New investor revives indoor Sportsplex
Illinois company takes over as managing partner
Village of Sussex – A new investor has revived prospects for an indoor sports complex across Silver Spring Road from Templeton Middle School originally proposed in February 2007.
Groundbreaking for the 130,000-square-foot Sportsplex could begin as early as July, according to Engage LLC President David Mueller of Genesee Depot, who founded the company with Vice President Jeff Olson of Menomonee Falls.
Engage had trouble raising all the money it needed for the facility after the real estate and banking crises broke early last year. Initially pegged at $10 million, cost estimates for the project rose to $11 million to $13.5 million by the time the company secured a $7.5 million loan from Ridgestone Bank in Elm Grove in January 2008.
The new managing partner, G23 Development of Arlington Heights, Ill., has already added the Sussex Sports Center to its Web page, which lists nine other projects as well, including a 175,000-square-foot facility in the Chicago suburb of Lake Barrington that draws thousands of players and spectators for soccer, volleyball, basketball and other indoor sports.
Since its initial 2007 design, the architects of Wahlgren-Schwenn of Menomonee Falls have added a 35,000-square-foot artificial turf to one of the proposed facility's field houses. The new surface will primarily serve local soccer teams for games and practice, according to the company's Kevin Wahlgren, but also work for football conditioning and lacrosse, field hockey and peewee baseball games and practice.
The new turf, "the same as the ones at Brookfield Center and Camp Randall," was added to the project recently after meetings over the last two to three months between Wahlgren-Schwenn and local teams and other potential users, Wahlgren said.
The project still needs a village building permit and might apply again for a liquor license. Engage officials had asked the Sussex Plan Commission in April 2007 to allow the Sportsplex's food service concession to serve tap beer and wine coolers along with sandwiches, snacks and soft drinks.
The company's conditional-use permit allows Engage to apply for a liquor license, subject to approval by the Village Board.
Engage Sportsplex is the second such facility envisioned for Sussex. The other is a YMCA on Highway 164, which the country's economic recession has also delayed.
Sportsplex will emphasize team sports and leagues, however, while the Y is more oriented toward individual fitness training, Mueller explained in a 2007 interview, though the Sportsplex will also offer fitness programs. It won't offer swimming facilities like the Y, however.
The facility will also rent space for social occasions and for fitness and dance classes and athletic and recreational clubs.
The facility will also offer an 866-foot walking and jogging track for people who'd rather walk there than in a mall.
"The malls are getting more restrictive about when you can walk there, too," Mueller said.
Building plans include a room for activities requiring padding, such as wrestling, martial arts, aerobics and cheerleading and other rooms for sports clubs and civic groups to meet, he added.
The Engage Sportsplex property will be assessed at about $9 million once the facility opens, Mueller claimed in 2007. At this year's $4.66 mil rate, that would bring in almost $42,000 for the village.
Despite G23's takeover, Mueller said recently that he's still involved in the project and hopes the new ownership group will give the go-ahead to expand to other cities of the Sussex Sportsplex proves successful, including Engage's original list of possible sites: Eau Claire, Green Bay, Minneapolis, Nashville and Kansas City.
G23 officials could not be reached for comment before press time.
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