NEWS

The City of Whiting, Indiana, has been awarded with a 2011 Community Achievement Award IACT Community Achievement Award in the category of communities with 5,001 - 10,000 in population by the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (IACT) for its Oil City Stadium at Standard Diamonds Park project. The 4.85 million dollar state-of-the-art baseball stadium is located in the heart of Whiting’s downtown historic commercial district and opened to the public in April 2011. It replaced Whiting High School’s home ball field, which had been located in Whiting Lakefront Park for over 70 years.  The relocation of the ball field clears the way for the redevelopment of the Lakefront Park, which will provide connections from Oil City Stadium to the Lakefront Park recreation areas, Whihala Beach and its harbor, completing a critical piece of the Marquette Greenway.  The new brick home of the Oilers now accommodates more fans in a ballpark shared by the high school team, as well as the nearby Calumet College of St. Joseph. Oil City Stadium at Standard Diamonds Park hosts other various leagues and tournaments, treating all baseball fans to a traditional “take me out to the ballgame” experience.

“When the community made the difficult decision to replace the longstanding high school baseball field at Lakefront Park to provide space for park improvements, we all knew we had to build a new ballpark that would be immediately recognized as not only an appropriate replacement, but a facility worthy of Whiting Oilers baseball tradition,” says Principal-in-Charge Christopher Murphy, PE, of Indianapolis, Indiana-based architecture and civil engineering firm American Structurepoint, Inc. “And we accomplished just that.”

The ballpark’s 3D conceptual design, by American Structurepoint and project partner Context Design, LLC, enabled Whiting’s community and stakeholders to see realistic renderings of what the stadium would eventually look like, getting them on board with the idea. The project involved a public/private partnership between Whiting High School, the City of Whiting, and Calumet College of St. Joseph. It also integrates with BP’s current and future development plans and provides a beautiful transition to the adjacent refinery. No residential property taxes were needed for construction; rather, the project utilized Industrial TIF bond revenue.

The park construction was a collaborative effort with Powers & Sons Construction Company, Inc., heading up the overall park and stadium construction; ball fields were built by Turf Solutions Group LLC; grandstand seating was constructed by RK Sports Seating, Inc.; and sports lighting was provided by Midwestern Electric, Inc. The entire project was led by American Structurepoint, and Context Design included the architectural and engineering overview of the park grounds, the brick stadium, and the precast concrete bleacher system for the 800-seat, fully accessible grandstand.

The stadium also features raised-lawn seating for another 200 fans, a press box, recessed dugouts, and concessions. A signature element of the stadium design is the 30-foot high brick scoreboard wall which is in play in left field. The wall and the center-field depth of 403 feet make this an exciting place to enjoy and play baseball. Standard Diamonds Park also includes a concourse plaza area, complete with a memorial wall of fame celebrating Whiting’s baseball heritage. The plaza space is used for various community and cultural events and may be rented for private functions.

The IACT Annual Awards honor communities for outstanding achievement and successful innovation in municipal government work. Awards will be presented during the 2011 IACT Annual Conference & Exhibition, to be held October 9-11, 2011, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Community Achievement Award winners will be honored with a video presentation during the Annual Awards Luncheon. A panel of former municipal officials and municipal government experts from the public and private sectors are serving as judges for the awards, rating the applications on the given criteria.