LAWTON – The Lawton Youth Sports Trust Authority is ready to start the second phase in designing the city’s youth sports complex.
After reviewing a schematic design for the complex, the authority voted unanimously May 8 to accept it. The board also authorized Chairman Brian Henry to notify Eastern Sports Management, which is the design consultant on the project, and the architectural firm ADG Blatt to move on to the design development phase.
The schematic design phase involved laying out a floor plan, planning how the building’s exterior would look and envisioning the layout of the site, Henry said in an email to a Southwest Ledger reporter. The design development phase will focus on the details of the floor plan, the exterior look and the site plan.
“It should begin to get us a better idea of cost as we can start moving towards RFP for construction costs,” Henry said, using the acronym for a request for proposals.
‘We want them to stay’ The sports complex will be located on 120 acres off Gore Boulevard, near MacArthur High School. ADG Blatt is designing the entire site, which will include outdoor ballfields as well as the building.
ESM and ADG Blatt’s concept envisions a 142,000-square-foot building that will include eight basketball courts, which could be converted into 16 volleyball courts, said ESM project manager Brian Cann. The building will also include space for administrative offices, a lounge-style seating area, multipurpose rooms and other amenities.
The lounge-style seating will encourage visitors to spend more time at the complex, which could generate additional revenue for the facility, Cann said.
“The best-case scenario is we have people that come to an event – to a class, to a program, whatever – and we want them to stay,” he said. “They’re buying sodas. They’re buying food. They’re enjoying the atmosphere. They’re hanging out with the team after a game. That’s going to increase the experience within the facility.”
The complex will be designed to serve young athletes and adults alike, Cann said. He said the building will include space for exercise classes, cardiovascular exercise and weightlifting, as well as sports training.
“As a preliminary design, we were trying to get good flow through the space that meets multiple of those needs,” Cann said. “And so, we’re pretty happy with the way it looks. We’ll keep fine-tuning it through the process.”
Chairman Henry said in his email that the design development phase will likely take 45 to 60 days. He added that he was excited to move into that stage of the project.
“The next phase will give people a better feel for how the building will look and how it will flow with the outdoor fields, whether they are all built at once, partially built with (the) building or built in the future,” he said.