$22m complex would offer facilities for several sports
Developer
The first phase of the project is to include nine outdoor fields, five constructed with synthetic turf. Later phases are to include two hockey rinks, outdoor basketball courts, a 2,500-seat stadium, a skateboard park, weight-training and physical therapy facilities, miniature golf, and enclosures for some of the outdoor fields.
"It will be a beautiful full-service, family-friendly complex," said Duquette, former general manager of the Boston Red Sox who now owns a youth sports academy in Western Massachusetts. "We are going to appeal to all programs -- youth sports, high school, college, and adult leagues."
The complex at the air base, which has been renamed SouthField, is designed to meet the growing demand for playing fields in the suburbs south of Boston, where there has been a proliferation of sports and recreation leagues.
Duquette said the group hopes to start construction in the fall, with fields ready for play by summer of next year. The outdoor fields will accommodate 30 youth soccer games simultaneously, according to the developers. There are to be three natural-grass Little League fields and five multi purpose fields for soccer, field hockey, football, rugby, and lacrosse.
Duquette's partner in the SouthField venture, Lilly, is on the US national women's soccer team and was a member of the legendary 1996 US Olympic team that won a gold medal. They are developing the complex for LNR Property Corp., the Miami-based developer that is constructing a nearly 3,000-unit community on the former base.
The section of the base where the sports complex is planned is still owned by the Navy, which has transferred some of the 1,400-acre base to the South Shore Tri-Town Development Corp. The corporation, a regional development agency, is negotiating with the Navy to acquire the entire property.
The sports complex would be an unusual public-private venture that would offer a limited amount of free use by area towns and rentals to other groups.
The three towns spanned by the base -- Abington, Rockland, and Weymouth -- would be guaranteed 25 hours a week of free field use, according to Duquette.
While playing fields traditionally have been public amenities provided by local governments, the construction of commercial recreation facilities, both indoor and outdoor, is a growing trend, according to David Czesniuk, director of operations for Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society.
"It may be the way to go because of the growing number of programs and adult leagues," Czesniuk said. "There just aren't enough fields to go around."
Officials in the three towns, and spokesmen for local sports and recreation programs, are said to welcome the new fields at the former air base.
"It's just wonderful," said Steven Marks, a former Weymouth park and recreation commissioner who coached youth soccer and baseball. "The fields in Weymouth now get played on so much they never get a chance to recover."
Duquette, who was Red Sox general manager from 1994 to 2002, said the facilities will be attractive venues for high school football playoff games. He said there are no plans to try to attract a professional sports team, such as minor league baseball.
LNR vice president Kevin Chase said his firm is pleased to have Duquette and Lilly developing and operating the facility. He said they will be involved in day-to-day management. "They will be doing camps and running exhibition games. They will be very much a part of this." 