As a Chatham County resident, Latonya Brown grew tired of having to drive her daughter to Durham three times a week for track practice. Conversations with other parents in the community who also had to leave the county in order to support their kids’ participation in sports revealed that the issue was common in the area.
“We’re competing in other counties, and doing other things in other counties, and spending money in other counties, eating dinner in other counties,” she said. “That’s what I did for the last three years with my daughter.”
This issue inspired the idea to provide a large-scale youth sports facility within Chatham County. Brown founded SUPA with her husband, Quincy, who is serving as the lead designer and developer of the facility. On Monday, the two of them presented their idea to the Town of Pittsboro Board of Commissioners.
Rendition of the planned youth sportsplex facility. (Photo via SUPA)
The mission statement in the presentation included an intention to develop more than 600,000 square feet of technologically advanced indoor sports facilities and learning spaces to serve as a venue for a variety of recreational and educational programs, health training initiatives, and competitive sports events.
SUPA plans to build four fieldhouses containing indoor fields for sports such as football, soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey; courts for basketball and volleyball; and an indoor track, plus one general arena.
Rendition of the indoor track planned for the facility. (Photo via SUPA)
In his long-term vision, Quincy Brown also hopes to potentially host Chatham County Community College sports teams and possibly even a professional volleyball team at the facility.
“There is a tremendous amount of vigor around building an arena for indoor sports that will allow you to bring in some of the more growing and popular sports, and even at some point host a team,” he said.
The presentation cited research listing the benefits of participating in youth sports, including higher graduation rates, college enrollment, and better behavioral performance. SUPA plans to provide affordable memberships and accessible facilities as remedies for issues that tend to limit participation in youth sports, such as high costs, lack of adequate spaces, and unequal opportunities among genders, racial communities, and socioeconomic groups.
Case studies in the presentation described the successes of eight similar large-scale sports facilities around the country, highlighting the revenue they bring in for their cities and their high usage rates. There were also overall statistics about the market size for such facilities, such as its total value of $44 billion and compound annual growth rate of 24%.
Projections estimated hundreds of thousands of visitors coming to the area for events, which would stimulate local business and tourism. Other ways Brown promised benefits to the area were through the creation of 50 to 60 new jobs and millions of dollars in capital expenditures going to local vendors for construction, infrastructure development, and equipment purchases.
Rendition of the basketball and volleyball courts planned for the facility. (Photo via SUPA)
The presentation also addressed SUPA’s planned efforts to make the facility eco-friendly, including use of geothermal heat pumps, high-efficiency HVAC systems, LED lighting, water-efficient fixtures, regenerable and recyclable building materials, and 4,000 roof-mounted solar panels capable of generating enough energy to power over 100 homes every day. Brown said the facility will aim for a platinum certification from LEED, the most widely-used rating system for environmental friendliness of buildings. He said the clean energy aspect of the building will also help save money in the long term.
“We are interested in monetizing clean energy,” he said. “As long as this facility is up and running, it will generate revenue from clean energy, meaning I’ve been able to reduce the cost of construction.”
Members of the Board of Commissioners and town staff commented and asked questions afterward. Town manager Jonathan Franklin noted a lack of specifics for some parts of the plan, and asked for particular details in terms of the amount of money and land SUPA wants.
“It’s been unclear what you all want from the town, and certainly I think the county probably shares in that sentiment,” he said. “Earlier, it was asked how much this is going to cost, and we didn’t hear an answer. So we don’t know what it’s going to cost. We don’t truly know how much land that you need. A lot of these would be very helpful in terms of, like a pro forma, or something that we can look at and put numbers on paper.”
Among a few other questions, the commissioners overall were generally receptive of the sportsplex idea, agreeing to follow up and try to facilitate the process. Commissioner John Bonitz particularly complimented the emphasis on providing equitable access to youth sports.
“I’m encouraged to hear about the nonprofit side of your plans, because equity of access is my primary consideration,” he said. “As I hear from staff about various proposals with the private sector to build athletic facilities, I hear it from a lot of highly informed leaders in the athletic community that this really is the crux of the matter.”
Featured photo via SUPA.
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