At Wrigley Field Wednesday, the biggest changes since the last time I had been there were the addition of shrouds around the southeast corner of the ballpark at Addison and Sheffield. Of course, that’s the area we are most curious about, but I guess we’ll simply have to wait and see what’s going on there.
One thing I wanted to give you a sense of is how noisy it was at that corner. Here’s a short video I took of that area this morning:
I’m not sure how much of a sense you get of the sound, but it’s really loud in person.
The other thing that’s most notable is the removal of not only the fences, but some of the concrete panels on the north end of the grandstand, presumably where some sort of patio/standing room area is going to be built. You can see that best in photos 4 and 5.
As noted in the photo captions, there is a very large hole being dug in the sidewalk on Sheffield, just south of the end of the bleachers. What the purpose of this hole is, I do not know. You can see that best in photos 13, 14 and 15.
Otherwise, work continues on what will become outdoor patios on the upper deck facade.
So far, the Cubs have had decent enough weather to work in; it hasn’t been unreasonably cold or windy (high wind would be one of the biggest reasons they’d have to shut down for a day), and there hasn’t been much daytime rain. They should be able to finish everything on time before the home opener April 8.
We’ll have more photos here over the weekend.