Former mill town to build $37 million sports and entertainment venue

Kannapolis plans to build a $37 million sports and entertainment venue that would be anchored by the Intimidators minor league baseball team and serve as a centerpiece of a revitalized downtown.

Kannapolis City Council on Monday night unanimously approved the design of the Kannapolis Sports and Entertainment Venue.

The facility is expected to open for the start of the 2020 baseball season with up to 5,800 seats, eight suites and 8,500 square feet of meeting and banquet space. The venue will be on the site of the former K-Town Furniture. The next step is completing architectural drawings, city officials said.

Numerous seating options will be available for baseball, concerts, festivals and other events. The venue will form another piece of the former mill town’s “Discover a Healthy Life” brand by functioning as a public park. The concourse will be 360 degrees and open to walkers and runners every day.

The design features industrial architectural elements to complement current buildings and the new street design on West Avenue.

“Existing West Avenue buildings will be an integral part of the venue, with uses such as restaurants and shops,” the city said in a news release on Tuesday. “The plan calls for the sports and entertainment venue to be a key architectural feature of downtown, especially as one travels into the downtown core from N.C. 3 to Laureate Way.”

Populous, the venue’s architectural firm, has designed 48 minor league ballparks across the country, including in Columbia, S.C.; Pensacola, Fla.; El Paso, Texas; and Fort Wayne, Ind. It has designed the new major league homes of the Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins.

This story was originally published February 28, 2017 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Former mill town to build $37 million sports and entertainment venue."