Proposed Sports Complex On North Side Of Shadow Creek Ranch

[Timnwendy]

Robert Stanton posted an update on this project at his Inside Pearland blog today. I will repost it below for our HAIF archives.

Shadowcreek Ranch could soon be home to mega sports complex.

It's by no means a done deal, but city officials seem to have a consensus on their support of a deal that could bring a major sports complex to the Shadow Creek Ranch area.

Here's how the proposed deal would work:

USA Partners Sports Alliance, a Florida-based consulting firm, is working to secure sponsorships from Fortune 500 companies to support national youth sporting events at a city owned, 30-acre park west of Kingsley and north of Shadow Creek Parkway.

To ensure that the park is available for local residents to use, the city would require an operating agreement with the alliance specifying the number of games and weekends they would be held, City Manager Bill Eisen said.

Pearland voters last May approved a $162 million bond package that includes $8 million for a sports facility, but the funding would not be available until 2010, city officials said.

Revenues from the sponsorships, as well as from deals with hotels and national sports organizations, would allow the sports alliance to pay the debt service on the city's bonds, Eisen said.

USA Sports Alliance officials said they could start construction on the park within 60 to 90 days to expand it to 12 fields, as well as an indoor sports facility for volleyball and basketball.

City Council signed a $250,000 contract with the firm in May to keep the process rolling. Council is expected to vote on a formal resolution supporting the proposal at its Sept. 8 meeting.

While City Council is open to the idea of a major sports complex in the city that would draw national youth teams from across the nation, many shopping at stores and staying at Pearland hotels say they aren't completely sold yet.

Council agreed to have a third-party financial consultant review the proposal before any decision is made.

Here's what Councilwoman Felicia Cole said at Monday night's Council meeting:

The concept is unique, but the structure behind it is not very clear right now. There's too many 'what's' and 'ifs.' The question is, how much risk is the city getting, versus (the risk to) USA Partners.

[Timnwendy]

Looks like this won't be happening anytime soon, and the city could be out $250K. Read this article about the current status, from the Pearland Journal website.

[plee]

Looks like this won't be happening anytime soon, and the city could be out $250K. Read this article about the current status, from the Pearland Journal website.

Sad but with the economy it's understandable. Hopefully, it's still something that still could happen, maybe start with a small scale project and continue to add on at later dates.

[Timnwendy]

I just get ticked when I see the city spending that kind of money on a project that wasn't guaranteed. Maybe they can get the $250K refunded, but maybe not. The money could have gone to something much more directly related to Pearland, for example, buying extra police cars so every patrolman could have one.