The Chicago Cubs announced plans to build an exclusive club underneath the best seats in Wrigley Field.
The Chicago Tribune reports that fans with tickets will be able to access the American Airlines 1914 Club for upgraded food and beverages, comfortable indoor seating, and private bathrooms (but no views of the field, however).
Nearly 300 people have already reserved their spots on the club’s the priority list.
After the 2016 season ends, crews will tear up the seating sections behind home plate and in between the dugouts (the ballpark’s most expensive seats closest to the field). The shell of the club will be built below. To accommodate construction, the dugouts will be move further down the baselines, away from home plate.
The seating areas will be ready for the 2017 season, but construction on the club will continue throughout the year. It will open for the 2018 season.
The club is part of the larger 1060 Project, a project that began in 2014 that is transforming the century-old Wrigley into a ballpark with premium features, modern amenities, and a revenue-generating, fan-friendly surrounding mixed-use development. Earlier this year, the Cubs opened a new team clubhouse underneath an old parking lot on the west side of the park.
The American Airlines 1914 Club (named after its corporate advertiser and the year in which Wrigley opened) is the first of four "premier experiences" coming to the ballpark. Clubs will be built on the first base side, third base side, and in the upper level. Suites will also be renovated.
Related Stories
| Mar 11, 2011
Community sports center in Nashville features NCAA-grade training facility
A multisport community facility in Nashville featuring a training facility that will meet NCAA Division I standards is being constructed by St. Louis-based Clayco and Chicago-based Pinnacle.
| Mar 11, 2011
Slam dunk for the University of Nebraska’s basketball arena
The University of Nebraska men’s and women’s basketball programs will have a new home beginning in 2013. Designed by the DLR Group, the $344 million West Haymarket Civic Arena in Lincoln, Neb., will have 16,000 seats, suites, club amenities, loge, dedicated locker rooms, training rooms, and support space for game operations.
| Feb 23, 2011
London 2012: What Olympic Park looks like today
London 2012 released a series of aerial images that show progress at Olympic Park, including a completed roof on the stadium (where seats are already installed), tile work at the aquatic centre, and structural work complete on more than a quarter of residential projects at Olympic Village.
| Jan 21, 2011
Sustainable history center exhibits Fort Ticonderoga’s storied past
Fort Ticonderoga, in Ticonderoga, N.Y., along Lake Champlain, dates to 1755 and was the site of battles in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The new $20.8 million, 15,000-sf Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center pays homage to the French magasin du Roi (the King’s warehouse) at the fort.
| Jan 20, 2011
Houston Dynamo soccer team plans new venue
Construction is scheduled to begin this month on a new 22,000-seat Major League Soccer stadium for the Houston Dynamo. The $60 million project is expected to be ready for the 2012 MLS season.
| Jan 20, 2011
Construction begins on second St. Louis community center
O’Fallon Park Recreation Complex in St. Louis, designed by local architecture/engineering firm KAI Design & Build, will feature an indoor aquatic park with interactive water play features, a lazy river, water slides, laps lanes, and an outdoor spray and multiuse pool.
| Nov 16, 2010
Brazil Olympics spurring green construction
Brazil's green building industry will expand in the coming years, spurred by construction of low-impact venues being built for the 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee requires arenas built for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro meet international standards for low-carbon emissions and energy efficiency. This has boosted local interest in developing real estate with lower environmental impact than existing buildings. The timing couldn’t be better: the Brazilian government is just beginning its long-term infrastructure expansion program.
| Nov 3, 2010
Park’s green education center a lesson in sustainability
The new Cantigny Outdoor Education Center, located within the 500-acre Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Ill., earned LEED Silver. Designed by DLA Architects, the 3,100-sf multipurpose center will serve patrons of the park’s golf courses, museums, and display garden, one of the largest such gardens in the Midwest.
