FRANKFORT - Officials in Frankfort hope to make their vision of a proposed sports complex become reality as they look to improve the overall aesthetic and feel of the city moving forward.
Mayor Chris McBarnes said the proposal would include an indoor facility with pitching and batting cages, as well as four transitional baseball and softball diamonds outside. He added that such a project would complement what the city is trying to do in revitalizing its downtown.
"When all is said and done, we need to find a way to drive more people to consume and invest in our local economy, and I believe Project Home Run could be that synergy that we need to draw people from outside of Frankfort to Frankfort to stay in hotels, spend money in our restaurants, spend money throughout our local economy, and I think it could be that spark we need to make downtown revitalization possible," McBarnes said.
McBarnes said the idea for the project, formally known as Project Home Run, came as a result of conversations he had with his constituents in the past four years. He added that the proposed project along the Indiana 28 corridor would draw people to the community.
"Softball and baseball is growing in our community by leaps and bounds, and we have hundreds of children ... that are participating in these programs and they need better facilities so they can express their talents," he said. "I want this to be a component of drawing younger professional families to our community, and like I said, if we don't get people to live here, we're not going to survive in the long term."