Hope springs eternal! Baseball is upon us and from new LEED certifications to upgraded concessions and video boards, it’s always fascinating to see what facility upgrades teams have been working on through the long, cold winter.
For the Cincinnati Reds, upgrades to the team’s 16,000 square-foot Hall of Fame and Museum included HVAC upgrades, improvements to restroom facilities, and other facility-related upgrades. It’s the first renovation in the facility’s 15-year history. The facility renovation allows room to triple the number of artifacts in the museum to 6,500. Nine new galleries will house these pieces of Reds historical memorabilia.
This year commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Reds, the first professional baseball organization, which started play in 1869. Part of the finances for the $5.5 million project came from private donations. Donation levels for the facility and other upgrades were set at $18.69, $186.90, and $1,869.
Rick Walls, the museum’s executive director discussed a goal for the renovation near and dear to many facilities managers’ hearts: flexibility. "You create a museum that is changeable,” he said. “That's what this museum allows us to do. It allows us to bring in new artifacts on a regular basis, rearrange exhibit cases, tell stories in different ways. We often say the Reds' story is not just one story, it's the collection of thousands of unique and individual stories.”
Greg Zimmerman is executive editor of Building Operating Management. Read his cover story on how buildings are tackling climate change.
