Sports arena fixes to cost Springdale more than $1 million

NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. WAMPLER Jackson Hallam, 11, warms up Thursday before a session with trainer Shannon Lang at the former All-Star Sports Arena in Springdale. The city purchased the athletic facility on Cambridge Street, formerly known as the All-Star Sports Arena and Next Level. It was part of a triple-decker real estate deal involving a business in downtown Springdale, the public schools and the city.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. WAMPLER Jackson Hallam, 11, warms up Thursday before a session with trainer Shannon Lang at the former All-Star Sports Arena in Springdale. The city purchased the athletic facility on Cambridge Street, formerly known as the All-Star Sports Arena and Next Level. It was part of a triple-decker real estate deal involving a business in downtown Springdale, the public schools and the city.

SPRINGDALE -- "I'm a righty," said 9-year-old Erren Wilson as he explained why learning to dribble a basketball with his left hand is important.

He practiced during a basketball workshop Wednesday at Springdale's new Recreation Center.

Path to purchase

The city’s purchase of the All-Star Sports Arena started with Recasting LLC, a company associated with the Walton family, purchasing the Springdale School District’s building on Emma Avenue for $2.2 million. The district then bought the city’s now-former recreation center at Murphy Park for $2.2 million. In turn, the city bought the sports arena with the $2.2 million from the sale of the recreation center and $2 million more from the 2018 bond program for parks. The council approved the purchase Dec. 9 and the deal closed Jan. 18, said Wyman Morgan, the city’s director of finance and administration.

Source: Staff report

The city purchased the athletic facility on Cambridge Street, formerly known as the All-Star Sports Arena and Next Level. It was part of a triple-decker real estate deal involving a business in downtown Springdale, the public schools and the city.

Council members unanimously approved the $4.1 million purchase of the building in December and knew it needed repair. But the city's estimate of more than $1 million worth has at least one council member expressing "buyer's remorse."

Mayor Doug Sprouse said nothing surprising has popped out during early work stages at the arena. The building remains a good buy for the city, he said, even if the city skipped some real estate purchasing norms.

RACING FOR THE PRIZE

The real estate deal that earned the city its new facility jumped forward like a sprinter, said Mayor Doug Sprouse.

In the haste of the deal, the city didn't seek an appraisal.

Nor did the city go through a certified inspection, Sprouse said. But he, Bill Mock, the director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, and Mike Lawson, chairman of the council's Parks and Recreation Committee, toured it with Brad Baldwin, the city's director of engineering and public works.

"It's not a perfect scenario, but we didn't go into it blind," Lawson said.

Council member Mike Overton said the city planned no formal tour for the council before the building's purchase.

"We were assured it was in good shape and important to the future of Springdale," he said.

Overton, a property management and real estate agent, said he would have voted "no" if he had seen the facility and its state of disrepair before the vote to purchase. He called it a case of "buyer's remorse."

Springdale's Fire Department did its basic building inspection and found common errors -- such as too many extension cords, Chief Mike Irwin said.

The inspectors also noted defects in the stairwell leading to the loft and track.

The list of repair and replacement is long and expensive, according to estimates gathered by Parks and Recreation Department staff, said Wyman Morgan, the city's director of finance and administration. The city continues to seek estimates.

"We know what issues we are facing," Sprouse said. "I don't think we found anything we didn't already know about."

The city also contracted to test air quality and mold -- both levels were deemed acceptable.

The council approved the purchase Dec. 9 and the deal closed Jan. 18, Morgan said.

The new building allows the recreation center to grow from 35,000 square feet to 120,000 square feet with a fitness center, two indoor soccer fields and eight courts that can be used for basketball, volleyball and maybe pickleball. Much more space hasn't been designated, Mock said.

"We'd been talking for years about what a great asset that would make for the city," Sprouse said.

The mayor said he was comfortable with the purchase price of $35 a square foot.

Marshall Saviers, president and principal with commercial real estate firm Sage Partner, said comparing the cost of the recreation center building to another would be difficult because the property is so unique. Even a warehouse wouldn't be comparable because of the improvement to the building, he said.

"But that number doesn't sound high," Saviers said of the price per foot. He noted construction costs keep increasing in Northwest Arkansas. Building a similar center would likely cost quite a bit more, he said.

PAYING THE PRICE

The city is starting the smaller projects at the recreation center with money budgeted this year for the Parks Department.

Morgan said $100,000 set aside yearly for the old recreation center will be used to start work on the new center.

The city has $16 million remaining in the park fund of the bond issue the voters passed last year. Sprouse doesn't want to use that money because the city will need it to establish the Shaw Family Park and renovate the Randal Tyson Sports Complex.

"My goal is not to access bond money," Sprouse said. "But I can't say what might happen down the road."

"We'll do what we always do: Take it out of the CIP fund," said Overton, with a bit of exasperation. For several years, Overton has argued for a change in the way the city reports money in the capital improvements fund.

He said the reports he receives don't provide him with a clear amount of money available. Yet, the council votes again and again to spend money from the fund, citing an emergency, he said.

The city's fund for capital improvement projects was $800,002 at the end of February, Morgan said. Some of that money has been reserved for the computer-aided dispatch system for the Police and Fire departments. The city also can use the remaining money for projects in other parts and departments of the city.

The city also holds $3.6 million in an undesignated reserve of the capital improvement fund, Morgan said. City staff and council members hoped to spend some of that money to restore and open the Rabbit Foot Lodge, Morgan continued. The city expects those estimates to arrive soon.

PUNCH LIST

Initial repair includes LED lights at $50,000 to $70,000; new turf for the soccer fields, $114,000 to $134,000, depending on the type of turf; and painting the interior, $68,000 to $70,000, Morgan said.

Then there's the pit. When the building was built in 2003-04, the floor under the soccer courts wasn't poured in concrete like the rest of the building, Sprouse said. Instead, a bunch of gravel was dumped in a big hole.

The gravel allows humidity to pervade the building and is first on the list of repair. If the humidity isn't controlled, no amount of air conditioning will improve it, he reported.

Morgan said the cost to remove the gravel and pour concrete is estimated at $57,000. He noted city crews will do that job -- and others -- so the city can keep labor costs low.

The building's heating and air conditioning system works but need to be upgraded. An initial estimate for a new system is $787,000 for five 50-ton units, Morgan said.

Morgan said the city will consult with a mechanical engineer before the renovation starts to determine the size of air system needed, whether the building's electrical system can handle the load and whether the roof can support duct work.

Also, the engineer will give direction for tearing down the track, which hangs suspended over the basketball courts. Cost for the engineering report is $67,000.

The recreation center transferred all its league and recreational programming to the new building, Mock said. The department's staff works out of a city building on Blair Street.

"We have everything we had before," he said. And he promises new programs as the repair on the building is completed.

Council members will set the timeline for completing and paying for repair, Sprouse said.

"Hopefully, we can get this done this year," he said.

RETURN INVESTMENT

"In Springdale, we say we invest in our kids," Lawson said. "Well, we've invested in our kids."

Lawson said the new center will provide more opportunities for children to get involved in sports. He sees more practice time, game time and family time for the young athletes.

Erren's mom, Shemika Wilson-Hampton of Springdale, likes the center. She appreciated the way the coaches were able to work with several groups of kids at the same time because of the multiple basketball courts.

Erren liked it, too, noting his family could throw a party on one court, while kids played on the others.

Christopher Timos, 20, of Springdale gave an enthusiastic recommendation of the center before -- and even after -- learning the amount of the city's investment and repair costs.

He and his friends play volleyball on open courts every night.

"It's a piece of where we come from," Timos said. "Volleyball is our thing everyday in the Marshall Islands. Whenever we get weather that is not good, we come here to play."

NW News on 04/14/2019

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