DC Sports & Entertainment Commission
Ballpark Renovation Program Management
Based in large part
on the plan defined by Brailsford &
Dunlavey and on B&D's representation of the
District of Columbia in negotiations with Major
League Baseball, in late 2004 the DC Sports
& Entertainment Commission and the D.C.
government were successful in persuading MLB to
relocate the Montreal Expos franchise to
Washington over a host of competing localities
to become the Washington Nationals. As a
result, the Commission engaged B&D to
provide program management services to complete
the necessary upgrades to Robert F. Kennedy
Memorial Stadium, so that it could serve as the
temporary home of the new MLB franchise until a
new stadium could be constructed. Although the
initiation of the project was delayed for
several months by the negotiations between MLB
and the City and by City Council debates over
financing of the new stadium, the project was
completed on time and on budget, within four
months and for $18.4 million.
The improvement
projects were comprised of many modernizations
made necessary by the fact that a major league
professional baseball game had not been played
in the stadium in 34 years. The scope was
complicated by the fact that the stadium would
serve as home not only to the new MLB
Washington Nationals, but also to the Major
League Soccer team D.C. United, whose season is
precisely the same as MLB's. The improvements,
therefore, needed to address not only
modernization but also frequent conversion
between the field and seating configurations of
baseball and soccer.
The scope of work for the improvements included a complete reconstruction of the field and restoration of the stadium's originally designed (but 44-year-old) convertible seating system, which allowed for 5,000 seats to be relocated (now by a mechanized process) from baseball to soccer configuration; reconstruction of the club house area to include upgraded home locker rooms for both the MLB and MLS clubs (inclusive of modern video technology, training and exercise rooms, and lounge spaces for players and families), as well as a newly constructed visitors locker room for both sports; complete reconstruction of the press box and inclusion of modern broadcast technology (including cabling for High Definition Television); construction of new team offices; and upgrades for accessibility and other code requirements.
Despite the project's delayed start and constrained budget, the stadium opened for its first MLB exhibition game on April 3, 2005 and its first MLS soccer game on April 9, 2005 to universal accolades for the quality of the fan experience and game presentation. The project went on to receive a "Best of 2005" award from Mid-Atlantic Construction magazine, as well as a "Building of America" honor from Real Estate & Construction Review.