GAINESVILLE, Ga. — The date is sitting there like a huge bullseye: Sept. 20.
That is the scheduled reopening of the new and improved City Park Stadium, which has been the home for the Gainesville Red Elephants since the early 1900s.
But as passersby tool along Green Street on any given morning or afternoon, the behemoth that is the still-not-complete skeleton of the more than $13.6 million press box and seating project looms large -- and unfinished. There are only 40 days left for what is supposed to be Gainesville’s season home-opener against Lanier.
To the naked eye, it seems hitting that target date is challenging, to say the least.
Director of Maintenance and Operations David Presnell, however, said not to worry...too much.
“We still have a tremendous amount of work to do, but we WILL be playing a game on Sept. 20 at City Park,” Presnell said.
The project will increase seating capacity to roughly 5,500 (home and visitors). The newly constructed press box will have three working floors, with concessions on the bottom and suites and game day operations up top.
“We will not be 100 percent ready (when Sept. 20) gets here,” he said. “But as far as the fan experience, everything will be complete. The concessions, the bathrooms, the seating, all of that will be done. The game day operations, which is on the top of the top floor of the press box, will also be complete.
“What will not be done is the back of the press box because that was a big undertaking. The only thing missing will be the metal shell on the outside but everything will be done on the inside. It might take the rest of the season to get that done.”
Gainesville only has two more scheduled home games after the opener -- Oct. 4 against Seckinger and Oct. 11 against Milton. The showdown against defending Class 7A state champion Milton is expected to be a standing-room-only crowd. But the Red Elephants could also host a first-round playoff game if they make the top two in their region.
Presnell said any work not completed by the Sept. 20 opening will continue.
“We'll have two weeks after that opener before the next game, so we’ll keep working on whatever is not done,” he said. “We should be able to have everything complete by the time the playoffs get here.”
