JetBlue Park undergoing major repairs before spring training

If you’re planning to head to JetBlue Park to watch the Red Sox’s spring training, major last-minute repairs are underway to have it ready for the first pitch.

Cracks were discovered on the skywalk connecting the suite level seating to the Green Monster. Crews were seen finishing up the repairs Monday morning. One look at the huge fissures in the concrete and it was easy to see why the county gave this immediate attention.

But this isn’t the first time the county has had to repair the concrete structure at JetBlue Park: it approved $1.6 million in 2020 repairs. Lee County Commissioner Brian Hamman says the county needs to take a closer look at the site’s original builder.

“I’m concerned about why a building that’s less than 10 years old would be seeing these kinds of problems this early on,” Hamman said. “I mean, it is Florida, so we do know that the elements are very hard on construction, but this is less than 10 years old. I feel like it should be holding up better than that.”

Hamman says the biggest concern now is safety, and making sure the stadium is ready to go for spring training later this month.

“The county has emergency procedures, or if something is a life-threatening danger or potential catastrophe, our staff can just get right to work and start fixing it and then come ask for the permission or the approval later,” Hamman said. “It just makes sense we can’t have a stadium be unsafe, we need to make sure that the thousands of people that go there are going to have a safe experience.”

Repairing the cracks will cost around $250,000, which Hamman says will be covered by tourism taxes.