Designer could be selected this week for indoor sports complex

City Council members have approved the youth sports complex project through its design phase.

And, a contractor to handle construction designs could be selected as early as this week.

The council was acting on action already taken by the Lawton Youth Sports Trust Authority: approving conceptual designs for a complex that will be built in east Lawton to offer city youth basketball and volleyball courts, as well as indoor turf fields, and outdoor sports fields. After hearing an update on the project, the council’s final — and unanimous —decision approved the project through designs, to create “shovel-ready” plans that youth sports officials can use to apply for grants to help fund the $35 million building.

The sports trust authority, in a special meeting on Friday, had been ready to act on a recommendation to approve a professional services agreement with ADG Blatt for architectural/design, but delayed action because of a final legal review of the agreement. Authority members indicated they planned to meet this week to take that action.

Trust Authority Chairman Brian Henry said members are ready to move forward.

“We’re at a time that it’s time to commit to the project,” he said, as he highlighted a project that has been more than five years in the making and one that has gone through four tentative locations in sites across Lawton before settling on a location the authority set earlier this year: Eastside Park on East Gore Boulevard, just west of the MacArthur High/Middle school complexes.

Henry said while the site centers on Eastside Park (which is owned by the City of Lawton), the authority also spent $300,000 to buy nearby acreage from the Frank L. Richards Trust, and approved a 55-year lease for land owned by Lawton Public Schools, an agreement that waives a $49,000 annual lease payment in exchange for MacArthur students being allowed to use the indoor facility without cost.

Henry said the trust authority and Eastern Sports Management (which manages youth sports and facilities for Lawton) now controls 120 acres for a cost of $300,000. He said by contrast, the last property agreement — 80 acres located in two tracts on the south side of East Gore Boulevard — would have cost $1 million.

“Sometimes, good things happen out of bad things,” he said.

Courtesy of Eastern Sports Management, the trust authority already has conceptual designs for the complex, plans crafted with the future in mind, Henry said, of questions that include what does the future of youth sports look like, and where do youth play as programs grow.

One answer: five outdoor fields that can each be subdivided into smaller fields, located adjacent to the indoor complex. That indoor facility, a minimum of 140,000 square feet in size, would have two distinct areas joined by a smaller area: one large area would hold eight indoor basketball courts that can be converted to smaller volleyball courts; the second building will hold two indoor turfed fields, with an adjacent fitness area that could be used by the community. The complex also would feature locker rooms, equipment storage and a dining area/kitchen, along with a parking lot with about 600 slots.

Henry said current estimates put the construction cost of the building at $35 million, based on a cost of $250 per square foot. Five outdoor fields are projected at $25 million ($5 million per field), to include support infrastructure. Total cost, start to finish in today’s dollars, $60 million.

Henry said that doesn’t mean the entire complex would be built at one time; authority members said actual construction would depend on available funding.

Phase I is design work, a cost estimated at $1.25 million for work through construction: meaning, everything from creating schematics to acting as construction supervisor. Designs are important: Henry and Eastern Sports Management President John Wack have said most grant applications require shovel-ready designs, which this would provide.

Some funding already is available in Lawton’s Capital Improvements Program, which initially had set $8 million for the project, to be matched with funding raised by those supporting the sports complex project. McMahon Foundation has allocated $3 million to the project.

Henry acknowledged the cost of the project has substantially increased from the $12 million original estimate, an increase with its roots in inflation and construction “of a much larger facility” than the original 85,000 square foot complex proposed in 2019.

“We were told we needed more indoor courts, if we want to attract regional tournaments,” Henry said, adding that sports also support the idea of more outdoor fields.

Lawton’s youth sports program — which has grown to include adult sports — rely on fields in existing parks, including those at McMahon Park i(whose fields are not suitable for use by youth because of size) and Ahlschlager Park in central Lawton (whose aging facilities date to the 1960s. Lawton Public Schools has provided its facilities for use, but conflicts with school activities often are a concern.

Council members said it was time to move forward.

“Council, we have to have a plan, and that’s been the problem all along,” said Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren, about plans to expand youth sports.

Warren said the authority is asking for support not only for the design concept, but to direct members to “go out to build a building and fields, and bring back an increment financing proposal.” Council members agreed, also amending an existing operations agreement with the youth sports authority to provide $1.25 million for design work.

Henry said those designs would be for the entire complex, with the decision about exactly what to built made later.

“It seems like a bad decision to not plan out for the future,” Henry said.