June 8, 2026 • 9 mins
Bradenton is hosting a groundbreaking Tuesday (9th) for its City Park project. It takes its name from the original name of the century-old spring training baseball stadium now called LECOM Park. It's intended to turn the area into a year-round hub of activity and connect to the rest of downtown, the riverfront and East Bradenton. We speak with Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown about the planning and potential impact.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News. The City of Bradenton
is holding a groundbreaking on Tuesday, June ninth. They're kicking
off a major revitalization effort around the spring training home
of the Pirates, which is Leecom Park. Of course, City
Park is going to feature recreation, youth sports, and community engagement.
We're talking about the vision for City Park with Bradenton
(00:20):
Mayor Gene Brown. Mayor Brown, welcome to Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you for having me. I'm very excited about this project.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Indeed, And first if you could, Mayor tell us about
some of the facilities that are going to be going
up at City Park. I looked at the renderings and
I see a lot of ball fields in that and
what kind of activities are going to be hosted there?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Right Well, in twenty twenty three, City Park, the original
baseball field that was there where is now called lee
Coom was one hundred years old. So originally in nineteen
twenty three, when the Saint Louis Cardinals came, it was
called City Park. So in in a visioning project, we
looked back, how can we revive this area while making
(01:01):
this instead of a six week spring training facility for
the Major League Pittsburgh Pirates, who've been partners for almost
sixty years. How do we make it even more of
a year round park, And that's where we came up
with City Park, adding two additional baseball fields, adding a
playground by Rogers Gardens Elementary as well as working with
(01:22):
Pale Police Athletic League to add a community center right
next to Rogers Gardens Elementary School. To get an area
that you know hasn't been felled a lot of love
over the years and really try to revitalize the area
and give younger people and their families opportunity to succeed. Now,
the baseball fields, obviously when it's all done and the
(01:44):
goal is to be built out by twenty twenty eight,
we're starting first phase obviously now and have that next
field that we're doing with the groundbreaking open for spring
training of next year. So it'll be a baseball field,
but also it'll be a community centrist type thing where
baseball will be the theme during tournaments year round, but
(02:07):
also you can have concerts on it, you can have
other events that will be like cornhole, bringing them and
do it on the field, so it won't just be
a baseball park only, but it will be mostly used
for tournament baseball year round, while other activities are going
to be available, while adding a splash pad playground that
we'll be able to be used by the public anytime
(02:28):
during the summer after hours of school, and the school
will use it during the day. But it's just a
great opportunity to give a neighborhood that hasn't felt a
lot of love over the years to show them that
we do care, while revitalizing Ninth Street to actually bring
in more businesses around the ballpark.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Of course, the long association of Bradenton Woodspring Training Baseball
is one of the earliest examples of sports tourism and
carrying that on in today. Of course, we have the
existence of travel ball, which is a burgeoning industry, and
so that fact seems to factor in in what you're
talking about as well.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Correct And when you look at tournament baseball, you know
with where it's the opportunity. If you have four fields,
you can bring in sometimes working even with collaboration of
the county and even IMG that has fields, we could
bring in one hundred teams and then the championship game
would be played where the pros play on lee Coom.
But you know those sometimes are four, five, six day
(03:28):
tournaments and can bring several, if not tens of millions
of dollars in a weekend to an area like Mantee County.
So we've had very good luck with federal, state, local
funding to help revitalize this area while also doing a
study with the Metropolitan Planning Organization of the Ninth Street
(03:49):
corridor they called it the Leecom Study, putting some roundabouts
making it more family friendly walking. And we've you know,
heard of properties that you know, people are looking at
to possibly turn them into hotels, restaurants along Ninth. So
it's just endless possibilities, you know the old saying and
field of dreams. If you build it, they will come.
(04:11):
We're hoping when we build it, they will come.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
And of course you bring that up. And of course
there is the history of Bradenton, and Bradenton is certainly
focused well along its riverfront. Kind of give us a
little geography lesson here as to how the revitalization at
City Park ties in with the riverfront and the rest
of central Bradenton.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Right, And we've got a great opportunity here because we
have an award winning Riverwalk that was finished in twenty twelve.
We're going to be doing a little bit of revitalization
on that over the next couple of years, just because
you know, things get years down the road, they get
a little tired. And the river Walk is very well
attended and people use it Rossy Park there. But then
(04:55):
we have a great main street when Main Street flows
into Village of the Arts, something that is up been growing.
It's twenty five years old now in the Village of
the Arts, great community there which flows right into the
Leecom City Park area. And if you think about if
you go to major cities, and I always think of
our sister city Pittsburgh. The ballpark is right on the river,
(05:18):
and then the Steelers' ballpark is right on the river,
and you're able to walk those things, and you'll walk
the city of Pittsburgh. My wife and I did it
a couple of years ago on a Saturday morning, and
we walked about seven miles. But never realized we were
walking that, you know, because there's stuff to do, and
when you're bouncing around the river Walk and downtown and
the different districts they have. So when I came home,
(05:40):
I'm like walking from Riverwalk Rossy Park to Leecom It's
less than a mile, but we won't do it because
we're not connected well enough. So the vision and the
things that the city has worked on in some visioning
projects is how we connect the Leecom Area, City Park,
the Village of the Arts, the main street to the
(06:02):
river Walk, which the river Walk that if you go east,
gets into Old Manatee, which was original part of our city,
that was its own little city in the early nineteen
hundreds that incorporated with the City of Bradenton many years later.
But how do we make this whole area where there's
a lot to live, work and play and do and
make people want to be downtown. But you've got to
(06:25):
have activities that make people want to do that. And
that's where this is the first kind of clog in
that wheel that's going to make things better for make
us more walkable.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And it's interesting that you give us that explanation that
it's all really part of the and part and parcel
of the whole revitalization of the entire city. And of
course you bring in the City of Manateee area which
is now known as East Bradenton and the fact that
it's all tying together, and that is this cog as
you mentioned, it is going to be part of a
(06:55):
wheel that's going to be driving and energizing the whole
city of break Well.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
We talk about one of the things in our city
is traffic, and when we look at we're up to
probably around sixty percent of our traffic issues are in
the morning when people are going to work and on
the afternoon when people are going from work, and that's
where sixty percent of our north south traffic is not
wanting to stop in downtown Bradenton. So we're trying to
(07:23):
figure out how with the housing projects that are going
on around the city, how you know, some revitalization of
the areas are going on, how we do these things
that we'll say, when I get and I live downtown,
I don't ever have to get in my car because
all the amenities are there. I want to go to
something in activities, there's opportunity I can walk to if
(07:43):
hopefully a grocery store will come in, you know, when
you have more heads and beds and that, you know,
City Park is our first big thing. The River Walk
was our first big thing, the first mile and a
half and then we updated it in a few years
back to make East Braydonton Old Manatee is part of it,
and to make it from a mile and a half
(08:04):
to three miles. But now let's make it where when
you I want to live downtown, so I don't have
to get in my car, but all my amenities are
within walking distance. People don't realize it, but if you
have an area that is an urban core and there's
enough amenities there that people don't have to get in
their car, they won't. But that's also working through some
(08:25):
traffic issues that if you know, we're working with the state,
the county, and US and other municipalities, City of Palmetto
to figure out how we get some of that non
Bradenton Manite County traffic up above where our downtown flows
better and feels more friendly, making it walkable.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
A big vision for the City of Bradenton. Bradenton Mayor
Jean Brown explaining what's going on revitalization process. Another big
piece of it taking place on June ninth with groundbreaking
for the City Park Complex. Mayor Brown, thank you very
much for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Thank you for having me
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News. The City of Bradenton
is holding a groundbreaking on Tuesday, June ninth. They're kicking
off a major revitalization effort around the spring training home
of the Pirates, which is Leecom Park. Of course, City
Park is going to feature recreation, youth sports, and community engagement.
We're talking about the vision for City Park with Bradenton
(00:20):
Mayor Gene Brown. Mayor Brown, welcome to Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you for having me. I'm very excited about this project.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Indeed, And first if you could, Mayor tell us about
some of the facilities that are going to be going
up at City Park. I looked at the renderings and
I see a lot of ball fields in that and
what kind of activities are going to be hosted there?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Right Well, in twenty twenty three, City Park, the original
baseball field that was there where is now called lee
Coom was one hundred years old. So originally in nineteen
twenty three, when the Saint Louis Cardinals came, it was
called City Park. So in in a visioning project, we
looked back, how can we revive this area while making
(01:01):
this instead of a six week spring training facility for
the Major League Pittsburgh Pirates, who've been partners for almost
sixty years. How do we make it even more of
a year round park, And that's where we came up
with City Park, adding two additional baseball fields, adding a
playground by Rogers Gardens Elementary as well as working with
(01:22):
Pale Police Athletic League to add a community center right
next to Rogers Gardens Elementary School. To get an area
that you know hasn't been felled a lot of love
over the years and really try to revitalize the area
and give younger people and their families opportunity to succeed. Now,
the baseball fields, obviously when it's all done and the
(01:44):
goal is to be built out by twenty twenty eight,
we're starting first phase obviously now and have that next
field that we're doing with the groundbreaking open for spring
training of next year. So it'll be a baseball field,
but also it'll be a community centrist type thing where
baseball will be the theme during tournaments year round, but
(02:07):
also you can have concerts on it, you can have
other events that will be like cornhole, bringing them and
do it on the field, so it won't just be
a baseball park only, but it will be mostly used
for tournament baseball year round, while other activities are going
to be available, while adding a splash pad playground that
we'll be able to be used by the public anytime
(02:28):
during the summer after hours of school, and the school
will use it during the day. But it's just a
great opportunity to give a neighborhood that hasn't felt a
lot of love over the years to show them that
we do care, while revitalizing Ninth Street to actually bring
in more businesses around the ballpark.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Of course, the long association of Bradenton Woodspring Training Baseball
is one of the earliest examples of sports tourism and
carrying that on in today. Of course, we have the
existence of travel ball, which is a burgeoning industry, and
so that fact seems to factor in in what you're
talking about as well.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Correct And when you look at tournament baseball, you know
with where it's the opportunity. If you have four fields,
you can bring in sometimes working even with collaboration of
the county and even IMG that has fields, we could
bring in one hundred teams and then the championship game
would be played where the pros play on lee Coom.
But you know those sometimes are four, five, six day
(03:28):
tournaments and can bring several, if not tens of millions
of dollars in a weekend to an area like Mantee County.
So we've had very good luck with federal, state, local
funding to help revitalize this area while also doing a
study with the Metropolitan Planning Organization of the Ninth Street
(03:49):
corridor they called it the Leecom Study, putting some roundabouts
making it more family friendly walking. And we've you know,
heard of properties that you know, people are looking at
to possibly turn them into hotels, restaurants along Ninth. So
it's just endless possibilities, you know the old saying and
field of dreams. If you build it, they will come.
(04:11):
We're hoping when we build it, they will come.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
And of course you bring that up. And of course
there is the history of Bradenton, and Bradenton is certainly
focused well along its riverfront. Kind of give us a
little geography lesson here as to how the revitalization at
City Park ties in with the riverfront and the rest
of central Bradenton.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Right, And we've got a great opportunity here because we
have an award winning Riverwalk that was finished in twenty twelve.
We're going to be doing a little bit of revitalization
on that over the next couple of years, just because
you know, things get years down the road, they get
a little tired. And the river Walk is very well
attended and people use it Rossy Park there. But then
(04:55):
we have a great main street when Main Street flows
into Village of the Arts, something that is up been growing.
It's twenty five years old now in the Village of
the Arts, great community there which flows right into the
Leecom City Park area. And if you think about if
you go to major cities, and I always think of
our sister city Pittsburgh. The ballpark is right on the river,
(05:18):
and then the Steelers' ballpark is right on the river,
and you're able to walk those things, and you'll walk
the city of Pittsburgh. My wife and I did it
a couple of years ago on a Saturday morning, and
we walked about seven miles. But never realized we were
walking that, you know, because there's stuff to do, and
when you're bouncing around the river Walk and downtown and
the different districts they have. So when I came home,
(05:40):
I'm like walking from Riverwalk Rossy Park to Leecom It's
less than a mile, but we won't do it because
we're not connected well enough. So the vision and the
things that the city has worked on in some visioning
projects is how we connect the Leecom Area, City Park,
the Village of the Arts, the main street to the
(06:02):
river Walk, which the river Walk that if you go east,
gets into Old Manatee, which was original part of our city,
that was its own little city in the early nineteen
hundreds that incorporated with the City of Bradenton many years later.
But how do we make this whole area where there's
a lot to live, work and play and do and
make people want to be downtown. But you've got to
(06:25):
have activities that make people want to do that. And
that's where this is the first kind of clog in
that wheel that's going to make things better for make
us more walkable.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And it's interesting that you give us that explanation that
it's all really part of the and part and parcel
of the whole revitalization of the entire city. And of
course you bring in the City of Manateee area which
is now known as East Bradenton and the fact that
it's all tying together, and that is this cog as
you mentioned, it is going to be part of a
(06:55):
wheel that's going to be driving and energizing the whole
city of break Well.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
We talk about one of the things in our city
is traffic, and when we look at we're up to
probably around sixty percent of our traffic issues are in
the morning when people are going to work and on
the afternoon when people are going from work, and that's
where sixty percent of our north south traffic is not
wanting to stop in downtown Bradenton. So we're trying to
(07:23):
figure out how with the housing projects that are going
on around the city, how you know, some revitalization of
the areas are going on, how we do these things
that we'll say, when I get and I live downtown,
I don't ever have to get in my car because
all the amenities are there. I want to go to
something in activities, there's opportunity I can walk to if
(07:43):
hopefully a grocery store will come in, you know, when
you have more heads and beds and that, you know,
City Park is our first big thing. The River Walk
was our first big thing, the first mile and a
half and then we updated it in a few years
back to make East Braydonton Old Manatee is part of it,
and to make it from a mile and a half
(08:04):
to three miles. But now let's make it where when
you I want to live downtown, so I don't have
to get in my car, but all my amenities are
within walking distance. People don't realize it, but if you
have an area that is an urban core and there's
enough amenities there that people don't have to get in
their car, they won't. But that's also working through some
(08:25):
traffic issues that if you know, we're working with the state,
the county, and US and other municipalities, City of Palmetto
to figure out how we get some of that non
Bradenton Manite County traffic up above where our downtown flows
better and feels more friendly, making it walkable.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
A big vision for the City of Bradenton. Bradenton Mayor
Jean Brown explaining what's going on revitalization process. Another big
piece of it taking place on June ninth with groundbreaking
for the City Park Complex. Mayor Brown, thank you very
much for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Thank you for having me
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