The site of a former scrap yard near downtown Fort Wayne could become one of the city’s most transformative projects—a new youth sports fieldhouse.

The city of Fort Wayne announced this month it plans to build a $50-$60 million facility off of North Clinton Street just north of downtown. Officials say the North River Fieldhouse will be about 160,000 square feet and cater to youth sports as a mechanism to increase tourism.

Fort Wayne officials are hopeful the endeavor will generate $36 million per year in economic impact in the city through hotel stays, visits to nearby businesses and tax revenue. The plan is for the city to own the facility, but hire an outside company to manage it.

Deputy Director of Development Alec Johnson said the project site will see ancillary projects, including housing, alongside the main fieldhouse, creating a whole new district in the city.

“We think it’s going to incentivize and catalyze development around it. It’s not just about bringing in people from out of town to come to a facility for a tournament. That’s a big part of it, but when there’s not a tournament there that place is still going to be buzzing. It’s still full of activity from people in the neighborhood, from all over the region.”

The fieldhouse project is in its infancy. The city has a deadline of March 31 for design and development teams to submit applications. From there, Johnson anticipates a year of design work and then construction beginning likely in 2027. 

Urban fieldhouse

The 29-acre site near the St. Mary River has been a vacant field since the city bought the land in 2017. Before that, it was an OmniSource metal recycling plant and has had various heavy industrial uses going back through the years. 

The city hoped it would be developed organically by a private enterprise, but Johnson said the city eventually realized that private companies were likely scared off by the potential environmental concerns that came with the land, meaning the city felt it had to take the lead. 

Johnson said the city set its sights on a youth sports fieldhouse after getting feedback from a feasibility study by Victus Advisors. Fort Wayne hopes its fieldhouse stands out for its location in the heart of the city—a contrast to other sports complexes that are based around highways to offer easy access.

“Our vision is when [visitors] are not in the middle of their tournament, they walk out of the door and they’re in the middle of a neighborhood—they’re downtown. They’re surrounded by restaurants and entertainment in a vibrant, urban district,” Johnson said. “One of things we’re going to be very intentional about is designing the public space connections to make a strong connection from the fieldhouse to all the exciting things that are happening on the riverfront and in Fort Wayne.”

Funding discussions won’t be fully hashed out until design work is finished, but Johnson anticipates the Fort Wayne Allen County Capital Improvement Board (CIB) will contribute a large chunk of the cost through the county’s food and beverage tax. 

Off-the-field competition

Fort Wayne’s announcement of a new youth sports endeavor raises questions about a similar project nearby. Less than a 20-minute drive from the proposed Fort Wayne site, the city of New Haven is partnering with Noblesville-based Card & Associates on a youth sports hub with a 150,000-square foot fieldhouse and surrounding baseball fields.

That project—dubbed Fields of Grace—was announced in 2023 and is under construction. At the time, Card & Associates CEO Andy Card said the total project cost was likely to be north of $50 million. 

This week, Card told our reporting partners at WPTA-TV he feels the two facilities will be in direct competition, and he questions why Fort Wayne is moving with their project when Fields of Grace is set to open in 2026. 

“Oh there’s no question there’s going to be competition. It’s going to be gloves off. We’re ready to compete and we think we’re the best at what we do so we’ll go at it,” Card told WPTA-TV.

Story Continues Below