$207 million downtown Knoxville baseball development proposed for for BaseVOLS/AA Smokies

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The project’s selling point is the $142 million mixed-use apartment and community space that would surround the park. The 630,000-square-feet project would have an Old City-styled veneer that fits the warehouse character of the area, Boyd told Knox News. The buildings would overlook the stadium and like Wrigley Field – home of the Chicago Cubs, the Smokies’ major league affiliate – have bleacher seating on top of the apartments. There also would be space for retail and restaurants and breweries. All of it would be in the Old City, adjacent to downtown. “This is different than a lot of stadiums which are built on a ‘build it and they will come’ strategy,” he said. “We’re already coming – we’re already committed to coming with the stadium.”

Boyd is estimating a total cost of the ballpark as $65 million, but also includes a 20 percent cost contingency for overruns, pushing the total cost to potentially $78 million.

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Boyd is the owner of Smokies and the President of University of Tennessee system.

BaseVOLS not mentioned in the release but the expectation has always been that the stadium would be built for both and that has been Boyd’s intention.