Construction crews are getting ready to break ground on a new athletics building in Homer.
The South Peninsula Athletic and Recreation Center, or SPARC, will be used for a variety of activities, including indoor soccer, baseball and pickleball.
Daniel Zatz, who is spearheading the SPARC project, said the facility will allow residents to be active throughout the year.
“We’ve needed this space forever,” Zatz said. “As our winters have increasingly become warmer and the opportunity for playing in the snow has gone down and fields have turned into mud, we really really need this now.”
The SPARC building will be constructed on a 3-and-a-half acre lot near Homer Middle School.
Excavation is scheduled to begin in late September and the prefabricated steel structure will arrive at the end of October.
The goal is to open SPARC by the end of 2016, Zatz said.
The total cost of the SPARC building will be approximately $550,000.
So far, the project organizers have raised $450,000. Necessary amenities will be added to the building next year, once they’ve reached their fundraising goal, Zatz said.
“What the community will probably see is that we will raise the SPARC and we will make it playable with a closed-in building, with a rubberized floor, with LED lighting,” he said. “That will happen before the end of the year. The heaters and the bathrooms may have to wait until next year as we raise the final funds to finish it.”
The SPARC project is supported by a combination of public funding and private donations.
Currently, 60 percent to 75 percent of funding has come from private donors, including local businesses and individual contributions.
The City of Homer will contribute roughly $200,000 toward construction costs.
“One of the keys for all of us in building the SPARC is that it will be built 100 percent debt free. So, the only budget that we will have to achieve each year will be the cost of operations,” Zatz said.
Based on recent estimates, Zatz said that facility entrance fees will cover most operational costs.
More information about the SPARC project can be found online at www.sparchomer.org.
