New Projects: West End Stadium | Stewart Field | Panama City Beach Sports Complex

Breaking Ground

FC Cincinnati recently unveiled designs by Populous for its new West End Stadium, scheduled to open in March 2021. The $250 million facility prioritizes fan experience with a progressive design that will accommodate more than 26,000 spectators with 59 premium suites, four club areas, 3,100 safe-standing seats, and an upper mezzanine that wraps around three sides of the natural grass field. The stadium will also feature a central field tunnel, two video boards, two LED ribbon boards, a 75-person press box, three television booths, four radio booths and an auxiliary broadcast booth.

The city of Farmington Hills, Mich., will soon break ground on land bought from the former Harrison High School. The land will serve as the site of a $20 million performing arts and recreation center. Designs from Integrated Design Solutions show a 245,000-square-foot facility that includes recreation space, a fitness area and upgrades to an existing 700-seat auditorium. The project will also convert an existing pool to a large-scale aquatics center with a water slide, a climbing wall, a lazy river, a zipline and a zero-depth entry. The city anticipates a fully functional facility by January 2021.

Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Calif., has begun work on an athletics and kinesiology complex, part of the Vision 2020 Facilities Master Plan officials approved in 2015. The 50,478-square-foot complex will replace the existing 1950s-era pool with a 65-meter competition swimming pool and covered bleachers, a 25-meter shallow-water pool for adapted kinesiology classes, locker rooms, cardio and aerobics space, equipment management and athletic training rooms, and offices for swim coaches and kinesiology faculty. The total cost of renovation and construction is estimated at $36 million.

The city of West Lafayette, Ind., has finished demolition of its previous parks and recreation building and begun construction on the new West Lafayette Wellness and Aquatic Center in Cumberland Park. The city will relocate existing playground equipment to make way for the $25 million facility that will feature an indoor gymnasium, playground and track in addition to an aquatics center. The project boasts the first public recreation facilities in the state to implement universal bathrooms, changing rooms and showers. The center is expected to open its doors in January 2021.

First Pitch

The municipality of Chatham-Kent, Ont., has committed $18.5 million (Canadian) to replace two of its aging arenas. Preliminary designs by Perkins+Will propose a new twin pad and multisport community center with indoor competition space for soccer, tennis and pickleball. The project will begin once additional funding has been secured for the estimated $63.8 million facility.

It was recently announced that Missouri's West County Middle School, Neosho Middle School and Premier Charter School are the latest schools to win DON'T QUIT! Fitness Centers. These $100,000 facilities are funded through public-private partnerships and will feature American-manufactured fitness equipment. The centers hope to serve community residents as well as students in the future.

The Coshocton (Ohio) City Board of Education has accepted a $550,000 proposal by Kelly Architectural Services Inc. to improve grounds and facilities at Stewart Field. A new 5,000-square-foot field house is planned for the site that will house an athletic training room, locker rooms for varsity football and boys' and girls' soccer, a concessions stand and public restrooms.

Grand Openings

[Photo courtesy of Panama City Beach]

Panama City Beach is hosting a grand opening event this fall for its $37 million outdoor multisport complex. The 13-field Panama City Beach Sports Complex features nine turf fields, four natural grass fields and dedicated tournament support buildings for soccer, lacrosse, rugby, football, flag football, baseball and softball. Two of the fields are designated championships hosting sites with seating for 1,500 and more than 1,000 parking spots. The complex, under management by Sports Facilities Management LLC, has already booked 48 tournaments for the 2019-20 season.

The San Antonio-based grocery chain H-E-B has opened an innovative new headquarters in East Austin, Texas, that incorporates a full wellness center with a climbing wall, fitness class space and locker rooms, in addition to 50 meeting rooms, event space, an open lounge area and a coffee bar. The 81,000-square-foot open-concept facility was redesigned by IA Interior Architects using the bones of an existing warehouse. The building celebrates H-E-B's Texas heritage with locally sourced finish materials, and custom installations and murals by local artists.

The city of Temple Terrace, Fla., held a ribbon-cutting ceremony this summer at its revamped Family Recreation Complex. A year-long renovation of the existing facilities included improvements to outdoor basketball courts, pool locker rooms, offices, classrooms and the entrance lobby, as well as the construction of a new fitness center and the addition of a snack bar and coffee shop. The new in-house Focus Cafe provides employment opportunities for students with special needs aged 14 to 22. Design elements were provided by Woodroffe Corp. Architects and Wilder Architecture Inc.

This article originally appeared in the September 2019 issue of Athletic Business with the title "Forward Progress." Athletic Business is a free magazine for professionals in the athletic, fitness and recreation industry. Click here to subscribe.