Asheville solidifies $4.4M Memorial Stadium improvements & track

ASHEVILLE - City Council heard an update on improvements coming to Memorial Stadium Aug. 23, a $4.4 million project that will bring park improvements, a new restroom and storage facility and a six-lane competitive track. 

“This is the project and concept that we are moving forward,” said Capital Projects Director Jade Dundas of the plan presented to council.

After numerous public engagement sessions, he said, it had support from members of the surrounding community, some who had been calling for improvements for years. 

The new track at Memorial Stadium was unanimously approved by City Council in March after finding itself at the center of a contentious conversation that pitted residents of a nearby historically Black neighborhood against the city's tourism ambitions. 

“The meat of the project is the track,” said Parks and Recreation Director D. Tyrell McGirt. 

Previous coverage: 

• What are Asheville Parks and Rec's plans for Memorial Stadium improvements, new track?
• While Asheville's $4.4M Memorial Stadium track is good to go, money source might be issue
• Memorial Stadium fumble: 'We need to do better,' Asheville city manager says
• The future of Asheville's Memorial Stadium: Can tourism and community needs coexist?

The track was advocated for by members of the East End/Valley Street neighborhood, as well as council member Antanette Mosley, who has been an advocate for the project since the beginning. She grew up in East End, daughter of the late Rev. Charles Mosley and fourth generation of her family in the neighborhood. 

She was pleased to hear the Aug. 23 update and said she felt the city was in a "groove" as it relates to equity work, working parallel to the recently seated Community Reparations Commission. 

First demand: Asheville's historic all-Black Reparations Commission makes 1st demand of city, county

Mosley said staff had done a wonderful job engaging with the impacted communities of East End and Oakhurst. 

"I did think we would get to this point," she said of the project moving forward. "I knew it would not be easy to get to this point, because it’s one of those things that if you don’t know the history, one wouldn’t necessarily recognize the importance, but I’m deeply gratified that we’re here." 

Built in 1925, the city-owned stadium sits behind McCormick Field, where the Asheville Tourists minor league baseball team plays, and has spent much of the last three decades in disrepair. 

Fall color: Will WNC have a brilliant leaf season? Experts give their forecast.

For generations, it served the area's Black community and was home to local recreation teams and high school leagues. 

Tyrell said the project is 60% designed and being advanced to design completion. 

Dubbed Phase 2 of the Memorial Stadium improvements, about $1 million in remaining bond funds for the project will be dedicated to a walking trail, "trike track," Mountainside Park playground improvements and a new restroom and storage facility. 

An additional $3.5 million has been identified to fund a six-lane synthetic surface, competition-level track, in part by using $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, as well as $750,000 from the fiscal year's CIP contingency and $206,000 in unspent fleet replacement from the transit department, according to Asheville Parks and Recreation spokesperson Christo Bubenik. 

Abortion? LGBTQ care? Unions? AdventHealth, steeped in church doctrine, gives its stance

The new track will reduce the size of the turf field from 80 yards in width to 68.6 yards. The length will remain 126 yards, according to numbers provided by Bubenik. 

Soccer lines will be reduced from 72 yards in width to 53 yards. The length of 120 yards will remain the same. 

"Soccer games will still be able to continue with the new reduced field size," he said, a point that Tyrell reiterated at the Aug. 23 meeting. 

While the field still would meet FIFA soccer regulations, it would limit its ability to host national and international professional soccer matches. 

Construction of the new track will require demolition of the western bleachers, and replacement of a concrete plaza for temporary seating expansion. Existing stormwater must be modified to accommodate the track. 

Phase 2 follows a $1.2 million investment of bond funds in the field — replacing its artificial turf, improving drainage and creating new stormwater infrastructure. 

The initial project wrapped in January. 

Some of these improvements will have to be walked back to accommodate the track, and the $1 million bond funds remaining will not be enough to foot the bill of new improvements, McGirt said in March. 

Mosley said this stands to be a transformative project for the community. Not only does it represent the "fulfillment of a promise," she said it will bring exercise opportunities to Black and brown communities that often face health care disparities, offering access that the neighborhoods have not had for almost 30 years. 

"I intend to be out there every week if possible," she said. 

Staff said council will be asked to award the project for construction in March 2023. Construction is scheduled to begin May 2023, with an estimated completion date of May 2024.

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.