Unusually warm weather has helped keep construction at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket “on schedule,” which means everything should be good-to-go for the PawSox April 14th home opener against the Rochester Red Wings.
Though most types of construction can be conducted during winter months, cold temperatures require builders to add steps to the construction process, so concrete and other materials dry properly, according to Mark Tetreault, the project manager for O. Ahlborg & Sons, Inc. The Cranston general contracting company was awarded the McCoy contract last winter.
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“It’s allowing us to stay on schedule,” Tetreault said of the weather. “If it gets much colder, it requires a more time consuming process to get things done.”
So far the old lights and scoreboard have come down, and have been donated to the Joey Kuras Memorial Lighting Fund for youth fields in Coventry and the Tiverton Babe Ruth Field, respectively. The stadium’s concession stands and facilities have been gutted. The original building was repainted. Sod from the playing field was pulled up and donated to the Pawtucket Boys & Girls Club.
Early last week, workers were preparing to pour the outfield wall, which would then just about complete the exterior “skin” of the new stadium, Tetreault explained. After that, he said workers could concentrate on the inside structure, such as the club house, training facilities and concession stands.
“We intend to have all the concessions and things up and running on opening day,” he said.
The $16 million renovation project will help the Pawtucket Red Sox comply with a Major League Baseball mandate that all AAA Class clubs play in stadiums with a seating capacity of at least 10,000. Originally the league wanted all stadiums to comply by 1998.
McCoy was built in 1942, although the PawSox didn’t take up residence there until 1973. The “old” McCoy also failed to meet accessibility standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Among the changes, wider concourses, 100 handicap accessible seats, and an elevator.
Twelve million dollars of the construction cost is being paid by the state through a bond issue, according to Bill Wanless, the team’s vice president of public relations. The remaining $4 million is being paid for by the PawSox, he said.
State funds helped keep the team in Rhode Island, where it serves as a valuable revenue source. Several other communities were eager to lure the PawSox from their longtime home, including the city of Worcester, Mass. Business owners in the Pawtucket neighborhood that surrounds McCoy, however, said they are relieved the stadium will remain here, particularly since the Hasbro plant also located in the neighborhood is supposed to close down soon.
Arthur Tow, manager of the Mei King Restaurant, said, “it would have been sad to see them go.”
The Mei King set up shop at the corner of Pond and South Bend streets in the 1970s, around the same time the PawSox moved in, Tow said. Tow, who is an admitted Red Sox fan, said each summer the team draws customers to the Chinese food restaurant before games. They even sell baseball trading cards from a glass display case at the front of the restaurant.
It isn’t uncommon for players to grab something to eat there as well, he said. Pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd once named Mei King as his favorite place to eat in the Boston Red Sox Yearbook. “Some people come from Newport, Jamestown, Warwick, which we don’t see all year,” he explained.
At the Right Spot Restaurant, located roughly behind right field, Julia Tsimikas said, “in fact some people we look forward to seeing every year.” Tsimikas and her husband have owned the combination diner and ice cream parlor for more than 20 years, she said. It offers a perfect vantage to watch construction. Before renovations began, she said, they could peer through windows for their walk-up service ice cream counter, and see certain parts of the inside stadium during games. Renovations are likely to change the view, but Tsimikas said she’s not that disappointed.
“I saw the blueprints, it’s going to be beautiful,” she said.
In announcing the upcoming season’s schedule on Friday the 13th, team officials also announced ticket prices would increase by $1, according to Wanless. So box seats will now cost $7, general admission for adults will be $5, and children and senior citizens will pay $4. Stadium parking, which is also being increased to meet league standards, will still be free.
It was the first time in seven years the team has increased the general admission ticket price and the second time in about four years box seat prices have been hiked, Wanless said. Even with the ticket price increase, the PawSox should remain one of the most affordable tickets in AAA ball and in southern New England. A reporter at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle in New York recently conducted a survey of AAA clubs and discovered that Pawtucket had the lowest prices in the league. Running a close second at the time was the Toledo team, which if it doesn’t increase its ticket price of $6.50, could now claim the title of best AAA value in the upcoming season, Wanless said.
“We hemmed and hawed about this too,” Wanless said of the decision. There was debate, he said, since the stadium construction can be seen as a justification for even higher ticket prices. “Of all years this would be it.” But club officials, including owner Ben Mondor, wanted to keep ticket prices at a level families can afford, Wanless explained.
