The IronPigs held a Tuesday afternoon open house at Coca Cola Park to showcase their new left field addition.
IronPigs GM Kurt Landes (click photos to enlarge)
Favorable weather has allowed construction crews to reach nearly 50% completion and roof thatching will begin soon. The Tiki Terrace’s additional seating will increase the official Park capacity to 10,100.
Tiki Terrace Construction
While the weather was far from tropical, General Manager Kurt Landes warmed the atmosphere with his description of the Tiki Terrace and Oasis complete with Palm Trees.
Mr. Landes also pointed out that the new Tiki Terrace will not interfere with regular park updates and stated “When you get in the elevators you won’t recognize them”. The party porches will also be upgraded and other various touches around the park will be completed.
View from front row of over-hanging seating
The view from the front row of the overhanging seats has to be one of the most unique views in all of baseball and ‘The Dish’ is not opposed to bribery in order to get down there during game time. We will have to wait and see if Coca Cola Park will have its own future version of “Jeffrey Maier” as the ground rules have not yet been etched.
Following the blustery outdoor tour, the party moved inside to sample some new tropical themed menu items created by Executive Chef Jan Giejda. The Kahlua Chicken Skewers and the Pineapple Pork Skewers were quite tasty. The other interesting addition was Char Grilled Pierogies with a surprisingly great flavor. Click here for the Tiki Terrace Bar menu and here for the Tiki Terrace Bar Group Outing menu.
Pineapple Pork Skewers & Kahlua Chicken Skewers
Boneless Chicken Skewers, Grilled Steak Sliders and Handcrafted Burgers, previously available only at the FMO Painting Club Bar will make there way to the Tiki Terrace Bar Menu. I’ve had all of them and it’s great that everyone will now have the opportunity to enjoy these delectable Club Level favorites.
Great group seating is still available – be sure to visit the IronPigs Website before it’s too late.
I was fortunate to steal some one-on-one with GM Kurt Landes’ and I must say that it was enjoyable both as a fan and as a blogger to hear his insight. It’s clear that the IronPigs organization will not rest on their laurels and we are fortunate to have an owner’s group and management team that will not allow seasoned fans to become jaded and still continue to bring new fans to the Park.
I also had the pleasure to meet Jeff Schuler of the Morning Call’s Hog Blog. View his great post here.
View of CF
The Voice of the IronPigs Matt Provence and Jon Schaeffer are keeping their play-by-play skills sharp this off-season. Matt called some Lafayette Men’s Soccer and Women’s Volleyball and is currently doing Basketball for the NJIT. Jon is calling Seton Hall Basketball. Give ‘em a listen – it’s always entertaining.
Overall another great afternoon at Coca Cola Park – even in the cold!
Is it April yet?
Go Pigs!
DiPro’s Dish
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
Great info jason!!, the menu looks good!!!, can’t wait to try the sliders and more!…just one question, I’m wondering do you know if the standing area behind those 8 or 9 oasis tables will be elevated? it looks like in the drawings on the pigs website that the standing area behind the tables might be elevated and maybe offer a view where people might be overlooking the tables instead of trying to look directly through or around the people sitting there, it looks like the one thing about those tables being up right against the drink rails and with the slope of terrace roof that the general public will get pushed back away from the bullpen and may make it harder to see the action?,
That’s a good question Greenie and I will try to find out the answer. I’m thinking it would almost have to be elevated or people at that the back drink rail aren’t going to have a very good view.
Nice post Dipro!
This may be my fault if I missed talk about it before…
But with 100 more seats available…what about parking? I mean there are times there are no spots left already.
Good point Sarah but at the end of the day I don’t think there is going to be much of a parking problem. Surely special events such as another All-Star game may have some parking issues.
While the extra 100 seats increase park capacity I don’t think that’s going to mean an extra 100 cars at every game. You know as well as I that announced ticket sales don’t match actual attendance. I didn’t realize before but at the Tiki open house Kurt spoke about parking and the fact that parking statistics are closely monitored for all sorts of reasons including capacity.
Also, since the 100 new seats are in a group outing area I would bet that many of the 100 or so will come in groups (families, co-workers, etc.) and won’t significantly impact parking.
There may be some more people parking way down the entrance road in the grassy area and I’m sure if it becomes a problem they will get another golf cart or two.
Bottom line Sarah get your butt to the game on time and you won’t have to worry about it – haha
Or when we get the Noise Nation shuttle bus fired up none of us will have to worry about parking – lol
OMG LMAO A NN Bus!!! HAHAHA.
I wanna help paint it 🙂
On the windows we can right
“In the woods of Rhode Island” ….just sayin
100 more seats means 100 less General Admission tickets.
I’m not sure that’s true. The capacity has been expanded to 10,100, so it seems the GA will be exactly the same. Less real estate, though, certainly. That thing looks huge.
The parking’s a possible issue, though, as it’s been really tight a few times. As DiPro recommends, I should get there earlier. I’ll revisit this, perhaps, in two future topics:
1. “How to Save Money at the Park” (in the works with Dan and DiPro)
2. “IronPigs Fan Etiquette 2012”
Interesting article from Groller in TMC about the IronPigs and Phantoms competing for the same entertainment dollar … you should weigh in, in my opinion.
I was sitting at the table with Keith and Kurt Landes during the discussion on the new arena. It was certainly an interesting conversation.
As the article mentions the IronPigs are certainly receptive to working with the Phantoms and it’s a wise business decision to do so. Hopefully, the Phantoms will reciprocate.
I don’t believe the arena is going to affect attendance at Coca Cola Park significantly or at all since the seasons don’t really overlap. Being in the fifth year the IronPigs have an established base of advertisers so I don’t think there will be much impact here either. [Advantage Pigs]
The discussion even led to the possibility of an “outdoor classic” type hockey game at Coca Cola Park. If there’s money to be made, it just may happen.
The arena has large shoes to fill if they wish to “compete” with the IronPigs brand and we don’t have the parking, traffic and security issues that have been discussed with the arena. At the end of the day, you don’t become the #1 draw in all of Minor League Baseball by accident. [Advantage Pigs]
I think the arena is a great addition to the Lehigh Valley and it’s possible that a peaceful coexistence could lead to increased attendance at both venues. Imagine a combo pack of tickets – 9 IronPig games & 9 Phantom games or Phantoms night at the IronPigs. The possibilities are basically endless and it will be fun to see what transpires.
Just my dish….
I do think the Phantoms (who should seriously consider losing that name) will do well at the box office … I do think, however, that the Pawlowski Palace of Sport will do as much to “transform” Allentown as the Sovereign Center as done to turn Reading into a city flush with cash. (hint, it has not – do the research)
$ 160 million dollars is a ridiculous amount of money for a broke Government to be spending on sports entertainment at this point in time … no wonder the United States is $ 17.0 TRILLION dollars in debt.
Shaibu!
I don’t want to debate the economics of the arena project right now as nothing’s been completed yet…
But I will second the move that the “Phantoms” name be reconsidered. I don’t care for it, and this isn’t a Philadelphia suburb. (also, as a Pens fan, I don’t want to be reminded that I’m cheering for a Flyers team, but I digress).
As far as the outdoor hockey game at the Park goes, I believe DAN KEHL was the first to publically float such an idea.
Well done, Kommandant!