Breaking Ground
The University of Oklahoma, the city of Norman and Cleveland County officials broke ground on the Rock Creek Entertainment District, a $1 billion development planned for North Norman that includes a new 8,000-seat arena for OU men’s and women’s basketball and women’s gymnastics, as well as retail, restaurant and office space, a new hotel, housing options, public gathering spaces and outdoor plazas.
Construction has begun on a 70,000-square-foot, $15 million multipurpose indoor athletics facility near Birmingham, Ala. The Apex Athletics Center is being built at Apollo High School’s campus, but is designed for year-round use. The facility will feature a full-size turf field, batting cages, golf simulators and a walking track. It will accommodate soccer, football, lacrosse, softball, baseball and golf, and will be available for both district teams and community use.
First Pitch
Rendering courtesy of Motown Sports Group Holdings
A group of developers in Michigan announced a $3 billion entertainment and youth athletics complex near Detroit Metropolitan Airport that’s initially being called the Motown Sports Village. Plans for the 1.15-million-square-foot complex include a 9,000- to 11,000-seat arena, 12 basketball and volleyball courts, four hockey rinks convertible into indoor soccer fields, a half-mile indoor running track, and a 450,000-square-foot indoor water and surf park. The development will also include a 96-tee golf center, outdoor football and soccer fields, and three hotels totaling 2,000 rooms.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are seeking $1 billion from the Tampa Bay Sports Authority to renovate Raymond James Stadium. The team would pay a third of the cost and then seek the rest of the funding from the public. Half of the renovation money would be used for sun shades to cover parts of the stadium seating during hot gamedays.
Grand Openings
Georgia Tech cut the ribbon on a major expansion for Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field called the Thomas A. Fanning Student-Athlete Performance Center. The 108,000-square-foot project aims to modernize Georgia Tech’s historic football stadium, while boosting recruitment efforts and athlete performance, recovery and wellness. The facility features Georgia Tech’s first sports science lab, as well as space for sports medicine, nutrition, and strength and conditioning.
West Monroe (La.) High School cut the ribbon on a new sports medicine facility and covered practice field at a combined cost of $7.5 million. The sports medicine facility includes a recovery center for student-athletes, as well as a hydrotherapy room and dedicated stations for taping and bandaging. The covered practice facility features a 300-by-190-foot synthetic turf football field. A 1% sales tax for the west side of Ouachita parish made the upgrades possible.
Developers in West Palm Beach, Fla., introduced plans for DUS Padel, a 26,000-square-foot facility that will be anchored by five indoor padel courts, fully weather-protected for year-round play in South Florida. Beyond the courts, the program will include an organic café, a curated retail and wellness lounge, men’s and women’s locker rooms with saunas, cold plunges, recovery amenities and a pro shop.
