BB&T Ballpark (Charlotte Knights)
The 10,000-seat BB&T Ballpark serves as the new home of the Triple-A Charlotte Knights baseball team and a catalyst for future development within Uptown Charlotte. Kimley-Horn performed planning, site civil, landscape architecture, urban design, utilities upgrades, traffic engineering, and off-site roadway services for this $54-million project.
The project’s landscape architecture elements included all public plazas and special features at the main entry plaza as well as perimeter streetscape improvements. The public space is activated on all four sides of the stadium as well as the corner entrances to connect the stadium to the surrounding context of the revitalized Third Ward neighborhood.
Kimley-Horn also performed off-site roadway design and traffic engineering as well as site civil engineering for all water, sanitary sewer, and stormwater connections to the ballpark. Upgrades to utilities, right-of-way encroachments for plaza features, and constant coordination with Charlotte DOT for the off-site roadway were managed efficiently and effectively because of Kimley-Horn’s strong relationships with the City of Charlotte and North Carolina DOT.
Early permits were obtained for the roadway portions of the project to remove morning commuting traffic from 3rd Street with the reconfiguration of 4th Street and Mint Street to accommodate the traffic—3rd Street was abandoned to allow the ballpark to be constructed. To add to the aggressive timeline, Kimley-Horn had to fast-track these services to work around the 2012 Democratic National Convention that was planned for the site.
BB&T Ballpark was awarded LEED Silver certification.
Project Awards:
- 2014 Sports/Entertainment Project of the Year; ENR Southeast
- 2014 CREative Thinkers Award; Carolinas Chapter of the Counselors of Real Estate
- 2014 Heavy Hitters Commercial Real Estate Award; Economic Development Award, Charlotte Business Journal
- 2014 Heavy Hitters Commercial Real Estate Award; Top Hospitality/Entertainment Development, Charlotte Business Journal
Ballpark Recognition:
- 2016 Best Minor League Baseball Parks, Thrillest.com
- 2016 Best of the Minors: Best Skyline, Baseball America
- 2016 Highest Average Attendance per Game, MiLB
- 2015 Best Ballpark in Minor League Baseball, Baseball America
- 2015 Highest Average Attendance per Game, MiLB
The firm’s dedication to exceptional customer service and commitment to delivering a quality product puts Kimley-Horn in our highest regard. Kimley-Horn's proven relationships with local agencies from the City, County, and State are unparalleled and absolutely necessary for large urban projects.
Dan Rajkowski
| Executive Vice President/Chief Operation Officer
Charlotte Knights