For the Wausau Times

WAUSAU – Phase IV of Athletic Park renovations are underway.

“The past year has been a challenging time for everyone in Central Wisconsin. With that in mind, the Woodchucks felt that it was important to continue moving forward. This included playing ball this past summer and finishing renovations at Athletic Park with Phase IV,” a Woodchucks release stated.

Phase IV will complete a series of renovations at Athletic Park that began August 2013. This phase of renovations is estimated to cost $1,500,000 and will be paid for with private funds.

The project will be a major renovation to the first base side of Athletic Park, which will include premium stadium seating, a new collegiate quality visiting team dugout, and two new concessions stands.

“The Woodchucks listened to their fans and the new seating will be covered,” the release stated.

“As part of the project, the Woodchucks are working in partnership with the city of Wausau to secure a new public parking lot for Woodchucks fans to use during games At the same time, The city of Wausau and the Macdonald family have agreed to finish upgrading the lighting at Athletic Park, making it collegiate quality and energy efficient lighting with limited spill.

The Macdonald family will donate $119,000 to the City of Wausau to replace the existing lights with new energy efficient lights. Local contractor, The Samuels Group, will serve as the general contractor on the project with many other local contractors also involved.”

Phase IV of the Athletic Park renovation is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2021 season.

“All the renovations at Athletic Park have been done with the goal of creating a valuable community asset,” said Mark Macdonald. “The renovated Athletic Park is a facility that is attractive to families and groups looking for a place to meet and socialize. Even the fans that are not big baseball fans can enjoy the new Athletic Park.”