The sports editor of Diario Libre, Nathanael Pérez Neró, profiles on 25 April 2024 the difference Dominican architect Jose Mella has made in sports in the Dominican Republic. Mella is the mastermind behind the Dominican Republic becoming the base for Major League Baseball academies. All 30 MLB teams have academies here and Mella has designed and built 16 of these.
69-year old José Mella Febles has left his mark like few others on the drastic change in Major League baseball training infrastructure with these investing more than US$200 million to build the training facilities.
Mella has designed and built baseball academies for St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, NY Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, Los Ángeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Ray and Baltimore Orioles among others. He also designed and built the Go Ministries mega multi-sports complex in Tamboril, Santiago for Dominican youth.
“I started because I like baseball. I bought land, little by little, I took out a loan and the Cardinals also gave me an advance, in 2004. It was very small, very humble, but it was one of the first designed by architects. Before it was some master builder, a baseball player had a friend or family member who made it,” Mella explained to Diario Libre on how he got his start.
Mella’s specialization in sports facilities has raised his JMF Arquitectos to a new level and impacted sports in the Dominican Republic. Yet, he has done much more.
Diario Libre explains the multifaceted career of Mella over more than four decades. Mella has designed and built apartments, residential areas, industries, villas and hotels. Mella has also specialized in airport design in the country, Chile and Panama. Mella is also the designer of the Pedernales International Airport commissioned by the Dominican government for the southwestern province.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
Construmedia
25 April 2024