'What a great day': Hagerstown Field House officially breaks ground

Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:14 a.m. on Dec. 13, 2023, to add information about Eastern Sports Management's nonprofit Play On organization.

Hagerstown city officials and their partner, Eastern Sports Management, celebrated the official groundbreaking Tuesday of the Hagerstown Field House with about 100 people at the site of the former Municipal Stadium.

"What an exciting day. What an exciting day for us, what an exciting day for the youth to know that we are investing in something like this that will be geared towards, hopefully, a lot of youth prevention and a lot of youth sports," Mayor Tekesha Martinez said.

Martinez said former mayor Emily Keller "pretty much drove her hot heel in the sand" regarding this project. When Martinez became mayor in February, after Keller took a new job with the state, there was a note on the board listing projects to get done — including the Field House.

Keller, the state's special secretary for opioid response, said city officials fought for this project.

"What a great thing this is going to be for our city and for our youth, to provide something to do, to provide more sports tourism ...," Keller said.

"We're experiencing Hagerstown's renaissance so thank you to everyone who made this happen, and congratulations," Keller added.

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Former minor league stadium gets new life as Field House

Before the ceremony began ESM President and Founder John Wack said the facility is expected to be ready within a year for kids and adults to play sports. He described the Field House as an indoor sports, fitness and wellness center.

The Field House, being built on the former site of a minor league baseball stadium, is projected to see about 1.5 million "door swings" a year among customers using its indoor turf, courts and other amenities, an Eastern Sports Management official said.

The goal is to have the Field House ready to host leagues and events during the 2024-2025 winter season, according to City Engineer Jim Bender and Kristina Finigan, national director of business development for Eastern Sports Management (ESM), based in Fredericksburg, Va.

The City Council, on Oct. 24, awarded the $19.3 million construction contract to Waynesboro Construction, which has offices in Waynesboro, Pa., and Frederick, Md.

The council also authorized $637,605 to cover costs including inspection and testing services and construction contingencies. Another $653,930 was approved for architectural project management services, geotechnical consulting and reimbursable expenses for ESM related to the developer's agreement, according to a city document and an online video of the meeting.

The project, including consulting, development and architect fees as well as $4.3 million for fixtures, furnishings and equipment, costs almost $26 million, according to city officials.

That does not include the lease agreement, which could come before the City Council for a vote in January.

City and ESM officials said they are working to finalize a 20-year lease agreement that has the sports management company operating the Field House. The city will own the building, as it does the property on which Municipal Stadium stood for decades.

ESM will manage the construction process.

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What sports, amenities will the Hagerstown Field House offer?

The 114,000-square-foot Field House will house two turf fields and four basketball courts that are convertible to eight volleyball courts, Finigan said. There will be five multipurpose rooms.

An 8,000-square-foot fitness space will be on the mezzanine level of the two-story building, Finigan said. Fitness center equipment will include bikes, rowing machines, weights, a cycling and spin studio and space for classes like yoga.

The Field House also will have a cafe. Teams often come early and/or stay late so this could be a gathering spot to watch games while eating wings and pizza, Finigan said.

Programming details are still being worked out, but winter programs are expected to include basketball, volleyball and indoor soccer leagues for all ages.

The Field House also will offer pickleball and social sports like kickball. Other sports expected include field hockey, lacrosse, flag football and futsal.

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ESM officials said the Field House will likely operate five to six "seasons" a year, with programs lasting six to eight weeks.

Some community members might arrive with a full team to register, while other people might sign up as "free agents," so ESM places them on a team where there is a spot, Finigan said.

Pricing is still being developed, but EMS officials said a ballpark price for participation in a season for youths or adults would likely range from $75 to $100. There will be fitness center memberships.

There also will be "drop in" times when people could pay a smaller fee, perhaps $5 or $10 to come in and use available court space. That often is available in between seasons or during non-programming times. Such periods also give student-athletes chances to brush up on their skills, Finigan said.

Finigan, in an email Wednesday, confirmed that ESM's nonprofit Play On organization has established a fund to help underserved members of the community participate in leagues and summer camps. ESM will be seeking donations from area businesses to help support that fund for "reinvestment back into the community."

The Field House's multipurpose rooms could be rented for birthday parties.

Child care will be offered for people working out in the fitness center, but there are no plans at this point for a before- or after-school child care program, Finigan wrote in an email.

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How is Hagerstown paying for the Field House?

The city is funding the project through a variety of sources.

Those include $3.75 million in state grants; $700,000 through the American Rescue Plan Act; $250,000 in Washington County hotel/motel tax revenue; $2.9 million in city budget transfers; and $1.2 million the county is permitting the city to redirect from money owed for the consolidated 911 dispatch center to the Field House.

City officials are expected to seek bond financing for about $10 million, according to a breakdown of funding for the project.

The city also is guaranteed $7 million through the developer's contract with ESM, but that money will be paid out over 20 years, Bender confirmed Tuesday. To front that part of the money the city will need to seek another $7 million in bond financing, bringing the anticipated bond financing for the project to around $17 million.

The city will use its share of revenue from the Field House to pay down the debt service on the bonds and to maintain the Field House, Bender said.

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The path to the Hagerstown Field House

City discussions about what to do with the city-owned Municipal Stadium, built in 1930, picked up steam and transformed to plans for an indoor sports facility following the contraction of Minor League Baseball. With that contraction and the Washington Nationals ending its affiliation with the Hagerstown Suns, the stadium last hosted a minor league season in 2020.

The Suns had played in the stadium, along East Memorial Boulevard, for four decades. During its tenure, it was affiliated with Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets and the Nats. During most of that time it was a Class A affiliate.

City officials decided in 2021 to pursue plans for an indoor sports facility at the site, voting that fall to enter an agreement with ESM to develop the facility.

Municipal Stadium was torn down in 2022.

Bender said the city gave Waynesboro Construction notice to proceed with construction of the new indoor sports facility on Nov. 10.

The project is separate from the Hagerstown Multi-Use Sports and Events Facility being built in downtown Hagerstown at the corner of Summit Avenue and Baltimore Street. The Maryland Stadium Authority is involved in that project. The Hagerstown Flying Boxcars are expected to hold their inaugural season in the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in that stadium in 2024.

Photo gallery: Demolition of Municipal Stadium in Hagerstown

From January 2021: Hagerstown weighs options for Municipal Stadium's future

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Hagerstown indoor sports complex breaks ground, opening in one year