After nearly two years of planning, the Hastings Hawks broke ground on Saturday, April 19th on their concessions stand expansion. The project is set to more than double the square footage of the current concessions stand which is 16 feet by 12 feet. The addition is going in on the north end of the building and will add an additional 240 square feet with the 20 feet by 12 feet of added building.
Mantic Construction is the General Contractor of the project with Wahlstrom Concrete handling the cement and brick work, Midstate Plumbing and Miller Electric handling those aspects and the Hawks filling in the gaps with support from HYAA. Tennis Sanitation is donating the construction dumpster and Pro Power Rental is helping with the needed machinery needed for the project. Funds for the project are from Hastings Hawks sales at concessions combined with Community Investment Funds (CIF) from the City of Hastings and assistance from HYAA.
The added space will allow the organization to convert the combined sales, storage, production, and cleaning space into a sales-only space where they expect to add team merchandise. The new space will be used for storage, food production and dish washing area with a larger triple sink that puts the organization in a better position for future food additions.
With an active construction site located near the field and concessions stand, fans are urged to use caution and stay outside of the construction site. This includes keeping away from the construction dumpster, staying off the dirt piles and away from the hole that is there for the foundation. As a friendly reminder, the construction dumpster is for the use of the construction project only, not the general public. This is a privately managed project. There will be signs reminding folks of that as well as cameras to capture footage of any unauthorized use of the dumpster which is punishable by law.
Last fall, the Hawks added beer sales to the concessions stand for about a month, and that test proved to be a huge success. With the addition of beer sales during adult games, the board hopes to add five to ten thousand dollars in sales each season which only accelerates the ability of the group to do projects at the baseball field.
Some of the larger and more recent additions spearheaded by the Hawks have been the press box, a new scoreboard, and the batting cages in right field for the entire complex and the city of Hastings to use. Between the Hawks, the CIF, HYAA, the City of Hastings and donors, the Hawks have helped bring over 400,000 dollars in improvements to the baseball field that sees around 100 events each summer.
The Hawks have a list of desired future projects which include a fan deck in right field, new lights for the field and ultimately a grandstand, new dugouts and plaza around the infield. If you would like to donate to team to help with their projects, email president@hastingshawks.com or reach out on any of the Hastings Hawks social media channels.