Mishawaka to start construction of $38M indoor sports facility
MISHAWAKA, Ind. (WISH) — Government leaders and a real-estate development company will break ground Thursday on a $38 million indoor sports facility large enough that it could easily hold three football fields.
Mishawaka Fieldhouse will be funded through an annual $1 million pledge of hotel taxes from St. Joseph County and $5.25 million in Indiana redevelopment funds. City and county leaders and Fishers-based real-estate developer Card & Associates have been developing the project since 2018.
The 220,000-square-foot Fieldhouse was designed to hold 10 multipurpose courts, two turf fields, concessions, bleachers, plus spaces for support staff and a medical tenant. Construction will begin sometime from July-September, and the opening is expected about a year later.
In a statement, Republican Mayor Dave Wood said he expects the Fieldhouse to draw many visitors and “be a significant benefit to our many hotels, businesses, and restaurants in Mishawaka and the greater region.”
Andy Card, chief executive officer of Card & Associates, says he expects tourism to grow after the Mishawaka Fieldhouse is completed, based on experience with the Pacers Athletic Center in Westfield’s Grand Park Sports campus and the Community Sports and Wellness Center in Pendleton.
The developer is also behind the under-construction Finch Creek Fieldhouse in Noblesville, estimated to be built for more than $41 million. The Indiana Pacers’ G League team will be moving from Fort Wayne to play in that facility once it’s completed.
The 10 a.m. Thursday groundbreaking will be at north of of Juday Creek off Veterans Parkway, just east of the Juday Creek Golf Course, which has a Granger address. The site is south of the I-80/I-90 interchange for State Road 331, or about a 25-minute drive northeast of downtown South Bend.
St. Joseph County, listed as Indiana’s fifth-largest of the state’s 92 counties in the 2020 census, had about 273,000 people.
