- Orioles officials are confident that when the $31 million renovation of Ed Smith Stadium and Twin Lakes Park is complete, their spring training facilities, long regarded as among the major leagues' worst, will become one of baseball's best.

"By the time we're through, when you consider travel, community, fields, facilities, absolutely it will," Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said. "When it's all said and done, it's really going to be something that we'll all be proud of."

Team officials can't help but look forward to what the complex could become when the massive renovation project is finished.

Work was scheduled to start after spring training in early April, but that is in jeopardy because of a pending lawsuit from two local citizens groups that alleges Sarasota County officials violated the state's open-meetings laws while negotiating the deal with the Orioles.

However, the lawsuit has not tempered enthusiasm for the project, which is being directed by Orioles vice president of planning and development Janet Marie Smith, the driving force behind the design and planning of Camden Yards, who also oversaw renovations at Fenway Park in recent years.

Among Smith's early decisions was to hire an architect to execute the project - she selected Sarasota-based Hoyt Architects and Washington-based architect David Schwarz to work in collaboration - and to renovate Ed Smith Stadium rather than fully rebuild the complex.

"There is so much here to work with," Smith said. "We've tried to be careful as we're doing things that we don't take out the very things that give it character. We just figure this is the best way to make our dollar go further."

The planned renovation includes adding a second-floor concourse to the stadium and extending the roof, which would alleviate a common complaint among stadium-goers that the park doesn't have enough shade. Overall, about 1,500 seats will be added to the 20-year-old stadium, increasing capacity to 9,000.

A home bullpen will be set up down the right-field line, adjacent to berm seating, and a picnic area will be added down the left-field line.

The facade will be constructed of stucco and clay tile, and there will be several arches providing entranceways to the stadium and allowing fans to get a look at the playing field right away.

Smith said the design, which was influenced by Orioles owner Peter Angelos, is meant to pay homage to the rich architectural history of Sarasota.

"Mr. Angelos was emphatic that what he wanted was something that belonged in Sarasota," Smith said. "Having looked at a lot of these, I'm excited and convinced that the Orioles will end up with something way better than some of these teams that are starting from scratch. It's just a more mature site with more things around it."

The building, which currently holds the clubhouse, dining room, weight room and offices, will be expanded significantly to house the major league club along with the Orioles' Double-A and Triple-A affiliates. The major and minor leaguers will have their own separate clubhouses and training rooms, and share an enhanced weight room.

That will allow the Orioles, who are renovating Ed Smith, to have a unique arrangement in which the Single-A teams will train at the team's current minor league facility at nearby Twin Lakes Park, which is also due a face-lift. MacPhail, pointing out that the Orioles will have 10 total fields available, said no other big league team will have as much space.

"It's going to create the best environment, atmosphere and the most room for our players, and it's going to lessen our impact on Twin Lakes because we're not going to have to shoehorn so many players in there," MacPhail said. "To me, it's the most efficient and intelligent use of what we got."

All that's left is for the renovation to start. Team and county officials acknowledged that if the lawsuit, brought by the Sarasota Citizens for Responsible Government and Citizens for Sunshine, isn't settled in the next couple of months, it would be hard to complete the project by next February, when another spring training begins. Smith said Ed Smith Stadium will likely take 10 months to renovate, while the Twin Lakes project should require six months.

"I've seen the plans, the drawings, and it's going to be top-shelf," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "I don't think anybody in baseball is going to have better facilities than the Baltimore Orioles."