The state of Florida this week approved a $20 million grant for the Braves’ planned new spring-training facility, the final piece of funding for the long-in-the-works project.
The facility is slated to be built in the city of North Port, which is located in Sarasota County in southwest Florida.
The state funding brings the total amount of taxpayer money in the project to $46 million, which includes previously committed contributions of $21.3 million from Sarasota County and $4.7 million from North Port. The Braves and a private developer are responsible for the rest of the $75 million cost of the facility.
Sarasota County and North Port commissioners, as well as the board of the West Villages Improvement District, are scheduled to review the deal at separate meetings Sept. 12. All three bodies have previously signaled support with various votes, and if all three sign off on the final agreements, construction will begin this fall.
The state funding, approved Thursday by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, is conditional on the final governmental votes.
The Braves, who have held spring training at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando since 1998, expect to move into the new facility in 2019.
“We are thankful for the state’s positive response to the Braves’ spring-training project and its benefits to our region,” Sarasota County Administrator Tom Harmer said in a statement Friday. "This is an important milestone that will allow the construction to move forward with the support of the elective bodies.”
Said Braves Vice Chairman John Schuerholz: “We are excited to be building a state-of-the-art spring-training facility in this beautiful community. We have truly found some incredible partners.”
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