COURTESY PHOTO
Pictured is a rendering for a possible baseball stadium in Malden.
By STEVE FREKER
MALDEN— A new professional stadium in the heart of Malden Square would have a dramatic and positive impact on the community and the region and not just during traditional baseball season, says the man who wants to bring pro baseball to the city.
“It would be a virtually year-round operation. The intention is to have activities going on basically 12 months a year,” said Alex Bok, whose Malden Field of Dreams group announced a major development earlier this month in a plan to bring a $60 million stadium to the city, a formal agreement to purchase a Major League Baseball (MLB)-affiliated minor league team.
Bok said Thursday he and his colleagues are already prepared to bring a unique element to the proposed stadium by building an overhead covering to provide a “dome effect” allowing full baseball games and other sporting activities to be held on virtually a year-round basis.
“We would have a unique offering. Nowhere in New England or even close to the region has a facility where full, complete-field baseball games can be played in an enclosed stadium,” Bok said. “We are already in negotiations with one college baseball team in the area and would most likely make agreements with others to use this facility when built.”
In addition to a year-round and vibrant presence on one of Malden’s last and most coveted development sites, the nine-acre National Grid parcel, Bok reiterated the direct benefit the stadium would have to the community.
“The local (Malden High) school team would have a professional ballpark as its home field, in addition to most all teams that use a field of that size like football, lacrosse or soccer if they wished,” he said.
The development group already has an agreement with a professional soccer team, Boston City FC, to play its games at the proposed new stadium. The team is already based in Malden with home games at Malden Catholic High School.
“With the domed addition in the winter season the possibilities are many for indoor, offseason training and games as well,” said Bok.
He has previously described plans for year-round dining and entertainment possibilities at the stadium with restaurant and meeting places. The stadium could also be used for the arts and fairs as well as concert performances in the future.
All plans for the stadium hinge on the Field of Dreams success in finalizing land acquisition of several businesses located adjacent to the National Grid site. To date, those efforts have been largely fruitless.
Mayor Gary Christenson, Rep. Paul Donato and U.S. Sen. Edward Markey are strong supporters of the project.
“It was tremendous news on the letter of intent with minor league baseball and we hope it leads to a professional stadium coming to our city,” Christenson said.
Bok plans to return to the Council in mid-May to give an update on his negotiations on land acquisition. He also told the Council that he has imposed a June 15 deadline on continuing or ceasing the project, a date which coincides with the deadline to sign a purchase-and-sale agreement with MiLB on buying a team.
