$92M Kings Park youth sports complex moving forward

Plans to build a long-delayed $92 million sports park complex and adjoining commercial medical facility in Kings Park are moving forward, with a nonprofit in charge of running the facility aiming to focus on connecting underserved children to sports.

The developers for the multiuse complex, called DestinationKP Sports Park, recently broke ground. The facility will feature a 64,800-square-foot multi-floor indoor sports facility, seven outdoor athletic fields and a total of 100,000 square feet of medical and commercial office space largely focused on sports medicine. The sports facility will be operated by Agape Community Sports Services.

“When I formed Agape Community Sports, I wanted to help kids who couldn’t afford youth sports,” said David Starr, president of the San Antonio, Texas-based nonprofit.

While a major focus will be helping underserved kids participate in sports their parents might otherwise be unable to afford, Starr said he wants to use profits generated from the operation to fund other community projects focused on health and human services.

“When we first looked at this project, my social service coordinator and myself met with about 15 to 20 nonprofits in the Long Island area and spoke to them about if they would work with us,” said Starr, originally from Roslyn.

Starr said early next year, his organization will meet with regional nonprofits to discuss specifics.

“You can’t limit it to sports,” he said.

Smithtown Supervisor Edward R. Wehrheim said the project was approved 10 years ago.

“It’s been a long time, and we are, on a town level, exceptionally pleased that the developer stayed in there and made sure they got it done,” Wehrheim said. “It’s going to be a huge economic advantage to the Kings Park community.”

The park's indoor sports facility is expected to be completed in 12 to 14 months, developers said.

The project was originally approved by the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency in 2020 for $1.8 million in tax incentives for construction of the medical office portion. This summer, the IDA approved increasing the tax incentives to $2.3 million in light of increased costs in construction materials.

The complex also received $52 million in nontaxable bonds and $17.5 million in taxable bonds from the Suffolk County Economic Development Corp, according to Kelly Murphy, CEO and executive director of Suffolk's EDC.

Developer Prospect Sports Partners LLC said the goal is to turn the Kings Park region into a youth sports destination for tournaments and championships.

“We’re focusing on regional and national events hosted on Long Island,” said Kenny Henderson, an executive with Prospect Sports Partners. “The youth sports travel market is one of the fastest-growing travel markets, and we’re looking to bring that here.”

In 2023, 63% of U.S. cities surveyed said youth and amateur sporting events were their biggest driver of overnight hotel stays, according to a report released this fall by Tourism Economics and the Sports Events and Tourism Association.

Americans took a record 204.9 million trips for youth or amateur sports-related events last year, according to the report. Those figures are up from 192 million trips in 2022.  

Henderson, a former minor league pitcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates, previously said the indoor and outdoor athletic fields would draw more than 1 million people yearly.

“It’s a great thing for youth sports,” he said.