Completion of the Long-Delayed Paul E. Joseph Stadium is Just Six Months Away

A project that had its first groundbreaking event under the waning days of the de Jongh administration in 2014 will finally be completed in just 6 months, according to Governor Albert Bryan, who told the Consortium on Wednesday that the Paul E. Joseph stadium was "moving" and "progressing well."

The projected March completion timeline, if achieved, would be accomplished after multiple delays, false starts and other factors that hindered progress eight years after the original groundbreaking.

Mr. Bryan in August visited the site in Frederiksted when walls for seating were being erected and steel columns were being prepared. "This one will be there for a 100 years," he said at the time.

Steady progress on the $27 million project commenced in October 2021 when the V.I. Dept. of Public Works received approval to proceed from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The project was temporarily halted in August 2020 pending FEMA’s approval of a Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR). The CLOMR is a letter from FEMA commenting on whether a proposed project, if built as proposed, would meet minimum National Flood Insurance Program standards. As a result, the project completion date was pushed back by an additional year.