Developer Pitches Turning Rolling Acres Into Youth Sports Complex

19 July 2016

A Columbus financial services and real estate development firm wants to turn the former Rolling Acres Mall into a massive youth sports complex.

AES Development LLC is proposing to create the AP23 Sports Complex to take advantage of the growing sports tournament industry.

It would feature indoor and outdoor facilities for basketball, volleyball, cheerleading, gymnastics, soccer, lacrosse and other sports at the site of the former mall, which is now owned by the city. There also would be a hotel.

“We think it’s the highest and best use for that site,” AES principal and Akron native Derrick Pryor said. “We want to come back to Akron and provide something that everyone in this city can benefit from, from young to old.”

He appeared before City Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee to pitch the idea. He cited the Rocky Top Sports World in Gatlinburg, Tenn., as a similar, successful operation.

Pryor estimated that the private venture would cost $12 million to $15 million for the complex, and more for the hotel.

He said the project would not need any financial investment from the city, but Akron may be asked to make up any shortfalls in lease payments and offer benefits such as tax abatements.

AES also would ask for a long-term lease of $1 a year for 99 years, or sale of the property for $1.2 million.

“We’re bringing investment to the city,” Pryor said. “We’re creating jobs. We’re eliminating blight and we’re doing so in a market that is continuing to grow and is really recession-proof.”

The city’s top priority is securing the site and demolishing the mall, as opposed to vetting development proposals now.

“There’s going to be a lot of discussion about that spot,” Councilman Russel Neal Jr. said.

James Hardy, chief of staff for Mayor Dan Horrigan, said the administration hadn’t heard about the sports complex proposal before the council meeting.

The only official correspondence about the site has been a group of Chinese investors interested in redeveloping the mall into a light-industrial hub. Their initial idea was a state or federal penitentiary, but Horrigan has dismissed that idea.

Hardy said another idea floated involved developing a joint municipal complex.

Other ideas that have been bandied about by Akron-area residents — whether realistic or not — include an antiques mall, LeBron James saving the mall, a high school or a game area for a Zombie-warfare game.

Akron took ownership of the interior of the mall and some acreage outside last month following a lengthy tax foreclosure process.

In total, the city now owns 277,000 square feet of building and 54 acres. It does not own the five former department stores, which are all owned separately. At least two of those owners have said their businesses are successful and they are not interested in selling.

 

Source : ohio.com