Though it may be a longshot, Jefferson City chamber officials are leading a push to merge a planned multipurpose building with a new athletic training campus planned by Special Olympics Missouri.
Last week, Randy Allen, president and CEO of the Jefferson City Chamber of Commerce, made presentations to the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Jefferson City Public Schools about discussions to merge the two projects and use up to 20 acres of the school district's land on Missouri 179 and Mission Drive. Allen asked the two entities for permission to continue discussion with Special Olympics Missouri on the project, to which both agreed.
But Special Olympics Missouri has approved a plan for the new Training for Life campus on property already purchased near Columbia and fundraising has begun for the $12.5 million athletic training facility.
Special Olympics Missouri, or SOMO, purchased 11 acres off Bonne Femme Church Road, west of U.S. 63, in 2008 for $575,000. That land has been the planned site for the campus, but SOMO has entertained discussions on other sites before.
In January, it was announced that the organization was considering moving the site to the Central Missouri Events Center, where the Boone County Fair is held. Boone County Northern District Commissioner Janet Thompson said there has been no discussion in the last couple of months on the idea, but she believes the idea would be beneficial to SOMO and Boone County.
Thompson said she helped the organization receive state tax credits to use as a fundraising incentive, even writing the application, and those tax credits likely would not transfer to a new site in Jefferson City.
"I think that would be very complicated, especially moving outside of (Boone) County," Thompson said.
Gary Wilbers, capital campaign chair for the SOMO Training for Life campus and member of the board of directors, said there could be some complications if the organization were to consider moving to a site in Jefferson City. The tax credits would be one complicated issue, but another would be the donations they've already received.
SOMO has been fundraising all year. Wilbers said that if the board were to decide to move to a different site, they would need to check with those donors who have already contributed. If the donors are in any way uncomfortable with moving sites, Wilbers said the board likely would not approve a move.
"There would be tradeoffs and there would be benefits, and that's what we'd have to weigh in part of our decision," Wilbers said.
Wilbers said listening to alter native proposals like what the chamber has discussed, is simply performing the board's fiduciary responsibility and does not signal an intent to change plans.
"We're not changing our gears," Wilbers said. "We're willing to listen ... All we've agreed to do is entertain (the idea) and listen."
The SOMO board approved the site near Columbia and a timeline for the project in April 2013, Wilbers said. The timeline calls for all the fundraising to be completed by spring 2016 and construction to begin in fall 2016, which means any alternate proposal has a small window to be considered. Wilbers said the board would need to see a proposal "soon" for it to be considered.
"It's really back to their court at this time," Wilbers said. "It is a decision made by a statewide board."
Allen said the chamber is trying to move the discussion forward and do what it can to try and bring the campus to Jefferson City. Ideally, he said, they would like to have some type of proposal to the SOMO board in the next couple of months, but that likely would be more of a framework memorandum of understanding that would lay out what each party would expect in a collaboration.
"We are trying to drive the train to see if we can get something to SOMO," Allen said. "I don't know what that specifically means."
Allen said if the collaboration doesn't work out, at least an effort was made, and he believes the Parks and Recreation project and the SOMO campus would work well together, providing great benefit to both parties. Merging the projects could save money in the long term for both groups in terms of operational costs, he said.
"There is a huge benefit to having these two facilities co-located," Allen said.
The Jefferson City Parks and Recreation Commission has been working toward construction of a multipurpose building, but has struggled with the project's budget. The department has identified roughly $5 million for the facility, but commission members have indicated a desire for a facility that likely would cost closer to $8 million. The commission has previously identified Riverside Park, on the city's east side, as the location for a multipurpose building.
The SOMO campus is expected to bring in athletes, coaches and volunteers from throughout the state, all of whom would stay in area hotels near the training campus.
"There's a lot of potential benefits to it," Allen said. "We just think the possibilities are there. Obviously, the devil's going to be in the details."
According to the SOMO website, the Training for Life campus will feature a 44,000-square-foot center with year-round training opportunities and will be the first of its kind in the U.S. The campus is set to include a 16,000-square-foot sports facility, featuring basketball and volleyball; a sports leadership training center hall of heroes; a health and fitness center with cardiovascular and weight training; and courts for seasonal play and fields to support 21 sports.
The campus also will offer programs including camps; a lifetime wellness program that will provide on-site dental health, vision and hearing screenings, and physical examinations; coach and volunteer training; and screening and intervention services for children as young as three.
SOMO headquarters, which is currently in Jefferson City, would move to the campus.
Wilbers said SOMO essentially took the best features of facilities they'd seen throughout the country in the concept of their campus.
Wilbers said currently, athletes and coaches have to train at rented facilities, and the campus would give them a designated place for all training needs. He also specified the state games would continue to be held in communities willing to host them and are not tied to the training campus.
"No games would be done at the campus," Wilbers said. "We're building a statewide training facility for our athletes."