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WENATCHEE FIRE WILL PLAY IN SPORTURF.

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex moved into a new home, the Riverfront Ice Arena, Tuesday morning.

“Our sign’s up at the new place,” said Dave Ryles, sales manager for Sportsplex. “If you go to our old office on Chelan Street, nobody’s going to be there.”

The Sportsplex office was in Wenatchee, but the outdoor sports activities were held outdoors at the Chelan County Expo Center at the fairgrounds in Cashmere.

Local business consultant John McQuaig purchased the old ice arena from the city of Wenatchee in August for a little more than $1 million.

McQuaig said from Lithuania in an e-mail that he has plans for future development of the property but has decided to lease the property to Sportsplex for the next three years.

“The three-year lease has a provision where either of us can cancel it earlier than three years,” he said. “It therefore keeps my options open to develop the property if the right opportunity comes up.”

McQuaig said the lease with Sports-plex is about $70,800 per year plus a share of the revenue.

Ryles said the building is the official training facility for the pro and semipro Wenatchee Fire soccer teams.

He also said the facility will serve as the official training site for Wenatchee’s new arena football team. However, The World reported on Sept. 26 that John Morris and Michael Mink, co-owners of the American Indoor Football Association, said a deal for a team hasn’t been set in stone.

Workers were laying artificial turf Tuesday morning in anticipation of four-day tryouts for the professional soccer team that began that night.

Ryles said the tryouts, which continue through Friday, are open to anyone, and the public is encouraged to come and watch.

The turf consists of 17 rolls of 12-by-85-foot sheets and will be used at Town Toyota Center during Fire games.

Mike Osborn, general manager for Sportsplex and the coach of the semipro and pro Fire soccer teams, said the move has been challenging.

“We knew we’d be semi-operational by the time tryouts began,” he said.

Osborn said the move from the fairgrounds to the old ice arena means more people will be able to participate in programs because of the centralized location. “And it means we can utilize the facility year-round,” he said.

Osborn said all of the programs they offered before, such as SoccerTots, instructional soccer camps and youth and adult leagues, will still be offered, but the organization also could expand into basketball instruction and lacrosse games.

Marsha Clute, general manager of the Chelan County Expo Center, said she learned at the end of August that she’d be losing Sportsplex as a tenant.

Sportsplex used the expo space from November to March, paying $3,325 per month plus utilities. It fell behind in rent and fee payments that totaled nearly $17,000, but Clute said Sports-plex got caught up in April and now owes nothing.

“It will be hard to replace the income,” she said, “But we’re working on it.”

Clute said the expo center can now offer covered, indoor winter storage for RVs, boats and trailers. And she said the center could start booking events earlier since Sportsplex won’t be utilizing the facility.

A press release indicated Sports-plex’s new home is only temporary, with “the final resting place being the proposed sports complex we are working on with Mayor (Steve) Lacy in East Wenatchee.”

Osborn told The World the sports complex in East Wenatchee is still in the formative stages, even though it’s been in the works for a couple of years.

“The concept is still being solidified, funding arranged and location decided,” he said. “We feel we’re very close to having a complete package for the City Council to look at and could have some news within four to six weeks.”

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