Sun photo by Sarah Coward
Charlotte County Facilities Project Manager Caryn (Lytle) Huff, left, and Tampa Bay Rays Senior Director of Development Melanie Lenz are in the stands at Charlotte County Sports Park

Dynamic Duo
of the Diamond

Rays' Lenz, county's Huff showing that women indeed can play ball and build a park

By JOHN FINERAN
Sports Writer

MURDOCK -- Baseball has always had its great twosomes.

Ruth and Gehrig ... Spahn and Sain -- Trammel and Whitaker ... Biggio and Bagwell ... Koufax and Drysdale ... Banks and Williams ... Maris and Mantle ... Mays and McCovey ... Schilling and Johnson ... Lemon and Feller ... Lenz and Huff ... Yaz and Fisk ...

Lenz and Huff?

When the Tampa Bay Rays, who begin spring training in Charlotte County this spring, play their first home exhibition game a few days afterward, officials and politicians will mingle near home plate of the new Charlotte Sports Park patting each other on the back for bringing Major League Baseball back to our little corner of paradise for the first time since 2002.

Hopefully, they will remember the work and guidance Lenz and Huff provided in building and bringing the $27.2 million renovation project in on time and on budget, making the 7,000-seat stadium and its surrounding fields among the best spring training facilities in not only Florida's Grapefruit League but all of baseball.

That's Melanie Lenz, the senior director of development for the Tampa Bay Rays, and Caryn (Lytle) Huff, the project manager for the Charlotte County Facilities Construction & Maintenance Department.

When the plaudits are being handed out, Lenz and Huff -- two women building a ballpark -- certainly will deserve their own standing ovations.

CARYN HUFF

Huff, who grew up on Long Island and attended Southeastern Conference rivals Florida and Auburn while pursuing her interests in architecture and building construction, had worked for building companies near her home in Englewood that were constructing condominiums on Manasota Key and Boca Grande.

Sensing that there was going to be a slowdown in the building industry and also needing to provide for her three children, Huff answered an ad from Charlotte County looking for project managers for its Facilities Construction and Maintenance Department. Thanks to her college experiences (she studied architecture for two years at Florida before transferring to Auburn where she obtained a degree in building construction while also putting herself through college working at a neighborhood Applebee's restaurant) and her post-graduate work, she was hired.

"Two months after I was hired, they handed me the Rays file," Huff said.

Like the Rays, one of baseball's top defensive teams, Huff has fielded her position cleanly while working with Lenz and the Rays, Hunt Construction Group (a leading builder of sports arenas and stadiums around the country) and Mathews Taylor Construction of Punta Gorda.

"It's been a fantastic experience," Huff said. "We have such a strong team across the board and everyone is excited and working together to solve issues."

From the beginning, all sides in the renovation project realized that it needed to come in on time and also with no budget overruns. Through the graces of good enough weather (fingers crossed) and some keen recycling efforts, a lot of progress has been made.

Originally, seating berms were planned for the outfield areas bookending the batter's eye in centerfield. But the cost to build both berms -- the fill and concrete needed to sustain them -- would have been costly. So HOK Sports, the architects, developed a plan to the unique boardwalk that will stretch from foul pole to foul pole, allowing fans to watch the game from a different perspective as well as providing additional space for concessions and a Tiki bar.

"We sat there and thought, ÔWow, isn't that a great idea!'" Huff remembered proudly. "Right now, we're slightly ahead of schedule and on budget."

So much so that on July 23, workers and officials of the Rays, county and construction teams will gather to celebrate the "Topping Out" at the ballpark. At that point, the major pieces of the construction project will have been built, leaving the inside work to be completed in time for the Rays to take possession of the park in early 2009.

MELANIE LENZ

After finishing college (undergraduate degree from Duquesne University and a master's degree from Pittsburgh), Lenz was hired to work for the New York City Economic Development Corp. One of the projects she worked on was a large redevelopment near Shea Stadium in Queens that later included Citi Field, the new stadium being built next to Shea that will become the Mets' new home beginning in 2009.

Her outgoing personality and business smarts brought Lenz to the attention of Michael Kalt, who worked as a senior advisor to the New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Development.

"We worked on many projects in New York," said Kalt, who not only helped complete the terms for the building of Citi Field but also helped negotiate the terms for a new Yankee Stadium next to the original "House That Ruth Built" for the Bronx Bombers. The new Yankee Stadium also comes on line in 2009.

"Not only is she great with people, but she is very knowledgeable and a problem solver as well."

When Kalt was hired by Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg and team president Matt Silverman as the team's senior vice president for development and business affairs, he quickly hired Lenz, who brought the same boundless energy to Tampa Bay.

"We've been working hard to expand our regional market," Lenz said. "Locating spring training in Charlotte County helps us do that and provides a great anchor to the communities to the south. Spring training is a great way to help solidify our presence as the region's hometown team. We want to connect with the community on many levels and want kids in the area to grow up Rays fans."

That first connection became the ballpark.

"We're thrilled that the project is both on schedule and on budget," Lenz continued. "Hunt and Matthews/Taylor have been doing a wonderful job. There is a tremendous amount of activity at the site right now. The new clubhouse and out-buildings (concession stands, ticket offices) are up, new seating sections are in and the fields (those in the cloverleaf, a fifth near the batting cages and a half-field next to it) are being reconditioned and planted. It's amazing to watch the daily progress."

Lenz sees it on her almost weekly trips from St. Petersburg to the site -- and watches it, too, along with anyone who can access the team (www.raysbaseball.com) and county ( www.charlottefl.com ) Web sites.

"The construction is going extremely smooth -- again, thanks to Caryn's oversight and the diligence of Hunt and Mathews Taylor," Lenz said. "HOK designed a first-rate facility. The entire team has committed to sustainability, and the amount of on-site recycling of materials has been fantastic."

Who'd have thought it could happen -- a brand-new ballpark that is environmentally sound, fiscally responsible and soon to be the spring training home for the hottest young team in Major League Baseball?

With two bright and sharp businesswomen Melanie Lenz and Caryn Huff starting and finishing the project, the Rays and Charlotte County should be scoring fans -- those in the seats and around baseball -- and winning for a long, long time.