Westfield announced Friday that the city is not looking to sell Grand Park Sports Campus.
The city said the 400-acre sports campus could still get a new operator or manager once a review committee recommends a company to the Westfield Redevelopment Commission and the Westfield City Council.
The Westfield Redevelopment Commission released a request for proposals in March 2022 seeking a new owner or operator of the sports campus and events center.
Appraisals released in August set a minimum sale price for Grand Park at $85 million. Grand Park opened in 2014 and cost $49 million to construct, while the $26 million event center opened in 2016.
“Westfield is progressing with evaluating proposals only for the operation and/or management of Grand Park and the Grand Park Events Center,” the city said Friday in a short statement. “More details will follow later as additional work remains to be done. The focus remains on doing what is in the best interests of the City of Westfield.”
The city is considering seven proposals from companies interested in Grand Park.
A committee of six men was formed to review the proposals and make any recommendations to the Westfield Redevelopment Commission and the Westfield City Council.
The committee consists of Brian Tomamichel, Westfield Washington Schools chief financial officer; Jeremy Lollar, Westfield chief of staff; Troy Patton: Westfield City Council member; Larry Clarino, Westfield Public Works and Safety board member; Dan Moyer: Westfield business owner; and Chuck Lehman: former Westfield City Council member.
Grand Park has 31 soccer fields, 26 baseball diamonds, two administration buildings, seven concession stands and a 378,000-square-foot multi-use event center. The Indianapolis Colts moved their annual summer training camp to the park in 2018.
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Sounds like Westfield couldn’t get the price they wanted. Looks like they are stuck paying for this albatross.
Once again, an anonymous source identified as “the city” has made an announcement regarding Grand Park that the media is running with: shouldn’t there be a source tied to such a monumental decision? The RDC ? The Mayor?
Allowing this story to be published without backing reduces it to gossip or tabloid news.
William, the City of Westfield made this announcement in an official news release through its communications department. There was nothing anonymous about the source. The proposals to buy or manage the facility were reviewed by a six-man committee. Those people are all identified in the story.
As a Westfield resident, I am pleased with this decision. Westfield built it and then must maintain infrastructure that boosts taxes. While Westfield has a large mortgage to pay, we could quickly pay those bonds/loans by increasing fees to all of the out of town teams that use our facilities. Look to a Local Tax on Hotels. These out of towers are used to paying for the chance to have little Johnny or Sally a scholarship. Keep the asset!
Or just change the Zoning laws so that instead of apartment after apartment things are built that can be taxed. More sit down restaurants, shops maybe an outlet mall of some sort. Find things for people to spend money on while in town and more hotels. We were supposed to have 4 or 5 hotels not 2.