Government officials this morning gathered at the shell of what had been a Maricopa Police Department substation, ready to begin transforming it into the city’s new sports fieldhouse. 

Just north of the city’s newly installed veterans memorial at the southeast corner of Bowlin Road and Greythorn Drive, the former substation’s police insignia on the façade have seen years of Maricopa sunlight, having been severely discolored. 

But the building is starting to show signs of new life. A large room just inside the front door has been converted into a construction office. Farther back into the building, some walls have been partially demolished. 

The most obvious sign of progress can be seen from the outside — the walls that once fortified MPD’s impound lot have been razed. Fragments of brick and metal fencing were strewn around the southern edge of the lot; a Mercedes-Benz ornament glistening through the dirt was one of few reminders of its former use. 

In that empty impound lot, city officials, staffers and crews with the Tempe-based Chasse Building Team handled golden shovels in mild 90-degree heat. There, they celebrated the new life the public building would have in just over a year. 

What will the fieldhouse look like? 

Maricopa’s sports fieldhouse project will see the building expand east into the former impound lot. It would be a pre-engineered metal building with panels in attractive desert color tones and patterns, said officials. 

The venue was proposed last year after MPD moved its dispatch center into the new police headquarters. 

The question, said Assistant City Manager Jennifer Brown, was: “What do we do with it?” 

“One of those big things that we have been asked a lot about is court space,” she told InMaricopa. 

This $16.2 million, 42,000-square-foot recreational facility will bring court space and a whole lot of it by the time it opens someday next summer.  

“It’ll be able to accommodate four basketball courts, six volleyball courts and 12 pickleball courts,” Brown said, but “not all at the same time.” She noted that Copper Sky Recreation Complex’s indoor basketball courts have been used for myriad purposes such as movie screenings and dances.  

Councilmembers: Copper Sky ‘filled up’ 

Another project objective is to keep pace with the growing number of active people in Maricopa, according to city councilmember Bob Marsh. 

“Copper Sky’s been filled up, fully booked,” Marsh said. “This will be a good facility.”  

Vice Mayor Henry Wade added: “It’s bringing accessibility, you got a lot more sports … Copper Sky’s been a great place to work with, a great place to use, but we need more space” 

City manager Ben Bitter said he’s hoping the fieldhouse will enjoy public reactions similar to those seen when Copper Sky first opened its doors in 2014.  

He said that as construction continues, the city will begin deciding which programs to offer at the new facility.  

“As we work on this over the course of the next year, we’ll talk a little bit about programming and figure out what exactly the public wants to see, and do our best to implant it,” Bitter said, adding the facility can be used “as a building block for the future of the community.”