If snow weren't still blanketing the grass of Target Field, you almost could get the sense from Minnesota Ballpark Authority officials Friday that the Twins would run out onto the diamond at any moment.
With construction finished, there are relatively few design specs left to check and only about 50 workers still on-site to do things like adjust the TVs and make sure the lights work. Commissioners are turning their attention to the matter of operating a ballpark rather than building one.
They heard a report at Friday's meeting on a high-tech computer system that monitors and maintains the facility's mechanical workings. They also announced the pre-season opening of the ballpark's gateway, Target Plaza.
Food service equipment has been installed and inspected, said executive director Dan Kenney. With most of the structure's remaining building issues already identified and corrected, he said, Target Field is ahead of schedule compared with other recent ballparks at this stage.
"We feel very good about where we're at," he said.
The authority hopes to close out its contract with Mortenson Construction, the ballpark's builder, by June 1, said project manager Ed Hunter.
Total cost of the project was about $545 million -- $425 million for the ballpark and $120 million in infrastructure costs. Kenney said that the board is trying to decide how to use $1.5 million to $2 million still left in the infrastructure budget.
One possibility, he said, would be another plaza across the street from the left-field side that would offer a platform for future Central Corridor light-rail passengers.
