BRADENTON, Fla. — The city of Bradenton is upgrading LECOM Park with the addition of City Park, bringing more ball fields, parking and a community center to the historic baseball area in Manatee County.
LECOM Park is the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the minor league Bradenton Marauders.
WATCH: City of Bradenton plans major upgrades to LECOM Park, surrounding area
The project will be completed in phases, with some portions ready in as little as two years. The expansion aims to benefit the surrounding community, including an elementary school next door, and attract a new generation of fans.
To quote the famous baseball movie "Field of Dreams," if you build it, they will come. That is exactly what the city hopes happens with the new additions.
"We called it City Park because that's what it was called in 1923," Mayor Gene Brown said.
Brown hopes it will become a spot for more than just baseball.
"An economic impact for restaurants, microbreweries, for any type of business that would want to be on Ninth Street," Brown added.
Monty Hardesty has seen the history unfold from his family-owned tire shop located directly across from the park.
"My dad started this business in 1970. So we've been in business 56 years," Hardesty said. "Yogi Berra played over there. Mickey Mantle. All of them."
Marty, who has also watched the park as a nextdoor neighbor for the past five decades, knows change is inevitable.
"The city is buying up everything. They just bought this lot up," he said. "Forever, they never let anybody use that park. They would use it before the Marauders started playing. They used it one month a year and just let it sit. And I thought that was just a waste," Hardesty said.
While the stands might be empty today, the city hopes these changes will bring more people to enjoy LECOM Park and the surrounding area.
Read more about the project, and see more renderings on the city's website.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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