(ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico) – A brand new baseball complex, located just eight miles from Civic Plaza in the heart of Albuquerque, opening at the end of January, 2018. The new Albuquerque Regional Sports Complex features five new synthetic turf baseball playing fields along with new press boxes and other amenities.
Located in the semi-arid region of New Mexico, Albuquerque is very sunny and dry. With conditions like these, maintaining a natural grass playing field can be time consuming and expensive.
“Being in the semi-arid southwest, water use is always an issue, and using synthetic turf virtually eliminates that water demand,” said Keith Reed, Acting Deputy Director for the City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development. “Maintenance was also another prime consideration as synthetic turf drastically reduces the amount of maintenance required. Natural turf and clay field arrangements are inherently more maintenance intensive and truly require knowledgeable and experienced staff to properly maintain the fields in a professional manner,” said Reed.
The new sports complex is expected to boost the city’s economic development by attracting a variety of local, in-state and out-of-state tournaments and events. Additionally, the city also expects some cost-saving benefits with the new artificial turf by way of reduced maintenance costs and therefore increased revenues.
The choice to go with Shaw for their synthetic turf install was rooted in Shaw’s exceptional reputation and first-class products.
“Shaw’s excellent reputation and their baseball specific series of turf products (TruHop) were a major factor for choosing Shaw,” said Chris Green, Vice President/Landscape Architect for Consensus Planning. “The sales representative and the design team were great to work with – knowledgeable and always available to discuss options and ideas from their years of experience. The installation crews did a tremendous job; very attentive to the details and willing to walk us through the installation process,” said Green.
Lone Mountain Contracting was the distributor partner for Shaw on this project and did the base work on all five fields.
For this project, the city of Albuquerque decided to go with Shaw’s TruHop 46” and Momentum Pro 1.75” turf systems.
Designed specifically for baseball performance, Shaw Sports Turf set out to engineer the ultimate baseball field. With feedback from Hall of Famer John Smoltz, TruHop was created.
TruHop's revolutionary design mirrors the real thing in terms of playability and performance yet provides durability that natural grass just can’t rival. It can be engineered with various pile heights and infill ratios to fit each performance area of the field.
The fields also utilize Shaw’s Momentum system. Fast, dense and firm, Momentum is a high-performance synthetic turf system designed with a proven slit film technology. In addition to its durability and performance benefits, Momentum’s fiber construction results in an umbrella effect that helps hold infill and reduce overall fly-out.
Construction completed at the end of January 2018 on all five fields. A grand opening ceremony was held on November 22nd, 2017, prior to completion, with Alex Bregman as a special guest to throw out the first pitch. Alex is a native of Albuquerque and a World Series hero with the Houston Astros.
The University of New Mexico will hold a baseball camp at the complex in mid-January, and the University of the Southwest will play a series against New Mexico Highlands University on February 1-4, 2018.
“Shaw Sports is proud to partner with the City of Albuquerque on this first class facility. We were excited they chose to go with our TruHop product,” said Territory Manager Dave Lange.
ABOUT SHAW SPORTS TURF
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Shaw Industries is a full flooring provider to the residential and commercial markets. Shaw supplies carpet, hardwood, laminate, resilient, and tile/ stone flooring products, as well as synthetic turf. Shaw Sports Turf is one of the leading synthetic turf companies in North America and has represented quality and innovation for more than two decades with over 3,000 successful installations, including an impressive list of high-profile field installations. For more information please visit www.shawsportsturf.com, call 866-703-4004 or find us on Facebook and Twitter.
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