April 20–Activity at the site of GoodSports Enterprises’ $22 million fieldhouse/hotel in Huber Heights has started.
The construction trailer was placed on site and fencing was installed last week on the property along Executive Boulevard, west of Meijer near the Interstate 70 and Ohio 201 interchange.
According to GoodSports and city officials, construction is expected to begin soon on GoodSports Village, which will be built along the south side of Executive Blvd. The city’s $18 million music center will be at the west end of the property, with the fieldhouse/hotel between it and Meijer.
Construction is a 10-month build-out for the fieldhouse and 12 months for the hotel, said Anthony Homer, GoodSports vice president of development.
“The goal is to get these open as fast as we can,” Homer said.
The closing of the land transfer to GoodSports — a little more than six acres — is scheduled for later this month, Huber Heights assistant city manager Scott Falkowski said.
According to the amended development agreement between the city and GoodSports, the land will be turned back over to the city if construction doesn’t start by June 1 or if the fieldhouse/hotel is not open by June 1, 2015.
“They’re still on schedule,” Falkowski said. “They have until June. There’s never been a concern on our end.”
GoodSports filed its foundation applications for the hotel and fieldhouse with Montgomery County on March 18, according to the county’s website.
The county reviewed the applications and submitted them back to GoodSports with concerns for the company to address, said Maury Wyckoff, chief building official for Montgomery County.
“The drawings they submitted were premature,” Wyckoff said. “There was information lacking that was needed. In general terms, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. We deal with drawings all the time where information is missing, and they provide the necessary information. It looks like a neat project.”
Homer said additional studies will be done at the site and the results turned over to the company’s engineers. The hope is to have that process completed in the next two weeks, and construction can then start.
“When we get the foundation in place, everything will domino,” Homer said.
The fieldhouse and hotel will be stand-alone buildings. A courtyard area will be created between the fieldhouse and hotel.
The fieldhouse will feature 85,000 square feet, including 50,000 square feet of hardwood courts (six basketball or 12 volleyball) and an 8,000-square-foot fitness center. The five-story hotel will have 124 rooms. Other on-site amenities will include a restaurant, bar, pool, meeting room, sports therapy and virtual golf.
Company officials said they would like to begin hosting events in January 2015. Events could include basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, wrestling and cheerleading.
GoodSports has posted nine job openings on its website for the Huber Heights complex. Salaries will range from $35,000 to $50,000-plus a year, depending on experience, and the company prefers to hire locally, Dave Marcinko, GoodSports vice president of sports operations, has said.
The city projects the fieldhouse/hotel annually will generate $100,000 in hotel tax (3 percent tax, 60 percent occupancy rate), $454,741 in property tax and $1.9 million in county sales tax. Over a 30-year period, approximately $7.2 million will be generated in tax increment financing money.
Huber Heights and GoodSports have said 412 total jobs — 112 permanent and 300 temporary construction — will be created by the GoodSports complex.
Construction of the 4,500-seat covered music center is expected to be completed by late summer this year.
