Franklin Sports Complex Sidelined by Council

Proposed Franklin Sports Complex

Since the end of 2019, there has been talk about a new sports and activity complex in Franklin. In November the development company, Warhorse Venture Partners, hosted a virtual community meeting and offered opportunities for the public to learn more through their website, Facebook page, and email. In the end, the Franklin Planning Commission voted the project down in early December by denying changes to the Envision Franklin document for use of the land from “single-family residential use” to “recreational with special considerations.”

Many had been looking forward to the complex because their children are hockey players and currently have to go to Bellevue or Antioch to practice, a problem since A-Game closed in 2016. As one online responder noted, “Our 13 and 15-year-old boys both play hockey, and we currently drive almost 40 minutes one way to get to the nearest hockey rink. It would be fantastic to have this facility just a five-minute-drive away. We were devastated when the rinks at A Game were closed down. Our daughter is only six, but she also aspires to be an ice skater.”

As proposed, the 25 acres of land would have contained a 100,000-square foot skating rink and a 60,000-square-foot field house making up the Franklin Sports Complex. It would have been located off of Ladd Lane across from the Williamson County Ag Expo Park. Besides hockey, it would have had space for basketball, gymnastics, volleyball, cheerleading, climbing, indoor baseball, figure skating, and more. There would also have been space for offices, dining, and retail.

Homeowners in the area are worried about the additional traffic and noise pollution. A potentially serious concern, since the area appears to be the next to take off with growth. Nearby there will be a new elementary school and a new mental health services facility. This is possibly spurred on by the proposed building of a connector over Interstate 65 to Long Lane set for completion in 2022.

Eric Kaehr, owner of Warhorse Venture Partners, looks for areas potentially set to grow. While Ladd Lane currently meanders off to farmland, it looks like growth is coming that way in spite of residents hoping to keep the laid-back country feel.

Even with Gamble Design Collaborative, the group set to plan and build the project, making adjustments to the design in response to the public’s worries about the project, negative emotions about it ran high. Perhaps it was inevitable after response during the Zoom meeting, when the majority of the 90 people in the meeting voted no during a straw-pole. It effectively buried the sports complex plans, and, for now, kept the cornfields safe.

While the current location will not be happening, Kaehr, a Franklin resident, has done his research about the county. He knows sports is popular and knows there is significant potential for investment here for a hockey rink and an indoor sports arena. As well as a significant tax impact. There is sure to be another location he will find for the project. As the project website says, his company is a “full-service real estate development company with a relentless focus on producing real estate projects that beautify and more effectively serve the residents of surrounding communities.”