City officials and the nonprofit Detroit Fitness Foundation (DFF) announced plans to build a $4 million sports complex centered around an indoor velodrome at a groundbreaking ceremony in Detroit Tuesday.
“This project is a perfect illustration of how you reignite a city neighborhood and its public space by leveraging our city resources to attract investment, jobs and a community resource such as this complex to better serve our community,” said councilwoman Mary Sheffield. “The youth of Detroit deserve world-class facilities such as this, and I’m proud to be part of a city and city council that is making it a reality.”
The track will be designed by Dale Hughes, a lifetime resident of the Detroit area, who designed tracks for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, and closer to home, the International Velodrome at Bloomer Park in Rochester Hills, a Detroit suburb.
“Our goal is to provide kids with opportunities to turn the Olympic dream into a reality,” said Hughes. “I’ve had the honor of working on projects around the world but I am thrilled to bring this state-of-the-art indoor complex to my backyard in the city of Detroit.”
The only other permanent indoor track in the U.S. is the Velo Sports Center in Carson, California, which will host a UCI World Cup race February 25-26, 2017 on its 250-meter track. The 7-Eleven velodrome in Colorado Springs recently erected a temporary enclosure to allow for year-round riding on that 333.3-meter track.
The DFF said it is seeking a naming rights sponsor as well as additional sponsors for the complex. Organizers plan to break ground in the spring and open in late summer 2017.
The post Detroit approves plan for $4m sports complex with velodrome appeared first on VeloNews.com.