Robert Dietz Memorial Stadium in Uptown Kingston has been a focal point of sports activities in the City since the 1940s, as well as the site of annual commencement exercises for Kingston High School. The facility – including the adjacent Andretta Pool, built in the 1970s – is seriously showing its age, but a massive renovation project expected to cost $20 million is now well underway. Phase 1 is now complete, and work that commenced in autumn of 2022 on Phase 2 is expected to wrap up this spring, completing repairs to the pool facility. On February 17, Kingston mayor Steve Noble announced that plans for the renovations to the Stadium itself have been finalized and the bidding process is about to begin, with groundbreaking set for this spring. The project is expected to take 14 to 16 months from the onset of construction.
Originally built on the site of the Kingston Fairgrounds, which had been established in 1921, Dietz Stadium started out as the Kingston Municipal Stadium, with a focus on football. For a few years it was home to the Kingston Colonials, a Class B baseball team that ended up folding in 1951. After that it was purchased by the City of Kingston to become the home field of the KHS Tigers football team. In 1954 it was dedicated to Robert H. Dietz, a Kingston native killed in World War II who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The stadium has served many purposes over the years. The Hudson Valley Highlanders of the North American Football League played its only season there in 2008. The other kind of football happens there as well: Since 2016, Dietz has been the home of the Kingston Stockade Football Club, a member of the National Premier Soccer League. Old-timers from the neighborhood reminisce about demolition derbies being held on the site in the 1970s and ‘80s. Fitness-conscious Kingstonians go there to jog on the 400-meter track. Not-for-profits use it as the start and finish line for fundraising walkathons. But mainly, in recent decades, Dietz has gained regional fame as a host site for marching band/drum and bugle corps competitions.
It was clear, however, to the Kingston Consolidated School District, which owns Dietz Stadium, and the City of Kingston, which manages and operates it, that the facility could be so much more if only the infrastructure were not in such sad shape. There were design flaws from the get-go: poor vehicular access and circulation that backed up traffic onto local streets during events, for example, along with mid-century bathrooms and locker rooms that failed to anticipate that girls and women would become increasingly involved in team sports. It’s difficult to generate enthusiasm for teams to visit your facility for regional events when the fields, buildings, grounds, access and equipment are shabby and inadequate.
Photos included in the design documents for the Dietz Stadium/Andretta Pool Improvements Project now in progress, viewable at https://engagekingston.com/dietz-stadium-andretta-pool-improvements, make it clear how direly major renovation work was needed. The Andretta Pool itself had a badly chipped and pitted liner. The tanks and pumping system were heavily corroded with rust. The poolhouse roof leaked in several places. At both facilities, concrete façades had weathered away to such a degree that rebar was exposed to the elements. Walkways, stairs and brick walls were coming apart at the seams. Interiors looked sad and shabby and had poor traffic flow. Electrical, lighting, venting, HVAC, sound and security systems were sorely outmoded.
Something needed to be done, so the City went after a New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant, securing a $10 million award in 2017. That funding covered the costs of the design phase as well as the Phase 1 construction elements: exterior improvements to the Pool and poolhouse building, including a new roof, plus a brand-new “splash pad” water feature geared toward smaller children. A gut renovation of the poolhouse interior is set to begin this spring.
Additional State funding already in hand includes $1.5 million from the Environmental Facilities Corporation and $1 million from the Department of Environmental Conservation for green infrastructure improvements to the Stadium parking lot and surrounding drive, which will include drainage improvements, permeable pavers, bioswales, trees and repaving. The new traffic design will add a bus lane and seven bus parking spaces, plus many other access and circulation enhancements that should make the site much more enticing to visiting teams and bands.
The newly reconfigured Stadium will have LED lighting; a modern scoreboard capable of screening instant replay footage; removable netting instead of chain-link fence surrounding the field; new turf for the field and surfacing for the track; an expanded practice area; and a bigger storage outbuilding for track-and-field equipment. Fans in the stands will enjoy nicer stairways with handrails; new seating; a fresh new entry gate and ticket window; bicycle racks; a totally rebuilt concession stand with hookups for food trucks.
But arguably the most significant quality-of-life improvements will come with the reconfiguration and modernization of the bathrooms and locker rooms in both buildings. When the work is all done, they will include better handicapped access, more private changing areas and – get this – 25 women’s toilets in the grandstand building, where there were only four before. If including women and families in sports is key to their future relevance and economic viability, Kingston is positioning itself at the cutting edge of that trend.
Phase 1 work on the exterior of the poolhouse, improvements and repairs to the pool and the addition of the splash pad is already complete. Phase 2 renovation of the interior of the poolhouse began in September and is nearing completion. The remainder of Phase 2 focuses on the Stadium and its surroundings. Preconstruction work such as subsoil borings, hazardous material testing and site-clearing began in the fall, but the site has remained open to the public for use of the track, loop road and parking lots.
In his announcement of the finalization of the site plans, Mayor Noble asked for the public’s patience during construction. “This exciting project is a once-in-a-generation investment that will transform the Dietz Stadium complex into a regional draw – a modernized facility that will be the pride of our community,” he said.
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