Spirit Communications Park Construction on Schedule

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Columbia , S.C. (WOLO) — Opening day for Fireflies baseball is less than 5 months away. On Friday, officials say the construction is roughly seventy-five percent complete. The steel beams are up and the cement is being spewed at Spirit Communications Park. “As you can see the entire structure has been built, most of the concourse has been poured and a fair amount of the seating bowl has been poured,” said Hardball Capital CEO Jason Freier. According to officials the $37 ballpark is on budget and on schedule for the Columbia Fireflies opening day April 14th. “We built a significant amount of cushion into the schedule knowing that the weather isn‘t always perfect,” explained Freier. “We feel good about where we are.” The extra cushion days proved to be useful during the historic floods that hit the midlands last month. “When it rains you can‘t work, there are certain kinds of work you can‘t do, when things get really wet there are other issues,” said Freier. “We need dirt for backfill things like that when the dirt gets too wet you can‘t do that.” In the next few weeks, officials say crews will tackle interior work, mechanical plumbing and continue pouring cement for the picnic area. They plan to be complete with the project several weeks before opening day to provide year-round entertainment for Midlands residents. “We‘ll be bringing 70 games of Columbia Fireflies baseball here which is fun, affordable, family-friendly entertainment,” said Freier. “Beyond that, we‘ll have all sorts of other events; we‘ll have major concerts, smaller concerts, this will be a gathering place for really any large community event.”