FACILITIES UPGRADES: December 27, 2008

Work on the upgrades to the athletic facilities continues both at Vanderbilt Stadium and at Hawkins Field. VandyMania's Whitney D. shares some photos of the current work in progress.

While the eyes of Vanderbilt fans are turned towards Memorial Gym and LP Field, work continues on the upgrades of Hawkins Field and Vanderbilt Stadium.



The next phase of the Vanderbilt Stadium upgrades includes new gates to replace Gates 2 and 3. The new Gate 2, shown in this drawing, will face the corner of Natchez Trace and Jess Neely Drive.




The first stage of the upgrade added a brick façade along Jess Neely Drive, but Gate 2 was left intact because there wasn't time to complete the entire project before the beginning of football season. The old Gate 2 can be seen in this photo that taken last summer.




In this photo, it's what you don't see that counts. The old Gate 2 is now history.




This is another view of the area where Gate 2 used to stand.




The old Gate 3, located between the new ticket booth and Hawkins Field, is shown in this photo, which was taken last summer.




Now, it's nothing more than a memory and some dust.




Moving farther along Jess Neely Drive, at Hawkins Field, more seats are being added along the first base line.




Brick walls have been added to separate the bullpens from the playing field.




This is a view of the visitor's bullpen, now separated from the field by a brick wall.




The brick wall along the visitor's bullpen ends with a gate for the tarp.




The corner of Jess Neely Drive and 25th Avenue looking towards Hawkins Field will have a new look next season.




This is a closer view of the corner structure at the end of the new permanent bleachers.




There are steps to the bleachers behind the corner structure.




The railing behind the bleachers has been painted to match the other black railings in Hawkins Field. The design of the bleachers still allows room for parking and for satellite trucks.




This is a view of the parking lot behind and under the bleachers.




The outfield bleachers abut the plaza at the south side of Memorial Gym.




This is the view from entrance at southeast corner of Memorial Gym looking across the plaza towards Hawkins Field.




The view from the student entrance to Memorial Gym shows another set of stairs leading to the bleachers.

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Photos copyright 2008 by Whitney D for VandyMania.com.