Sports complex at Community Campus, Pease, mall? Portsmouth, towns to explore locations

PORTSMOUTH — The City Council voted to authorize City Manager Karen Conard to form a "site investigation committee" for “the purposes of exploring a potential location for a multi-sports complex.”

The plan is for Portsmouth to work with the towns of Greenland, Newington, New Castle and Rye, which are the neighboring SAU 50 school district towns that send students to Portsmouth High School of SAU 52 (the city's school district).

Conard told the council that the committee “would speak to the process by which the city issued a request for qualifications to explore the potential for a public-private partnership to develop an indoor multi-sports complex" that would include an ice hockey rink.

Although the council voted unanimously to authorize the formation of the committee, some city councilors — primarily Rich Blalock — raised concerns about the idea and whether it could hurt the chances for a sports complex to be located at the Portsmouth-owned Community Campus.

Blalock stated he is glad the city was “moving forward with this, but I do have some reservations of incorporating all the other towns on the site committee.”

“I know we want to look at any possibility and location, I hope that Pease is one of these locations that is considered. I just don’t want to keep delaying this,” Blalock said. "My only concern is once we involve Rye, Greenland, Newington, we’re getting more cooks in the kitchen, and it’s going to be delaying the process.”

Blalock acknowledged if the city focused on just Portsmouth sites for the potential indoor arena, it would be “exactly like what we did in the land use and the police station committees.”

He referenced seven city-owned properties the city is considering for either work-force housing or a new police station.

Conard said she “personally reached out to the town administrators and town managers in each community to let them know this was going out (and) to gauge their interest.

“A couple of them, notably Greenland and Newington, did have some thoughts on potential sites within their communities,” she said.

Community Campus location 'could be challenging' for sports complex

Blalock asked if the city understands “what is possible at Community Campus yet or are we still evaluating that?”

The city has performed “an updated wetlands delineation survey” at the site, Conard replied.

“The boundaries are narrower than previously thought, what we will do is to present to council, and I know the Recreation Board is interested as well, how that map lays out,” Conard said. “But at this point given the requirements set forth by the interested parties of at least five acres, that could be challenging.”

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The city agreed to buy the Community Campus facility and more than 30 acres around it in September 2021. The city has since built and opened a new multi-use outdoor turf field there.

Blalock reminded the council that “the biggest thing to come out of" a city recreation study was “a centralized location of recreation facilities would be what is ideal.”

“I know a lot of people are hopeful this would be able to happen at Community Campus, along with the turf fields and everything else that’s there,” Blalock said.

“I would like to see a further understanding of the property at Community Campus, and either why this could fit or why it couldn’t fit, just so people can understand that,” Blalock said.

Mayor says involving Greenland, Newington, New Castle and Rye could open up options

During an interview Wednesday, Mayor Deaglan McEachern said “the immediate goal is to make sure we can do all that’s in our power to make sure our Portsmouth High School teams have all the appropriate facilities in a hockey arena.”

Having the neighboring towns participate in the site selection process allows the city “to cast a wider net,” according to McEachern, which he said could “speed the process up.”

The mayor mentioned the Newington mall site, for example, can’t be used for housing. However, he said, he doesn’t know if an indoor sports arena would be allowed there.

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Asked if he thinks Community Campus will ultimately be ruled out as a potential site, McEachern said, “No, quite the opposite, I just don’t think we could add another turf field there, too.”

“My preference would be to consolidate our facilities at Community Campus,” McEachern added.

Reaching out to potential partners

The city issued its request for qualification (RFQ) in early June “to identify firms that may be interested in partnering with the city of Portsmouth to construct and operate a multisport complex as well as for the city to understand better the parameters under which such a partnership could proceed and succeed.”

“Consequently, this is only the first step in a multi-step process to investigate the opportunities that might exist to locate and develop a multisport complex for Portsmouth and the surrounding communities,” the posting states. “Part of the current challenge is a lack of a robust understanding of the developable land size need requirements, potential traffic impacts, and further details on the types of partnership opportunities that may be available.”

Edge Sports Group out of Wellesley, Massachusetts, and The Sports Facilities Companies, whose corporate headquarters are located in Clearwater, Florida, responded to the city’s request for qualifications/statement of interest to partner on the potential development of an indoor sports complex.

“As one of the country’s largest developers and operators of forward-looking Public/Private recreational ecosystems, with a vast history within this concept in Portsmouth and the Seacoast area, Edge is well suited to work with the city of Portsmouth and the Seacoast in this endeavor,” Edge Sports Group president Brian DeVellis said in the company’s submission to the city.

Typically, Edge Sports Group pays for all the cost of constructing a new facility on land that is given to them by a city or other group they’re working with, according to the company. Edge then manages the facility and pays for its upkeep, it has told city officials previously.

Sports Facilities Companies (SFC) states in its response that it “has established the industry’s premier planning, funding, development, and operational network.”

Evan Eleff, the company’s partner, stated that “our team has more than 2,000 professionals across the country, all working toward our mission of improving the health and economic vitality of the communities we serve through sports, recreation, and wellness.”

A site outside Portsmouth?

During Monday’s meeting, City Councilor Kate Cook said “a logical conclusion to this process is it (the sports arena) could be sited somewhere in Newington.”

“In that case, it would be the town of Newington going into an agreement, rather than the city of Portsmouth, is that accurate?” she asked.

Conard replied, “It would in fact if there was a public/private partnership to pursue in that community.”

In terms of the two companies who responded to Portsmouth, “the city has some due diligence left to do,” Conard said, “although we did find that both firms are qualified we plan to interview in writing and in person each of the firms.”

City staff hope “to better understand their experience, their potential approaches, their opportunities,” the city manager said.

“We’d like to know specifically if they’ve had experience with public-private partnerships, do they have experiences working with communities, and if so, what kind,” Conard said.

The committee will be made up of representatives from each community, along with representatives from the city’s athletics, facilities and recreation departments, according to Conard.

“We thought about outside consulting, folks from the contracting world, as well as some combination of the deputy city manager (Suzanne Woodland) and myself,” she said.

She added that city staff “would not look to slow down the process with this.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH, towns team up to seek indoor sports complex site