SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/356087
For 10 years before its rebirth, that facility was a dank, dark and dirty, man-made home for raccoons, mice, and creatures that climbed, but the basic structure was sound. Beiler bought the property for $11 million, raccoons and all. "When we walked the property in November of 2011 we both had a vision for what it could be," said Steve Goris, Spooky Nooks Chief Operating Officer. "We literally sat down with a piece of graph paper and cut out all these little courts in different sizes and kind of laid out where things could line up…we handed that to some architects." Before the first mouse had been evicted, Goris' calculator began whirring. "We wanted to figure out ways we could program so that we could get a return on investment," he said. "We didn't take a 'build it and they will come' attitude," Goris said. "We did a lot of research. When you're investing your money you need to diversify your portfolio. Well this business is kind of the same." On June 3, 2013, just 8 months after renovation work began on the $25 million project, Spooky Nook opened its doors. Now, the only creatures climbing inside arrive in cars, wear athletic gear, and pay to scale the 30-foot-high walls, synthetic rock arches, and other challenging features in the facility's climbing center. A separate "Clip N'Climb" area, the first of its kind in the United States, invites all levels of climber, young and old, to ascend walls and towers knobby protrusions. Just inside the entrance is a food court with smoothies and other healthy foods, and an arcade whose primary function is to occupy the bored siblings of competing athletes or even competitors who are in between games. A 100,000 square foot, elevated mezzanine concourse overlooks all of the indoor courts and fields. It also houses the general membership gymnasium as well as a special training area for competitive amateur and pro athletes. All the gym floors were installed by Ecore Commercial Flooring of Lancaster. The 10 NBA-quality, Connor Sports hardwood courts total 60,000 square-feet, the largest single concentration of Connor Hardwood any- where on the planet according to Spooky Nook's Director of Business Development, Patrick Grant. There are 28,000 square feet of modular Connor Sport Court distinguished by its blue color and used for multiple sports including basketball, volleyball, field hockey, and Futsal, a popular indoor, 5-on-5 version of soccer. There are six premium quality tennis courts. "We needed it to be able to do multiple sports. If you have a basketball game you need to be able to dribble on it and at the same time it needs to be able to take the pounding that indoor field hockey puts on it with sticks striking on it all the time. You can't really do that on hardwood," Goris said. There are three 60-by-120 foot enclosed Astroturf fields as well as a full-sized, adult baseball infield that can be altered in size to accommo- date softball and youth baseball. There are 13 baseball/softball batting www.stma.org August 2014 | SportsTurf 17 The Spooky Nook Air Dome. A worker waters the artificial turf at the Spooky Nook complex. Tennis courts. The Nook has a full-sized baseball infield that can be converted to softball and youth baseball dimensions. Climbing wall at Spooky Nook.