You might have seen a Florida team take home the Little League World Series earlier this month.
If you're looking for a place for you and your kids to train for the next LLWS, or just to have fun and play sports in Pinellas County, a new option will be available next year.
Pinellas Park is making major improvements to a sports complex to better serve the community.
A roughly $23 million project will transform Youth Park into the Sprowls Horizon Sports Park.
Developers will demolish the rundown baseball fields, tennis courts and roller hockey rink, and replace it with six baseball fields, an artificial soccer field, and a replacement outdoor hockey rink.
Pinellas Park City Manager Bart Diebold says the city wanted to make sure there are always outside areas for local residents to enjoy.
"We could absolutely sell this for millions and millions of dollars and put development on here. We don't want to do that,” Diebold said. “We're losing green space, so preserving the green space, keeping this low impact of growth [is important]. Because if you go around here, it's all commercial."
Diebold also said the new complex will be a positive for surrounding businesses as it attracts tournaments and families.
Plans call for the baseball fields to be built in styles similar to local minor-league ballparks.
A state appropriation will provide more than half of the funding for the new complex.
Former Florida House Speaker and Pinellas County legislator Chris Sprowls will be the new facility’s namesake.
Local officials say his push at the state level was the main reason a project like the sports complex could get done rather quickly.
“The irony behind politics a lot of the time is sometimes the things we fight the most about, are the things that matter least to people and their families,” Sprowls said. “Where they spend their time, where they go on Sunday morning, where they spend their leisure time to play with their children, where they learn character and make friends.”
As the county grows, Pinellas Park Councilman Ricky Butler says he doesn't want to see outdoor space taken away.
"That's obviously a big conversation right now in the state with the state parks conversation going on, so it's important to kind of manage that growth while also maintaining those green spaces and recreation areas for our residents,” Butler said.
The new complex will feature half a dozen baseball fields, an artificial soccer field, and a replacement roller hockey rink.
“For me, it's the pinnacle, being able to do this,” Diebold said. “This is better than [building new] police stations and city halls. This is a big deal for us.”
It's expected to open by Labor Day next year.
