An artist's rendering of a building on the proposed site of "The Farm," plans for which were announced Tuesday at Hoosier Park. Courtesy of krM
At a glance
6 million: Projected cost, in dollars, of “The Farm” development
1 million: Approximate city investment in dollars, $275,000 of which would be repaid
30,000: Estimated number of new annual visitors
100,000: Square feet of indoor baseball diamond space
75: Estimated annual number of tournaments
10,000: Estimated number of hotel room nights generated
500 million: Dollars, in economic impact, The Farm is projected to produce over 20 years.
Source: City of Anderson
ANDERSON — A state-of-the-art baseball and softball training complex and tournament facility will rise along Interstate 69 east of Scatterfield Road beginning this spring if private backers and city officials can clear the bases.
“I am totally stoked,” Mayor Kris Ockomon said as he stood among about 200 people who jammed a reception at Hoosier Park where plans for “The Farm” were unveiled. The project has been in the planning stages for about two years, he said.
“I’ve been dreaming about this day and the main reason is right here,” Ockomon said, gesturing to young area baseball and softball players who stood behind him.
People involved in the project, including Anderson native and Toronto Blue Jays slugger Adam Lind, said The Farm would become a destination for young players looking for an edge that could earn them an athletic scholarship and possibly a professional baseball career.
“This is almost like bringing Florida to Anderson,” Lind said, noting the facility would include two indoor diamonds that would make tournament play possible year-round. The facility also would have 10 outdoor diamonds.
“I think if we build the facility and give one or two kids an opportunity to get a scholarship,” Lind said, “it’s worth the investment of our local government to help fund this.”
Mike Shirley, a longtime area baseball trainer and scout for the Chicago White Sox, is a principal in the project. So is Casey Clutch, a professional softball pitcher and instructor who helped lead the 2000 Frankton High School girls softball team to a state title.
“Today is a dream — a dream filled with hope and opportunity,” Shirley said. The facility would put Anderson in competition for national baseball and softball tournaments, he said, but that would be just part of The Farm’s mission.
“We really want to be a leader in (player) development,” said, who would head up the baseball training side of the operation, according to principal Brad Benbow, who operates a marketing firm in Muncie. Benbow said Clutch would head up the softball side.
“I’m so excited my hometown of Anderson, Indiana, will be on the softball map,” Clutch said. The idea that the facility will “not only grow players, but people, is spectacular,” she said.
Randy O’Connor said he had been trying to bring a facility like The Farm to Anderson for about seven years. His son, Justin, was among several area players drafted in recent years by major league baseball teams. Several who appeared at the announcement.
Randy O’Connor said the concept of The Farm represents the ethics that ballplayers and farmers have in common: “Hard work, perseverance, dedication and mental toughness. ... These are all characteristics we hope we can instill in these young people.”
Benbow said investors hope to break ground on the facility in early April, have a grand opening of the indoor facility in October and a full slate of tournaments beginning in spring 2012. The facility is expected to create about two dozen full-time jobs and dozens of part-time jobs, he said.
Anderson Economic Development Director Linda Dawson said the city is proposing to furnish $750,000 on tax increment finance bond funds to get the project started, and a secondary pledge of $275,000 that would be repaid when The Farm is profitable. The incentives must be approved by the Anderson Redevelopment Commission and City Council.
Ockomon asked Anderson native and Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer Carl Erskine what he thought of what he’d seen at the end of Tuesday’s presentation.
“I’m for it,” Erskine said.
© 2024 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.