Windsor Locks sports complex
Massive facility brings hope of economic boost
A sprawling sports complex — with 20 indoor courts, eight outdoor playing fields, a 3,500-seat stadium, hotels and restaurants — promises a powerful economic boost to Windsor Locks in the down times of the coronavirus pandemic.
A sprawling sports complex — with 20 indoor courts, eight outdoor playing fields, a 3,500-seat stadium, hotels and restaurants — promises a powerful economic boost to Windsor Locks in the down times of the coronavirus pandemic.
The planning and zoning commission unanimously approved the site plan for the $110 million All Sports Village at a recent meeting. To be built on 76 acres of former tobacco land at Old County Road and Route 20, not far from Bradley International Airport, the training, competition and entertainment complex is intended to draw young athletes from around the world and create 300 to 400 jobs.
“The youth sports tourism industry is growing rapidly, and this puts Windsor Locks right in the thick of it,” First Selectman J. Christopher Kervick said.
Housed in a 220,800-square-foot building, the indoor courts are to be used for
basketball and volleyball. The outdoor artificial turf fields will be for soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and flag football, according to developer JABS Sports Management.
The approved site plan also includes an indoor soccer field, a family entertainment center, medical/physical therapy unit, retail shops and restaurants and two 150-room hotels.
The developer gets a 30-year break on real estate taxes, but the town is gaining far more than it is giving up, Kervick said. As part of the deal, the developer agreed to install a new track at Windsor Locks High
School, a six-court, lighted tennis facility and a 200-seat baseball field grandstand, he said.
Also, some tournaments will draw several hundred teams, and a consultant reported that anticipated revenue for local hotels and restaurants in the first year of operation would be about $15 million, growing to $40 million in 20 years.
For local businesses that have been struggling during the pandemic, “this comes along at a really good time,” Kervick said.
JABs principal, Long Island-based developer Andy Borgia, has an option to purchase the property and said he plans to close the deal later this year. Construction could start soon after that, Borgia said. All Sports Village will be part of a fast-growing $15 billion industry and is sure to attract other development, he said, including new hotels and housing.
Borgia has experience in the field as developer of Baseball Heaven, a complex devoted to the sport in Yaphank, N.Y. The facility opened to rave reviews in 2004, but Borgia declared bankruptcy in 2006 and was forced to sell his 40 percent share in that project, slightly more than $1 million, according to a 2018 story in The Courant.
Borgia also had been accused in a lawsuit filed in Suffolk County, N.Y., of cheating four investors out of $462,000 they’d put into a $45 million soccer complex in Islip, N.Y. That project was transferred to another developer in 2017 after six years of delays and political controversies involving Borgia and local officials.
Windsor Locks officials paused talks with Borgia in 2018 when news of his legal and financial troubles came out, but Kervick said Tuesday that the issues “were nothing more than stuff that developers deal with.” Kervick said he has met with the lending institution behind Borgia, and “we’re satisfied that he’s got his ducks in a row.”
Another part of the deal between the developer and Windsor Locks sets aside 25% of the jobs at the complex for Windsor Locks residents. Also, if two people with equal qualifications are interviewed for the same job, the town resident is to get preference, Kervick said.
The plan has been downsized from the initial proposal that carried an estimated cost of $213 million. Gone are six proposed dormitories for athletes that officials found would have overburdened the wastewater treatment plant. The proposed stadium also was reduced from a planned 5,506 seats to the current 3,500.
A grassroots opposition campaign contended the town should not help fund the private project and that the new construction could threaten a nearby openspace preservation area. Windsor Locks Neighbors United called for a referendum on whether to adopt the master plan and approve a proposed “tax increment financing district” that would benefit the developer.
Residents approved the so-called TIF last year in May by a vote of 969 to 719. The economic development tool is designed to spur new projects by dedicating tax revenue to fund development in the district — in this case, the sports complex.
Once a project is finished, the new and higher property value of the parcel where it sits is assessed and compared with the assessment of the same real estate at the time the TIF district was established. The difference between the two is known as the “increment” and new revenue generated from the increment goes toward the development. The 30-year tax break amounts to 90% of the increased property tax due to the development, Kervick said.