BCB's Mike Bojanowski paid a visit to Wrigley Field Sunday and filed this report:
These photos were taken Sunday noon, March 6, my first visit to Wrigley since last weekend.The big update is the much-anticipated debut of the retro ornamental iron facing (photos 7 and 8). Two panels are visible, and have been since at least last Friday. There are other such panels in place behind the shrouding, they are visible in relief against the material when the wind blows the shrouds against the building. This does not display in the photographs, unfortunately. It has been remarked that the panels are not precise duplicates of the 1930s iron. It appears that a slight increase in height has been adopted at the expense of some accuracy. So it goes.At (ahem) great personal risk, I stood in the Clark Street traffic lanes to snap these through-the-chainlink views of the new iron. (Not really, Sunday traffic is light enough to do this safely. I wanna live to see this upcoming season as much as anyone else). One cannot but feel that the two visible panels, set up in this manner, are meant as a tease.There is new finished pavement in place at the main entrance and the bleacher entrance. Some of the shrouding has been taken down along the left field lower bowl, this assumes the new seats (out of view) are at least partly in place. The finish brick seems nearly done on all sides of the media building.The McDonald's property was unchanged from David's photo set of Friday.A hot news item this weekend was the removal of trees and shrubs along the west side of Seminary Avenue fronting the former parking lot (photos 20-26). That side of Seminary fronts the lot without a curb, some soil pits allow for a line of greenery to act as a separator between the lot and the street. Two fairly large trees and a good deal of shrubbery have been cut down at the south end of the block, two large trees and some shrubs remain further north, their fate to be determined.Some greenery was trimmed in that area during the temporary relocation of the groundkeeper's cottage, this has been somewhat more draconian. The stated purpose has been to allow for construction-related trailers to be moved or installed at that location, with the greenery to be replaced after the project is completed.Big changes have come, with far more still in the works.
David Sameshima also visited Wrigley on Sunday and we'll have a larger photoset from him a bit later in the week.