With Forney site on hold, Fran Harris unveils plan for $28.5 million Sunnyvale youth sports complex
Entrepreneur and former WNBA star Fran Harris has announced plans to build a $ 28.5 million youth sports facility in Sunnyvale next year with a restaurant and retail space.
Harris has teamed up with hospitality veteran Eric Woerner on the ambitious project to be built 20 minutes east of downtown Dallas.
Located near the intersection of Town East Boulevard and Belt Line Road in Sunnyvale, the 38-acre site will include pitches and fields for baseball, softball, soccer, soccer, volleyball and more. There will also be restaurant areas, live event areas and retail areas where Woerner sees potential for the sale of branded goods.
All development is aimed at families and athletes of all ages and types. The complex is also working with The Miracle League to provide a baseball field for children with intellectual and physical disabilities.
“It’s going to be like a country club or a resort where people hang out all day,” said Wörner.
The Sunnyvale location is ideal because it positions the facility near major traffic arteries, including the Interstate 635 Loop, Woerner said.
“In D-FW alone there are over 5,000 selected baseball teams, so there are simply not enough places to play,” said Wörner. “Right there on the east side of the Metroplex … we’ll be 20 to 30 minutes from almost everyone.”
Woerner has a track record of working with local professional sports organizations including the Dallas Mavericks and Texas Rangers. He previously held positions at Landry’s Inc., which operates Saltgrass Steakhouse, and 8020 Hospitality, which operates Dallas restaurants HG Sply Co., Hero and Standard Service.
The Woerner and Harris Athletic Club Association is the company behind the company and will operate any future subsidiaries they may open.
Harris and Woerner are also in talks with a hotel group that The Athletic Club could potentially work with to add an on-site branded boutique hotel for families and teams traveling to the complex from outside the city. The group is still looking for a title sponsor for the entire complex, Harris said.
The city of Sunnyvale is giving tax incentives of around $ 2 million for the development of the Athletic Club, according to Woerner.
The Athletic Club has planned investments for the project and will break the ground in the second quarter of 2022 if everything goes according to plan, Woerner said, pointing to the potential for supply chain disruptions.
A depiction of the Athletic Club’s dining area with a food truck parking lot planned for Sunnyvale. WNBA star Fran Harris has teamed up with Dallas restaurant industry veteran Eric Woerner on the project, which is expected to begin construction in the second quarter of 2022.
The Sunnyvale Sports Complex will be unique in the area in that Harris and Woerner would like it to include youth programs that are traditionally not attached to facilities with basketball courts and baseball fields.
Some of the concepts originally intended for Forney’s development will come to Sunnyvale, including educational programs and technology for young athletes to learn about sports broadcasting and careers in esports. It will also offer training courses for people who want to become referees, referees and coaches.
“At some point everyone will be told that they can no longer do the sport they love,” said Wörner. “Some at 18, some at 12, some at 40. Being able to name the game, even lead it, or lead the game in some form or way still keeps them connected to their life passion.”
Harris, two decades away from her professional WNBA career, has been trying for years to start her next chapter in the sport.
In early 2020 – just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit north Texas – Harris was ready to begin building a similar complex in Forney, which she hoped would revive youth sports in the area. But the pandemic outbreak and change in leadership at the city level delayed plans for the $ 13 million complex, she said.
The Forney project has been put on hold for now, but Harris said she was confident there would be more to build there in the future. Harris sees untapped market potential in Dallas’s tight youth sports sector.
“People have seen these field houses built in Grapevine, Mansfield, Frisco. … Dallas doesn’t actually have one [youth] Sports facility which is amazing to me, ”said Harris.
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