LAWTON – After encountering a setback last fall, the Lawton Youth Sports Authority’s plans to acquire property for the city’s indoor youth sports complex are back on track.
In a special meeting, the authority voted unanimously Jan. 24 to approve a real estate purchasing contract for a 40-acre tract of land on East Gore Boulevard, near MacArthur High School. The authority will buy the property from the Frank L. Richards 1992 Revocable Living Trust, using part of a $3 million grant from the McMahon Foundation.
“The McMahon Foundation has authorized us to use $300,000 for this purchase,” saidYSA Chairman Brian Henry. ‘No title issues’ The authority has been down this road before.
In March 2024, the authority voted to buy nearly 85 acres of land on the southwest corner of East Gore and Southeast 45th Street for the sports complex. The Richards Trust owned 47.4 acres of the property, and Richards’ widow, Donna Cooper, and her late husband, Dr. Mickey Cooper, owned the remaining 37.59 acres.
But the authority hit a roadblock when the heirs of Richards’ son, Nick Richards, did not sign the paperwork required to move forward with the purchase, Southwest Ledger reported in October 2024. As a result, the authority started looking at other options.
Those options included the parcel of land, which also belongs to the Richards Trust, that the board voted to acquire Jan. 24.
The authority will not encounter the same problems this time around, Henry said.
“No title issues,” he said. “We could close on this land in seven to 10 days or sooner.”
Consulting services The board also approved a contract with Eastern Sports Management, which will serve as a consultant for designing and building the sports complex. ESM currently manages the city’s youth sports program.
The design will include both indoor and outdoor facilities, but construction of those facilities may be performed separately in phases, according to the agreement. The authority will have the option of deciding whether to include outdoor facilities in the services outlined in the fourth and fifth phases of the agreement.
ESM will help the authority choose a design team for the project, interview candidates and guide the board through contract negotiations, Henry said.
“The contracts will be signed by us with those professionals, not with ESM,” he said.
The first phase of the project includes choosing a design team to draw up a schematic design for the complex. The second phase will move from a schematic design to a more detailed plan.
The third phase will include producing construction documents and site plans, as well as providing recommendations for value engineering. Before starting the fourth phase, the authority will decide whether to build only an indoor sports complex or both indoor and outdoor facilities.
During the fourth phase, Eastern Sports Management will provide consulting services for the indoors complex and the outdoor facilities, if the authority decides to proceed with both projects. The fifth phase will include setting a preliminary budget for furniture, fixtures and equipment; establishing a timeline for procuring those items; and setting bidding thresholds.