Huntington Park (Columbus, Ohio)

Infobox_Baseball_Stadium
Edit this pagetadium
stadium_name = Huntington Park
nickname =


location = Columbus's Arena District
Columbus, Ohio
coordinates = coord|39.968618519554205|-83.01074266433716|display=inline,title
broke_ground = August 2, 2007
opened = April 2009 (projected)
closed =
demolished =
owner = Franklin County, Ohio government
operator = Franklin County, Ohio government
surface = TBD
construction_cost = $56 Million (projected)
Construction Manager = Turner Construction architect = 360 Architecture
former_names =
tenants = Columbus Clippers (International League) (2009)
seating_capacity = 10,000
dimensions = Left Field - TBD
Center Field - TBD
Right Field - TBD

Huntington Park will be the new stadium for the Columbus Clippers, a Triple-A minor league baseball team in the International League currently affiliated with the Cleveland Indians. Groundbreaking for the new stadium took place on August 2, 2007, and the stadium opening is planned for the 2009 season. Designed by 360 Architecture, the 10,000-seat stadium is part of a $56 million project. Huntington Park will be located at the corner of Neil Avenue and Nationwide Boulevard in the Arena District of Columbus, Ohio and will replace the Clippers' current home, Cooper Stadium. In February 2006, the naming rights for the park were purchased by Huntington Bancshares Inc. for $12 million over 23 years. [ [http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/02/06/daily9.html "Huntington buys naming rights for ballpark."] "Columbus Business First". 7 February 2006.]

Construction Issues

The selection of the construction firms to build the stadium have been a contentious issue. On 5 November 2007, Lithko Contracting of Hamilton, Ohio filed suit against Franklin County. At issue was the fact that the contract for pouring concrete was awarded to Baker Construction despite Lithko's bid coming in $17,500 lower. [Citation
last =Carmen
first = Barbara
title = Contractor sues for stadium bid
newspaper = The Columbus Dispatch
year = 2007
date = 2007-11-06
url =http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/11/06/Cementsuit.ART_ART_11-06-07_B1_TV8CSPI.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101 ] It was alleged that the Franklin County Commissioners had favored Baker over Lithko because Baker employed union labor and Lithko did not. Because the Commissioners did not want to face delays due to a lawsuit, they awarded the contract to Lithko on 9 November. [Citation
last = Carmen
first = Barbara
title = Stadium contract awarded to non-union shop
newspaper = The Columbus Dispatch
year = 2007
date = 2007-11-10
url =http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/11/10/BACKDOWN.ART_ART_11-10-07_A1_DV8E9UE.html?sid=101 ]

The county was subsequently sued two more times by firms after they were denied the contracts despite being low bidders. [Citation
last = Carmen
first = Barbara
title = Union had role in ballpark rules, suit says
newspaper = The Columbus Dispatch
year = 2008
date = 2008-03-06
url =http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/03/06/stadiumsuit.ART_ART_03-06-08_B1_A99I8R5.html?sid=101 ] In those cases, the county rejected the low bid due to allegations of "prevailing wage" violations by the low bidders. State Representative Larry Wolpert (R) has asked the state controlling board not to release $7,000,00 in funds until the low bidders are selected.

References

External links

* [http://www.franklincountyohio.gov/commissioners/board/clippersnewspage.cfm Franklin County Clipper's News Page]
* [http://www.earthcam.net/users2/interface.php?i=0&id=1694&projectid=1071&clientid=573 Construction Web Cam]
* [http://www.clippersbaseball.com Columbus Clippers Home]