Old GM Parking Lot to Become Ball Fields

Ross Community Center says The Ball Brothers Foundation

The Michigan-based RACER Trust says it has reached an agreement to sell around six acres of the former Muncie General Motors Manual Transmissions property to a nonprofit. Ross Community Center Inc. says it will begin transforming land that used to be employee parking lots into youth recreational fields next year.

Plans for the property, which include baseball fields and other facilities, call for designs to be drawn at the beginning of next year and construction to begin in the summer.

The RACER Trust, which stands for Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response, was launched independently in 2009 following the bankruptcy of what was then General Motors Corp. to deal with nearly 90 properties in 14 states. Several of these are located in Indiana. The group bills itself as the largest environmental response and remediation trust in U.S. history. The trust says around 60 acres of the old plant property is still available for redevelopment.

Ross Community Center President Megan Quirk says "acquisition of the former Muncie Transmission parking lots is just a first step in the building of our field of dreams. The Ross Community Center’s goal, aside from strengthening our day-to-day neighborhood community center programs, is to build a nationally recognized premier youth 12 and under tournament baseball facility. The cooperation of RACER Trust, the City of Muncie and the seed funding from the Ball Brothers Foundation is a solid beginning to a larger community collaborative effort required to build and operate legacy home run fields for generations to come. The Ross Community Center and the surrounding neighborhoods are grateful to begin so strong with cooperative partners."

Indeed, the Ball Brothers Foundation has supported the Ross Center to the tune of $640,000 to build out baseball facilities and programming since 2011. The center was founded in 1974 and offers sports and other youth enrichment programs.