Stadium shows a strange scene inside the soon to be former home of the Redbirds.
Large pieces of machinery lumber across an infield more accustomed to the fleet of foot or the flawlessly executed double-play. Two large cranes pick at what remains of the stands in the south wall along the former third base line. The stadium interior is barely recognizable. A crater has taken the place of the infield which grounds crews used to tirelessly work on. Construction workers make their way up and down dimly-lit ramps and walkways formerly reserved for Cardinal fans clad in red.
To the untrained eye it may look like something is "wrong" at the old Busch. Although right next door, something is definitely "right".
New lights and a new moon shine down upon round-the-clock construction in the new Busch Stadium. Stadium lights which will next season help players field pop flies may help tentative Cardinal fans find their way to the future. The lights can be seen for blocks if not miles around. And they are definitely showing the way for the next generation of Cardinal baseball.
The wrecking ball demolition of Busch Stadium does not begin until Monday afternoon at 3:00pm.
But a peek inside the former home of the Redbirds shows that now, there is no turning back.
Construction of stadium drawing fans
The St. Louis Cardinals' future home is going up steadily, with much of the city watching.
By Jeffrey Tomich - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - March 27, 2005
Two workers nearby dart back and forth hundreds of feet above ground, tethered to the building's frame like life-size marionettes.
"This is a well-orchestrated project," Buckley said. "They don't stop. There's nobody sitting down on the job over there."
Buckley has nothing to do with the project or the Cardinals. In fact, he doesn't follow baseball. But every weekday, he crosses Broadway from St. Louis Community College's Cosand Center, where he's an administrator, to monitor progress on the stadium. He jokingly refers to himself as the "unofficial sidewalk superintendent."
With the Cardinals' home opener just over a week away and the Blues sitting out the season, the humming, buzzing symphony of cranes, dump trucks, cement mixers and tractors on the new stadium's dirt floor have become a de facto spectator sport for dozens of interested passers-by each day.
Whether by car or on foot, a steady flow of people checks the status of the ballpark, one of the highest-profile construction jobs in St. Louis since the Edward Jones Dome was built in the 1990s. Some wear Cardinals caps and jackets; fathers bring their sons. Most don't stay longer than 10 or 15 minutes, but they return regularly.
To be sure, not everyone is eager for a close-up view. At the St. Louis Westin hotel across South Seventh Street, a front desk clerk said guests ask about the project. But that's often to request a room on the other side of the building so as not to be awakened by the din of construction early in the morning.
John Loyd, a consultant hired by the Cardinals to oversee construction, is keenly aware of St. Louis' reputation as a baseball-crazy town. He expects fan interest to build as baseball season nears and the 1.3 million-square-foot structure increasingly resembles a ballpark.
"It was a big dusty hole in the ground last year," Loyd said. "We've made very good progress throughout the winter. We're solidly on schedule, if not ahead."
Architectural drawings and engineers' plans line the wall of a makeshift conference room in a gray shack where he works. It's one of a fleet of construction trailers south of the site, each with the name and logo of the general contractor, Indianapolis-based Hunt Construction Group, or one of the 50-plus subcontractors that have a piece of the work.
Work on the stadium is moving clockwise. Crews are about halfway finished erecting the steel skeleton, which reaches most of the way down the first base side of the park, followed closely by concrete risers that will be the foundation for 46,000 red seats to be installed beginning this summer.
One of two pedestrian ramps, the one along the third-base side of the park, is finished and is being used by contractors to move men and materials to the upper levels. Carpenters are beginning to frame the suites and, in the belly of the stadium, workers are installing boilers, completing electrical work and building loading docks.
Crews benefited from a mild winter and only occasionally had to delay steel erection because of rain, wind or ice, Loyd said.
The project is to be completed by opening day 2006. In reality, contractors face a more pressing deadline. They need to finish much of the work before this season ends so they can immediately begin building the section of the park where the current stadium sits. The longer the Cardinals' season goes, the more challenging it will be.
"We'll have from the end of baseball season to the beginning of '06 to construct the part within the existing footprint of Busch Stadium," Loyd said. "That's why it's so important for this part to be done."
Between 350 and 500 workers are on the job up to 10 hours a day, six days a week, depending on the work to be done, Loyd said. Crews are working "selective overtime" when a specific task must be completed, he said.
Nearer completion, work will go on 24 hours a day, every day. The number of people on the project will reach about 900 for much of the finishing work.
"The project schedule is not particularly challenging until you get to the end of it," Loyd said. "It's quality and cost and time. You don't want to sacrifice quality for either of the other two."
The sheer magnitude of the project — the thousands of pounds of steel and concrete and hundreds of workers needed each day — is rivaled only by the level of detail. In a corner of the conference room are models of three seats to be used at the park. On Thursday, Loyd's group was still working to find a seat cushion that matched the back of the chair.
"You never stop making decisions on things like this," he said. "Not until the day you open. Not even then."
Until the park does open, it will continue to draw curiosity-seekers such as Steve Strohl, 37, who moved to Baltimore from St. Louis in 2002. A lifelong Cardinals fan who works as an accounting manager for a software company, he drops by whenever he returns to town to see what progress has been made.
"It's changed quite a bit," Strohl said, gazing out over the dusty construction pit this week. "The steel superstructure wasn't in place the last time I saw it."
By Georgina Gustin - St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- 7/04/2005
"Bill DeWitt III said yes first," Drueke recalled, referring to the Cardinals co-owner. "I believe he said, 'Well, I don't think we need to look any further.' I was just sitting there, and my heart was going da-doomp, da-doomp, da-doomp."
Drueke, a stone carver, and his brother, Steve, had spent months trying to get the Cardinals' management to look at his work. And last May, when the two long-time Cardinals fans were finally invited to the Kansas City offices of stadium architects, HOK, their persistence paid off.
"They took a chance on us," Drueke said. "But obviously they saw something they trusted and believed in. I think they saw our enthusiasm. And the fact that we're Cardinals fans probably helped."
Last September, Drueke started carving the designs in his studio, behind Spangler Plumbing on Frontage Road. And after about 500 hours of work, he had finished crafting 11 designs out of huge slabs of Indiana limestone. Some slabs weighed as much as 300 pounds but were whittled down to about 180 pounds by the time Drueke was done.
The designs are based on old Cardinal logos - including one Drueke pulled directly from a jersey that was once worn by Johnny Mize. Some of the larger pieces are edged with borders filled with small details that baseball fans will probably never see - popcorn, catchers' mitts, Budweiser bottle caps and pretzels.
When Drueke was finished with the designs, he created molds that were sent down to a foundry in Tallahassee, Fla., where 74 duplicates were cast in stone. Those duplicate stones will hang on the external walls of the new stadium, slated for completion in 2006.
Drueke, 28, does the creative work. His brother, Steve, 36, handles the business side of their company, Wishstone Chisel & Mallet, Inc. For both brothers, seeing their work on the walls of the new stadium will be a huge personal kick.
"It's going to be amazing going there and seeing them," said Steve. "This is a real thrill."
Gabe Drueke earned a degree in graphic design from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, started carving stone in college. After graduation, he worked an office job, doing graphic design, but wanted to work with his hands and started to carve again while working as a foreman for a landscaping crew.
Now, Gabe Drueke, with his brother as business partner, makes a living carving architectural pieces for buildings around the country.
"Steve really got it going," Drueke said. "He pushed further."
The Druekes won't discuss how much the commission is earning the company, and say further projects for the Cardinals are in the works. They're also working on carvings that the average fan can buy for their home and are even thinking about making molds for Cardinals logo cake pans.
The stadium carvings will probably be installed some time this fall, but next spring, the final, and most symbolic piece, will go into place - the cornerstone.
Drueke has finished working on the giant piece, but for now it remains at his home in O'Fallon. Anyone who wants to see it in person will have to make it to the game for opening day next year.
The New Cardinals Ballpark, which will also be named Busch Stadium, is scheduled to open in the spring of 2006 on a site directly, and we mean directly, south of Busch Stadium. In fact, the two sites actually overlap - which means some tricky construction. Much like the Great American Ballpark/Cinergy Field project, where a "bite" had to be taken out of CInergy in order to raise the new park - this project will be much the same as we'll see during the 2005 season when parts of Busch come down as the new park goes up. Although scheduled to open in the spring of 2006, the new park still won't be finished until the clean-up of the demolished Busch Stadium site is completed, and the final construction phase can begin next door.
The project site, from the northern edge of current Busch Stadium to the base of the elevated Interstate 40/64 highway, gradually slopes down about 40 feet. This seemingly ordinary topographical fact creates a fantastic site condition for the New Ballpark that the architects have exploited in two ways.
First, by placing home plate in the southwest corner of the site and lowering seating and scoreboard heights in center field, the majority of spectators will have dramatic views of the Gateway Arch and the downtown St. Louis skyline.
Second, when Clark Street is "rebuilt" through the site after Busch Stadium comes down, fans and motorists traveling along Clark Street will be able to enjoy unobstructed views into the ballpark, including the playing field itself! These views will strengthen and extend the connection between the New Ballpark and the emerging urban neighborhood on the north side of Clark Street called Ballpark Village. Perhaps the best outfield views of all will be from the balconies and rooftops of the new buildings in the Ballpark Village. The Cardinals intend to partner with developers to create a mix of uses in the Ballpark Village, including retail, entertainment, office, and residential facilities. A public plaza will provide a gathering spot for fans before and after games. In addition, the Cardinals will locate their team museum in the Ballpark Village.
According to the Cardinals: "The design of the New Busch Stadium takes into account the context of downtown St. Louis, the history of the Cardinals, and the best attributes of the most successful ballparks built around baseball in the last decade. With classic arched openings recalling the nearby Cupples Station warehouses to the rich warm colors of the Wainright building, this Ballpark is inspired by the classics. However, its creative use of old and new materials, from brick and concrete to exposed steel and glass, creates an architectural statement that stands on its own, with a modern sensibility appropriate for the 21st century."
Features of the park include wider concourses and obviously better sightlines than multi-purpose Busch Stadium. Also, improved concessions, family entertainment options, and restroom conveniences that were impossible to provide in Busch Stadium due to its age and restricted configuration. There are also a number of unique standing room and group gathering areas planned that will give fans opportunities to roam the Ballpark and take in views of the action on the field.
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