Barton Malow served as the construction manager for the new First Horizon Park, a state-of-the-art facility supporting the Nashville Sounds AAA minor league baseball team. The new ballpark resides in the historic location of the old Sulphur Dell Ballpark on the north side of Nashville, bringing a wave of life into an essential part of the city with approximately 9,000 seats, 16 suites, and a luxurious party suite. Additional scope included a clubhouse and support facilities, a press box, concessions, restrooms, and vending areas to service the fans and visitors.
Overcoming Challenging Site Conditions
Among the challenges of the project were the site conditions. As a result, Barton Malow installed caissons to bedrock throughout the facility. The seating bowl is a cast-in-place grade beam, concrete slab. The structure is approximately 800 tons of structural steel with 19 large box trusses. With aging infrastructure surrounding the site, the project sparked the need and opportunity for updating lines to serve the four additional projects in this historic area. Excellent coordination of the ballpark and neighboring projects was key to this redevelopment success.
Innovative Flood Prevention
The ballpark sits approximately three blocks from the edge of the Cumberland River and the playing field elevation is 10 feet below the 100-year flood plain. During a devastating flood in 2010, the proposed site was six feet underwater. The team was tasked with building systems to prevent the ballpark from flooding that could be easily cleaned or removed should a major storm event threaten to flood the park. They installed a wet well system to collect and discharge seating bowl runoff, field irrigation water, and major stormwater overflow. The system was incorporated into the Field Maintenance Building structure.
