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1.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00 Westfield is moving forward with plans to build an entertainment district along West 186th Street near the Grand Park Sports Campus. (Rendering provided by the City of Westfield)
Westfield’s Grand Park Sports Campus is one of the busiest sports facilities in the country, but city leaders say the city needs to find a way to turn the treasured facility into a year-round tourist destination.
To achieve that, Westfield officials plan to increase opportunities for winter sports and transform the area around the 400-acre sports campus into a hub for entertainment and recreational activities.
Mayor Scott Willis and Economic Development Director Jenelle Fairman told Westfield City Council members last week about their vision for adding retail, housing, hotels, public gathering spaces, a canal walking trail, indoor ski facilities and other amenities to the Grand Park District over the next decade.
Westfield has partnered with the Hamilton County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Chicago-based real estate consultants Handen Partners and Indianapolis-based planning firm MKSK to explore the possibility of development around Grand Park.
“The city is going to have to work really hard to get this off the ground, but we’re committed because we know it will definitely be worth it if we can get it done,” Willis told council members.
Grand Park, which opened in 2010, features 31 football fields, 26 baseball fields, two administration buildings, seven concession stands, and a 378,000-square-foot multipurpose events center. The Indianapolis Colts moved their annual summer training camp to the park in 2018.
Westfield in December selected a consortium led by Indianapolis-based Keystone Group to manage and further develop the 400-acre Grand Park Sports Campus after a nearly two-year selection process.
Then last month, FIFA selected Grand Park as one of 24 potential locations to serve as base camp training sites for teams during the group stage, or early rounds, of the 48-nation World Cup soccer tournament to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada in June-July 2026.
Fairman told city council members that Grand Park was the most-visited sports venue by young people in the United States last year. It was also the 16th-busiest sports venue last year with 5.5 million visitors, ahead of Little Caesars Arena, home to the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla., which both had 4.9 million visitors, Fairman said.
Grand Park also saw 1.3 million unique visitors last year, and while many of them were locals, Fairman said 50% of Grand Park visitors from 2017 to 2023 traveled more than 100 miles to get to Westfield.
But Grand Park’s annual traffic volume peaks in the summer and then drops off significantly, she added.
“We have a lot of baseball fields in the area and a lot of baseball tournaments, so it brings tourists to the area, but of course there are fewer events in the winter months,” Fairman said.
Willis spoke about the urgency of adding more winter sports options to Grand Park, saying businesses have a hard time staffing and budgeting because the area around Grand Park is “busy like the rest of the area for five months and then quiet for seven months.”
“If we don’t think of Grand Park as a place to enjoy 365 days a year, we’re not going to build any more hotels, we’re not going to build anything more than fast-food restaurants,” he said. “We have to create a winter destination.”
Toward that goal, Westfield is developing its Grand Park Master Plan, which will focus on two focus areas north and south of 186th Street and encompass the undeveloped areas surrounding the sports campus.
On the north side, Fairman said the area between 186th and 191st streets near the Grand Park Events Center could become a sports innovation center with tourism development and entertainment opportunities. He said it could be a home for businesses such as OrthoIndy and a training ground for the Indy Eleven soccer club.
The area could also provide a gathering spot that Fairman likened to Georgia Street in Indianapolis, which hosted the NBA All-Star Game and the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials this year.
“We can have a vibrant street environment in Grand Park where celebrations can take place and people can come together and celebrate this really great event that’s happening in the community,” Fairman said.
On the south side, Westfield could consider developing the Grand Park Entertainment District in the area south of 186th Street, centered around Grand Park Boulevard.
Fairman said the area could create a waterfront area by building a canal and boardwalk to connect the existing 14-acre lake to the east and a new pond to the west. People could rent paddleboards or kayaks on one side and paddle through the canal to the other side, she suggested.
“This is something that’s really missing in Hamilton County, especially being so far from the White River, we don’t have a lot of opportunities to get in the water and experience nature,” Fairman said, “so I think this will be a really great attraction for our central mixed-use development area.”
To make room for winter sports, the area may also include an ice skating rink and indoor ski slope. Fairman said indoor skiing would target a younger demographic and bring more tourists to Grand Park during the winter.
“We can help hotels, restaurants and retailers stay bustling all year round,” Fairman said, “and help them ensure they’re adequately staffed during the summer, which translates into a better experience and increased profitability all year round.”
Fairman said the area could also include specialty retail entertainment space, including stores like Dave & Buster’s and Pinheads. The conceptual plan also calls for apartment complexes, office facilities, restaurants, a hotel, parking and other amenities along the boardwalk.
“We’re really looking for opportunities to work with developers to map out this space more thoroughly,” Fairman said. Chicago-based design firms Speck Dempsey LLC and Perkins & Will are working to create a detailed master plan that would define what the city wants for the area.
According to the Grand Park Master Plan timeline, workshop sessions would be held between July and October, a draft master plan would be available for review in November, and the Westfield City Council could vote on the final master plan in January.
“When I first saw this design, it gave me goosebumps,” Willis said. “I think we’ve been talking about this at Westfield for the last 10 years, and now finally we have the vision and we’re going to move forward aggressively.”
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