Premier Sports Campus would be 'perfect fit' for East County

As Manatee County plans the future of its parks and recreation system, planners say a facility like Premier Sports Campus would be the perfect fit for fulfilling the vision to create larger-scale regional park complexes while meeting recreational demands in East County.

Although the county’s proposed Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan, now in draft form, has a dot marking Premier’s location as a future recreation hub in Lakewood Ranch, planners say the dot can be moved — nothing is definite unless a deal to purchase the facility from Schroeder-Manatee Ranch comes through.

“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves,” said Danny Hopkins, Manatee’s recreation division manager, adding negotiations are separate from parks planning efforts. “We can’t say it’s at Premier.”

However, Hopkins called a deal to purchase Premier “pivotal” in terms of providing a larger-scale recreational hub in the eastern portion of Manatee County.

Having one larger facility would be most advantageous to the county and taxpayers, officials said.

“We find it most cost effective,” said John Osborne, the county’s infrastructure strategic planning official.

G.T. Bray Park, which attracts international swim teams and other competitors, is the county’s highest-use park and includes two pools, a splash pad, a playground, tennis courts, a gymnasium, fitness center and other amenities.

The deal to acquire the 126.9-acre campus off Post Boulevard and State Road 70, in Lakewood Ranch, remains under negotiation between top Manatee County officials and SMR. The offer submitted by SMR to Manatee in June asks for $5.2 million in exchange for the soccer campus plus an additional 36 acres north of the property for an aquatics center to be constructed within five years.

SMR said it wanted the deal to close by Dec. 15. With only a month to go, county officials have remained tight-lipped about negotiations and whether and how they would fund the acquisition. They declined several requests for interviews by the East County Observer.

Manatee County commissioners would have to approve the transaction for it to move forward.

Osborne said if the deal doesn’t go through, another location for East County Park would need to be determined, and the facility may not end up being a regional complex as the county’s parks plan envisions.

The County Commission ultimately will guide the steps for fulfilling the greater Lakewood Ranch area’s recreational demands.

“We have other alternatives,” Hopkins said. “Premier didn’t drive the need. The need was already there. Lakewood Ranch Park is used very heavily and the community is still growing.”

The tentative master parks plan, to be presented to the commission in December and likely approved in January with a plan to fund improvements, envisions East County Park as a regional hub similar to G.T. Bray, although there are no specific plans for it.

How the future East County Park develops will be driven largely by community need, whether the deal to buy Premier goes through and funding is available for acquiring land and building facilities, Hopkins said.

An East County Park might be home to a roughly 40,000 square feet of air-conditioned recreational space, a use that works toward the county’s goal of 450,000 square feet of air-conditioned space for residents by 2035. It has about 100,000 square feet of indoor space, concentrated at G.T. Bray, the Myakka Community Center and John H. Marble Park, where the gym is scheduled for renovation.

It also would become an aquatics hub. If the deal with Premier goes through, the county potentially could build a larger-scale aquatics center. If not, a smaller community pool likely would be constructed elsewhere.

Manatee County will hold its last of three public meetings on the proposed master parks plan at 6 p.m. Nov. 9 at the Braden River Library.