After years of work to make the project a reality, officials with Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO) and the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce broke ground Thursday for SOMO's Training for Life Campus.
The facility will be built at 2221 Christy Drive on a 16.5-acre site on the east side of Christy, three-quarters of a mile south of Ellis Boulevard on property previously used as a rock quarry.
In early 2015, SOMO officials announced the project had been awarded to Jefferson City over a competing bid from Columbia. The proposal, submitted by the chamber, included the Christy Drive property donated by Land Investments, which is run by Bud Farmer, Mike Farmer and Frank Twehous. The property is valued at $3.2 million.
The 34,000-square-foot building will be complemented with a variety of outdoor recreational fields, providing space for soccer, a four-lane track with a 100-meter straight-away, long jump and shot put areas, golf skills space, horseshoe pits, tennis competition area, softball fields, bocce courts, a torch run plaza and as yet unidentified sports.
SOMO officials said this will be the only campus of its kind that offers athletes screening rooms equipped for health care professionals to conduct screenings. The free screenings include vision, hearing, teeth, feet, physical therapy, health promotion and sports physicals.
So far, $16 million has been raised, which is enough to construct the main building and multipurpose outdoor sports field. SOMO is still looking to raise $2 million to complete the remaining outdoor training fields and a wellness trail around the campus.
The hope is to have facilities open for use by fall 2018.
The SOMO campus is expected to bring in approximately $350,000 per year to the Jefferson City economy. Its estimated 1,200 athletes, along with coaches and volunteers, will take advantage of year-round opportunities which would bring in 1,950 room nights and 7,500 meals annually to Jefferson City hotels and restaurants, officials estimate.
One SOMO athlete who will benefit from all the campus will offer is Jefferson City resident Derek Sandbothe. He told the crowd at Thursday's groundbreaking ceremonies he and all SOMO athletes should feel more accepted in their communities thanks to the programs SOMO will provide at the campus.
"It's going to make me grow as a human being," Sandbothe said. "That is what I am so proud of about this campus. We have grown to make so many friends through Special Olympics. The athletes helped raise over $250,000 for this campus, and I'm very proud of each and every one of you guys."
Sandbothe said SOMO hopes to host 30 camps in the first year and would like to increase that number in future years.
The development will also add jobs, as the central area office in Columbia will relocate to the Jefferson City campus. Including the existing jobs at the current headquarters in Jefferson City, the campus will sustain 30 permanent jobs.
The Land Investments team announced earlier they don't plan to start additional development until the SOMO campus is in place.
Farmer Holding has received City Council zoning change approval to allow them to move quarry operations from the Christy site to their plant along the Missouri River.
Land Investment officials said what could come in would complement the Special Olympics as the anchor of the 55-acre parcel.
An earlier Jefferson City chamber proposal for the campus included a conceptual map showing seven potential commercial lots alongside the Training for Life campus. Land Investments planned to develop the area similar to how it developed the quarry site at Stoneridge Village in Jefferson City, where Kohl's, Menards and Dick's Sporting Goods are located.
Being closer to Christy Drive and with good highway visibility, it is hoped they could attract more retail, restaurant, outlet-type lots and potentially a hotel site, if the market warrants it.