By Anna Skinner

On May 9, various representatives from the city, including Mayor Andy Cook, Grand Park Director Ken Alexander, Juergen Sommer, executive director of field sports at LST Marketing, Kevin Manship with Jonathan Byrd’s Fieldhouse and others, allowed an exclusive media tour of the Grand Park Events Center to open in July.

Media was able to tour all aspects of the facility and see the progress as well as the construction currently under way.

The 370,000-square-foot facility includes 40,000 square feet of office, retail, cafeteria and athletic space and three, full-size soccer fields. Meeting space and locker rooms are also included, and the space is designed for conventions or large-scale events. The lower food court and cafeteria contains 250 seats inside and 100 seats on the patio. Cook said currently, nearly all of the 40,000 square feet of office, retail, athletic and restaurant space has been leased or is under negotiation.

Upstairs, there are two, suite-like areas broken out to showcase the soccer fields for either student athletes, recruits or parents.

“We really wanted to create a space where it felt like you were at Lucas Oil Stadium,” Alexander said. “You had that suite feel, and it was important for us to have you engaged with the athlete or whatever is (happening on) the surfaces or the center field.”

There is a restaurant in the upstairs area as well, but for 21-and-older patrons only. Local beer will be served with an upscale buffet.

“We are trying to cater to anyone that may come out here, whether that be athletes, mom or dad or the coaches,” Alexander said.

Force Barbell, currently in Fishers, will have a high-performance training facility for athletes and a separate area for parents.

“One of the things we see a lot of at the current facility is mom and dad just hang out in the lobby or go back to their cars when they drop their kids off,” Miller said. “We want to be able to give mom and dad the same opportunity to train while the kids are at training.”

“We are trying to compliment other activities at the park and not only cater to the athlete,” Alexander added.

The Grand Park Events Center is set to open July 8, with a grand-opening weekend July 21 to 23.

“Grand Park itself is already very viable, and you can see that in growth and impact on central Indiana,” Alexander said. “This will bring a 12-month facility to allow for November and December to be just as important as June and July.”