ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A charter school’s plans for a 4,000-seat athletic stadium in Allentown are moving forward.
The new stadium will be located just a baseball’s throw from Coca-Cola Park.
Executive Stadium will be one of the few stadiums in the country built atop a parking deck, which will accommodate 300 cars.
“Which is why we’re doing it on a parking deck. We need to make sure we capture all the current parking spaces,” said Bob Lysek, co-founder of Executive Education Academy Charter School.
Renderings on the school’s website show concession stands, a press box, a turf field and seating for 4,000 spectators. The stadium will connect directly to the school, which junior football captain Isiah Vargas said is a major improvement over their current practice setup.
“We have to climb over a railing to get down the hill and to get onto the practice field,” Vargas said.
Executive Education Academy shares an easement with Lehigh County and the IronPigs. The parking lot is shared with the IronPigs, and the team initially raised concerns about event conflicts, traffic and construction safety. Team officials now say those concerns have been addressed.
“We have a great relationship with Executive Charter Academy,” said Aaron Weisberg, manager of community relations for the IronPigs. “We have a system in place to make sure that our fans, our staff and their students can flow in and out of where they need to efficiently.”
We are neighbors and we share a parking lot. So we have to get a portion of this done before the baseball season starts back up,” Lysek said.
Construction of the parking deck is scheduled to be completed by March, followed by six months of stadium construction. The IronPigs’ season and school operations will continue during the build. Student-athletes will gain access to a first-class facility, which Vargas hopes will be ready in time for his senior football season.
“Senior night at our home field—that would be ideal,” Vargas said.