LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) - Louisville loves the color purple, and Tuesday meant another step forward for the new Lou City FC Soccer Stadium in Butchertown.
Financing for the $65 million project will close in a couple of weeks, and Lou City FC said construction will be done by the March 2020 deadline just in time for the start of the season.
"It's just a construction site right now, but what it represents to me is strength and stability and sustainability for this club” Lou City FC President Brad Estes said. “The financing is being led by Fifth Third. It's a syndication that will include six or seven banks, $50 million in debt, and $15 million in private equity that's coming in from the ownership group."
You’ll find progress all over the place on the Butchertown block that’s home to the future stadium. There are cranes and bulldozers, piles of dirt and drills. They are all signs of the stadium that's to come.
"It's going to be a world-class venue,” Estes said.
Winter may already be making its mark, but that doesn't stop these crews.
"Here in Louisville, if we stopped every winter, we would never get anything done. So, there's special add mixtures that go into the concrete. There's special procedures that we use to keep the ground from freezing,” Messer Construction Project Executive Jason Larkin said. "Right now, we're drilling what we call a deep foundation so drilling down into the ground 60 to 70 to 80 feet, filling them up with concrete, and rebar. That's what we will build our foundation off of to bring the stadium up off the ground. We'll be doing that work for the next two months. So, you'll be seeing everything underground for two months and then everything will start popping up in the air starting in February."
The team from Messer/Harmon will start on the structural steel and grandstands start after that followed by the natural Bermuda grass field in the fall.
"We've got to get that in before winter of next year, so it can be nice and healthy for the upcoming soccer season,” Messer said.
The stadium will have 11,300 seats, with standing room only for another 2 to 3,000 fans. Estes said the $65 million project will take the team to the next level.
"We want to be the best club in the USL, and for us, that means the best team, the best front office, and the best fan base,” Estes said.
From the front office to those fans, Estes said there are a lot of people to thank for making this moment possible.
"This is just an immense thing for our club and for our city,” Estes said.
The team's success doesn't hurt, either.
"It's much easier to get behind a champion. It's much easier to get behind back to back champions, and we're very blessed to have great coaching and great players,” Estes said.
Lou City FC also encourages you to buy season tickets now if you want them for the 2020 season.
"I've heard a lot of people say they can't wait to buy tickets for the new stadium. Fortunately, or unfortunately, if you don't have tickets in 2019, you likely won't be able to get season tickets in 2020 because while we have 11,300 seats, we won't be selling all of those in season tickets. We will probably only sell 8,000 season tickets, and we'll leave the rest for single games. So, if you want season tickets in the new stadium, you should go ahead and get them now,” Estes said.
►Contact reporter Sara Wagner at swagner@WHAS11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Sara) and Facebook.