Bell family donates 100 acres to city for sports complex

May 30—The Bell family, which has been in Odessa for five generations, is donating up to 100 acres of land for the City of Odessa's future sports complex, a contribution city officials called a "big step forward" Tuesday.

The donated land, which is worth an estimated $5 million, is located in the Parks Bell Ranch area, said Mayor Javier Joven.

The Bell family's generosity will also make it possible for the city to expand the facility that was proposed in April, said City Councilmember Mark Matta.

Originally, the city envisioned a $14.5 million, 70,000-square-foot facility with six basketball courts and 12 volleyball courts. For an extra $10 million, they could have added four 300-foot baseball/softball fields.

Now they hope to build a 75,000-100,000 square foot indoor facility with 20 volleyball courts, 10 basketball courts and a 200m banked competition track. Outside, they intend to build 8-12 multi-purpose fields for soccer, football and lacrosse and up to eight baseball/softball fields, Matta said.

The new facility, which will have room to expand, is expected to cost $50 million.

The city could break ground by the end of August and the facility could be completed within 18 months from that time, Matta said.

Joven and Matta said the city has only been able to get to this point because of teamwork. Matta and Councilmember Denise Swanner and their quality of life committee has been working on the project, along with Councilmember Steve Thompson and others, they said.

The city is hopeful it will be able to build and maintain the facility through public/private partnerships.

"We're reaching out to different companies, different corporations for sponsorships. The one thing about this sports complex is that we're trying to make this as affordable and easy to fund as possible. So we're really reaching out to these big corporations here in Odessa and the surrounding areas," Matta said. "We reached out to some oil companies; we reached out to some local company owners. We want this to be sponsored. We're going out and looking for naming rights. We're gonna go out there to (get) help with the maintenance fees, to help with the cost of running the daily functions of this sports complex. We're thinking outside the box so we can be able to bring this and not have to have the citizens of Odessa foot the bill."

Thompson said at least three people are interested in having naming rights already and Swanner said sponsorship packets are ready and available.

Matta said the city is also looking into setting up a nonprofit organization so it can accept donations.

The facility is long overdue and the city is looking forward to the extra hotel-motel tax it will bring into the community, Swanner said.

Under the original plan, the city anticipated making $1.3 million a year by year five, but Thompson said he thinks the city could start making money Day 1 under the new plan, thanks to all of the tournaments that will now be possible.

The Odessa City Council agreed to hire Synergy Global for $15,000 on Feb. 14 to conduct a sports complex feasibility study. More than 3,100 residents participated in a 10-question online survey gauged to determine their top priorities and several more residents attended two community meetings on the facility.

The vast majority of participants wanted the facility in either District 2 or District 4. They also listed basketball and volleyball courts at the top of their wish list followed by indoor turf, baseball fields and indoor batting cages.

In April Synergy discussed four potential sites for the complex: The Parks-Bell land, City-owned land near the Ector County jail, private land at I-20 and Loop 338 and private land behind Home Depot known as the McKnight Family Ranch.

The company also gave the city a variety of options in terms of amenities, with the most expensive being $41.5 million. The prices varied upon the number of indoor courts, whether the city included a 200-meter track and ice rinks, and whether the city included outdoor fields.

The exact details about who will be running the facility and how much that will cost have yet to be worked out, Matta said.

"I think it's gonna probably be a partnership. (Synergy Global) will probably have the bulk of it, maintaining it, managing the daily operations, the maintenance of it. The city is going to also partake in that, in some form or fashion, but that's gonna be worked out in the details later on. Right now, it does that seem like Synergy or some other third-party management is going to come in and do the bulk of it," Matta said.

The only thing the Bell family asked in return was for a five-acre park to be included in the project that will be dedicated to Amy Doris Bell, who died at the age of 33 in May 2014. According to her obituary, Amy Bell established the Amy Doris Bell Donor Fund at the Permian Basin Area Foundation and supported numerous agencies who provide health and wellness for children throughout the United States and the world.

Younger siblings will now have a place to play while their brothers and sisters compete, Matta said.

According to city officials, the Bell family has routinely provided green spaces, parks, playgrounds and schools over the last 60 years. In addition, they've cooperated with Grow Odessa and the City of Odessa on multiple industrial developments including Mission Dorado, Parks Legado and Parks Bell Ranch North.

"The Bell family is ready and willing to be partners with the City of Odessa and other significant corporate groups to make the dream of a high-quality sports complex a reality for all Odessans," Larry Bell said in a news release. "We know firsthand that quality of life is such an important part of making Odessa a special place to live, work and play. We continually work to make that a part of all of our projects."

Matta said the new complex will not include ice rinks, but he has spoken with people about the desire to have a place for kids to play hockey and figure skate.

"We're going to work together to try to get something done for them. Now they've submitted some plans to me about an ice rink. So, we know the city has some land that we own. So, we're going to look into that, see what we can do about that. So maybe we can offer them some land that they can use for that and hopefully I can get that going," he said.