MADISON – Excitement is building with the announcement that the first ball games at the new Toyota Field Stadium will be played later this month. The new $46 million baseball stadium in Town Madison received its certificate of occupancy, marking the end of construction.

The multi-use facility will be the home field of the Rocket City Trash Pandas, a Double-A Minor League Baseball team in the Southern League expected to begin playing in the new stadium starting April 15. Before that there will be a series of exhibition games involving local college and high school teams.

UAH will host Montevallo in a three-game Gulf South Conference series March 20-21. The March 20 game starts at 1 p.m.; a doubleheader on March 21 starts at 11 a.m. The next day, March 22, Alabama A&M will take on arch-rival Alabama State in a Southwestern Athletic Conference game at 1 p.m.

On April 6, The Bob Jones Patriots will host Hartselle High School at 4 p.m. The James Clemens Jets take on Austin High School in the nightcap, following the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Hoar Construction, along with Turner Construction, the City of Madison and BallCorps, LLC, the owner of the Trash Pandas, made announcements last week celebrating the completion of Toyota Field.

Construction began in July 2018 on the 160,000-square-foot stadium, located within the Town Madison development off of I-565, next to the new Zierdt Road Interchange. Turner served as construction manager agent for the City of Madison, partnering with general contractor Hoar Construction to complete the stadium on time and under budget.

“This is a landmark moment that was made possible through the remarkable commitment and creativity displayed by all of the design and construction professionals who turned our vision into reality,” said Ralph Nelson, Managing Partner of BallCorps, LLC and CEO of the Rocket City Trash Pandas. “We have had trusted partners throughout this journey, and we’re pleased to have reached a successful conclusion together. Our fans can now see for themselves that baseball is officially back in North Alabama.”

The new 82,328-square-foot, $40 million ballpark is the anchor facility for the Town Madison mixed-use development, a 563-acre modern and walkable urban community that provides a variety of dynamic experiences for living, shopping, dining, working and entertainment. Toyota Field will have a capacity of approximately 7,500 fans, including a combination of fixed seating, premium suites, a stadium club, party decks, picnic areas and standing room only areas.

“The day our team has been waiting for has finally arrived, and it’s extremely gratifying to see the transformation from a dirt field to a top-shelf ballpark in just 14 months,” said Michael Raymond, Assistant Project Manager at Hoar Construction. “BallCorps and the City of Madison have been fantastic to work with and provided the flexibility Hoar and its trade partners needed to successfully execute a very complex construction job. Without question, this is now one of the finest minor league ballparks in America.”

“Being able to make a positive impact on a community like Madison is one of the most rewarding parts of the work we do,” said Tyce Hudson, manager of business development at Turner Construction Company. “We’re proud of our work on this stadium, which will be the site of many entertaining nights of sports, as well as happy memories for fans in the years to come.”

The stadium will host soccer, football, concerts and other events in addition to Minor League Baseball. In addition, the club level and suite spaces will be used for meetings for companies and private groups, with a capacity of up to 400 people.

“We’re thrilled to have this venue complete and we’re eagerly awaiting the return of Double-A Minor League Baseball to the Tennessee Valley,” said Madison Mayor Paul Finley. “We’ve now worked with Turner successfully on two major projects, our venue and Madison Library. We’re very pleased with the final product and are excited to have this much-needed new stadium in our community.”

Though the work is now complete, a separate developer-led project for Town Madison on the main parking lot to the west of the stadium is ongoing.

Project partners include the City of Madison (stadium owner), BallCorps LLC (tenant/team owner), Hoar Construction (general contractor), Populous (architect), Thorton Tomasetti (structural engineers), Henderson Engineers (MEP), Mullins LLC (civil engineers), and Turner Construction (construction management agency).

The Trash Pandas’ home opener for Southern League play is Wednesday, April 15 at 6:35 p.m. against the Mississippi Braves at Toyota Field. Season tickets, mini-plans and group outings are on sale now. Visit www.trashpandasbaseball.com or call 256-325-1403 to order.