$100M proposed Midtown sports complex could reach a dozen stories

While they were listed on the agenda, no one representing Odyssey Sports Atlanta came before this week’s Neighborhood Planning Unit-E to present plans for a proposed $100 million, 560,000 square-foot sports complex in the Loring Heights neighborhood just north of Atlantic Station.

But it does appear that Odyssey Sports Atlanta Managing Partners John White and Brian Sadler are serious about constructing the Odyssey Sports Complex, a multi-sport indoor recreational facility for elite youth-athlete training on an 6.95-acre lot located between 450 and 464 Bishop Street.

An artist rendering at the Odyssey Sports Atlanta website would suggest the sportsplex will stand possibly between eight and a dozen stories high. Ron Grunwald of the Loring Heights Neighborhood Association told NPU members this week that the project’s architects told him that in concept it could reach “125 feet tall.”

In addition to 22,000 square feet of retail, other planned amenities and activities include:

• Multi-Sport Youth Academies
• 10 Temperature Controlled Indoor Tennis Courts
• Multi-Seat Sports and Entertainment Arena
• Indoor Soccer/Lacrosse Field
• American Football Training Facility
• 10 Basketball Courts
• Olympic Swimming Pool
• Olympic Diving
• Recreational Family Pool
• Cheerleading Arena
• Gymnastics Arena
• Full Service Fitness Facilities
• Group Exercise Training
• Indoor Track & Field
• Martial Arts Center
• Rock Climbing Wall
• Baseball Batting Center
• Rooftop Virtual Golf Training Center
• Ice Skating Center
• Luxurious Spa
• 3 Gourmet Restaurants

With no real prototype in the metro Atlanta area to reference to, Grunwald suggested that those interested in researching such see the Chelsea Piers Connecticutt Sports and Entertainment complex in Storrs, Conn.

Developers would like to have the Atlanta facility opened by the end of 2017, but there are many, many questions and issues that will need to be answered and resolved prior to such. First, Odyssey Sports Atlanta needs to complete the purchase of the land it says it has under contract.

Odessey Sports Atlanta reps were to appear at this week's NPU meeting seeking a zoning ordinance variation to reduce the required parking from 2,457 spaces to 1,000 spaces.

But they didn't show as he was communicated that they are still in the midst of formulating plans, including producing traffic and parking studies. They will need to go before the City’s Board of Zoning Adjustment and other planning groups at some point.

It could be December at the earliest before the group is ready to present to anyone. In the meantime, certain questions will continue to go unanswered to some very interested neighborhood and area residents.

“This could generate over a million dollars in impact fees,” Grunwald said. “Where does that all go to? To the improvements on Bishop or the neighborhood to mitigate or somewhere else?”