GOSHEN — A new, mixed-use athletic facility and community center could be headed for downtown Goshen.
Coined “Central Park Goshen”, the proposed project is the brainchild of local businessmen Michael Dickens, Jonathan Wieand and Dave Pottinger, who are hoping to capitalize on the state’s recently approved $126 million Regional Cities Initiative grant to help fund a portion of the project.
Through that initiative, three Indiana regions were chosen following an application process to each receive a $42 million grant with the goal of leveraging private and local government investment into economic development and quality of life projects. One of those three regions was the South Bend-Elkhart region of Elkhart, St. Joseph and Marshall counties, known formally as Regional Cities of Northern Indiana.
According to Dickens, chief executive officer of Apex Climbing Centers, the Central Park Goshen project is a combination and expansion of two separate projects — a new Apex indoor climbing facility and a new open-air amphitheater — submitted as part of the original Regional Cities application for the South Bend-Elkhart region, which included a total of 39 projects totaling more than $700 million in proposed regional investment.
“We decided to join these specific projects together because having a mixed-use athletic center would be more beneficial for the overall Goshen community than multiple disparate offerings,” said Dickens. “And it is certainly true that combining multiple projects under one roof is less expensive than doing multiple separate projects, but that was a secondary motivation.”
As individually proposed, the Apex indoor climbing facility was projected to cost $3.5 million, while the open-air amphitheater was projected at $1.25 million.
“The CPG project was priced out in 2015 at $3 to $4 million depending on actual assets and desired building features,” Dickens said of the projected cost savings. “The proposed 2015 building will likely be redesigned somewhat for 2016, but we believe that the total cost will remain roughly the same. We also hope for a $1M endowment.”
It would be a mixed-use athletic facility with various continuous year-round activities as well as a covered but open-air seasonally reconfigurable space. Year round activities would include a dedicated rock climbing center operated by Apex Climbing Centers, as well as a number of other year-round family-oriented activities. The seasonally reconfigurable space would also provide a full-sized ice skating/ice hockey rink in the winter that is convertible during the warmer times of the year into an open air amphitheater for bands and movies as well as courts for basketball, floor hockey, volleyball, roller/inline skating, and numerous other potential activities.
“One goal is that the facility will provide all of the required assets for the various activities as well as a rental shop and a pro shop for folks who want to purchase their own equipment,” Dickens said. “Another goal is to make sure rental prices allow everyone who wants to participate to be able to do so. The facility is currently designed to have dedicated team rooms, bathrooms, changing rooms, and cubbies and lockers common to all businesses and offerings. We hope to design in a restaurant or cafe where people not participating in the sports can enjoy the views of nature as well as many of the activities going on inside the facility.”
If successful in their funding proposal, Regional Cities would cover up to 20 percent of the total cost of the project, while an additional 20 percent would need to be secured through local government support and the remaining 60 percent through private donations.
Potential hangup
The project as currently defined is not the same as the two related proposals that were submitted as part of the original South Bend-Elkhart regional development application.
According to Wieand, the South Bend-Elkhart regional development authority tasked with overseeing the project proposals for the region has not yet finalized their rules for such a project augmentation, though word from the community is that it will likely fall within acceptable standards when it comes to the decision process.
“We have had some preliminary discussion with people involved there, and it sounds like they’re open to it,” Wieand said of the proposal. “They don’t want new projects, because they want to give priority to those proposals that were originally submitted. But since this meets both of the goals set forth by the other two proposals and so much more, and at relatively the same price, I think they’re open to it.”
Dickens said he couldn’t be happier with the response to the proposal.
“Everyone in the community we’ve talked with loves this idea in principle, and the vast majority of comments on social media are also supportive,” Dickens said. “Some folks are supportive but will wait to pass judgment once more specific information is available. Folks love that the vast majority of costs will come from private sources rather than government sources.”