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Sports complex to open soon at The Highlands

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Courtesy of Sports Facilities Management

Basketball and volleyball will hold court in this facility at Highlands Sports Complex.

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Courtesy of Sports Facilities Management

Baseball and other sports could be a hit on this indoor turf field.

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Courtesy of Sports Facilities Management

The grass is always greener, even on this indoor turf field in Highlands Sports Complex.

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Courtesy of Sports Facilities Management

Climbing promises to be a source of exercise and an exercise in color at the new sports complex in Triadelphia, W.Va.

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Courtesy of Sports Facilities Management

Things are looking up for anyone interested in climbing at the new sports complex.

The cornucopia of properties that is The Highlands has added to its horn of plenty. And the latest endeavor promises to be fruitful.

More than two years in the works, Highlands Sports Complex is nearing completion. Construction of the $30 million, 200,000-square-foot project – for sports and recreation – is in the final stages. A grand opening planned for noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 1.

That complex should enhance and complement the massive complex surrounding it – The Highlands, a multi-use property off Interstate 70. It sits on a 1,000-acre tract in Triadelphia, W.Va., a tad east of Wheeling in the state’s northern panhandle. This is largely a retail site, but it’s also home to restaurants, hotels, outdoors giant Cabela’s, movie theaters and a satellite campus for West Liberty (W.Va.) University.

Seemingly everything but a sports complex – until now.

“We’re pleased about this,” said Randy Wharton, Ohio County commissioner and president of the Ohio County Development Authority, bodies that were instrumental in planning and growing the sportsplex. OCDA owns, develops and manages The Highlands, and works with Sports Facilities Management, which runs day-to-day operations of the sports and recreation facility.

Highlands Sports Complex will feature three buildings that house six courts for basketball or volleyball; an indoor 88,000-square-foot turf field with vaulted ceiling; an 89,640-square-foot outdoor field; play climbing; a fitness center; an arcade and a café.

It has been erected on 15 acres on property that previously were undeveloped. The sports complex is situated behind the Marquee Cinemas and well in front of Cabela’s distribution center.

The sportsplex should provide a financial boost for The Highlands and nearby communities, as a drawing card for youth tournaments, clinics and other events. Attracting teams – and their families – from outside the region could prove to be a financial windfall for the restaurants, hotels and other businesses in a project such as The Highlands. Youth tournaments are generally conducted on weekends, requiring overnight stays and lots of food.

Erecting a sportsplex has worked in other areas, including Western Pennsylvania.

Real estate, as it is well documented, is all about location, location, location. Highlands Sports Complex certainly will have that. The center will be about a half-hour drive from Washington, an hour from Pittsburgh and a short jaunt from Wheeling and eastern Ohio. Tri-state personified.

“We feel The Highlands is mature enough now to sustain this,” Wharton said in June 2018, while discussing the sports project with the Observer-Reporter. “And not only are there lots of hotels, restaurants and shopping (locations), you have attractions down the road like Oglebay Park, (Wheeling Island Hotel Casino & Racetrack), The Meadows (Racetrack & Casino), and in hockey season you can see the Wheeling Nailers.”

Wharton, a commissioner for 21 years, said a group of soccer players has already used the complex, for a Saturday morning camp at which social distancing was practiced.

“They really loved our site,” Wharton said. “That camp could result in a lot of business.”

Dallas Cowboys cornerback C.J. Goodwin, a California University of Pennsylvania graduate and a Linsly School (Wheeling) alum, has a minicamp planned there, according to Wharton.

He emphasized, however, that this sports destination is not limited to organized sports. It also is intended to serve local residents.

“If you want to practice indoors, run sprints, practice baseball in the spring when it’s wet and cold, you can. We’re hoping local people use it as much as people coming from out of town.”

Wharton in the 2018 interview said that a sports complex had been on Ohio County’s radar for a while, and was hoping to break ground soon afterward. Construction projects, however, are often rife with delays, as this one was. But none of them were formidable, according to the commissioner.

Officials at the beginning of the year were shooting for a spring opening, more specifically Memorial Day weekend. Then COVID-19 infringed upon the proceedings.

Now, a month after Independence Day, it is scheduled to happen. “We’re a little late on the opening, but not bad,” Wharton said.

For more information, visit www.highlandssports.com.

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