Court-sports facility plans, investor campaign ontrack

An investor group is about a third of the way home in its plan to raise $10 million to build a 70,000-square-foot court-sports facility in the Damonte Ranch area.

Reno Court Sports Connection LLC expects to close on its acquisition of five acres west of Highway 395 just north of the Damonte Ranch exit this month.

Permit applications are pending with the City of Reno, said Joe Garcia, one of the two managing partners of the development company. The other managing partner is Mike Neeser, a veteran structural engineer and developer in northern Nevada.

The company hopes to begin construction this autumn, with completion in the summer of 2007.

The project is unusual, Garcia said, in its all-equity financing. The two managing partners are raising capital from local investors as well as out-of-towners who want to see the development of a major facility for courts sports such as racquetball and squash.

So far, Garcia said, the company has raised about $3 million.

The developers project that public rental of the planned 18 courts will generate about 40 percent of the facility's revenues. The courts won't require memberships.

The remaining 60 percent of the revenue is projected to be generated by 17,000 square feet of office space, a restaurant and an arena to host court-sports tournaments.

Executives of national court-sports organizations, Garcia said, strongly support the development of a venue for their tournaments. The south-Reno facility will include auditorium seating for about 1,000 spectators.

"All of those organizations are champing at the bit for a facility like this where they can hold events," Garcia said.

Reno Court Sports Connection is developing proprietary software to manage courts reservations and other aspects of the facility.

Garcia said the owners expect the company will employ six to run the facility when it's open.