This story was originally published on November 9th on the old website.
If you've been following along on Twitter, Facebook or even the project update page for Ballpark Village you notice that the office building (Pennant Building) is on it's 7 floor. That's a significant milestone as construction will soon speed up on the building as the concrete based construction will turn to steel. This change will allow the 4 office floors to fly into place and lead to a topping off ceremony before the end of the year which would coincide with the one year anniversary since the start of construction. It's been fun to watch go up but the fun is no where complete as there are still 3 other buildings on site that are under construction or are preparing to start and the eventual cladding process of the Pennant Building. As we enter mid-November, it has been 4 months since a tenant has been announced at Ballpark Village. The last tenant was a "Gashouse Bar and Grill" concept at the Loews Hotel but as my readers know, I have discovered more tenants than officially announced.
That brings us to now. Last year, a rendering appeared showing Rawlings within the development. After disappearing for a year, it has returned and in the same place as before. When this discovery was made, an individual who was familiar with the matter said it could be a "fan experience" much like how Louisville Slugger has an experience for baseball bats. This appears to be on the table again along with Rawlings potentially being the second big name in the Pennant Building. Both of these decisions make sense as a baseball company would most likely prefer to be next door to a major league stadium.
The rendering at the beginning of the story also shows slight design changes such as the removal of the decorative fountain at 7th and Clark and red brick disappearing. The rendering also shows a radical redesign of the OneLife Fitness & Market building. The design has more lines in the glass along with an exterior climbing wall. What still is included is the Leinenkugel's stage, as found in this story, even though it is out of the frame. Another subtly change is the appearance of the baseball sculpture between the hotel and office building as seen in this story from February. Onto the new interior rendering.
PENNANT BUILDING'S LOBBY
In mid-September, I discovered renderings of, what I thought to be at the time, the lobby of the Pennant Building. I was sort of right but not 100% right. Those renderings were posted to Paric's website and gave us our first look inside of the office building. In fact what we were seeing were parking floor lobbies. Basically, if you park on any of the 6 parking floors, you will be greeted with a small lobby with basic sitting areas and elevator lobbies along with a concierge desk. Now a rendering posted to Ballpark villages official website shows the lobby of the Pennant Building.
The main lobby includes soaring floor to ceiling glass and is located at the corner of the 7th Street Pedestrian Corridor and Cardinal Way. The lobby also includes wood accenting and marble accenting. The lobby looks great and is a far cry from the upper floors whose tone changes dramatically (rendering below).
LEAKING PHASE 3?
It's an absurd sounding statement. Three words that describe everything. Look out the window of the office building's lobby, you will see another building just outside. After reviewing floor plans, I have discovered that the lobby rendering is looking North towards Walnut Street but a good size building is blocking the view of, what would be, the Spire Building. The building appears to go above 4 floors in the rendering and has a design similar to the Loews Hotel before it was redesigned. This could symbolize that the Cardinals and The Cordish Companies are looking ahead to future phases sooner rather than later. I know it is absurd but it would be true in more ways than one.
I specified in a previous story that the website domain for Two Cardinal Way (twocardinalway.com) was purchased. It is a GoDaddy website and Cordish has used GoDaddy in the past, so it makes sense. Plus, the market for new residential space is high right now so another residential building isn't out of the realm of possibilities. On top of this, the overall site plan for Ballpark Village (form leasing materials) shows 3 gray boxes along Walnut. While they are all the same height it shows that those are prime real estate spots for another Phase or 3.
While it is most likely a placeholder for a future building, it seems to be an office building but of what size and height remains the question and the answer to that may not be known till Phase 3 is announced. So, let the rumors begin!
PHASE 2 TENANTS...
Based off of renderings, reports and nods, I can list tenants with 75% confidence.
CONFIRMED Retail Spaces - OneLife Fitness - Power and Life Yoga (One Cardinal Way) - The Gashouse Lounge - A Market (Culinaria 2) Office and Hotel Block - Live! By Loews - Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) SPECULATION* - Rawlings (Office & Fan Experience) - Shake Shack - Starbucks - Leinenkugel's Stage and Restaurant