The Spokane Public Facilities District will ask the state Legislature again next year for part of the estimated $41 million needed to finance a proposed sports field house, called the Sportsplex, north of the Spokane River, PFD chairman Larry Soehren says.

Soehren says the facilities district will be seeking between $13 million and $15 million from the state for the project. A similar request to the Legislature was submitted at the beginning of this year, but was rejected.

The original funding plan for the proposed Sportsplex involved asking Spokane County voters to foot the bill for the entire cost of the project, which was once estimated at between $25 million and $27 million, Soehren says.

But after a feasibility study revealed that the Sportsplex would cost $14 million more to develop than initially estimated, the PFD went to the state requesting funding help. Sports Facilities Advisory, of Clearwater, Fla., completed the feasibility study last October.

 “We went to the state and tried to get authorization to extend a state sales tax rebate that’s available to all public facilities districts in Washington,” says facilities district CEO Kevin Twohig,

Twohig says the proposal unanimously passed the state’s House of Representatives, but failed in the Senate during the 2016 session at the beginning of the year.

Soehren says the funding request didn’t pass because some state senators believed other projects across the state were a higher priority. He says the PFD will make the same request before the Legislature at its next session, starting at the beginning of 2017.

Says Soehren, “The PFD just doesn’t have $13 to $14 million sitting there to contribute to the project.”

The 10-acre site where the Sportsplex is envisioned to be located, known as the North Bank site, is about a block west of the former Broadview Dairy building and a block east of Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.

The proposal calls for a 93,000-square-foot athletic complex that would include a 200-meter, six-lane indoor track, up to 10 basketball and 17 volleyball courts, locker rooms, and a flexible multisport space, as well as a championship court that could be converted to ice.

Local sports organizers say the Sportsplex could host wrestling matches, soccer games, and indoor track meets, among other events.

It’s possible the downtown Sportsplex could be a part of a ballot measure that also would include funding for a proposed sports complex at Liberty Lake and enhancements to Spokane Valley’s Plantes Ferry Sports Stadium facility at 12308 E. Upriver Dr., says Doug Chase, director of Spokane County Parks, Recreation and Golf.

Chase’s department, the city of Spokane Valley, Central Valley School District and the Spokane Sports Commission are working toward the completion of a feasibility study exploring conceptual enhancements at the two sites.

Chase says the proposed complex at Liberty Lake is estimated to cost $16.7 million to $17.5 million. A feasibility study—being conducted by Plano, Texas-based Conventions, Sports & Leisure International—calls for a Liberty Lake-area sports complex located directly east of the HUB Sports Center, at 19619 E. Cataldo.

“Conceptually, the goal of this project is to satisfy existing need for additional softball fields by purchasing land and constructing eight tournament-quality softball fields with synthetic turf infields, LED field lighting, parking, equipment storage building, playground equipment, and miscellaneous site furnishings,” says the feasibility study.

Part of the overall Liberty Lake project cost includes $5.4 million that would be used to purchase 35 acres of land. 

The Plantes Ferry project would cost an estimated $5.9 million. The project would convert two existing grass soccer fields into artificial turf, with lighting for evening games. Meanwhile, five existing softball infields also would be converted to artificial turf, and field lighting would be installed at two fields, Chase says.

 “We anticipate the entire study to be complete in late August,” he says.

At that point, Chase’s office would continue working toward prioritizing a list of projects that could be put on a ballot measure seeking a tax increase.

In March 2015, a countywide survey revealed strong support for the Sportsplex. Among 1,500 respondents, only repairs to the Centennial Trail and enhancements to Plantes Ferry Sports Stadium received higher priority than the Sportsplex, Chase says.

Although Chase’s office has been working on prioritizing projects for at least the last two years, he says he’s still not sure when a funding levy would be put before voters.

“We have a lengthy list of fantastic projects that warrant careful and deliberate consideration,” he says.

As for Twohig, he says he believes Spokane County voters will approve the Sportsplex project as its dimensions have been initially laid out.

 “There’s always a scope discussion in every public project, but the consultant study is based on a specific size and type of facility,” Twohig says. “We haven’t engaged a contractor, or a designer, so only have past experience as a guide, and on that I would estimate it would take 18 months to build.”

Eric Sawyer, president and CEO of the Spokane Sports Commission, believes the Sportsplex will eventually be completed.

“I remain confident that one day we will have a Sportsplex,” Sawyer says. “And that’s because of the PFD. I don’t believe the facilities district would have ever engaged in this process to the extent it has if it didn’t think the Sportsplex was a good idea.”

Sawyer says a Sportsplex would make Spokane a stronger draw for tournaments and events, adding an economic boost to tourism while also providing added game sites and practice facilities for local athletes.

The sports commission cites a Gonzaga University study that estimates the new facility would generate an additional $33 million annually in direct tourism spending here.

The city of Spokane, City Parks, and PFD are expected to develop the facility, according to an agreement reached in March 2015. The PFD would be responsible for managing the design, permitting, and construction at the site as well as for maintenance and operation at the site.