The rendering above illustrates the $30-million renovation of Jackie Robinson Ballpark – credit, Barton Malow and MSA Sport, released as a courtesy to ENR Record
The first baseball park that Jackie Robinson ever played ball on is about to enjoy the fruits of a $30 million renovation that will bring it into the 21st century while maintaining its historic charm.
Though he made his fame with the Dodgers, the first diamond Robinson ever played on was City Island Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Florida.
City Island is around 100 acres in size located on the Halifax River, several miles from Daytona Beach’s center. Here, in 1946, the Brooklyn Dodgers visited on a spring training game against their minor-league affiliate, the Montreal Royals. Among the Royals roster, Robinson had found a place amid a nationally-segregated baseball environment where he could play.
That’s because while many other Florida teams adhered to rules regarding segregation, City Island Ballpark, the Royals, and the local community leaders, would not.
“Jackie Robson was told no, he could not play in many places, but the city of Daytona Beach, with the help of local leaders, said yes,” Dru Driscoll, deputy city manager for Daytona Beach told Engineering News Record.
“So, maintaining that there’s only one place he first played professional baseball, it’s our responsibility to rehabilitate the ball field,” Driscoll adds.
In 2020, Major League Baseball passed an organization change on facility requirements that put some 160 teams and ballparks on notice that they would have to shell out on modernization.
In particular, the change mandated that visiting teams have dedicated clubhouses of a certain size as well as pitching and batting tunnels, that parks should have modern, climate-controlled weight and fitness rooms, and facilities for female players and staff.
This led to 2024 and 2025 being the two largest years in the history of minor league ballpark investment, with total renovations nationwide totaling some $2.3 billion according to the Sport Business Journal.
As the project’s main owner representative, Driscoll faced unique problems in the bid to renovate City Island Ballpark. If one of baseball’s great charms is the wonky irregularities between ballparks, City Island, now called Jackie Robinson Ballpark (JRB) stands among the wonkiest.
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A canal runs in parallel with the third base line, while Orange Avenue hugs first. The ballpark takes up almost the entire dimensions of the property it sits on, so finding room for the 38,000 square-foot player development facility, which would include the weight and fitness areas, required requisitioning from the city a couple of derelict tennis courts abutting the right field wall—another curiosity.
Lead contracting firm on the renovation of the JRB, Barton Malow, got started in 2024. Though hampered substantially at times from the desire not to alter the “sacred” layout of the park, and a water table which becomes especially high during summer rains and required diligent dewatering with high pressure pumps, one might say they hit a home-run, accommodating all of the MLB’s new requirements and then some—including a dining space for the club and management to host events, clubhouse seating, dedicated player parking, and a new grandstand with a brilliant view over the river to downtown Daytona.
The park will also include new water service lines and fire sprinklers, and a 1,500 square foot museum dedicated to the life, times, and excellence of the ballpark’s namesake.
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In concert with Barton Malow’s work at the JRB, the city of Daytona took the opportunity to do some much-needed civic infrastructure improvements on the island, including a new seawall.
Now home to the Daytona Tortugas, the Cincinnati Reds minor-league affiliate, the JRB is ready for another 80 years of history.
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