After a decade in the works, the long-awaited Salinas Regional Soccer Complex is set to break ground this weekend.
On Sunday, Salinas Regional Sports Authority officials will be joined by local soccer league parents, players, and coaches, and elected officials to celebrate a groundbreaking on the last day of play for the 2018 soccer season for the highly anticipated $20 million, 21-field soccer complex project.
The ceremony is set for noon at the project site, 1440 Constitutional Blvd. in Salinas.
Warren Wayland said the groundbreaking will mark the start of the entire project, which will be built in four phases and is still in the midst of fundraising efforts, while actual work will begin Monday on a $1.3 million initial phase of the project aimed at renovating 11 existing soccer fields on the site.
First proposed in 2008, the mostly privately financed project was waylaid by a series of events, including a lawsuit that has been resolved.
“We’re really excited because we’ve been at this for over 10 years, and it’s almost hard to believe we’re at this point,” Wayland said. “This will be tremendous for the community and really the region. Looking at the demographics of the community, soccer is the No. 1 sport for youth and young adults, and Salinas is way behind the national average on park space. So this won’t solve that entirely but it will be a huge step.”
Board of Supervisors chairman Luis Alejo, who represents the district where the complex will be located and helped move the project forward, said soccer is “part of our community culture” and the sports complex project will play a major role in promoting its development in the area. Alejo noted that the refurbishing of the existing Constitution Boulevard soccer fields has been requested for some time by the community.
“In a short amount of time we are making (the first phase of the project) happen, and we will continue to fundraise to make the next phase of 10 new soccer fields a reality, too,” he said. “We have a lot of talent in Salinas and it’s a sport that brings our families together to support their children, and keeps our youth positively engaged and out of trouble. Nothing stops a bullet like a game of soccer.
“We have some great business leaders in Salinas who are spearheading the fundraising and they have to be commended for this exceptional work that will leave a lasting legacy for Salinas. Once the 10 additional soccer fields are completed, … no other city on the Central Coast will have a 21-soccer-field complex and it will be located in the very heart of the community.”
Wayland said the goal is to have the first phase of the project completed by April 1, when the 2019 soccer season is set to begin. He noted that the work will be done during the offseason when the fields are closed down to avoid interfering with competitive play.
A second phase would begin shortly afterward, provided ongoing fundraising efforts provide enough resources, and add eight new soccer fields and eight parking lots at a cost of about $8.7 million. That work is expected to take about a year to complete, Wayland said.
Phase III would include two lighted artificial turf fields, one with 2,000 seats, at a cost of about $3.5 million, and would start shortly after the previous phase’s completion in 2020 and take about a year to complete, according to Wayland.
A $6.6 million final phase would construct an indoor facility with classrooms, recreation area, plaza and snack bar, and Wayland said that work could begin in 2021 and take about 18 months to finish.
Wayland, who led fundraising efforts for the Rabobank Stadium, said the sports authority has raised about $4 million in pledged funding and about $1 million in in-kind donations. Work has already begun on engineering and drawings for the project’s second phase, he said.
When completed, the soccer complex is expected to be able to accommodate more than 5,000 players.
