FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): It's ready to go. Officials gave a sneak peak of the new McMillen Park Community Center. For years it was McMillen Ice Arena and the practice home of the Fort Wayne Komets.
One of the arenas has been transformed into a 31,000 square foot multipurpose area complete with a rubberized surface. It houses an indoor soccer field, a running track, pickleball courts and before the end of the year a playground.The second arena houses four volleyball/basketball courts and seating for 1,200.
Fort Wayne Parks and Director Al Moll calls it a resource center, “It’s one of the few arenas in town that hold 1,200 people. It’s a modest convention center, you can use it for wedding receptions – a variety of things.”
But don’t don’t be mistaken, its not just sports, Moll says. “It’s also a computer room; We have a facility for dance recitals. We have multipurpose education rooms.”
Moll says to build a complex like this would likely top $8 to $10 million dollars from the ground up. The city has renovated it for about $2 million with some private gifts.
He says they got a lot of bang for their buck.“Two million dollars is a lot of money. But we really got a lot in it for the money. This will survive. This is an evergreen project. This will last forever.”
