GREENFIELD — Construction has started on a “mini-Fenway” at Lunt Field, soon giving area youngsters a chance to hit a wall-ball double off a “Green Monster” of their own.
The construction started Wednesday at a field near the Franklin Recovery Center and former Lunt Silversmith factory off Norwood Street. The location will soon be the site for a field with scaled-down features similar to the home of the Boston Red Sox.
According to Aaron Campbell, member of the Greenfield Minor League board of directors, the replica field could be completed in time for the league’s opening day in May.
“We’re hoping to get it done before Little League opening day May 12. If we don’t have it ready by then, hopefully shortly after,” he said.
The field is one of three that were part of the former Lunt Silversmith factory property. The city purchased the fields for $660,000 in July 2014 and eventually leased the property to Greenfield Minor League, which has used the fields for decades.
The field’s most notable feature will be a modified version of the Green Monster, which will stand at 12 feet tall in left field. The wall, made by North Carolina-based Sports Edge, will have space for advertisers, as well as a nonworking replica of the scoreboard in the wall at Fenway, according to Campbell.
In addition to the miniature Green Monster, Campbell said the field will also include its own version of “The Triangle” in center field, similar to where baseballs have bounded around for over a century in Boston.
Other dimensions of the field include a 6-foot-tall center field wall, a 4-foot-tall right field wall and baseball diamond within a diamond with two different lengths of base paths.
“We kind of condense it to a (youth league) multi-purpose field,” Campbell said.
Campbell said that the field will not have lighting, though he believes that could eventually come to the location.
According to Alex Siano, treasurer for the Greenfield Minor League, the project is expected to cost about $110,000 to complete.
Area businesses have promised about $85,000 of that total, Siano said. He expects the remaining amount to come from funding sources including the city, though donations are still being accepted.
Siano said businesses that donated will be recognized during the field’s opening day, as well as in advertisements in the park.