NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion University has selected Populous, one of the world's premier sports architectural firms, to design the Bud Metheny Ballpark baseball stadium renovation.
 
Populous will work with Moseley, a Virginia Beach architectural firm, to design an anticipated $20 million renovation and expansion of the stadium. The two firms have collaborated on several local projects before, including the $72 million renovation and expansion of ODU's S.B. Ballard Stadium, which created one of the finest football facilities in the Group of 5.
 
Brandon Armstrong, project manager for ODU's design and capital construction office, will head the project for the university and will work closely with Populous, Moseley and ODU athletics.
 
Populous was selected by ODU after a competitive bid and interview process that included proposals from several other firms.
 
A formal announcement that the project is in the design phase will come at the Step Up to the Plate fundraiser set for Friday night at 6 at the Priority Automotive Club at S.B. Ballard Stadium.
 
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE FUNDRAISER
 
Opened in 1983, Bud Metheny Ballpark was then a state-of-the-art facility, but has had few major upgrades in the years since. The facility's shortcomings came to a head during the 2021 baseball season, when the Monarchs won the Conference USA Tournament and were tabbed a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.


Rendering of ODU baseball locker room

The Monarchs were unable to host an NCAA regional because the stadium did not meet NCAA minimum standards.
 
Shortly thereafter, the University authorized a feasibility study on replacing or renovating the stadium. Populous and Moseley jointly worked on the study, which recommended a $20 million overhaul.
 
ODU began a fundraising campaign 11 months ago to help pay for the project.
 
ODU has nearly $18 million in hand of the $20 million needed to fund the renovation, including a $2.5 million donation from local businessman Dennis Ellmer and his wife, Jan Ellmer. The new facility will be known as the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex.
 
Much of the fundraising, including the donation from the Ellmer family, was facilitated by ODU President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D.
 
John Vellines, an ODU athletic development officer who has headed the stadium fundraising effort for the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation, said "it's absolutely critical that we get to the $20 million mark."
 
"Once we get to $20 million, we're not stopping," added Vellines, a former Radford University baseball player.
 
"We need to continue to upgrade the complex in the future in order to compete with the Power 5 schools that we recruit against. And we still don't know the final price tag."
 
ODU head baseball coach Chris Finwood, who has been active in the fundraising effort, said "We can't stop when we get to $20 million. We've got to keep pushing the envelope on that."


 
As envisioned in the study, the stadium will have new locker rooms and offices, improved sight lines, and chairback seating behind home plate. There will be a larger press box and expanded restroom and concessions.
 
Moreover, a premium club, similar to the Priority Automotive Club, will be located behind home plate. It will carry donor's name. There are dozens of other naming opportunities, including the 40 lockers in the locker room, still available.
 
The club would have large and moveable picture windows looking onto the field, luxury seating, big screen televisions, upscale concessions and an entrance to a covered outdoor terrace with stand-up tables, chairback seats and patio heaters for early-season games in February and March.
 
The stadium's back façade, the most visible portion of the facility, will be encased in "ODU brick," an orange brick used for most university facilities, as well as blue steel.
 
"We want this facility to be one that everyone in the community will be proud of," said Dr. Wood Selig, ODU's director of athletics. "We want to give our coaches a facility that will help them recruit and our student-athletes a world class training and competition venue.
 
"We already have great fans. Providing a more comfortable place to watch games will help us grow our fan base."

Populous has designed some of the world's most dynamic stadiums and arenas, including Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa and the $1.2 billion Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
 
In the last 35 years, the group has designed more than 3,000 venues worth $40 billion, including Norfolk's Harbor Park baseball stadium when Populous was known as HOK Sport.
 
The firm has an entire division devoted to baseball stadium design. Yankee Stadium, Oracle Park in San Francisco, Citi Field in Queens, and Truist Field outside Atlanta were designed by Populous, as were newer college baseball stadiums at Florida, Michigan, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Georgia Tech and Coastal Carolina.


 
Moseley, meanwhile, has helped design more than 100 collegiate facilities in Virginia. Jeff Hyder and Patrick Ramirez from Moseley will work with Populous and ODU on the project.
 
Armstrong is an ODU graduate who worked on the university's new chemistry building while employed by WM Jordan. He has also been assigned to oversee the largest project in ODU's history – a planned $146 million biology building, now in the design phase.
 
Armstrong said he strives to create the best facilities possible for his alma mater and said that passion extends into ODU athletics. He worked closely with Rick French and Greg Smith, who oversee ODU's athletic facilities, on a recent project to add sideline luxury suites to S.B. Ballard Stadium.
 
"I enjoy working with them because I know this is a lifelong passion for them," he said. "When you work with people that are passionate about a project it makes it all that much more rewarding to do."
 
Finwood is part of the design team, which has met once. He said he's glad Populous and Moseley were selected.
 
"When we were working with them on the feasibility study, they were outstanding in every possible way," he said. "They were accessible, they know what they're doing, and they never made us feel like small potatoes."
 
Armstrong said the design contract also includes Lynch-Mykins (structural work), VHB (civil), HG Design Studio (landscape architecture), Froehling and Robertson (Geotech engineering) and Howe Engineers (code consulting).
 
For an overall presentation on the stadium project, and to learn about available naming rights opportunities, CLICK HERE