Above: US Virgin Islands Governor John de Jongh (Photo: OG)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The US Virgin Islands has entered into an agreement with developers to build a multi-million dollar sports complex at the Paul E Joseph stadium in St Croix, Governor John de Jongh announced.

The project, which is based in Frederiksted, will include a baseball stadium, an aquatic facility and volleyball and tennis courts.

“If we were going to successfully lure athletic tournaments, races and exhibitions to St Croix, we needed to waste no time in laying the groundwork to develop the infrastructure required by those events,” de Jongh said. “With the challenging economic times that soon came upon us, we also understood that we need to find innovative ways to do that.”

According to the governor, the plan was first conceived three years ago, when the Department of Property and Procurement put out a request for proposals.

It “will have a lasting effect on St Croix and more specifically, the town of Frederiksted,” de Jongh said.

On hand at the press conference announcing the project was Horace Clarke, a native of St Croix and former member of the New York Yankees.

While with the the Yankees, Clarke played at an exhibition game at Paul E Joseph stadium almost 45 years ago against the Boston Red Sox, the kind of event that could happen again if the project goes as planned.

The Memorandum of Agreement was signed by the Virgin Islands government, General Engineering Corporation and GlobeVest. It will be submitted to the 29th Legislature for review.

The developers say the project could draw more than 80 sanctioned events each year to the island.