Sports enthusiasts may soon have another reason to travel to Tempe.
STH Enterprises hopes to build an amateur sports facility just south of Tempe Town Lake. The company is looking to lease a 19-acre stretch of land located on Rio Salado Parkway just west of Priest Drive, said Rio Salado project manager Nancy Ryan.
"The goal in moving forward is to bring amateur athletic competitions at a regional and national level to the city of Tempe and use that as an economic development tool," Ryan said.
The facility should help spark economic growth in Tempe hotels and restaurants specifically, Ryan said.
The facility would include six basketball courts, including a stadium court that would double as volleyball courts, Ryan said. The company also plans to have a snack bar and meeting rooms for coaches inside the building, she said.
Five acres of soccer fields will also be built outside the facility, she added.
Discussion with the city is still in the works and should be completed later this month, said Nikki Ripley, a Tempe spokeswoman.
"It's a project of some magnitude," she said "They're just trying to dot all of their i's and cross their t's."
Ripley said the lease agreement should appear on the City Council's agenda for their May 24 meeting.
"We're close to completing those negotiations and submitting a lease and development disposition agreement to the council," Ryan said.
That agreement would outline what the city expects to be done with the property, Ryan said.
Ryan said the plan is to have the facility built by the summer of 2007. Funding is also still being negotiated, she said.
If the city does vote to approve the project, Ryan said the land would still remain the property of the city.
"They will build their facility on city land and pay rent, but they will build it and operate and maintain it," she said.
STH owns the Kentucky Basketball Association and operates a similar facility in Lexington, Ky., Ryan said.
The company could lease the land for an extended period of time, Ripley said.
"It's a land lease agreement that could potentially -- with a number of extensions -- go up to about a 50-year agreement," she said.
Mechanical engineering graduate student Manuel Parra said he thinks the new facility will attract a lot people.
"It's something that interests a lot of people," he said.
Parra plays for an amateur soccer league every Saturday. He said Tempe needs a new facility.
He said he would also attend the tournaments to watch.
"If there's any fun games at all I would go," he said.
Parra said he thinks a lot of students would take advantage of the new facility.
"It's a big advantage that it's indoors," he said.
Reach the reporter at kelsey.perry@asu.edu.
