RISON - One goal that Rison Mayor Charles Roberts had when he came into office was to see unused spaces in town be filled with either houses or businesses.That goal was achieved recently when Austin Saeler of Kingsland opened The Den, a batting cage rental business for baseball and softball. It is located in the 100 block of Main Street of downtown Rison next to El Garasol Mexican Restaurant.Roberts said the owner of the the building, which includes two spaces side-by-side, decided to give the unused building to the city after the roof was blow off of it during the March 2023 wind stomi. That storm, estimated to have winds of up to 85 mph, damaged several buildings in the downtown area.When Saeler approached the mayor about finding a location (see BATTING page 8) (continued from page 1) for his batting cage business, he said Roberts told him about the space downtown.Roberts said he offered to let Saeler have the property if he would invest in making the building functional, and then use it as a business for two years.Saeler, who is a contractor by trade, said the roof over both spaces was gone, and he replaced one side with with a metal roof. He said he would like to have the other side finished by Halloween.One stipulation that Saeler said he needed for the batting cages was to make sure there was enough space to accommodate the regulation pitching distances for baseball and softball. With each building being 75 feet long, he was able to achieve that.Saeler insulated the ceiling of the completed building, and then added a new heating/cooling unit for climate control. He also put in some artificial turf, and installed the netted batting cages on cables so they can be pushed back to create an open space for training. Once the roof is put on the other building, Saeler said he would like to tear down the wall between the two to create one large space that can accommodate four batting cages. He said those nets will be ...
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