New Columbus baseball park to offer fans inclusive club & bar. We break down recent update

Now that the groundbreaking ceremony to renovate 98-year-old Golden Park — renamed Synovus Park — was conducted Tuesday in Columbus, it’s time to update this project.

The publicly-funded $50 million renovation is expected to transform the city’s historic baseball stadium into a state-of-the-art minor league facility. It will be the new home for the Atlanta Braves Class AA affiliate, starting in 2025, after it moves from Pearl, Mississippi.

Populous, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is the project’s architect, and Brasfield & Gorrie, headquartered in Birmingham with an office in Columbus, is the construction contractor.

Renovation timeline to turn Golden Park into Synovus Park

After selective demolition at the ballpark began two months ago, the project still is on budget and on schedule to finish in time for April’s 2025 season opener, Brasfield & Gorrie vice president and division manager Wes Kelley told the Ledger-Enquirer. Here are the project timeline’s next key phases:

• Third quarter of 2024: Topping out, which means the structure has reached full height.

• Fourth quarter of 2024: Field construction.

• First quarter of 2025: Seating and scoreboard installation.

• First quarter of 2025: Building and renovation completed.

• April 2025: Play ball.

Q&A with Class AA Braves GM Pete Laven

In an emailed interview, Mississippi Braves general manager Pete Laven, who was appointed in March as the yet-to-be-named Columbus team’s GM, provided the Ledger-Enquirer with more details about the transition and what franchise owner Diamond Baseball Holdings of New York will offer fans in the Chattahoochee Valley.

What are the renovation’s new amenities you want to highlight?

“The new ballpark will host a state-of the art stadium club, fully air conditioned, all-inclusive, with a bar. We’ll have suites and a large group and recreation area. We’ll have kids zones. A state-of-the-art Braves clubhouse building. Large video boards, LED ribbon displays. Every seat is theater style with cup holders.”

Who will be allowed to visit the club?

“Club-level ticket-holders can visit the club during games. We will also be releasing outdoor premium offerings that include club access.”

What will be provided in the club?

“The Club will feature more than 4,800 square feet of air-conditioned space, making it one of the most comfortable spaces to watch baseball. Inside the Club, patrons can expect a number of casual seating options, full-service bar, incredible views of the game and an all-inclusive food & beverage experience (does not include alcoholic beverages). Those with Club seating have access to the Club as well as theater-style seating complete with cup holders and mesh-back and bottomed seats, providing more airflow and a more comfortable experience.”

What will be the name of the club?

“Those details will be shared at a later time.”

Where in the stadium will the club be located?

“Entry to the Club will be located just past the historic archways, with elevator and stair access. The Club building is located in a brand new, modern patron amenity building with the Club seating located above the original first base grandstand, with seating cantilevering over the grandstand.”

What will be the size of the club, and how many people will be able to accommodate?

“Specific details will be released at a later date, but the Club will be approximately 4,800+ square feet with more than 200 outdoor Club seats. Capacity will vary but is anticipated to provide access to 350-400 people for Columbus Professional Baseball games.”

Will the be open for use when games aren’t being played?

“Synovus Park and the stadium’s indoor club was designed specifically to be one of the premier sites to host conferences, luncheons, weddings, and other events. We will have multiple full-service, commercial-grade kitchens, including a new master commissary, paired with the culinary expertise of DBH partners to deliver a top-notch gastronomical experience both for baseball games and plated dinners.

“We will have a full-time events team booking Club events year-round, in addition to hosting concerts, festivals, College and High School baseball events, as well as be open to outside promoters who are seeking a versatile venue that can support indoor and outdoor programming, with a fully-covered concourse with shelter for planned outdoor events. Synovus Park will be multi-purpose throughout the baseball season and beyond, and we expect it to be busier than ever in its nearly 100-year history.”

What pleases you most about this project so far?

“There is so much history with Golden Park, you can feel it when you walk around the site. It’s rare to find a building in baseball that is (around) 100 years old that can still be activated, usually they’re beyond repair, so this is a transformative project, not only for the park but for this district in Columbus. We are collectively looking forward to the next century of baseball in Columbus, and that’s incredibly exciting.”

Golden Park’s seating capacity was approximately 3,500. How many seats will the renovation produce for Synovus Park?

“Seating capacity will be between 4,000 and 5,500.”

Fans have been able to register for season tickets and club seats for about two months on your website. How many deposits have been made?

“The reaction we’ve received from the community is astounding. We are receiving calls daily. Our Club Level had to be cut off because we were over-subscribed, and we fully expect all of our premium areas to follow suit throughout the summer based on the response we’ve seen.”

When will the 2025 season schedule be released?

“MiLB releases schedules in late summer/ fall.”

When will single-game tickets go on sale?

“Late winter.”

What will be the single-game ticket price range?

“Those details will be shared at a later date.”

When will the team name be announced?

“Late summer. We will share more details at a later date.”

When and how could fans purchase team merchandise?

“Visit our website at columbusgabaseball.com to stay up to date.”

How many staff members have been hired, will be hired and for which positions?

“We plan on having a full-time staff between 14-17 people, plus seasonal hires. Diamond Baseball Holdings, our ownership group, also provides additional support on an as-needed basis. If people are interested in applying to work for the team, please visit our website to apply or stay up to date on job postings.”

When will the team’s office open in downtown Columbus and at what address and phone number?

“Our offices are currently open, we are located at 1243 Broadway, next to the Bradley Theatre.”

What else do you want to tell the L-E’s readers?

“Everything that people have known and loved about Golden Park for generations will be there once this project is finished, but fans can fully expect a thoroughly modern experience. As the home of the Atlanta Braves’ Double-A affiliate, they can also expect an unprecedented level of excitement when they visit the ballpark that hasn’t been seen in its 100-year history. We’re incredibly proud of this opportunity, and the community should be proud as well. We’re certainly already feeling the excitement!”