Chattanooga City Council tours Erlanger Park

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- It is less than 50 days from now when the Chattanooga Lookouts will take the field at their brand new stadium in the South Broad District.

Tuesday, Chattanooga City Council Members got to take a tour to see how far it has come along.

During their tour Thursday, we got to see some of the brand new features of Erlanger Park for the first time.

One of these is the Batter’s Eye Club, a box suite that directly lines up with home plate, one of only five in the country.

We also witnessed the progress to the Tennessee Riverwalk, that will serve as the front door to the stadium, and the construction of new roads such as the extension of 26th Street past Chestnut Street, with a portion of the roads going through the former U.S. Pipe Building.

Lookouts owner Jason Freier says it is surreal being this close to the finish line, and can’t wait to see fans come through the gates for the first time.

Freier said, “A lot of people will experience this for the first time and whatever it is, they have in their head in terms of what they expect to experience. We think we’re going to radically exceed their expectations and when we see people’s faces as they experience the ballpark for the first time is really one of the great joys of doing this.”

Council chair Jenny Hill said that she believes the stadium’s economic impact will be something that reveals itself over time.

This is through the taxes the stadium will generate and impact on pedestrian infrastructure.

Hill said, “I was really pleased at the quality of the adaptive reuse. That was something that I think makes this project special, and to maintain these old parts of Chattanooga’s history is a wonderful thing… Time will tell. This is a long process to get bonds paid off, and the TIF is a multi year TIF. So I think for now the goal should be to encourage as much economic activity in this area as possible so that when the time comes we have an opportunity to think about other investments in our city.”

Opening day is scheduled for April 14 against the Montgomery Biscuits, and tickets for that season opener are sold out.