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Greenwood announces plans to build community fieldhouse

Greenwood announces plans to build community fieldhouse

Sierra Hignite | News 8 at 6

GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — What is locally referred to as “the old middle school” in Greenwood had served first as a high school, then a middle school and even temporarily as a police department.

Now, the city says new plans to redevelop the block is part of a much larger plan to reconnect the city.

Greenwood announced plans to turn what is now the last standing part of an old middle school into a mixed-use fieldhouse. The new facility will include basketball courts, two turf fields, a pickle ball court and a walking track on the second floor.

“We want to make Greenwood a healthy city USA. We want to get people out and about. We want to get them walking we want to get them motivated,” said Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers.

The fieldhouse is just the first part of the redevelopment plan. After that the city plans to build new infrastructure on the same block.

“We plan on building parking garages that will be wrapped with mixed use retail, commercial, residential. We want to have an entire city block of townhouses,” explained Myers.

Greenwood has been working on redeveloping the downtown area for seven years.

“I’d like to be more active downtown and I’d like to see more young people driven to Greenwood,” said resident Justin Hill.

The mayor hopes that by creating a more “walk-able” downtown area it will encourage people to spend more time in Greenwood.

“Greenwood is nice. We always looked at it as more of a shopping area because of all the shops, the malls, everything else. Actually having a nice downtown for the locals would be great,” said Hill.

The city has also been adding trails in different parts of the city and soon they will all connect with the fieldhouse in the center.

“The trails here will connect to the Old City Park and then also into the amphitheater to Craig Park and all of our trail systems will interlock again,” explained Myers.

Myers said he anticipates three to five years before all of the current redevelopment projects in the works are complete. Construction on the fieldhouse is expected to begin in 2020.