Spring-training site touted as among best

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GLENDALE - Glendale's spring-training facility is expected be amongthe best of the Cactus League's nine parks while raising the barnationwide.
The facility should be the league's biggest with 10,000 stadiumseats and 3,000 lawn seats. Mesa's HoHoKam Park Stadium, home tothe Chicago Cubs, seats 12,632.
The Glendale ballpark will have a Western ambience. Buildings willcarry images of the slope of surrounding mountains and be accentedwith stone and rustic panels.
"It's by far one of the most outstanding in the Cactus League andcountry," said Tom Harrison, construction executive with MortensonConstruction, who gave a media tour on Thursday.
The future training home for the Los Angeles Dodgers and ChicagoWhite Sox is the fifth Valley ballpark he has helped build. Theothers are Surprise, Peoria, Scottsdale and Phoenix Municipalstadiums.
Harrison said improvements not only reflect advances in technologybut also the Dodgers' interest in creating some of the ambience andfan loyalty of Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla.
After 61 years, the Dodgers last week took the steps to cut thefinal ties with their longtime Florida home.
The move west is billed as a way to be closer to their home base inLos Angeles. The team should also attract Arizonans who grew up ina pre-Diamondbacks era, when the most common game on the radio wasthe Dodgers, Cactus League President J.P. de la Montaigne said.
With assurances the park will be ready for next spring, neither theDodgers nor Sox exercised a clause in legal agreements withGlendale, which expired this week, that would have allowed them tohold out one more year if they had doubts about the constructiontimeline.
The ballpark at Camelback Road and 111th Avenue is 35 to 40 percentcomplete and on target, Harrison said.
Just a few miles southwest, Goodyear also is in the midst ofconstructing its ballpark, where the Cleveland Indians will playnext spring, joined by the Cincinnati Reds in 2010.
Craig Callan, Dodgers vice president of spring training and minorleague facilities, said he is confident in Glendale's timeline ashe has watched the number of workers ratchet up with double shifts.
Nearly all buildings are vertical, the 14 playing fields are takingshape, with sod expected to go in on some practice fields Monday.
A 2-acre lake has been filled. It has winding banks and a smallwaterfall for a parklike feel. Like a smaller version at theSurprise Stadium, the lake also serves a practical purpose -irrigating fields and landscaping.
Eventually, about 5,000 plants and trees will be planted to addlushness to the 152-acre site.
About two-thirds of the $100 million cost of the stadium is to comefrom the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, which providesfinancial supports to the Cactus League. The city intends to coverits share from revenue created in an entertainment district aroundballpark. Ground has not yet broken on that project, which is beingdeveloped by Scottsdale-based Rightpath Limited.
The teams are paying for some amenities, such as practice fields.
"It will be the most state-of-the art, top-of-the-line,fan-friendly spring-training facilities, bar none," Callan said.
The park will have computer-controlled irrigation systems and thelatest broadcasting systems.
As in Florida, Dodgers fans will find few fences around practicefields, as the philosophy is to encourage interaction.
And fans can expect the Dodgers side of the facility to havestreets named after the team's legends, much as it was atDodgertown.
Although building on what worked in the past, Callan said fansshould not expect a replica.
"We will have to find our own identity," he said.