GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Greensboro Batting Center has big plans for the future. The community sports group will move out of its current location and make way for some serious upgrades. They secured land to build brand-new indoor and outdoor facilities in Guilford County. While those facilities are built, they will operate out of an abandoned grocery store in Greensboro.
Earlier this month, the Greensboro Batting Center won a bid to purchase property on NC-150 in Browns Summit. The land is the former site of the Monticello Community Center, and it is right across the street from Monticello-Brown Summit Elementary.
The bidding process took several months to complete. The batting center first put in a bid in September. The price tag was $100,000. A few others tried to secure the land for themselves, extending the bidding process several weeks, but the Greensboro Batting Center came out on top. In the end, they paid $260,000.
The Greensboro Batting Center's owner, Alan Ashkinazy, said they will lease the two baseball fields next door to the property. Those are owned by the Browns Summit Youth Association. The batting center will also put in two additional baseball fields.
There is a gymnasium on the property. Ashkinazy said his team does not yet have concrete plans for the gym, but he suggested they could lease it out to a community youth basketball or volleyball organization.
The Greensboro Batting Center will also build a 30,000-square-foot indoor batting facility on the Browns Summit property.
Ashkinazy said they needed a bigger space after adding to his list of staff and services, including agility training.
"It's grown into a bunch of lessons pitching, hitting, catching, fielding," said Ashkinazy.
They have to jump through several hoops before construction can begin, including making the necessary arrangements for zoning, water infrastructure, and parking.
"The first thing we've got to do is get the fields ready out there and then once those fields are ready then we can start planning on building," explained Ashkinazy.
Ashkinazy said the indoor facility could take between 18 and 24 months to build.
While construction is underway in Browns Summit, Ashkinazy said the Greensboro Batting Center will operate on a temporary basis in the abandoned Harris Teeter on N. Church Street in Greensboro. He said the batting center secured a two-year lease on the property.
"We just needed something big, that was open and grocery stores are like that, you take out the shelves you take out everything and you got a big open space," said Ashkinazy.
The batting center will install turf and nets in the old grocery store. Once the indoor facility in Browns Summit is complete, the operation on N. Church Street will move to NC-150.
Ashkinazy said the plan is to move into the abandoned Harris Teeter in early 2023.
"You know we’re hoping to open up here February 15, that’s not set in stone, it depends on how everything goes. We’re going to start working here on Tuesday and hopefully, it goes smooth," Ashkinazy said in regard to the grocery store location.