Capacity: 8,000 fixed seats, 500 premium seats, 1,600 berm seats, 400-seat party area, 6 suites
Cost: $100 million
Owner: City of Goodyear
Architect: HOK Sport
Construction: Barton Malow

Goodyear, located on the far western edge of the greater Phoenix area, isn’t the first place to come to mind when brainstorming for the ideal spring-training locale. True, it’s growing like mad – the population rose from 18,911 in 2000 to an estimated 55,954 in 2007 – and many large businesses, including Lockheed, Macy’s and Lufthansa, have large-scale operations there.

And any city experiencing rapid growth in the Valley of the Sun sets their sights on one thing: spring training. For the Cleveland Indians, a spring-training match was made in heaven: the city is named after the Ohio-based tire manufacturer, and the firm had operations in the city for decades.

Besides a growing population, Goodyear has two other things important to landing spring training: money and land. Both play out in the city’s spring-training district, which features an 8,000-seat ballpark and training complexes for the Indians (already open) and the Cincinnati Reds (slated to open either at the end of this year or early next year, in anticipation of the team moving spring operations to Arizona in 2010). Once an entertainment/retail district is added to the mix -- and we’re confident it will, despite some issues with the original developer, as there’s plenty of new development popping up along Estrella Parkway -- you have the makings of a great spring-training atmosphere.

Still, we’re guessing the planning of the ballpark represented a challenge to architects David Bowers and Steve Boyd. There is little more at the Goodyear ballpark site than, well, land. The site is next to a small commuter airport and Lufthansa training base, with the standard Arizona mountains and buttes in the background. Aside from housing developments on the other side of Estrella Parkway, there’s little else in the area past agricultural field. No context at all.

So it’s a little surprising how well Goodyear Ballpark works. With an emphasis on rough and natural materials, the ballpark features a unique three-story grandstand design, some curves reminiscent of Chain of Lakes Park, and intimate seating bowl where you’re never far from the action.

We toured Goodyear Ballpark this week – thanks to Andrew Miller of the Indians – and came away with the following observations.

1) Goodyear Ballpark is a deceptively simple ballpark, even for a spring-training facility. The ballpark consists of a grandstand, seating extending down each line to the foul poles, wraparound concourse, concession booth as part of the batters’ eye, a large outfield berm, and a right-field party deck sitting on top of the clubhouses and batting cages. Within the grandstand’s main level are a team store, concessions and restrooms. As you can tell from the accompanying photos, the grandstand is a very vertical space, creating a nice little tension with the horizontal lines that so dominate the local landscape.