Edmond moves forward on conference center and sport complex agreements

Sports complex

The second development is with Summit Sport Complex, a 170,000-square-foot indoor sports complex with two indoor soccer fields, 10 basketball courts and 18 volleyball courts.

City officials are proposing to purchase 19.35 acres of undeveloped land at the northeast corner of the interstate and Covell Road for $2 million for the sports complex.

A sports complex ground lease calls for Summit Sports to rent the property for $60,000 a year. The city has the option to sell the property at any time for $2 million for up to 15 years.

Task force members want city staff to provide them with details on what the worse-case scenario would be if the project fails.

“If the deal goes south, what will we end up with?” asked Tom Davies, task force member. “We're taking a risk.”

City Manager Larry Stevens said the city intends to get back $9 million of Edmond's $11 million investment.

Votes set in October

The task force will vote on three of the agreements at their next meeting Oct. 16. Council members will make a final decision Oct. 22.

The agreements are to purchase the land for the sports complex and spend $4.8 million on the construction of the conference center, where the Edmond Convention and Visitors Bureau would be housed.

The third agreement would be to repay the real estate property fund with money from the capital improvement tax fund for the purchase of the land for the conference center.