Kim BrattainFounder/ CEO, Kim Brattain Media · Award-winning Corporate and Documentary Film Producer

CRE Creative Thinkers - Don Beaver, Dan Rajkowski, Michael Smith | Kim Brattain Media

2 Feb 2015 · 3 min

Watch on YouTube

2:30

The video profiles the decade‑long effort to construct an uptown baseball stadium in Charlotte, led by Knights owner Don Beaver, COO Dan Rakowski, and developer Michael Smith of Charlotte Center City Partners. It recounts the initial challenges—over a decade of uphill battles, seven lawsuits, and a low‑tax‑base site of underutilized surface lots—highlighting the team’s “purity of purpose” that kept the project alive. The stadium’s inaugural season attracted 687,000 guests, spurring $650 million in adjacent development, the creation of over 1,000 housing units, and the transformation of the area into a vibrant neighborhood anchored by Romare Bearden Park. Don Beaver reflects on his lifelong connection to baseball and the desire to bring youth back to the sport, while emphasizing the ongoing momentum for downtown Charlotte’s growth.

Chapters

Here it comes.
Swing, there's a fly ball deep left field. That's way back there. It's at the wall. It's up, up. It is gone!
I don't know what else this land could have been used for any better than this. Just look at the apartment buildings going up now around here, and some of these we've made it happen with the Knights.
They've taken the first 2 in this 4-game series.
It's rewarding now to see it fulfill what we had hoped. A ballpark that in its inaugural season had 687,000 guests. That's produced $650 million of new development adjacent to it and to Romare Bearden Park. Over 1,000 units of housing. And that's just the beginning. It was over 30 acres of surface lots, and underutilized buildings and really a low tax base. And now it's the heart of one of the best neighborhoods in North Carolina.
Campaigns to build an uptown stadium began an uphill battle more than a decade ago, but Knights owner Don Beaver and COO Dan Rakowski, along with Michael Smith from Charlotte Center City Partners, wouldn't take no for an answer.
It was worth fighting for, and it was that Purity of purpose that had us stick to it for 7 years and through 7 lawsuits.
Purity of purpose.
Baseball. Family entertainment. I played all the leagues, the Little League, the Pony League, the Babe Ruth League, American Legion, high school, and that's all we did was play baseball back then. I'll show you my knuckleball grip. There you go. It's a great thing to follow, and I think we need to get more of the youth back into It's a lasting legacy. I don't know what's next. I think just to keep the momentum going in downtown Charlotte. So, you know, we just keep on keeping on.
Congratulations, Don Beaver, Dan Rakowski, and Michael Smith, 2015 Counselors of Real Estate Creative Thinkers.