Portsmouth Athletic Complex

[battlecats]

I noticed this week that some houses are being torn down in the area where the need complex is going to be built. Anyone know when this project is supposed to get under way?

[OZZIEOHIO]

I think you answered your own question. Its underway the first faze is removing the houses. The second part I believe was to bould a office site.

[battlecats]

I meant the actual construction but I did notice some of those houses are still being occupied so that might be a problem. Where are they building an office and whats is going to be for they have new schools and admin office already.

[biggdowgg]

I think he measn offices for the construction company

[OZZIEOHIO]

Yes I believe it said office and storage site for there supplys.

[battlecats]

I saw the plans on the pcs website and it looks like they have an admin building proposed to be built in the NW corner.

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

From the Daily Times June 17th 2008
Portsmouth City Schools chart complex's progress

T.W. Allen - Daily Times A house is shown being torn down Wednesday morning on John Street in Portsmouth. It was being torn down in anticipation of the construction of a new sports complex by Portsmouth City School District.
By FRANK LEWIS
PDT Staff Writer
Houses were being demolished, and construction crews were separating the lumber from the bricks and blocks, and Ralph Applegate, facilities director for the Portsmouth City School District, was touring a six-block area set aside as part of the new $10 million PCSD Athletic Complex, to chart the progress Monday afternoon.

"We only have about five or six more houses to purchase, and we are negotiating for those now," Applegate said. "There are still some people who don't believe this project will be a reality, but it already is. Just look at the demo (demolition) work being done."

Phase One extends from Eighth Street to Gallia Street, and from Waller Street to Findlay Street in Portsmouth.

"The architects are starting to put their plans together, and as soon as we get some of these properties down, we want to start site work," he said. "We could actually start in July."

Applegate said PCSD has taken several steps to save money, including separating the stone from the wood, having that stone crushed by J & H Erectors for use in the creation of the foundations, and recycling of some of the dirt from other projects.

"We plan to secure all of our first phase property and get bids on our football stadium, then start purchasing property in the second phase. We just wanted to do it right in Phase One before moving on," Applegate said.

As he drove past the former Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation Office building, he pointed out it was the hope of PSCD to move the administration offices into that building.

"The football field will be buit partially on the property of the old Portsmouth High School, but at an angle, utilizing the former T & I (Technical and Industrial) building," Applegate said.

According to the plans, PCSD wants to build a football field, a track, a baseball field, outdoor basketball courts, outdoor tennis courts, a softball field, a fieldhouse, concession stands, plus walkways and a lot of green space.

"The reason we're talking phase one and then Phase Two is that we wanted to make Phase One a state-of-the-art facility," he said at a PCSD forum in February. "We weren't going to skimp on Phase One just to complete Phase Two. We were going to make it state-of-the-art and try to keep it under budget, and carry that money over to Phase Two."

Phase Two begins at Ninth Street with the same east and west boundaries of Waller Street and Findlay Street.

"We will be using that entire area except for Second Presbyterian Church, which will remain," Applegate said. "We will probably be demolishing the former bus station building very soon."

He also thanked several people who have worked with PCSD on the project, including Boone Coleman of Boone Coleman Construction Company, real estate agent Neal Hatcher and Portsmouth attorney Clay Johnson.

"Clay has done all of the work for our schools free of charge. Boone has not only done much of the work, but has loaned us much-needed equipment indefinitely, and Neal is donating much of the proceeds from the property back to the schools," Applegate said.

Johnson said the athletic complex is being financed primarily of funds from two main sources, the Clyde and Maycel Clark Foundation Inc., and the Scioto Area Community Foundation.

"The project is actually through the Clark Educational Foundation LLC, which will own the property, own the improvements and lease it to the school and also operate the reserve fund, with the Portsmouth City School paying $10,000-a-year rent," Johnson said. "I can't thank Bob Walton and Mick Sturgill of Southern Ohio Port Authority, and their board, enough for making it happen."

He said Southern Ohio Port Authority issued the bonds which were purchased by Commerce Bank.

The $10 million was loaned to the Clark Foundation LLC, which receives $410,000 annually from the Clyde and Maycel Clark Foundation, and $110,000 annually from Scioto Area Community Foundation.

Johnson said that money actually goes directly to Commerce Bank for the bonds.

"I can tell you this all came together because of a lot of people who know each other and trust each other," he said.


Can someone explain why PHS will not own the new complex and why they are paying rent. Isn't this one of the problems we have had with the city owning the Stadium?

[trojandave]

Apparently according to the article the property will not be owned by the Portsmouth City Schools........and that is why they will be paying rent. The Clark Educational Foundation will own the property........they gave PCS $10 million dollars to develop the project but not necessarily to own the land it will sit on......without their financial contribution, there is no new Athletic Complex.....so I am thankful for their generous donation which will help build perhaps will what become the finest athletic facilities in SE Ohio.

I am just glad to see that the plans are moving forward........toward reality in the near future.

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

It just seems odd that one of everyones problems with the stadium was that we didn't own it ( even though the city tried to sell it for a dollar). It seem that the last thing the school system would want to do is to enter into another lease or rental situation. Where is this $10000 a year going to come from? I doubt the school has an extra $10000 each year, and with fuel cost the way they are the budget will be even small. What happens when the new wears of this complex and we need to put down a new turf or a new track where does that money come from? Also whos going to pay for general maintnace to the facility?

As I have said in the past I hope this new complex is everything they say it will be, but I think that 10 million dollars could be spent a lot better.

[trojandave]

I guess I'll play the fool in this and say that if the PCSD could not pay the $10,000 yearly rent, they would not have entered into this agreement. I don't know the breakdown of the PCSD operating budget, but I would think that $10,000 is actually small considering of the overall cost of running the entire school district.

With no soccer program and no wrestling program, the Portsmouth High School football program doesn't have to fund these sports, so the money that is made from football is not spread as thin as it could be. And boys basketball in most years breaks even, and with a good year will make money.

Perhaps the same can be said for the financial operation of the school district. With cutbacks in recent years of certain things, maybe that freed up more money for something like this. I have no facts to support this, just a common sense opinion.

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

Dave first of all you are far from the fool. You are one of if not the best Trojan fans we have.

I think we still have cross country, we do not have soccer which we lost a few years ago, and I don't know how long it’s been since we had a wrestling program but it has been a long time.

As you stated the only sport to make money is Football which supports all the other sports, with the exception of B-ball which tends to break even most years( and hopefully will make money as our programs continues to rebuild)

With that being said I know that we have had issue with old uniforms (fathers bought new football pants) in the past and the mothers club had to buy footballs when Mr. Lard was A.D. We are in a league that requires a large amount of travel which is another hit to the budget. This distance also contributes to smaller visitor crowds which means a smaller gate. I 'am also sure you have noticed that the home crowds are not what they once were either.

These are just some possible problems I for see with the new complex. Another issue I was wondering is will we have to hire additional staff to take care of the facility i.e. grounds crew, custodial workers, or will the ones that already work in the school system work overtime or be forced to let other duties fall by the wayside?

As I have said 10 million is not enough to build a complex that will be worth leaving Spartan for. This money would have been better spent to purchase and take care of Spartan, oh but that’s right there are strings attached to this money, according to the PCS website: First, the Portsmouth City School District does NOT own the stadium. The stadium is owned and operated by the City of Portsmouth. Second, the private funds are designated for new economic development initiatives in the Portsmouth City central area, not restoration projects. Wonder why there are so many stipulations as to how the money can be used?

[battlecats]

I would assume that if Portsmouth wont actually own the property then they wouldn't be responsible for the upkeep but who knows. I'm sure there are some old retired fellers that wouldn't mind one bit cutting the grass and taking care of the place like ol' forrest gump did. But if they only have to pay 10 grand a year thats a bargain, they should make that in two home games with ticket sales and concessions. I just don't see how they are going to get state-of-the-art facilities with 10 mil. Now if it were only 5 years ago then It wouldnt be a problem. I guess I just want something unique looking, maybe a modern looking Spartan with a big glass entrance instead of brick and concrete. I wonder if they plan on using field turf because that will be prolly 800,000 by itself.

[trojandave]

TrojanFB Alum: Once I got to thinking about it, I believe we still do have a cross country team......but I think the boys and girls compete together.

I know there are some snags with this new complex, and there is a lot of history with Spartan Stadium.......but just like the old high school, it was time to embrace something new.......our new high school is a jewel.......and has won architectural awards.

Spartan Stadium has had its day.......it's time to move on to a brand new facility, and the grounds will be maintained.....by whomever. The old Grant Gym and the former high school gym was the home of state champion basketball teams......but what we have is now even better......a beautiful brand new gymnasium with very nice locker rooms, a nice training room, and other adjacent offices.

Your concerns are valid, no question, because it will take considerable time to maintain the facilities, and finance that maintenance. Perhaps, though, those provisions are already in place when the project reaches completion.

battlecats: Even though 10 million dollars doesn't seem like enough money to cover a project this large, the project is moving forward, so it appears as if there is enough cash to bring this to a reality. I would assume that if the funds were not available, the project would be stuck in the mud with further political wrangling.

[OZZIEOHIO]

battlecats wrote

I would assume that if Portsmouth wont actually own the property then they wouldn't be responsible for the upkeep but who knows. I'm sure there are some old retired fellers that wouldn't mind one bit cutting the grass and taking care of the place like ol' forrest gump did. But if they only have to pay 10 grand a year thats a bargain, they should make that in two home games with ticket sales and concessions. I just don't see how they are going to get state-of-the-art facilities with 10 mil. Now if it were only 5 years ago then It wouldnt be a problem. I guess I just want something unique looking, maybe a modern looking Spartan with a big glass entrance instead of brick and concrete. I wonder if they plan on using field turf because that will be prolly 800,000 by itself

I thought the football field, and baseball field would be turf. The wont leave a whole lot of grass to be cut.

[Zanes-Vegas]

ozzie ... we are talking Portsmouth here, right?

There are two terms -- "lease" and "rent" -- that get thrown around a little loosely here and I think it bears an effort to more fully define this. I'll use Gant Municipal Stadium in Zanesville as an example.

This facility is a combo baseball/football stadium (built in the 1940s). Zanesville played it's football games there up until Sulsberger Stadium was built and opened at the end of the 1964 season. Currently, it is the home football field for Rosecrans (but not much longer, either; more later).

The City of Zanesville owns the Stadium facility. A local baseball organization (Muskingum Valley Old-Timers Association) LEASES the property from the city and is responsible for its care and maintenance. Rosecrans RENTS the facility, which means the MVOTA makes sure it's set up for football games in which Rosecrans hosts.

Rosecrans itself is not responsible for field maintenance, etc. They just "show up and play."

Anyway, it sounds as though this is a similar issue at Portsmouth. When I see the school district will LEASE the facility, that means it will also maintain it.

Rosecrans is expected to complete some lengthy negotiations with Zanesville City Schools to begin using Sulsberger Stadium as its home field. As some may know, we are undergoing a renovation program at Sulsberger that has made it attractive for Rosecrans to move across town -- FieldTurf, new lighting, new track, new scoreboard, new sound system are all part of the pieces to be done this year, with more to come in the next couple of years. Again, we will own it and maintain it, and they will "rent."

So, IMO, Portsmouth paying $10K as an annual lease isn't all that far-fetched to me. The rest of that description just looks like a lot of legal gymnastics that have to be completed when you're working a deal between a public school district and other entities. The Port Authority should be lauded for stepping in and assisting with that because your project does have a bearing on economic development, both directly and indirectly.

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

Ok here is an example of what a stadium cost to build:http://www.texasbob.com/stadium/stadium.php?id=684
This is a brand new facility that just opened in Texas. It is a 7000 seat facility which is just about 1000 seats more then our new proposed football stadium. It cost 12 million dollars to build. This information is form http://www.mineralwellsindex.com/local/local_story_255112209.html

This 12 million is for a football stadium alone!!!!! Yet some how we are going to build football, baseball, softball, tennis facilites,and renovate the old gym, on only 10 million, not to mention the cost of buying and demolition of property.



Ozzie I to have heard that it will be turf, which means grass cutting would be reduced but expence to take care of the surface would not. Here is some interesting information on field turfs maintance cost.http://www.athleticturf.net/athleticturf/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=162975

I was told but don't know, isn't Valley already on thier 2nd turf?

[battlecats]

Theres no way in hades they can do all that with 10 mil. I hope the clark and scioto foundation have their ink pens ready to write some more checks. Mrs. Broughton said they have 5 million budgeted for property alone.

http://portsmouthcitizens.info/CityScho ... toDaub.pdf[/color]

[Axe N Shield]

I have heard that when all said and done this complex will cost more like 20 to 30 million dollars! Where will the other 10 to 20 million come from then? And, I do believe that the Portsmouth City School District will be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the facility!

I think it was Trajandave who said that he didn't know the operating budget for PCSD! I can tell you this... according to their own Fiscal Forecast provided to the Department of Education; they will be $2 million in the hole in the next 2 years! That's not a very promising outlook!

[Men of Troy]

Leave it to someone from East to cast a negative spin on a great thing for the City of Portsmouth, Portsmouth City Schools, and the students/community members. As for the comment about being 2 million dollars in the hole in 2 years, I just chalk it up to someone from East trying to take another cheap shot at Portsmouth Schools...I sense envy rearing it's ugly head AGAIN!! I guess if you had to play on the Tartan Turf and send your children to trailers to go to school it would make you envious??? Just heard the other day that East couldn't afford to buy MORE TRAILERS from Wheelersburg...I wonder how financially stable they are right now????

[battlecats]

East will be in the East Portsmouth elem. building soon enough. They already dont have enough room for the students who have signed up for the sciotoville elem. academy or whatever its called. I dont think Portsmouth will keep a building open for only 100 students k-4. But I am excited to see the new stadiums downtown, if they are done right.