The city of Gainesville will hire a company to evaluate a new sports complex proposal on Citizens Field and surrounding property that could also be used for concerts and community events.

The Gainesville City Commission on Thursday unanimously approved issuing a request for a proposal to hire a company to evaluate a proposal put forth by staff on the prodding of Gainesville City Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut.

“I sincerely appreciate the support and commitment from my colleagues on the City Commission,” Chestnut said in a text message statement on Friday. “For years, politicians have run for office with ‘development in East Gainesville’ as the platform issue. The city commission is to be commended for taking the first step in making our dream a reality.”

Economic boost:Sports complex would provide economic boost for East Gainesville

More time to digest:Gainesville commission wants more time to digest Chestnut's east Gainesville sports complex proposal

Headed to vote:Proposal for a new sports complex in East Gainesville headed to commission

The proposal calls for expanding and adding a second story to the MLK Center, adding six rectangular fields and a field house, creating 1,000 parking spaces and renovating and adding thousands of seats to Citizens Field.

The consulting firm will evaluate whether the proposal is feasible, recommend the best use of the land, and estimate the cost of the project as well as the revenue it could generate. The firm will also evaluate the project’s impact on traffic on Waldo Road.

The sports complex has made the preliminary list of projects the city would like funded if the Wild Spaces, Public Places half-cent tax is extended, with voters making that decision in November. 

The commission on Thursday endorsed a project list that includes $6 million for the sports complex.

“I don’t know if that’s going to be enough or not, or if it’s too much,” Chestnut said in a telephone interview on Friday. “We’re just not sure until we get the proposal back from the consultant.”

Chestnut agreed to add to her motion an amendment from commissioner Adrian Hayes-Santos asking the firm to also evaluate a potential ice rink that would be developed by a private company on the site and an upgrade to the skateboard park. 

The city owns all of the 36 acres where the park is proposed.

Roxana Gonzalez, the city’s parks, recreation and cultural affairs director who put together the proposal for the city, said plans call for expanding the 19,000-square-foot MLK Center to a minimum of 60,000 square feet.

Two more indoor basketball courts would be added to the two currently there.

The center could also have a full-size synthetic indoor retractable soccer field, a second floor track, an upgraded stage, a fitness center expansion that would include locker rooms with showers and two additional rooms for fitness classes.

Plans also could include an outdoor hallway expansion for pool access, renovations for a nearby pool with upgraded locker rooms, an enhancement of the pool deck and better office space and a senior center wing.

Gonzalez said the second floor of the center could serve as a viewing area for concerts and performances. The fitness center would be expanded and moved up to the second floor.

“You can also include locker rooms, showers and additional fitness classrooms," she said, adding that the classes could include cycling, Pilates, yoga and dance.

Gonzalez said the study will also look at the potential for “inclusive and adaptive" sporting events, which could include wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, badminton, pickleball, archery, indoor soccer and table tennis.

A new outdoor sports field complex that would include six rectangular fields is also in the plans.

“We’re asking for six, multi-rectangular fields, all at high school levels, so that we can have multiple sports,” Gonzalez said. “You can host rugby, lacrosse, ultimate Frisbee, all types of different tournaments.”

The outdoor complex could also include fitness equipment, scoreboards, a storage facility, a paved fitness trail and parking for approximately 1,000 vehicles.

Hayes-Santos said that many surface spaces gobbles up a lot of land, and perhaps structured parking like a parking garage should be considered.

“Us creating a massive, massive parking lot I don't think is what our city wants,” he said.

The plans also call for renovating Citizens Field, where high school football games are played, with input from the School Board.

The seating would be expanded from the maximum of 4,000 today to 8,000 or 10,000 seats, with a high school track circling inside the stadium. There would be ticket booths on both sides of the stadium, a fully equipped concession stand, public announcement systems and streaming technology with internet access.

The city plans to put out the request for proposal next week, and expects it will take the firm six months or so to finish the study.