Mishawaka Fieldhouse on schedule to change the athletic and economic landscape locally

MISHAWAKA — Two massive buildings can be seen rising from a field near Veterans Parkway for the Mishawaka Fieldhouse, a regional sports complex that is expected to change the athletic and economic landscape for the area near Juday Creek north of Douglas Road.

Leaders involved with the $38 million, 230,000-square-foot project say construction is either on or ahead of schedule for an expected June or July opening date. The facility will have 10 multi-use indoor courts for basketball or volleyball, two turf fields, a cadre of pickleball courts, and all the training and athletic support needed to bring 30-40 tournaments to the area.

Andrew Card, CEO of Card & Associates, which has the developmental contract for the facility, says people will be "shocked" when they see the quality of the facility, the national stature it will garner and the sports offerings that the community will be able to enjoy.

"This will shock them, for there is no facility as big, no one that is as modern, even from the ones I already have built," Card said Thursday in talking about the Mishawaka site.

More: Mishawaka Fieldhouse expected to include indoor pickleball facilities

Unlike sports facilities Card & Associates has been involved with in Indiana localities such as Westfield, Noblesville, Pendleton and a soon-to-be-open sports facility in Lebanon, the Mishawaka site is larger because of the larger population it hopes to serve and its proximity to the Chicago area.

Card also said relationships the facility will have with local educational sports programs, such as the University of Notre Dame, Bethel University, clubs and other sports groups, will mean that it will be a busy facility, with an estimated 1.2 million people visiting and taking part in sports and tournament activities there annually.

Management staff is being hired now, and Card said the sports support staffing positions, like officials, food service, coaches and others will be hired starting in early May. The Mishawaka facility will have upwards of 300 full- and part-time employees when it opens, Card said.

Despite the facility's anticipated partnerships with as-yet-unannounced big-name sports companies, Card emphasized the Mishawaka Fieldhouse will be a robust regional sports center, catering to the area's various sports programs.

He explained the operations' three-step approach to the area's sports needs.

"When the kids are in school, we will be centering on league play and programming," he said. "When the students are out of school, we concentrate on the summer camps and travel teams approach. We then switch to the time the turf sports come inside, from about November through April."

All the while, the Fieldhouse will entertain tournaments and activities for athletes from outside the area, drawing on the fact that a facility the size of the Mishawaka site will be able to handle a large number of teams while the South Bend-Mishawaka area can handle the hotel-motel accommodations and the related restaurant and retail needs of the sports tourists.

Card offered his take on why a regional sports facility serves its local community.

"(The facility) is there to serve the community and enhance the businesses there," he said. "Hopefully, people will want to be near and live near this facility. Then, the community will need teachers and other things to serve those needs. Now we will be coordinating with schools and groups for such things as club sports, and all of this is one big, synergistic system."

And when it comes to regional and national tournaments, Card said having a Mishawaka facility like this one will draw heavily from the Chicago area and other regional sites.

"This site is easy to get to," he said. With so much sports programming, the site will see steady traffic that may refresh itself every 90 minutes or so.

The reasonable lodging costs as opposed to those in major metro areas like Chicago should be another strong draw for participants, Card said.

A regional venue for sports

Jeff Jarnecke, executive director of Visit South Bend/Mishawaka, says "Five years from now, the area will not look like it does today."

He said the main building for the basketball-volleyball courts is now enclosed from the elements to allow interior construction. The turf field building has its steel structure in place.

"The progress (this winter) has been tremendous, and there are not any expected delays anticipated," he said.

For a regional sports venue that has been in the works since 2015 as a partnership with Visit South Bend/Mishawaka and the city of Mishawaka, it comes with the hope of bringing more people to the area.

In the mid-2010s, officials studying sports in the area concluded the area had many youth sports events during the warmer seasons, but there wasn't a large indoor facility to handle similar events in the winter months.

As the city of Mishawaka at that time explored the eventual movement of its water wells and treatment plant plans, the areas near Juday Creek began being discussed as a spot for a regional sports venue.

Putting together the operating money from a $1 million per year allocation from the county's motel-hotel tax to help pay off the bonds for the facility, officials made the dream a reality as the city of Mishawaka set up the area's own tax incremental finance district there.

Adds to area's allure

Both Jarnecke and Ryan White, managing broker/partner with Pinnacle Properties, said the areas near the Fieldhouse will draw hotels, restaurants, retail and "attraction" businesses.

White, whose development firm is marketing Juday Creek Business Park in the areas near to and south of the Fieldhouse north of Douglas Road, said that area already was earmarked for future development before the project was planned.

As the city realized it did not need as much property it secured for the new wells and treatment plant currently on Veterans Parkway, the area was ripe for development.

The business park plan now calls for a hotel, restaurants, retail outlets and related businesses to allow sports tourists coming in for tournaments at the Mishawaka Fieldhouse to park and stay in the area at restaurants, stores and what White calls "activity" venues where families with children can enjoy attractions.

"We anticipate that there will be businesses on the north part of the area nearer to the Fieldhouse in the coming year or two," White said, not disclosing any future tenants. "It will be a big deal for our community to get businesses here where people can come here and park their car at a hotel and stay there."

Jarnecke said the Mishawaka sports facility could generate some $34 million in annual economic impact with an associated 22,500 additional hotel-motel room rentals annually.

Jarnecke said this week that although the Mishawaka Fieldhouse is expected to bring in many regional team sports tournaments, the fall of 2024 likely will see startups with recreational leagues and sports training areas until 2025, when the larger sports tournaments are expected to begin.

Also, the Northern Indiana Volleyball Association (NIVA) is expected to call the Mishawaka Fieldhouse its new home when it opens.

NIVA is a Michiana area volleyball club that serves male and female volleyball players from grades 3 through 12 with recreational and travel programs.

Jarnecke said the venue will be offering the community a variety of sports leagues and training opportunities in addition to its mission for regional sports tournaments.

Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Mishawaka Fieldhouse construction on schedule for fall opening