CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Once the remnants of Chattanooga’s industrial past, Erlanger Park is quickly coming out of the ground.
The new home of the Chattanooga Lookouts is aiming to become one of the city’s premier event destinations.
Developers say it is on time and under budget, as it is projected to cost $115 million.
City engineer Billy Payne said, “We’ve said from the beginning this is a tight budget. We are continuing to track in a very tight way towards where we are but we feel very comfortable.”
Among the features of the park will include the 400 club, which are 350 seats in the outfield.
Lookouts President Rich Morzingo said, “There’s only one other of those 400 clubs in all of minor league baseball, it’s just an experience watching baseball in midfield you can’t get in many other places.”
We also went inside the Pattern Shop, which will be able to host events for up to a thousand guests.
Morzingo said, “We can have it for a picnic for 25 people, or a picnic for a thousand people up here, so our ability to change it on a day in and day out basis, and that’s what we’ve done across the ballpark. We want to make sure are going to be utilized in a lot of different ways. “
They also described what is going inside of the Wheland Foundry’s largest building, The Shed, including the Lookouts’ gift shop.
This will be over twice as large as the current store and is being built as a modular unit.
Andy Stone of owner Perimeter Properties said, “They’re going to bring it in on bed rails and roll it into here, we actually took out a truss down here, they’re going to roll it right in, in about six different units. The theory is that we’ll be able to repeat that for other retail units and spaces inside of the Shed.”
Developers say this is a place that will be alive for more than 70 games of baseball a year.
Morzingo said, “We plan on it being 365 days a year where stuff is going on out here. Whether it’s a corporate dinner or a wedding reception or a concert, we plan on having stuff throughout the course of the year.”
The stadium is still on track for first pitch in just six months in April 2026.
