<\/p>\n
As seen on Tuesday, March 17, the former Kirkwood Athletic Association\u00a0ball fields\u00a0on Marshall Road in Kirkwood continue to sit unused after five years. Now another local youth sports organization, Kirkwood United Soccer Club, has emerged as a potential buyer. Kirkwood city leaders recently approved a $175,000 sale price for the 14-acre site near the Meramec River.\u00a0| photo by Colin Suchland<\/p>\n
Long-loved but languishing ball fields along Marshall Road in Kirkwood may have a new lease on life as city officials move forward with the sale of the 14-acre site to a local youth soccer organization.<\/p>\n
During a special Kirkwood City Council meeting last week, city leaders gave initial approval to sell the former Kirkwood Athletic Association baseball and softball fields to the Kirkwood United Soccer Club for $175,000.<\/p>\n
The decision comes after the city evaluated several proposals for the now-derelict fields at 2377 Marshall Road, ultimately determining that the soccer club\u2019s vision best aligned with the community\u2019s interest in preserving the fields for use in youth athletics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really nice to see this finally get wrapped up. I think this is going to be a win for us and for Kirkwood United Soccer Club,\u201d Kirkwood City Council Member Gina Jaksetic said during the special meeting on March 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Founded in 2014, Kirkwood United Soccer Club hosts several age groups of both boys and girls soccer teams, and provides a \u201ccompetitive yet community-driven soccer experience.\u201d The club\u00a0 also provides specialized training and summer camps.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, the Kirkwood\u00a0United Soccer Club\u2019s board of directors confirmed the club reached an agreement with the city, and the non-profit organization is now in a \u201cdue diligence\u201d period. During this time, the club will evaluate the feasibility of transforming the site into a soccer-focused facility to support its growing membership.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce this review period is complete, we will be able to provide additional updates and share more information with our community,\u201d the Kirkwood United Soccer Club\u2019s board said in a statement to the Times.<\/p>\n
Rekindled Hope For Flood-Prone Ball Fields<\/p>\n
Located in the flood-prone Meramec River bottoms, the Marshall Road ball fields operated for decades under the ownership of the Kirkwood Athletic Association, but were deeded to the city at no cost in 2023. The athletic association became financially insolvent in 2021 and was unable to reopen the fields after flooding. The fields have been closed since that time.<\/p>\n
Kirkwood Athletic Association leaders initially hoped the city might reopen the fields and\/or incorporate them into the adjacent city-owned Greentree Park, which itself boasts soccer fields. The city, however, has not pursued any municipal operation of the site.<\/p>\n
Last year, a citizens\u2019 group organized an attempt to lease the fields from the city of Kirkwood to resume baseball and softball leagues, as was reported in the Times. That group made it as far as incorporating as a non-profit entity before city officials turned down the lease offer and began looking for a buyer.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the fields\u00a0 themselves have continued to deteriorate and occasionally flood. The city last year demolished several structures on the site, citing safety concerns. What now remains are overgrown ball fields, rusty fences, large outdoor lights, scoreboards and various smaller structures in disrepair.<\/p>\n
But now there is also a rekindled hope that the fields on Marshall Road will once again ring with the voices of youth athletes.<\/p>\n
City officials say the sale of the fields to the Kirkwood United Soccer Club will \u201callow the property to continue serving the community through youth sports programming, reflecting Kirkwood\u2019s commitment to responsible stewardship of community assets while supporting programs that keep young people active and engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As seen on Tuesday, March 17, the former Kirkwood Athletic Association\u00a0ball fields\u00a0on Marshall Road in Kirkwood continue to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,44,561,82,130663],"class_list":["post-554774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-webster-kirkwoodtimes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}