THE HOUSTON ASTROS and Washington Nationals are crying foul over what the teams say are premature breakdowns of concrete, metal and drainage at their shared $153 million spring training complex in West Palm Beach
CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, financed with millions in public revenue from a hotel tax, opened in 2017. But in a lawsuit June 28, the teams claim the 160-acre complex has been “beset by a host of issues stemming from construction and design defects’’ discovered in late 2023.
Among the alleged “latent” defects, detailed with photographs in the 25-page complaint filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court against Hunt Construction Group and HKS Architects:
Cracking concrete in the stadium seating bowl, dugout roofs and Astros tunnel leading from the clubhouse to the dugout; and uneven concrete surfaces on the concession level.
Water leaks, drainage problems and erosion issues, which have caused damage to, among other areas, the locker rooms and team offices in both the Astros and Nationals buildings.
Excessive corrosion throughout the complex, including the metal poles supporting the back stops and safety netting at the 12 baseball fields and game fields, the frame of the wheelchair lifts, and fasteners on decorative art panels above the pedestrian walkway to the stadium main entrance.
“These defects undermine HW’s (the Astros’ and Nationals’) ability to use the complex for its intended purpose and will require substantial and costly work to repair,’’ the lawsuit says.
Hunt and HKS denied the allegations in separate court filings Aug. 30 and Sept. 3, respectively.
Indiana-based Hunt blamed any defects on HW Spring Training Complex, the entity formed by the teams to oversee the facility, claiming they “failed to perform routine, necessary and proper maintenance of the improvements at issue in the complaint.’’ In the company’s response, Hunt brought third-party countersuits against 12 subcontractors.
Texas-based HKS said it fulfilled its contractual obligations and that if there are any defects, they’re not the architectural firm’s fault.
The lawsuit isn’t the first time the teams, their contractor and subcontractors have fought in court over problems at the complex, which was built on the site of a former landfill under a tight deadline that required work crews to scramble in 20-hour shifts during the final four months.
Not long after the complex opened in 2017 as The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, the teams found a host of issues from leaking roofs and windows to clubhouse showers that didn't drain properly. Some subcontractors complained they hadn’t been paid for their work.
Disputes about deficiencies and problems were detailed in three lawsuits, one brought by Hunt in 2017 against subcontractors and two in 2018 by subcontractors against Hunt. The Astros and Nationals were added as third-party defendants in those suits, to which the teams also filed countersuits.
Those lawsuits were settled in June 2020, with the teams and Hunt exchanging “releases of certain claims,” but those releases “expressly excluded claims relating to latent defects,” according to the June lawsuit filed by HW Spring Training Complex, an entity composed of the Astros and Nationals.
“In other words, HW expressly reserved the right to bring claims against Hunt relating to defects unknown to HW at the time the (2020) settlement was approved,’’ the teams’ lawsuit said.
Hunt, in its response last month, said many of the defects alleged in the lawsuit were known by the teams in June 2020 and are therefore “barred by the settlement agreement.’’
Although the lawsuit says the Astros and Nationals discovered the latent defects in late 2023, the alleged issues didn’t prevent the teams from hosting spring training in 2024.
The ballpark hosted full spring workouts and 27 Grapefruit League games (and three rainouts) that attracted 94,060 fans, which according to the Sports Business Journal represented the fifth-lowest attendance at Major League Baseball’s 23 spring training complexes in Florida and Arizona. (Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Palm Beach County’s other spring training complex and host to the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins, ranked 10th in attendance with 121,167.)
And while the lawsuit describes tripping hazards and other potential dangers if the alleged defects are not repaired, it doesn’t mention any actual instances of those alleged defects causing injuries to fans or players.
In response to questions from ByJoeCapozzi.com about whether the public is at risk from some of the alleged defects described in the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the teams issued this response: “There have not been and are not now any safety concerns at CACTI Park of The Palm Beaches.’’
CACTI Park is already advertising its 2025 spring training schedule.
Other alleged problems detailed in the lawsuit include:
“The concrete cracking has resulted in trip hazards at various locations in the complex, including, for example, at the concession level where there has been elevation change of more than 1/4th of an inch,’’ the complaint says above a photograph.
The alleged corrosion to the support poles on the ballfields “require replacement to prevent … structural failures and/or the collapse of the netting — components of the complex crucial for player and fan safety to prevent baseballs from leaving the field of play,’’ the complaints says.
“Repairs are also necessary to ensure the continued integrity of the complex’s various canopies and covers as the corrosion, if left unchecked, will result in structural failures. Demonstrative of the critical nature of this condition, an art panel located above the pedestrian walkway in the Stadium recently became detached due to a corrosion-related structural failure.’’
The teams also claim that poor drainage and runoff issues have caused “ponding water” on the pedestrian bridges and led to landscape erosion under the Astros pedestrian bridge.
“The areas around the Nationals and Astros loading docks, as well as the Astros field tunnel, accumulate heavy water during significant rain events because, in the case of the Nationals loading dock and Astros field tunnel, the floor slab slopes inward toward the building and, with respect to the Astros loading dock, the roof slopes toward, rather than away, from the
Building,’’ the lawsuit says.
“Water leaks also frequently occur in the equipment room of the Nationals Building, which is located directly under the Stadium concession space. A metal pan was installed to limit the impact of the ongoing water leak,’’ the lawsuit says.
© 2024 ByJoeCapozzi.com All rights reserved.
Pease help support local journalism by clicking the donation button in the masthead on our homepage.
About the author
Joe Capozzi is an award-winning reporter based in Lake Worth Beach. He spent more than 30 years writing for newspapers, mostly at The Palm Beach Post, where he wrote about the opioid scourge, invasive pythons, the birth of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and Palm Beach County government. For 15 years, he covered the Miami Marlins baseball team. Joe left The Post in December 2020. View all posts by Joe Capozzi.
Comments