Approval for $22M sports complex sought in Greenwood

A Florida company is planning to build a $22 million hotel and indoor sports complex near an Interstate 65 interchange in Greenwood once targeted for a Cabela’s sporting goods store.

The project by Sarasota-based GoodSports Enterprises would include a 124-bed hotel and an attached 85,000-square-foot fieldhouse with six full basketball courts, 12 volleyball courts and bleacher seating for 600 spectators. A fitness center, restaurant and bar also are part of the plans.

Construction on the project south of Indianapolis could start in the fall, with the complex opening next year.

Executives from GoodSports are scheduled to make a presentation to the Greenwood Redevelopment Commission at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The complex would be built on 10 acres of a 99-acre site owned by private entity County Line Partners LLC. It’s selling the land to GoodSports, with the city agreeing to invest $2 million to put in roads, sewers and sidewalks. The landowner also is committing $500,000 toward the infrastructure and will put the utilities in, Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said.

Building the infrastructure throughout the entire site should help attract other development, he said.

“That is a huge selling point, because people are looking for shovel-ready sites and we don’t have any in Greenwood,” Myers said.

The announcement by GoodSports comes five years after Nebraska-based Cabela’s abandoned plans amid the recession to build a store on the land near I-65. Last month, the outdoors retailer announced its plans to instead build its first location in the Indianapolis area in Noblesville’s Saxony development.

Until now, Myers said, the site has attracted a few “lookers but no takers.” The mayor is confident GoodSports can deliver on what it has promised.

“They have done their due diligence,” he said. "They know that coming into the Greenwood area is the right location for them to be in Indiana, with the access to all the interstates.”

GoodSports plans to build 25 youth sports complexes across the country, according to the company’s website.

In Westfield, north of Indianapolis, the Grand Park youth-sports megaplex opened in March. It eventually will feature 31 multiuse fields for soccer, lacrosse, football, rugby and field hockey, and 26 baseball and softball diamonds.

Westfield Mayor Andy Cook told the Current in Westfield that he thinks the Greenwood sports complex would "enhance" the area's reputation as a youth-sports destination. It would not compete directly with the Westfield facility because they feature different sports, Cook said.