18 January 2023
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – On Tuesday, Mooresville Town Board will vote on whether to move forward with a plan to rebuild the historic Moor Park.
Board members will decide on allocating $100,000 to the design of the project, but in total, town leaders estimate the project’s total cost could be upwards of $10 million.
Moor Park has been around for more than a century, with a deep history of serving industrial baseball teams. From those teams have come professional players like Baseball Hall of Fame member Hoyt Wilhelm, who made his professional debut on the Mooresville Moors.
Now, the park serves as the home of the Mooresville Spinners, a collegiate summer team.
Spinners General Manager Phillip Loftin says while the park needs a facelift, it’s essential to the team that any renovations maintain its original charm.
“My uncle, my dad, so many people I know have played at that park,” said Loftin. “[The town is] doing a good job of keeping that atmosphere that you have there. I’ve had two coaches that, after they’ve coached there for a summer, say, ‘man, this is a really special place.’”
Right now, the most significant issues come from a lack of parking. The town also wants to invest in covered seating, new restrooms, and concessions areas. They hope to make Moor Park look like a minor-league outfit.
With that said, the town wants to preserve elements of the ballpark, including the 1940s green fence that wraps around the outfield. While that fence will likely get knocked down in the renovations, town officials say they hope to construct something similar during the process.
Recently, the Town of Mooresville unveiled a new police headquarters, fire facility, and a nearly $3 million skatepark. That skatepark is now the largest in the southeast. All of these undertakings are an effort for the town to keep up with its exponential population growth and work towards its goal of becoming a regional recreational tourist destination.
“If you look at the skatepark now on any Saturday that you drive by, we’ve got people coming from all over to that skatepark,” said Town Manager Randy Hemann. “We’d like to make the baseball facility do the same thing; we’d like it to be a regional attraction and the best fan experience that you can have.”
If all goes according to plan, Hemann says he hopes to include the funding for the park in next year’s budget and get a good start on construction within the next 18 months.