Hoover council approves $2.36 million for Sportsplex indoor center foundation work
The Hoover City Council tonight approved a $2.36 million contract to do foundation work and the concrete pad that will serve as the base for the Hoover Sportsplex indoor event center that will go next to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Rabren General Contractors was the low bidder for the job among five companies seeking to do the work.
The total cost for the entire 120-acre Hoover Sportsplex is expected to be about $70 million and include six soccer/lacrosse/football fields, eight baseball/softball fields, 15 tennis courts, a 2-mile walking track, playground and splash pad.
The idea is for the 141,000-square-foot indoor facility to be used for sporting events, trade shows, meetings, banquets and graduation ceremonies.
The indoor facility will be able to accommodate a full-size football or soccer field, nine regulation-size basketball courts, 12 regulation-size volleyball courts or six indoor tennis courts, city officials said. It will not be tall enough to accommodate a football game with punting but could handle a 7-on-7 game.
The event center also is slated to include a recreational walking track suspended 14 feet in the air, an athletic training and rehab center, a food court and a covered walkway connecting it to the Hoover Met.
The indoor facility should be able to seat 2,400 for banquets and 5,000 for events with general seating, such as a graduation ceremony or concert, Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey said.
Hoover Executive Director Allen Pate said city officials hope to start construction in June and have the event center in place by May of next year, in time for the 2017 SEC Baseball Tournament, if the city wins the contract to continue hosting the tournament. The goal is to have the rest of the complex completed by February 2018, Pate said.
The Hoover City Council also tonight voted to ask Alabama Power Co. for additional traffic signals at the intersection of Valleydale Road and Inverness Center Drive and the intersection of Preserve Parkway and Lake Crest Drive.
City Engineer Rodney Long said the city will do a lot of the work itself but is waiting on equipment to arrive. He hopes to have the lights installed by this summer, he said.
The council also approved a request to allow live entertainment and sales of alcoholic beverages at the Park Crest event center at 2034 Little Valley Road, with certain restrictions:
- Live entertainment will be restricted to music.
- Music will be prohibited after midnight on Friday and Saturday nights and after 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.
- All parking shall be contained in the event center’s parking lots or on adjacent property owned by the same entity. Specifically, no parking will be allowed on Little Valley Road or at the Elevate Hoover apartment complex next door.
- The owner must hire at least one off-duty Hoover police officer to ensure compliance during all events.