Fayetteville baseball talk drives up business, parking concerns

FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Excitement is building on the new downtown baseball stadium, but a lot of people are still wondering how it's going to look and where they'll park. A private contractor is building a parking deck but so far no word on whether it'll be free or paid.

Drawings of the new baseball stadium will become reality when the city holds its official ground breaking ceremony for the baseball diamond.

The stadium is already driving in small business owners. City officials told ABC11 they're seeing their fastest growth trend since the stadium buzz began two years ago.

Meanwhile, the new talk on the streets is parking. Hay Street business owners told ABC11 that they spend at least 10 minutes searching for parking as it is. They worry the baseball stadium will bring more traffic and create a parking nightmare for their customers.

"It's pretty hard as is especially if there's a church function going or a funeral and the roadways will be backed up," said Rachel Nauman.

Other business owners think parking won't be an issue.

"When you look at the Dogwood Festival who pulls in double the traffic that a baseball game would, they find a place to park then and they'll find a place to park now," Tehra Thornton said.

The parking deck will sit behind the stadium adjacent to the Prince Charles Hotel. City officials say they've studied the traffic flow and are assuring fans that there's extra parking.