Athletic Foundation: new baseball complex finished near budget; priority now paying bridge loan and turf replacement

The Board of Finance heard an update from the UKM Athletic Foundation on the new baseball complex, which the foundation and town completed at about $5.6 million and with only a small overrun, the foundation said. "The baseball project came out incredible," Mike, an Athletic Foundation representative, told the board.

The project cost about $5,600,000, the foundation said, with the town contributing a flat $2,000,000 and the Athletic Foundation contributing roughly $3,600,000; the foundation covered a 1.5% overrun from contingency funds it had wired to the town. The foundation also said there were significant early “soft costs” in design it underwrote.

The update matters because the field adds turf capacity, reducing a long-standing local bottleneck for youth and school sports. "The ability to have this on campus with an additional ... something like 45% additional turf to that complex allows for things like soccer to be played up there," Mike said. That additional turf will enable more multipurpose use — varsity baseball, youth baseball on weekends and other field sports — which the foundation said should ease demand for turf hours.

Foundation officials told the board their immediate financial priority is repaying a bridge loan raised from supporters to finish the project. The foundation will pursue donor commitments and coordinate with the baseball organization on outstanding pledges. Foundation staff said they expect the bridge loan to be repaid from a mix of donor payments and restricted dollars tied to the baseball project.

Operational responsibilities the foundation continues to run include an “enterprise zone” program (field rentals June 15–Aug. 15 that pass revenues through to a turf-replacement account) and collection of player-use fees. The foundation said player-use fees are split 50% to a turf-replacement account and 50% to enhancements and that the turf-replacement account currently holds about $355,000 at the Community Foundation (not including a forthcoming annual sweep the foundation said would be added later this fall).

The foundation also outlined near-term priorities: finish repaying donor bridge loans, let leadership and board membership refresh after a demanding capital effort and wait for champions to step forward before starting any other major capital projects from the organization’s master plan. The foundation said it does not expect any large projects in the next year; potential future items discussed informally included indoor space (a field house or gym), additional turf at Sachs and other master-plan items that would require new fundraising and town coordination.

Madison Strauss, the foundation’s new executive director, was named in the update; the foundation said Strauss improved organization and billing for summer enterprise-zone activities and earned a board-approved performance bonus.

Board members asked about turf useful life and replacement planning. Foundation staff said typical turf useful life depends on usage and ranges roughly 10–12 years, though heavily used fields can reach end of useful life sooner; they estimated Dunning turf has about five to six years of useful life remaining. The board also discussed maintenance costs versus one-time replacement costs and the pattern of low maintenance until a large replacement is required.

The foundation said it will continue to operate the enterprise-zone rentals and player-fee collections and will prioritize repayment of project-related bridge loans before proposing any new major capital items to the town.

The update was informational; no formal board action was requested or taken on the foundation report.