FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches
Serving as the new Spring Training home for the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals, the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches complex includes a 7,800-seat stadium, 12 auxiliary major/minor league fields, five multipurpose fields, and a 12.2-acre City of West Palm Beach public park. Kimley-Horn provided civil engineering services for the development of this state-of-the-art complex.
Once the site of a yard waste landfill, the Kimley-Horn team partnered with other consultants to focus on the environmental cleanup of the project site. The landfill was closed with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in 1996 with the trash mounds covered in clean cap sand mined from the on-site lake. The project team cleaned up the old trash and created an economic driver for the area. The landfill was processed and any materials possible were used on site as fill or recycled. Kimley-Horn worked consistently with the contractor to continually evaluate the progress of the trash mining and cut/fill status. When there was a shortage of fill to finish the project, the additional fill was obtained by the excavation of another lake on the north side of the project. This lake now provides an additional stormwater management area and storage volume as well as additional reclaimed water storage capacity for irrigation demands.
In addition to our environmental work, Kimley-Horn’s services included on-site civil engineering, off-site reclaimed water main, event traffic management planning, permitting, franchise utility coordination, and construction phase services. Kimley-Horn also directed subconsultants in the design of off-site turn lanes, signal modifications, survey, and utility locations.
This complex was designed and permitted on an aggressive and unprecedented schedule in order to be ready for Spring Training Opening Day 2017. The project was fully designed and permitted with the City of West Palm Beach and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in under 6 months, allowing the contractor to begin site work.
The FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches opened in time for the 2017 Spring Training season. Of particular note, this project brought new life to a closed landfill in a once-bleak area of West Palm Beach. The complex provides Palm Beach County and the surrounding community with a sense of camaraderie through sports, entertainment, and other events. Floridians and baseball fans alike will enjoy this stadium and park for years to come.
Project Recognition
- 2018 National Recognition Award; American Council of Engineering Companies
- 2018 Engineering Excellence Grand Award; Florida Institute of Consulting Engineers, Florida Engineering Society, and American Council of Engineering Companies-Florida Chapter