Polar Park (Worcester, Massachusetts)


Polar Park is a baseball park under construction in Worcester, Massachusetts. It will be the home of the Worcester Red Sox, a Minor League Baseball team in the Triple-A International League that will relocate from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Targeted to open in 2021, it will seat up to 10,000 people. Polar Beverages, a local beverage company based in Worcester, has retained the naming rights to the ballpark.

Development

The ballpark architect is Worcester native Tommy Quirk of D'Agostino Izzo Quirk Architects, with assistance from consultant Janet Marie Smith, who designed Oriole Park at Camden Yards. On September 13, 2018, the Worcester City Council voted 9–1 to move forward with the new ballpark, initiating the bonding process and tax increment financing for the surrounding area.
Estimated to have a cost of $101 million, approximately $65 million will be paid by the city of Worcester. The $101 million figure would make the park the fourth most expensive minor league park ever built, adjusting for inflation. In September 2018, Deadspin reported that, according to College of the Holy Cross sports economist Victor Matheson, Polar Park would be "in nominal terms the most expensive minor league ballpark ever built."
The stadium will be part of a $240 million redevelopment of Worcester's Kelley Square and Canal District. Development of the ballpark area will include 250 apartments, two hotels with a total of 250 rooms, a office building overlooking left field playing area, and of shops and restaurants.
Ceremonial groundbreaking of the ballpark took place on July 11, 2019, with local, state, and federal officials attending. On April 1, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, construction work on the ballpark was suspended; it resumed after a seven-week pause. As of late June 2020, officials were still optimistic that the park would be ready for the start of the 2021 minor league baseball season.