DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A new sports complex could be on the horizon in the city of Daytona Beach.
The proposed sports complex is part of the strategic planning goals the city has to position Daytona Beach as a leader in recruitment of athletic teams and tourism related facilities.
Daytona Beach Economic and Strategic Opportunities Director Jeffrey Brown said the facility would be built on 600 acres the city owns west of I-95 off of International Speedway Boulevard.
“We are looking at a tournament-level facility so that we can bring tournaments to town, which then increases the economic base of the city," Brown said. "It brings in teams from out of our area, stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurant, shop in our stores."
At Wednesday’s city commission meeting, a company based in Clearwater that focuses on developing sports facilities presented the plans to commissioners.
“The intent is to be a total sports complex. So, it has both components of both indoor and outdoor," Brown said. "The indoor can take, can accommodate a wide variety of uses basketball, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading."
The proposal includes a 10,000-seat stadium and a sports complex with multi-use fields, courts for several sports, a pool and other amenities.
“Since that facility will be what we call a tournament level, so it can be a premier facility," Brown said. "It also allows our citizens to have top-notch facilities, to be to play in league and other activities on those fields as well."
The cost of the project is estimated to be close to $185 million. Brown said the city would work to get the revenue from the tournaments they would host to pay for the cost of operating the facilities.
“We're going to get as much funding from outside the city as we can to try to make this a smaller burden on the taxpayers,” he said.
The city is still trying to determine if the idea is feasible and who its partners could be. City leaders say the next step in the process is for staff to meet with potential investors to see their interest in funding this project.
At this point, there is no estimated timeline for the construction.