Morgan Hill
– A sprawling indoor sports facility proposal returns to the
city Parks and Recreation Commission tonight. And, backers of the
facility are looking for city participation.
Morgan Hill – A sprawling indoor sports facility proposal returns to the city Parks and Recreation Commission tonight. And, backers of the facility are looking for city participation.
Dubbed The Coliseum, the proposed facility is backed by Morgan Hill resident Doug Payne and his management team, along with a group of San Jose-based investors.
According to Payne, who serves as the group’s president and general manager, the wide-ranging proposal includes a 100,000-square-foot facility that could offer indoor soccer and lacrosse multi-use fields, basketball and volleyball courts, a fitness and weight training component, a sports bar/restaurant, a juice and coffee bar, a sportswear and equipment shop, and even a rock climbing wall and skate park in the future.
The facility would be built in two phases, he said.
Payne said he envisions The Coliseum as a first-rate, family-oriented sports facility for local residents and a tax base-boosting destination location, which could eventually host a Morgan Hill Games event in the next few years.
“This will be a premier venue for families to participate in sports,” he said, pointing out that such facilities are almost completely lacking in Morgan Hill and the South Valley. “That’s our bottom line.”
Payne described the proposal as in the development stages. He said the management team, which includes Director of Sales and Business Development Jason Sharpf and Controller Azfar Qureshi, is open to suggestions from city officials.
Payne said backers hope the city will make a site available for the project.
“There are some financial challenges to be worked out,” Payne said. “There’s clearly a need for a partnership (with the city). We know the city doesn’t invest in private business. As a revenue source and tax base contributor, we want to have a way to offset the costs (to the city). We’re at the point where we need a specific response from the city.”
Payne said the group is looking at a couple of potential sites, but would prefer being located on Condit Road near the existing Aquatics Center and the proposed Sports Complex, which will be located at the current soccer complex site and is also in the development stages. He said his group envisions The Coliseum as part of a three-pronged sports facility destination, in conjunction with the swim center and the sports complex.
“We value the synergy that we can have being located next to the outdoor sports complex and the aquatics center,” Payne said. “For Morgan Hill to have an indoor-outdoor-aquatics location is an opportunity that’s pretty amazing.”
Payne said he and The Coliseum group approached the city with the initial conceptual proposal last year, and has been in the planning stages ever since. He said his group wants to avoid the pitfalls of competing directly with other city recreation services, such as the planned indoor recreation center near Community Park and the city’s proposed Condit Road sports complex.
Recreation and Community Services Manager Julie Spier said city officials have been in constant contact with The Coliseum group.
Spier said the proposal is worth exploring. She said it doesn’t appear that the proposal will compete with current or proposed city facilities and services.
“I think this is a proposal we need to look at,” Spier said. “It’s just another option for our recreation groups.”
But Parks and Recreation commissioner Laura Hagiperos expressed skepticism about the city participating in such a venture. She said the city probably can’t afford to invest anything right now and has doubts about its ultimate value to local residents.
Hagiperos said other groups, such as Quantum Sports, have attempted public-private partnerships but have been denied because of similar concerns.
“I can’t believe anyone is taking this seriously,” Hagiperos said. “I don’t think, with all the (Capital Improvement Projects) we have, that the city can offer any kind of contribution. They want to run these private facilities with major contributions from the city, and it ends up looking regional and they end up charging memberships to people who helped pay for it through the city. And, when they can’t make it work, the city ends up as the landlord of a building.”
Currently, a Parks and Rec Commission subcommittee, led by Craig van Keulen and including local non-profit youth sports groups, is planning the city’s proposed Outdoor Sports Complex on Condit Road.
