Volleyball complex to be built in Fort Wayne

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) -- When Mayor Tom Henry talked about the new volleyball facility yesterday in his State of the City Address many people were surprised, but not Scott Lauer. He knows firsthand the need for volleyball court space in Fort Wayne. He’s the club Director of N3 Volleyball.

There are several clubs in the area and a lot of them traditionally used some of the schools, some of their gyms, they've used some of the local churches so it's usually a scramble for clubs because they're trying to find gym space, he explained. “It may be hit or miss. You may be able to get in this week, but not next week so there's definitely a demand and a need for it.”

So RCI Development of Fort Wayne decided to meet that need. The new facility will cost about $7 million and be 57,000 square feet. There will be eight volleyball courts inside, four sand courts outside. There will be a training center, weight rooms, locker rooms and a restaurant. Plus the space will also be able to support gymnastics, wrestling, and basketball if it needs to.

Once this facility is up and running you'll start to see that where they'll start bringing in a lot of out of town traffic so similar to what Speice has done in the basketball realm and now with the new Canlan Ice facility is doing now,” said Lauer.

The building will go up, near the Lutheran Health Sports Center, which RCI Development also built. Lauer said the location for the sports complexes is perfect. It’s easy to find off the interstate and has lots of local business around it. He says once the volleyball field house is up, it will be a win/win for everyone.

“I’m looking forward and excited about what it's going to do for our community,” said Lauer. “Obviously there's a lot of excitement about what Speice has done with a lot of the basketball events they've hosted and I really feel like this facility will give just another feather in the cap of our community and the Fort Wayne area in general being able to bring people into town. It's going to be a benefit for the overall community for the businesses and for even for the family and the youth in our area.”

While there hasn’t been a final agreement yet, Ortho Northeast and Parkview Health are supposed to share the naming rights. Construction is scheduled to start in the Spring and be finished by October.