If everything goes as planned, the Beloit Snappers would debut their brand new stadium for opening day of 2021.
Prospective owner Quint Studer and a representative from Hendricks Commercial Properties presented the preliminary plans for the $34.2 million stadium project in downtown Beloit Monday night in front of the city council.
Studer addressed community concerns over parking around the Shirland Avenue location, citing the success he had with his stadium in Pensacola, Florida.
“The other thing we don’t want is a lot of parking,” he said. “You want people to park and walk to the stadium. You want them to enjoy themselves. You want them to stop in at restaurants.”
Studer sees the stadium as a tool for increasing development in the downtown. He sees the bigger goal of the project as keeping young people in Beloit and growing the population.
The stadium could also be used to host soccer, lacrosse, hockey and even college football games.
The plan is for Diane Hendricks to form a 501(c)3 non-profit organization called the Riverfront Stadium Authority, which would assume ownership of the stadium, and Studer plans to purchase the Snappers and negotiate a use agreement for the future facility.
The City of Beloit will not have to pay anything for the stadium. It will only have to negotiate the land use, which City Manager Lori Curtis-Luther said could be an outright sale or a lease agreement.
Studer said he plans to sign a 20-year guaranteed lease agreement with the RSA to show his commitment to keeping the Snappers in Beloit.
