Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation

Soccer complex cost rising

Aug 2, 2007
By BULLETIN STAFF. The price tag for the soccer complex to be built in Henry County could double to about $8 million as a “gold standard” complex is being planned, according to the executive director of The Harvest Foundation.

“We really want to do the gold standard,” said Rich Killingsworth of Harvest. “The package we are looking at would make it more than a soccer complex.”

Among ideas being considered for the eight-field complex, which will be built on about 91 acres near the intersection of the U.S. 58 bypass and Irisburg Road, are a small water facility, a playground, a conference room for coaches and a concession stand, Killingsworth said. Planners also are looking at how the complex will fit into the Smith River environment and how it will accommodate families, he said.

Under “the numbers being floated now,” the price tag for the complex may rise from $4 million to about $8 million, he said.

“What we’re trying to do is make it as robust as possible coming out of the gate” so Dennis Toney, executive director of the Southern Virginia Recreation Facilities Authority, and others can successfully market it for regional soccer tournaments and other uses, Killingsworth said.

A final design of the project from Woolpert Engineering of Charlotte should be approved by the project’s construction committee on Sept. 27, according to Bob Davis, chairman of the Southern Virginia Recreation Facilities Authority.

After that, he said, it should take a couple of months for the company to prepare construction documents that will give potential bidders an idea of the scope of the project. It may go to bid in January 2008, with construction beginning shortly after.

“At this point we would hope to break ground in March of ’08,” Davis said.

Davis said the length of construction depends on the final design, but it could be finished by the fall of 2008 or the spring of 2009.

At a meeting in January, the authority was told bids could go out by this summer, construction could begin in the fall, and the complex could be completed by spring 2008.

Killingsworth said it is common for projects such as this to take longer and cost more than first expected. But, he said, the authority is making sure it has “all the right people involved” and is getting the proper feedback on the project.

“It’s going to be, I would almost use the word ‘spectacular,’” Davis said.

Davis said he did not know the limit Harvest would approve for the soccer complex but said that any money to upgrade the complex would not be taken from the planned $16 million arena in uptown Martinsville. The two projects were announced together last October.

The arena is further in the future than the soccer complex, Davis said.

“The property is not quite ready to be turned over yet (to the facilities authority),” he said, with some buildings on it that still need to be torn down.

Clarence Monday, Martinsville’s interim city manager, said the city expects to buy the old Fuller Tire building on the property in the next few weeks.

After that is purchased, an environmental assessment will have to be done and bids will be let to demolish both the old tire building and a former Patrick Henry Community College building that the city already owns.

Monday said the city should be able to transfer ownership of the property by this fall.

“We’re on track and we’ve got plenty of time to get everything done before they break ground,” he said. The city was told that would happen sometime in the fall of 2008, he added.

No design work has been done since the initial concept, Davis said, but authority members and officials have been visiting similar arenas and field houses around the country to get ideas.

“We’ve just been looking to see what’s out there and what makes sense,” he said.

The arena complex will differ from the soccer complex in that it will not be designed by one firm and built by another, Davis said. Instead, he said, one firm will be contracted to both design and build it, which could expedite the initial stages of the process.

Originally, Davis said, the intention was to get the arena complex ready by 2010, but he could not speculate if that will happen.

“I don’t know if it’s realistic or not at this point,” he said.

Davis said he would love to see the projects get started as soon as possible. When they are done they will be something “our community can take a great deal of pride in,” he said.

They seem to be on a reasonable track, he said.

“I think they’re moving fine. I know people are anxious, and so am I,”’ he said.

According to its original concept, the arena will include a field house that can support basketball courts, volleyball courts and indoor soccer and can be used for trade shows and exhibitions.

Also, it will have a 30,000-square-foot multi-purpose area that can accommodate concerts and a 7,500-square-foot fitness space with a 1/8-mile elevated walking track.

The soccer complex will have bleachers, two lighted fields and other amenities.

Although Harvest is funding the construction, after the facilities are done they will be turned over to the regional authority, whose members include representatives from groups such as Harvest, Martinsville and Henry County, to be operated.