- The Fields at 17 Springs is a new, 200-acre sports complex in Millbrook, Alabama, featuring a variety of athletic fields and a large fieldhouse.
- The facility is expected to be a boon to the local economy, attracting youth sports tourism and creating jobs.
- It will be used by Elmore County public schools and is expected to draw youth sports tourism to the area.
- The complex is a collaboration between the City of Millbrook, Elmore County, the Elmore County Board of Education, the YMCA, and the Elmore County Economic Development Authority.
MILLBROOK − The numbers are staggering, but the expected impact is just as impressive.
The Fields at 17 Springs, a sprawling sports complex off Alabama 14 in Millbrook, held the grand opening of Phase 2 Tuesday afternoon. The $100 million project covers about 200 acres and includes a 5,500 seat football stadium with track, softball and baseball fields, pickleball courts and an 86,000-square-foot “fieldhouse.”
Backers predict the facility will be “a generational shift,” for youth and amateur sports, not only for Millbrook and Elmore County, but for the region and the state as a whole.
“Wow, another level for the City of Millbrook,” Mayor Al Kelley said at the opening. ‘Wow, another level for Elmore County. Wow, another level for Central Alabama and the State of Alabama.”
Elmore County public schools will use the complex for practice and competition. The football stadium is the new home turf of the Stanhope Elmore High School Mustangs. There are six diamonds for baseball and softball, four multipurpose turf fields, 12 tennis courts, 12 pickleball courts and walking and bike trials.
The expect to host sports tournaments of all kinds, targeting all age groups.
The centerpiece, though, is the fieldhouse, which towers over the site. It looks huge from the highway, but you have to go inside to get the real scope. There is the main floor, concessions, locker rooms, meeting rooms.
Think a smaller version, but not by much, of the City of Montgomery’s Multiplex. Can the fieldhouse host wrestling matches? Sure. Volleyball tournaments? You betcha. But it can also be used for craft shows, corporate expositions and any other activity that could benefit from a climate controlled venue.
It’s a common saying among economic development experts that tourism dollars turn over seven times in a community, and youth sports tourism is big bucks and big business. Ask any parent of an athletically inclined child, and they will tell you they go year-round. It’s always baseball season, or volleyball season or football or soccer season. And if your local town or school doesn’t have organized sports for any given period in the year, there are travel teams.
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The wider site seems destined to be known as simply “17 Springs.” Just outside the complex is a strip of land dubbed “The Marketplace at 17 Springs” which offers a site for hotels and restaurants and other businesses that want to reap the benefit of the expected throngs.
That means jobs, investments and sales tax collections. That means a ripple effect that will be felt far away from the grass, and the dirt and the artificial play surfaces of 17 Springs. It’s more than just 47 bathrooms and two-and-a-half miles of concrete in the form of sidewalks.
What it really all means as to the effect on cash registers and government budgets and quality of life likely won’t be known “… for decades to come,” said Elmore County Commission Chairman Bart Mercer.
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Oh, and the name 17 Springs? That comes from the number of free flowing springs on the parcel.
To pull it all off a not-so-minor miracle occurred with support and funding. There are five entities toting the load: The City of Millbrook, the Elmore County Commission, the Elmore County Board of Education, the YMCA of Greater Montgomery in the form of the Grandview Y as the local location and the Elmore County Economic Development Authority.
Superintendent Richard Dennis has dubbed the groups “Our dance partners.” With the success of an effort this large, with the groundwork being successfully laid, he asked: What future plans can come about?
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at[email protected].
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