Keller intends to score economic growth by creating a Tarrant County sports destination with a planned $17 million athletic facility and $40 million in renovations to the city’s sports park.
The City Sports complex — a one-story, 83,620-square-foot facility that will be built on nearly 8 acres at 401 Golden Triangle Blvd. — will be located at the northwest corner of Keller Sports Park, currently under renovation.
Plano-based ME Development LLC and Dallas’ Healthletic Partners will break ground soon at the City Sports building, just east of the Alliance area in far north Fort Worth.
Keller City Manager Aaron Rector said the sports complex will aid in economic growth for local businesses.
“City Council set a goal to establish our sports park as a premier destination, and the City Sports partnership takes that vision to the next level,” Rector said. “The project will expand our sports offerings, provide new tournament opportunities, and help support area restaurants and retailers, particularly in Old Town Keller.”
The Old Town Keller area — west of Highway 377/Main Street from FM 1709/Keller Parkway to Pecan Street — received about $4.25 million in improvements, including new parking, a road extension, new lighting and community spaces in 2016-17. The project’s second phase, expected to start later this year, will cost $30.7 million and bring South Elm Street improvements as well as new parking, drainage improvement, lighting and new water, sewer, communication, power and gas lines.
Council members approved the terms of a ground lease for City Sports in October 2023 and an incentive agreement for the project in May 2024.
On Feb. 18, Keller’s council voted 6-1 to OK a resolution that approved a site plan with zoning variances that allow for commercial uses at City Sports.
The City Sports building will include four indoor courts, two outdoor courts and three turf fields for basketball, volleyball, cheer activities and futsal, a type of soccer that is played indoors on a smaller court.
The building will include masonry, metal, glass and wood on each elevation with a vinyl rainscreen/windblock on the east side.
Sports park renovations — the result of a 2021 task force study — includes a new fieldhouse and meeting rooms, new grass multipurpose field that replaces a synthetic turf soccer field, two new lighted baseball fields, new shade structures, new restrooms, storage areas and concession buildings as well as renovations to existing facilities. The park will also have enhanced landscaping, lighting, fencing, backstops and netting.
Improvements will also include 102 new parking spaces for use at City Sports and Keller Sports Park. Another 177 spaces near soccer fields will also be used.
The site’s access will be improved with two new driveways built off Golden Triangle Boulevard. The western-most drive will connect to Soccer Parkway.
The city did not have any solid numbers of how many people might visit the complex each year, a Keller spokesperson said.
The project will face competition from other Tarrant sports facilities, including Mansfield Sports Park, a city-owned facility undergoing major renovations.
That facility at 500 Heritage Parkway South — which is expected to draw 250,000 annual visitors — will be upgraded with new technology, safety and field improvements, indoor facilities and concessions, and spectator areas through a public-private partnership.
Keller families will be drawn to the athletic facilities, Mayor Armin Mizani said.
“City Sports’ significant investment in our community will strengthen our efforts to ensure Keller’s youth and families have world-class recreational spaces to play and gather,” Mizani said. “Coupled with the city’s own $40 million investment in the Keller Sports Park, these improvements will reinforce Keller’s standing as Texas’s most family-friendly city.”
Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
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