CaroMont Health Park and Gastonia's New Downtown Ballpark District

A Stadium That Anchored a Neighborhood's Comeback

CaroMont Health Park, a 5,000-seat outdoor stadium at S. Hill Street and W. Franklin Blvd., opened for the 2021 season, with its first game played May 23, 2021. It sits at the center of the FUSE District, Gastonia's flagship downtown-revitalization initiative — a stadium built specifically to anchor redevelopment around it, not just to host games.

From Honey Hunters to Ghost Peppers

The stadium's first tenant was the Gastonia Honey Hunters, an Atlantic League of Professional Baseball team that played there from 2021 to 2023 before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2023 after the league terminated its membership. The venue is now home to the Gastonia Ghost Peppers, who have played there since 2024 — proof that the district around the ballpark has kept evolving well past its original opening, not stayed frozen at 2021.

What the Stadium Cost, and Why We Won't Pin One Number On It

Reported construction-cost figures for CaroMont Health Park vary depending on the source — an October/November 2020 news article cites one figure, while a more recent secondary summary cites a noticeably higher one, and the two disagree by several million. Rather than repeat one number as settled fact, it's more accurate to say the stadium represented a genuine, tens-of-millions public investment in downtown Gastonia, with the exact figure still unresolved across available sources.

New Development Radiating Out From the Ballpark

The stadium isn't standing alone. The Trenton Mill redevelopment, led by Florida-based Lansing Melbourne Group, broke ground in November 2020 with plans for 89 loft apartments nearby, and Durty Bull Brewing Co., a Durham-based brewery, took a roughly 5,000-square-foot space in the district's former Coca-Cola bottling plant. Both of those details trace to a source dated November 2020, so treat "under construction" language as historical rather than current — confirm what's actually open in the district today before assuming a specific project's status.

Cleanup and Renovation Debris Near a Growing Ballpark District

Development clustered around a stadium like this generates a genuine mix of debris types — interior demolition inside older downtown buildings being converted to new uses, general construction scrap from new commercial build-outs, and standard renovation debris as nearby residential blocks see reinvestment following the district's redevelopment. Site access downtown is often tighter than a suburban lot, and game-day traffic near the ballpark on scheduled Ghost Peppers dates is worth factoring into delivery and pickup timing. Whether your project is directly in the FUSE District or in a nearby block benefiting from the area's redevelopment, call and describe the site and we'll plan around it.

A Neighborhood That Keeps Changing

The distance between a bankrupt original tenant and a new team playing to crowds three seasons later is a good illustration of just how much a district like this can shift in a short span of time. That's useful context for anyone renovating or building nearby: don't assume the neighborhood you're working in today looks the way it did when you last checked, and don't assume it will look the same again in another few years either. A ballpark district in an active growth phase tends to keep bringing new construction, new tenants and new residential interest with it.

Scheduling Around Game Nights

With the Ghost Peppers now playing a regular home schedule, delivery and pickup timing near the stadium benefits from a little planning around game dates, especially for projects sitting close to S. Hill Street or W. Franklin Blvd. itself. It's rarely a reason to delay a project, but it's worth mentioning when you call if your site is close enough to the ballpark that parking or street access could be affected on a game night.