For Release: Immediate, Monday, May 7, 2001

DASNY Chair Joins Groundbreaking for Baseball Stadium in Troy

June 2002 opening planned for 4,500-seat stadium

Gail H. Gordon, Chair of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, participated in today's groundbreaking ceremony for a 4,500-seat baseball stadium on the grounds of Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, Rennselaer County.

College President John L. Buono, a former Dormitory Authority Executive Director, was the master of ceremonies for the event, which also featured remarks by Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno (R-C, Brunswick), who secured state funding for the $13 million facility, and William Gladstone, principal owner of the Houston Astros-affiliated team which will use the stadium as its home field.

HVCC selected the Dormitory Authority to provide project management services for the stadium. Over the past 10 years, the Authority has supervised construction of several outstanding sports facilities, including the Buffalo State College stadium; the Erie County Community College swimming pool that was used for the World University Games; and the Goodwill Games Swimming and Diving Complex in Nassau County.

"This stadium is a superb investment in both our local quality of life and in the educational infrastructure," Chair Gordon said to the crowd of college and local elected officials, college and high school baseball players and the media. "We all appreciate Senator Bruno's leadership in bringing professional baseball to the Capital District."

She said DASNY Project Manager Robert Simard and Project Coordinator David Blodgett will supervise the project on the College's behalf, working with the design/build team of DLR Group of Tampa, Fla. and U.W. Marx Construction Co., based in Troy.

The baseball stadium will be home to a Houston Astros-affiliated Class A baseball team from the New York-Penn League. Mr. Gladstone, who serves on the board of directors of the National Hall of Fame, expects the team to draw well over 100,000 fans each season in Troy.

The stadium also will become the home field for HVCC's baseball team, as well as other college and community events. The college will operate the facility when the team is not using it during its season, which spans from mid-June to the first week of September and includes 38 regular-season home games. The stadium will have open-air seats and an open-air concourse to support concession stands, team administration areas, 10 suites for corporate use, and classrooms. Three levels of seating - box, reserved and general admission - are planned. The College has retained Baltimore-based Smith Sports International LTD in its efforts to procure a naming rights partner for the baseball stadium.

"Hudson Valley Community College's engineering and construction programs have top-notch reputations," Ms. Gordon said. "So we at the Dormitory Authority are very pleased to have one of HVCC's engineering students join our team this summer as a project intern - Athene Borrero, who lives in Troy." This is the second year of the Authority's expanded internship program of on-the-job training upstate for 45 students in engineering, architecture, public finance, the law, and other professions related to Authority work.

For more information, contact Press Officer Claudia Hutton at (518) 257 3382, or CHutton@dasny.org. To read more on the project, go to Hudson Valley Community College's Website at http://www.hvcc.edu/news_events/baseballstadium/index.html.