After years of delay and the community having to deal with neighborhood blight, it looks like the highly touted soccer stadium and community ballpark at Behrman Park is finally about to get under way.
This week (1/8), officials filed a new construction permit for the $12 million dollar facility, which will include the new construction of a soccer stadium with a main competition field with aluminum bleacher system, four practice fields, four supporting buildings with concessions and restroom facilities, ticket booth and parking.
The first phase calls for a 3,750-seat stadium along with restrooms and four practice fields. Eventually, the stadium will feature a total of 9,000 seats, more than 500 parking spaces and three practice fields.
A few months ago, the New Orleans City Council adopted Ordinance Calendar No. 29,196, co-authored by Councilmember Gisleson Palmer and Council Vice President Clarkson, to name and dedicate the proposed new stadium that will be constructed at Behrman Memorial Park the “Dewey Joseph Heitmeier Stadium.”
The new stadium, to be located at the corner of Wall Boulevard and Vespasian Street in Algiers, will host amateur and professional soccer and rugby games. The late Dewey Heitmeier, the stadium’s namesake, worked throughout the 60’s and 70’s with the youth athletic community of Algiers. He was a member and officer of the Vernon Clasen Youth Athletic Club, which fielded teams in the New Orleans Recreation Department programs. While traveling across the state to watch his grandsons play soccer, Mr. Heitmeier noticed the abundance of soccer fields; however, there were no actual stadiums, which spurred the idea for building a first-class facility in his neighborhood.
City officials think the stadium will position Behrman Memorial Park as a regional park and an economic catalyst for Algiers and the entire City. Sizeler Thompson Brown are the architects who designed the project.
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