For more than two decades, young baseball players in Lititz took the field on two diamonds behind the brick Wilbur Chocolate factory in the center of town. The fields were a short walk from downtown, close to Lititz Springs Park, and for many families they were simply where Little League happened.
In June 2017, that changed. Oak Tree Development Group announced its plan for the former factory property, and the fields were part of the land it intended to build on.
Who was behind the plan
Oak Tree’s principal owners, Ian Ruzow, Rob Liss, Steve Zuckerman and Bob Zuckerman, were also the owners of the Lancaster Barnstormers, the professional baseball team that plays at Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster. The irony of baseball team owners displacing a youth baseball league was not lost on local families, and it shaped much of the public reaction.
Oak Tree’s plan called for converting the historic factory into a boutique hotel and building luxury apartments and two buildings of 55-plus condominiums on surrounding land. The company said the project would create jobs and respect the small-town character of Lititz.
Why the fields were at risk
The fields sat on property owned by Cargill, which had closed the Wilbur Chocolate plant in January 2016. The Little League had used them for years, but the land was private, and the league did not own it. Once the factory closed and the site was marketed for redevelopment, the fields’ future depended on what a buyer wanted to do with the land.
Open land next to a downtown is valuable to developers, especially in a borough with little room to grow. For Oak Tree, the fields offered space for new housing that would help finance the conversion of the historic factory.
What families said
Parents and coaches spoke out at public meetings and on social media. Many argued that the fields were a community asset that had served thousands of children, and that the town should insist on replacing them. Some pointed out that the fields were among the few places in the borough where children could walk or bike to practice. Others accepted that the land was privately owned but asked that the developer help the league find a new home.
How it was resolved
Oak Tree purchased the 11-acre property in January 2018 for $2.25 million. Construction moved ahead, and The Wilbur Lititz hotel opened at 50 N. Broad St. in September 2019, along with a restaurant, a market and condominiums. Apartments and The Lofts at Lititz Springs, a senior living community, were built on the surrounding land.
Warwick Little League relocated its games to other fields in the area, including Elizabeth Township Park. Moving meant more driving for many families who had once walked to games, and the league had to work out scheduling across fields it did not control. The league continues to serve families across the Warwick School District.
What the episode showed
The Wilbur fields debate was an early example of a question Lititz has faced repeatedly since: how to balance growth with the places residents consider part of the town’s character. As land in and around the borough becomes more valuable, open spaces that families have used informally for years can disappear quickly if no one owns them for public use.
For families, the lesson was practical. Leagues and community groups that depend on someone else’s land are vulnerable. Securing long-term leases, or public ownership of key fields, is the surest way to protect them.
Read more about the factory’s closing and redevelopment in The Day Lititz Learned the Wilbur Chocolate Factory Would Close, and follow current borough and township decisions in Local News.