By Diwata Fonte, The Fresno Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Sep. 3--VISALIA, Calif. -- Developers are moving forward with an $8 million project to transform a defunct olive cannery into one of the nation's largest indoor sports complexes.
Johnny George, a Visalia businessman, and his partner, Ed Plant of San Diego, gave city officials a preview of Sports World, an indoor sports mall that would target athletes from Modesto to Bakersfield. 'It's going to have an Olympic-stadium look to it,' George said.
The draft, prepared by Mangini Associates Inc. of Visalia, shows a two-story, 268,000-square-foot sports complex that would have about 25 uses including batting cages, soccer, billiards, martial arts, a scuba pool, paintball, laser tag, archery, gymnastics and virtual sports.
Plans for the 27,000-square-foot second floor include a viewing deck to the skateboard park, indoor racetrack, arena football, rock climbing and the mall area.
George and Plant expect to formally submit plans to the city in about a week.
The sports complex is reshaping the former Early California Foods Plant at Tulare Avenue and Santa Fe Street. The $39 million olive plant stopped operating in 1999, when it was closed by Musco Olive Products of Tracy. It had been used as storage in the interim. George estimates that the approximately $3 million property will need $5 million in improvements.
Developers must address issues such as parking, drainage and traffic before the plan goes through a formal site-plan review process, city officials say.
The area is zoned light industrial, and the project would require a public hearing before receiving a conditional-use permit, said Jason Pausma, a city planner who sits on the site review committee.
George said they hope to receive the city's approval on the plans within four months. Construction could take nine months, he said.
If the complex is built as planned, Sports World would have the floor space of five to six large grocery stores or two Home Depot stores.
George said, however, that he and Plant are considering further expansion on the second floor. 'We're looking at other options now to make it bigger. We're approaching 300,000 [square feet].'
They also are considering alternative parking options, including a multilevel structure, he said.
An indoor sports park is different from the city's community sports park, which will be finished in spring 2006, and from health clubs and a new fun park in west Visalia. Other indoor sports facilities in the Valley include Fresno Indoor Soccer and Yosemite Fitness, which offers rock climbing.
George expects the project will attract athletes and spectators from Bakersfield to Modesto since many of them already drive throughout the central San Joaquin Valley to compete.
'We figure there's going to be a million and half people within our trade area,' he said.
The partners plan to build the sports complex and then take a landlord role, leasing out the features, such as the pitching alleys, for other businesses to run. They also are lining up retailers such as soccer and skateboard stores to complement the activities there, as well as food vendors. George is considering all-you-can-eat pizza.
Michael Tellian, an architect and president of Mangini Associates, said Sports World will be unusual in the Valley for its size, its combination of sports in one place and its potential audience of all ages.
His firm will be paying particular attention to designing the flow from activity to activity and ensuring there are proper safety measures, he said.
The project makes sense for the rapidly growing Valley, he said. 'The Valley is becoming more populated all the time. People are starting to move from the more crowded to the less crowded, and now they're looking for activities.'
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