ST. JOHNS COUNTY – Clay County officials toured a warehouse-type facility last week off U.S. 1 with turf, two basketball courts, a gymnasium and weight-room, and medical facilities that focus on …
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ST. JOHNS COUNTY – Clay County officials toured a warehouse-type facility last week off U.S. 1 with turf, two basketball courts, a gymnasium and weight-room, and medical facilities that focus on therapy and recovery.
Sitting on seven acres of woods, Above Athletics Center opened in June and the man who oversees leasing and management, Jay Glatting, has an eye on a location on Fleming Island for his next center.
Glatting and his partners were celebrating the construction beginning on phase two, an $8 million 26,000 square foot add-on featuring Rainbow Pediatric Center, Blue32Jax cryotherapy and on-site recovery for athletes.
“In the future, we would like to develop multiple locations like this,” Glatting said.
Here’s how it works: Above Athletics customizes a space with its future tenants, such as softball-based 5 Tool Training, which operates the turf portion of the center. 5 Tool Training schedules and subleases soccer, football and batting cages for use that can be separated with 10 nets.
5 Tool Training CEO Laura Taylor said designing the site beforehand was instrumental to having a successful space.
“We’re able to use it for anything,” Taylor said. “We were looking to have an opportunity in the area, we sat with Jay and got to know each other. We wanted the same thing – a space for high quality training.”
Glatting said in the future he would like to develop another center in Northeast Florida, showing a crowd of about 30 renderings of the next possible site. The three potential areas for the next location are Fleming Island, Nassau County or in St. Johns County near World Golf Village.
“We’re focusing on developing with a purpose,” Glatting said.
Clay County Commissioner Mike Cella visited the St. Johns site when it was nothing but trees, dirt and pine straw on the ground. During his Nov. 15 tour, Cella said Clay County didn’t have anything comparable to Above Athletics center.
“We’re always looking from an economic development standpoint of what don’t we have and what can we attract,” Cella said. “We’re trying to see if there are things that we can do to help Jay [Glatting] put something like this in Clay County.”
County Recreation Program Manager Justin Pierce said the trend of year-round indoor sports for all ages is good for residents’ quality of life.
“Having been a high school basketball coach, having a place to train year-round for high school programs helps them become more competitive and definitely would bring residents to the area,” Pierce said.
County Manager Stephanie Kopelousos, who was also on the Nov. 15 tour, said indoor athletic centers are incentives for families who want to move into or stay in the county.
“People want to be involved with something like this in our community,” Kopelousos said. “It’s family friendly. It’s ideal for what Clay County is.”