A Florida company will manage DestinationKP Sports Park, the $92 million sports complex under construction in Kings Park, officials said.
The Sports Facilities Companies, a Clearwater, Florida, company that develops and operates sports, recreation, entertainment and event facilities, will run operations at the complex, which is expected to open in January, company officials said. SFC will oversee the planned 44-acre sports and recreation center on Old Northport Road, the company announced.
The facility will feature a 65,000-square-foot indoor recreational facility with multiple basketball courts and multipurpose box fields. There will be seven outdoor multipurpose fields — six full-size turf fields and one practice field — a two-story concession building, more than 1,000 parking spaces and 8,000 square feet of retail space, according to SFC. It will also feature commercial office space for medical services including sports medicine and physical therapy.
Prospect Sports Partners LLC is the developer for the project, which is expected to cost $92 million, Newsday has reported.
Tim O’Connell will serve as the facility’s general manager. O’Connell has been involved with and held positions at several youth sports organizations including the Mineola chapter of the Police Activity League and the Catholic Youth Organization of Long Island. He also served as a Nassau County deputy commissioner for parks, recreation and museums.
O’Connell said in an interview that Long Island has seen a boom in youth sports over time, and the facility could be a hub for tournaments and sports leagues. Organizers are in discussions with multiple soccer, basketball and lacrosse leagues to hold events there, O’Connell added.
“The pitch is that it’s in Kings Park, but it’s really to get people to Long Island,” O’Connell said. “And a lot of tournaments take place in the spring and the summer, a lot of them on weekends, which will drive up [business for] hotels, restaurants, visiting North Shore beaches, South Shore beaches … there’s a real draw to it.”
The Town of Smithtown awarded site plan approvals to the project in July 2015, according to the town’s planning department. Several changes to the plans have been approved since.
Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim said town officials have embraced the development. The facility replacing what was formerly a Kings Park sand pit will provide more space for youth soccer and lacrosse leagues to play.
The town does not “have really enough field space for” those leagues, he said, because they are “so huge and have thousands of kids playing in them.” Next year, he said, they “are going to have access to [the facility] as well.”
SFC earlier this year announced the opening or groundbreaking of 12 new facilities across the country, with two locations in New York. In addition to the Kings Park facility, the company said it will operate the Davis Center in Central Park in Manhattan.
Jim Arnold, business development director for SFC, said in a statement of the planned Kings Park facility: “Our goal is to help transform this project into a hub for athletics, community engagement, and economic impact on Long Island.”
