Will a $40M youth sports complex be built in Portage, Kalamazoo, or Texas Twp?

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Another big step forward has been taken in the effort to bring a $40 million youth sports complex to Kalamazoo County. Local leaders say the process of selecting a location is nearing its final stage.

The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners has officially appointed a 13-member committee tasked with evaluating potential sites for the complex, which could open as early as 2027, according to Discover Kalamazoo.

“This is just a huge win for the community,” County Commissioner Dale DeLeeuw said at Tuesday night’s commissioner meeting, adding that the complex is a project that everyone seems to be in favor of thus far.

Commissioner Abigail Wheeler, one of two commissioners appointed to the committee, echoed the excitement.

“There’s no opposition because there’s not a bad side to this,” Wheeler said. “It’s a win-win-win for us as commissioners. We are providing another opportunity for the youth in our community.”

The new sports complex will need a large plot of land near highways with access to hotels and restaurants, as well as be able to host major tournaments and serve local youth during the week, according to Discover Kalamazoo.

“We’re seeking expertise in areas such as hoteliers, sports experience, tourism, project development, and finance,” Jane Ghosh, executive director of Discover Kalamazoo, said.

Discover Kalamazoo nominated eight of the committee’s 13 members, including business and hospitality leaders like:

• Jill Bland, Southwest Michigan First
• Annemarie Boarman, Next Level Sports Center
• Jane Ghosh, Discover Kalamazoo
• Brian Persky, Discover Kalamazoo
• Rich MacDonald, The Hinman Company
• Dev Patel, representing multiple area hotels
• Corey Person, youth mentor with United Pursuit
• Fred Rahme, hotel representative

The county nominated the remaining five members:

• Kalamazoo County Commissioner Abigail Wheeler
• Kalamazoo County Commissioner Monteze Morales
• Kalamazoo Vice Mayor Jeanne Hess
• Portage City Manager Pat McGinnis
• Texas Township Superintendent Brooke Hovenkamp

Representatives from all three municipalities reportedly under consideration for the complex are included in the committee, with Portage, Kalamazoo, and Texas Township all in the running.

Currently, only one potential site has been made public — a location near the Air Zoo in Portage.

Corey Person, a local youth basketball mentor for United Pursuit, is on the team helping choose the location and told News Channel 3 that regardless of where it ends up, the project is an opportunity to transform lives for kids in the region.

“You can only take on as many kids as you have space for,” Person said. “We have a lot of kids in Kalamazoo who are looking for these types of opportunities, and we just haven’t had the facilities or structures to do so.”

The proposed complex would include indoor and outdoor facilities capable of hosting large-scale tournaments and training events, particularly for basketball and volleyball.

The $40 million project is being funded through a 4% hotel assessment approved by 82% of voting hotels in Kalamazoo County in April. That cost can be passed on to guests, with the idea being that more sports tourism will bring more hotel bookings.

“This is an effort to fill a gap in the community — for kids locally and for tourism,” Brian Persky, sports event development director at Discover Kalamazoo, said. “Those tournament dollars are going elsewhere right now. We want to keep and generate those in Kalamazoo.”

Persky said the complex could even lead to more hotels being built to meet increased demand, if current hotels reach capacity.

Once a location is finalized, a permanent governing authority will be formed to manage the construction and operations of the facility, according to Discover Kalamazoo.

The idea being that the complex will be used during the week for local youth and on weekends to host tournaments that will draw in traveling teams, and tourism dollars, to the region.

Persky told News Channel 3 he hopes to see the concept he and the Discover Kalamazoo team have been pouring into come to reality as soon as possible. He said, along with his team of 13, there have been countless community members who have poured advice and support into the project to make it successful and to reach all the benchmark goals to this point.

The ultimate goal is to open doors to the complex no later than 2028. “My kids are eight and ten. I tell everyone, ‘I want my kids to play in this facility,’” Persky said.

Discover Kalamazoo anticipates a decision for where to officially break ground will be proposed within the next few weeks, and then county commissioners will send out an official notice to the public regarding the project.

Stay with News Channel 3 for new developments as this project continues to take shape.