Outside work on sports complex close to completion

WASILLA -- In the last two weeks, the parking lot has been paved and the outdoor lights have been turned on at the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex. The outdoor section of the 102,900-square-foot building is scheduled to be finished by mid- to late-November, so contractors can work in a heated building to finish the indoor ice arena and turf sports area by the complex's opening in March.

"This is one of my most favorite projects, and also one of my most feared," said Wasilla mayor Dianne Keller during a recent walk-through of the facility. The complex is designed to work off an enterprise fund, meaning while the building is owned by the city, it will run like a business, creating its own income.

The $14.7-million complex is a being completed as a design build, where decisions on the building are made during the building process, instead of before. Each week a steering team meets and decides how the next piece of the building is put together. This allows both financial and aesthetic questions to be answered during the actual build; if money is saved in one area, it can be put toward a wish-list item in another.

"We look at each part of the build, and decide if the savings is worth what you are giving up," Keller said.

Currently the building is designed to have a 17,000-square-foot ice arena, a 13,125-square-foot turf sports area, three meeting rooms, an indoor walking/running track, locker rooms and storage areas. The wish list includes three outdoor playing fields and a kitchen. With the parks and recreation proposition failing in the recent election, these wish list items may be some time before completion. But the complex is being built to add future additions easily.

"It will be a functioning facility that can be added to as funds are raised," Keller said.

The city has recently hired Bruce Urban as the cultural and recreational services manager; part of Urban's duties will be overseeing the completed complex. While Urban is away from the Valley right now, Keller said Urban is a welcomed and valued addition to the city, especially because of his past related work at the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

"He already knows all the players," Keller said.

The sports complex is scheduled to open in March, coinciding with the Iditarod Restart, which will take place at the facility's nearby Iditarod Park. The Department of Transportation will be putting a stoplight at the intersection of Church Road and the Parks Highway, and South Mac Road, where the sports complex is located, will be extending to Knik-Goose Bay Road. Plans for an extension from South Mac to the airport are also in place.