ST. CHARLES COUNTY — A St. Charles County agency is seeking developers to build a youth sports complex to host hockey, basketball, baseball and volleyball tournaments it hopes would draw participants from “the Midwest region and beyond.”
And to help fund the 72-acre indoor-outdoor project, the county Convention and Sports Facilities Authority is offering the roughly $5 million collected each year from a longstanding countywide 5% tax on hotel rooms.
The authority has been looking for a new project now that the hotel room tax no longer is needed to help pay off construction and other expenses of the 19-year-old St. Charles Convention Center. The last debt payments on that building were completed in 2021.
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The youth sports project’s goal is to generate increased revenue for hotels, eateries and retail stores in the county and to spur additional commercial development as well. It is predicted to cost as much as $157.5 million.
A consultant for the authority estimates that athletes from outside the St. Louis metro area coming to the proposed complex, along with their families, could pump as much as $47.5 million a year into the county economy.
“It will really have benefit for facilities, for restaurants, for entertainment venues … countywide and that’s what we’re excited about,” Paul Woody, the authority’s vice chairman, said at a meeting for potential bidders last week.
The authority, which hasn’t specified a site, last month issued a “request for proposals” to potential developers. Some developers could partner with cities or other governmental units that could offer tax incentives to help fund the project. Proposals are due Aug. 15.
The sports complex proposal request calls for an indoor facility of more than 258,000 square feet. Included would be three ice rinks, with spectator seating, and at least eight basketball courts that could be converted into 16 volleyball courts.
Plans also call for an indoor “family entertainment center.” Robert Guinness, the authority’s attorney, said specifics would be up to the developer ultimately selected but that component could include features such as electronic gaming and a bowling alley.
The 28-acre outdoor component would include as many as 16 baseball/softball fields, depending on the size. Guinness said soccer isn’t included because the metro area already has enough facilities for that sport.
The authority says it will look more favorably on proposals that include nearby acreage for ancillary commercial development to help the project achieve its goal of “becoming a competitive sports tourism destination for the Midwest region and beyond.”
“We understand that all we’ve done is put together a could-be proposal,” Woody said at the pre-bid meeting. “Now we’ve got to get down to reality and we need to know what is out there.”
Fielding ideas
One bid may come from the city of O’Fallon. “We’re thinking about doing a proposal,” Mayor Bill Hennessy said in an interview Wednesday.
He said he didn’t know yet whether any private developers would be involved. And he didn’t comment on a potential location.
St. Peters Mayor Len Pagano, meanwhile, said he plans to contact the owner of the Mid Rivers Mall, CBL and Associates Properties, about the idea of using part of that facility and its parking lot for such a project.
He noted that the mall, like others across the country, has had vacancies. He said, however, that the city doesn’t have a plan in mind. At this point, he said, “it’s a suggestion.”
St. Charles County government, which last year floated the idea of using the hotel tax to put up a youth sports facility on the parking lot of the Family Arena in St. Charles, will not be following up with a formal proposal.
County Executive Steve Ehlmann said he’s concerned that if the county’s idea was selected by the convention authority, some people might complain that the county was getting favored treatment.
The convention authority is an independent agency, although Ehlmann appoints the authority members. “We’re not going to get involved” in the selection, Ehlmann said.
The convention authority’s vision sounds similar to that of backers of the POWERplex youth sports complex, which first was proposed in 2016 for Chesterfield.
It eventually began operating a small-scale version, with plans to expand, at the former Mills outlet mall in Hazelwood before closing last year.
Dan Buck, whose Big Sports Properties group promoted POWERplex, said at the time that he hoped to find another site. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The St. Charles County authority began looking at new uses for its hotel tax in 2022 by asking local governments and others in the county to submit ideas.
At that time, O’Fallon and the county submitted multi-sports complex ideas, as did Wentzville and Lake Saint Louis.
Also turned in were a wide range of other possibilities, including helping fund a children’s museum and an amusement park fully accessible to people with disabilities; expanding the Lewis and Clark Boat House and Museum in St. Charles and adding a conference center to the county-owned Daniel Boone Home complex south of New Melle.
In the end, Guinness said, the authority, working with its consultant…
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2024-06-14 13:30:00