Real Estate Recycling
Excitement in Elizabeth
New Sports Center Provides Dynamic Reuse
by Judi Biederman
A vacant big-box retail building in Elizabeth, New Jersey is being renovated and will see new life this summer as an indoor sports and recreation center. The adaptive reuse project has received wide support from the surrounding community and municipal officials and may be the first in a chain of indoor sports facilities from a new development company.
Both the sports center and the company are named RexPlex. The company had its genesis when
one of its partners, a “soccer dad” named Randy Taylor, recognized a growing
need for indoor facilities catering to soccer and other sports. He hooked up with partners
Steve Linville and Alan Milton to do something about it.
Taylor found a vacant 200,000-sq.ft. building in Elizabeth in the Ikea Center at exit 13A
of the New Jersey Turnpike. The building had been constructed by Ikea as part of its
redevelopment of the area and was built to house a location for Incredible Universe, Tandy
Corporation’s chain of electronic superstores. The concept failed and Incredible
Universe closed its doors in 1997 after less than a year of operation.
The building was a good fit from all perspectives. RexPlex had found a dynamic location in
a high-traffic retail district. The site is between an Ikea store and a Toys R Us store,
separated only by parking, and just down the street from the Jersey Gardens Mall. Ikea was
able to lease a large vacancy in its center, and the City of Elizabeth was able to fill a
big hole in its redevelopment district.
“This location is important for us. It’s in our Urban Enterprise Zone,”
says Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage. “The exciting part is that in an urban community
like Elizabeth, there is often a lack of recreational opportunities. This building will
now offer recreational opportunities for all ages. It will give kids something to do as
well as create jobs for them.”
Bollwage says the RexPlex proposal received wide support and moved quickly through the
municipal planning process. “This is a great recreational opportunity not only for
the people in Elizabeth but for the entire region,” he feels. In March, the Elizabeth
Planning Board voted 8-0, with one abstention, to grant preliminary site-plan approval for
the project. “We had no concerns or restrictions on the project,” Bollwage says,
adding that the planning board made final approval contingent only upon RexPlex making
sure that lighting in a planned outdoor soccer field would meet standards of the Port
Authority, Newark International Airport and the Federal Aviation Administration because of
the center’s proximity to the airport.
The developers don’t see that as a problem and expect to open RexPlex in June.
“We will be in full compliance with FAA requirements. Whatever it takes, we will
comply with everything,” says partner Alan Milton, adding that the city’s
enthusiasm and support for the RexPlex center has been much appreciated by the company.
“The cooperation from the city of Elizabeth is outstanding,” he describes.
“They recognize a project that will be great for the community.”
Plans for the sports center, designed by Manhattan Studio Architecture & Design of New
York City, call for 160,000 sq.ft. of space to be devoted to indoor activities including
soccer, lacrosse, roller hockey, basketball, volleyball, x-treme sports, rock climbing,
miniature golf, virtual golf, batting cages, kiddy trails, party rooms, training areas and
an arcade. To be a successful business entity, RexPlex wants to meet all demands.
“Kids go wild over x-treme games now and there are so few facilities to accomodate
them,” Milton notes. “We will offer a diverse array of activities, hoping to
attract a wide clientele.”
The center will house six identical indoor fields and a full-sized outdoor playing field.
A 40,000-sq.ft. second-floor will offer 10,000 sq.ft. as a common area for special events,
shows or meetings, along with sky boxes and fitness and training areas. Plans also include
a full-service, 7,000-sq.ft. restaurant with an outdoor terrace and up to 7,500 sq.ft. for
one to two sporting goods and/or sports-related stores. RexPlex management is still
discussing whether the company will operate the restaurant and retail operations or
whether to lease them out, although Milton says he would welcome expressions of interest
from outside operators.
Indoor playing fields will be covered with a newly-developed and patented turf product,
called RealGrass™. Developed by RexPlex partner Steve Linville, also owner and
president of the product’s same-named parent company RealGrass, the artificial turf
closely approximates natural grass with real blades, a softer feel, and a longer pile than
older-generation turf products. RexPlex will be one of the first sporting facilities in
the country to feature RealGrass. It has been chosen to cover the fields at Drago’s
Soccer Heaven, a new indoor facility in Saginaw, Michigan, and the company has contracts
for installation in facilities in Venezuela and Ireland.
RexPlex’s use of the turf, as well as its location, may lead to wider uses for the
center. Milton says the center has been approached by New Jersey’s professional
soccer team, the MetroStars, for possible use as a winter headquarters and indoor practice
facility. The company is also in similar discussions with a new professional lacrosse
league, now being formed, to use the center for practice and combines, or player tryouts.
If the new indoor center meets predictions of success, the Elizabeth location will become
the prototype for more RexPlex centers. Milton says that future plans remain
opportunistic, but the company hopes do more, if it can find the right location in the
right area. “It will be a function of an analysis of an area’s needs,” he
says. “It would need to be well populated with a mix of youth and adult athletic
participants.”
The company may build new facilities but would also consider renovating another old
building. Greg Shunick, president of Manhattan Studio, the company that designed the
RexPlex re-do, says that the building in Elizabeth was a good fit for the reuse. “The
building was relatively new, only about five years old, so retrofitting was minimal. The
warehouse needed new mechanical fittings, but the lighting, exits and HVAC were all
okay.” Some redesign was needed to create back offices, but Shunick says, “We
kept the basic structure. It was designed for high-volume traffic anyway.” Discover
General Contracting, of Westchester, New York, is providing construction management
services.
The most critical building requirement is that an indoor sports center needs minimum
column spacing of 60 feet and inside height clearance of at least 26 feet in order
accomodate a climbing wall and soccer fields. Shunick says that good candidates for
conversion to indoor sports centers would be airplane hangars, armories, big-box retail
stores, and warehouses. He describes the current RexPlex project as “good for
developer, good for city, good for landlord, good for everyone,” adding, “Soccer
appeals to a broad ethnic mix. This kind of facility could go in a warehouse area on the
fringe of neighborhoods. It offers a safe, fun place for everyone.”
Although the idea for RexPlex began as a way to foster soccer, the resulting center will
offer much more than indoor facilities for the increasingly popular sport. “Soccer is
a common denominator, a common language,” says Milton. “There is a demand in the
area, and it is cross-cultural. This center will literally accomodate a social need
today.”
For more information: Alan Milton, Steve Linville or Randy Tayor, RexPlex, 1001 Ikea
Drive, Elizabeth, NJ 07021, 908-355-7797; Greg Shunick, Manhattan Studio Architecture
& Design, P.C., 212-627-9400; Steve Linville, RealGrass, 800-221-7449; Discover
General Contracting, Westchester, NY, 914-664-7244.