DURHAM, N.C.-New life is being poured back into the old Durham Athletic Park with a $5 million restoration project.

 

The project was officially kicked off Wednesday morning with a traditional groundbreaking ‘turning of the dirt’ ceremony. Durham City Council members, Mayor Bill Bell, and the President of Minor League Baseball, Pat O’Conner, participated in the event.

 

A facelift to the park will include an upgrade to stadium seating, restrooms, concessions and creating a picnic areas and concourses that reflect the high quality of the ballpark.

 

“This is a great day for minor league baseball and a great day for Durham,” said Pat O’Conner with Minor League Baseball.

 

According to the City of Durham the multi-million dollar project is largely funded with the 2005 General Obligation Bond funds. The entire project is expected to be completed by December 2008.

 

A museum, a training facility and a fan-fare experience park will also accommodate the new DAP. Minor League Baseball wants to bring it’s training grounds to the Bull City for all it’s employees nationwide.

 

We're going to teach you about grounds keeping, umpiring, score keeping, ticket sales, operations being a fan being a good fan,” O’Conner said.   “We're going to teach you about the game.”

 

The new renovated ballpark will also house the North Carolina Central University Eagle home baseball games.