How the city of Fayetteville plans to move forward with its $20 million sports complex
Although the city learned last month that it wouldn't be awarded a federal grant to build a Fayetteville sports complex, city officials and community stakeholders are staying optimistic about the project.
The McArthur Road Sports Complex, which has also been called the Fayetteville and Fort Liberty Regional Sports Complex by the city, is estimated to cost about $20 million and would bring a dozen baseball and softball fields, batting cages, concession and restroom facilities and a playground and walking trail to Fayetteville, according to city documents.
City staff told the Fayetteville City Council in August that they hoped a federal grant from the Defense Community Investment Program would cover the bulk of the costs. According to an email sent to members of the Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, city officials found out later that month that they were not awarded the grant for what staff have deemed an “underfunded” project.
But that latest hurdle isn’t stopping city staff, according to Assistant City Manager Adam Lindsay.
“We continue to receive some really good feedback about how we can improve that grant (application) in a second round,” Lindsay said Friday. “But in addition to that, even if that doesn’t play out, we’re also excited that others in the military community and outside are giving us other opportunities that we will also pursue. Sometimes, in this process, you kind of get knocked back a step, but that enables you to take a couple steps forward when those new opportunities present themselves.”
Lindsay said the city will reapply for the second round of the grant but is also in preliminary talks with Fort Liberty about alternative funding sources.
“We’ve got our own staff looking into that. We have some of our lobbyists looking into that,” he said. “That is certainly one area that we’re looking at, in addition to just what can we do within the city’s budget and sort of figure out a plan ahead as to how we can scrape dollars together to get us closer to the finish line.”
Part of that plan may include building the complex in phases rather than completing the project all at once, Lindsay said.
“We sent in the grant, and prior to that, we had completed the construction drawings for the entire complex as if it would be all built at once,” he said. “There are multiple paths forward on a project of this size and scope, and so what we’ll now look at is taking that original full buildout, if you will, and talk about scaling it. So it hasn’t changed as far as the end goal.”
What ultimately happens with the construction depends on funding and when it is available, Lindsay said.
'Fayetteville deserves this'
Though the rejected grant application was an unexpected stumbling block, those close to the project remain optimistic.
“There’s so much happening, and we’re just so excited. Fayetteville deserves this,” Lindsay said.
City staff and Councilwoman Kathy Jensen, who serves the district where the project will be located, said she has been involved with the project from its beginning in 2018, said a partnership with Fort Liberty has been crucial to the complex’s development.
“It was interesting. They came to us with this idea,” Jensen said Friday, referring to Fort Liberty. “They took the ball, and between the garrison staff and our staff, they went back and forth, sat at the table and said, ‘What can we do?’”
Jensen said the spirit of collaboration has served the project well
“It’s always better to have partners involved, and having the federal government and the United States Army with us is ... that’s a home run,” she said, grinning at the baseball reference.
The 70-acre site at 1008 McArthur Road belongs to Fort Liberty, but the city will sign a 30-year lease agreement with the military for the property, Lindsay said.
“As you think about military families, both active military and retirees, Fayetteville is home to these folks,” he said. “It just seemed like a very natural fit for us to work with them to provide facilities that obviously benefit all residents, but it just so happens that this is on property still owned by Fort Liberty.”
That property’s central location, Jensen said, will be a boon to the complex.
“If we’re gonna do a sports complex and we want people to stay, play in Fay, we can’t put them out on the outskirts of town,” she said. “We want them to stay in Fayetteville. We want them to eat in Fayetteville. We want them to shop in Fayetteville.”
Jensen said that the number and variety of sports fields the complex will offer will help families whose children play on travel sports teams or participate in tournaments, giving them more options and generating tourism dollars for the city.
City spokesperson Loren Bymer said the project will benefit all involved.
“I think it’s a win-win both for the community and for Fort Liberty, because it’s land that they wouldn’t necessarily be able to easily use, and it’s land that residents of Fayetteville can easily access,” he said. “It encompasses a positive benefit for both parties involved.”
Additional opportunities?
With the complex still in the preliminary stages, some in the community are hoping to partner with the city to bring even more to the project.
Albeiro Florez, general manager for the Fayetteville Fury indoor soccer club, said Friday that the club is trying to meet with city officials in the hopes that the project could bring “high-caliber soccer” to Fayetteville.
Florez said the infrastructure to develop local soccer talent doesn’t currently exist in the area. Parks and Recreations’ fields are already reserved for other uses, and the Jordan Soccer Complex’s fields are exclusively contracted to one club, he said.
“We tried to go to the high schools because they have the high school fields,” Florez said. “There’s concerns with maintenance. There’s concerns with a lot of them don’t meet the size requirements that is needed for these leagues as far as the field sizes. So, it puts us in a constraint.”
Florez said when the club first heard about the project possibly going in the Fields Road area, the club developed a prospective plan that would include a stadium like the American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte; an indoor facility to accommodate football and indoor soccer; outdoor fields; an athletic facility aimed at strength conditioning and recovery; and a pool for swimming competitions.
“We’re willing to put (in) the work and to partner up, to look for private-sector partnership, as long as we can get the public sector to support us,” Florez said. “It can be something that belongs to the city and that we rent out from the city and do like a long-term contract.”
Florez is awaiting a response from city officials, he said. He hopes to first meet with those in charge of the project and then host town halls with the community to gain public interest and support.
“It’s gonna bring value to the community,” he said.
Government watchdog reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at ABSolomon@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville and Fort Liberty partner for McArthur Road sports complex
