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Greenwood commits $5.5 million to $40 million Greenwood Sportsplex

GREENWOOD (WISH) — A new sports complex, dining, retail and hotel are coming to Greenwood. City leaders announced the project on Monday.

This will combine the Greenwood Town Center project with a sports complex that will house ice rinks and other sports fields called the Greenwood Sportsplex. They will be built on a piece of land just east of I-65 and south of County Line Road.

The owners of the Indy Fuel hockey team and Indianapolis-based Gershman Partners have both signed letters of intent for the project.

On Monday, Greenwood’s redevelopment commission voted to commit $5.5 million to the project. There’s still more that needs to be done before construction can begin, but so far people in Greenwood seem to be excited. Initially the sports-complex was proposed for Freedom Park, but many residents expressed concerns about building in that location, and wanted to see the city build elsewhere.

“We didn’t think that was the right location because of the facility being a commercial facility, which was going to draw somewhere around the neighborhood of 700,000 people a year, and we just didn’t see the infrastructure was there,” said one resident.

After meetings, phone calls and emails, their concerns were heard.

“We listen to what the citizens say. We heard what they said and we heard their concerns. We vetted their concerns, and we were able to take their concerns and take that negative and turn it into a huge positive for the city and for everybody on the south side,” said Greenwood’s mayor, Mark W. Myers.

Some residents say they were never against bringing an ice rink and sports complex to Greenwood, they just wanted to see it built in a different location.

Many left the meeting excited about this new location along I-65 and the city’s plans to combine two major projects.

“We are pleased, but I think it is a win for the city as well. This will be a much more viable ,location which will be able to better support the ice-plex facility and it is going to cause the area to grow, so I think it is a great solution,” said one resident.

Project agreements are expected to be signed by the end of July. Construction could begin this fall.

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