Design of the Paul E. Joseph Stadium in Frederiksted, set to be completed in March 2023.
A project that had its first groundbreaking event under the waning days of the de Jongh administration in 2014 will finally be completed in just 6 months, according to Governor Albert Bryan, who told the Consortium on Wednesday that the Paul E. Joseph stadium was "moving" and "progressing well."
The projected March completion timeline, if achieved, would be accomplished after multiple delays, false starts and other factors that hindered progress eight years after the original groundbreaking.
Mr. Bryan in August visited the site in Frederiksted when walls for seating were being erected and steel columns were being prepared. "This one will be there for a 100 years," he said at the time.
Steady progress on the $27 million project commenced in October 2021 when the V.I. Dept. of Public Works received approval to proceed from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The project was temporarily halted in August 2020 pending FEMA’s approval of a Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR). The CLOMR is a letter from FEMA commenting on whether a proposed project, if built as proposed, would meet minimum National Flood Insurance Program standards. As a result, the project completion date was pushed back by an additional year.
The facility’s design is expected to include over 3,000 seats as part of the baseball stadium with multi-use capabilities, a 750-seat little league field, and a permanent St. Croix Christmas Carnival Village with several permanent vending booths and permanent slab foundations equipped with power, water and sewer hookups for temporary vending booths.
The stadium, which will sit 10 feet above sea level, will have second and third floors. The second floor will host most of the seating, while the third floor will include an area for the media, including broadcast, a VIP section and a center for a variety of activities, among them receptions, parties, meetings and more. The third floor's balcony will overlook the beach near Fort Frederik — making for a stellar view.
Named after legislator, editor, publisher, and civil rights activist, Paul E. Joseph in 1964, the facility on March 31, 1967 hosted the first MLB exhibition game played in the Virgin Islands when the New York Yankees played the Boston Red Sox. The stadium also hosted cricket matches, with the most notable game being a single first-class match in 2003. This was the first time first-class cricket had been played in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
