As 17 Springs comes online in Millbrook, other quality of life projects will follow in Elmore County.
The City of Millbrook, Elmore County Commission, Elmore County Economic Development Authority (ECEDA), the Elmore County Board of Education and Grandview YMCA have pooled resources to create a commercial and sports destination one mile east of Interstate 65.
When completed the nearly 100 acre development on Highway 14 will have fields for softball, soccer and football, a track, tennis and pickleball courts and a fieldhouse large enough so four basketball games can be played at once. It will also include nearly 28 acres for commercial development to help fund the project and others like it across Elmore County through the collection lodging and sales tax. The idea started coming to life in 2015 after the YMCA was donated property and wanted to create athletic fields for its growing programs.
Submitted / The Herald The first phase of 17 Springs is nearing completion in Millbrook. The development when finished will have 12 tennis courts, 12 pickle ball courts, four tennis courts, a 85,000 square foot field house, a football stadium , six softball fields and a commerical development.
“Three or four of us were sitting around a table and it just kind of developed,” Millbrook Mayor Al Kelley said. “We just started talking about master plans.”
Grandview YMCA executive director Bill Meyers said he and his staff started listening to the community and meeting with school and city officials.
“We listened to anybody that would talk to us,” Meyers said. “We asked, ‘What are the needs here in Millbrook and west Elmore County?’ We had a vision to build some recreational facilities that could serve everybody. It grew from there. We knew we couldn’t do it all.”
By 2019 a partnership had formed in Millbrook with five different entities. It is a partnership Elmore County Schools superintendent Richard Dennis is happy to be a part of.
“It provides our students opportunities and facilities that we otherwise would not have been able to afford,” Dennis said. “You have multiple groups working towards meeting the needs of everybody. It is a sharing of costs.”
It is a similar partnership Elmore County Schools has with the City of Wetumpka and the commission for the Wetumpka Sports Complex and Hohenberg Field, creating a track, football field, tennis courts and soccer fields that are either complete or nearing completion.
The Elmore County Commission had been looking for ways to improve the quality of life for Elmore County citizens but wanted to find something that would generate funds to keep a cycle of economic development going.
“Our thoughts were that if we get these two projects online and focus on outdoor tourism, not only sports complexes but fishing tournaments and more, it would work to bring in lodging tax to help with economic development,” Elmore County Commission chair Bart Mercer said. “These are only the first projects we are looking at doing across the county. These are situations where we already had willing partners and the wheels were already turning. We are looking at Holtville, Eclectic and Tallassee in the future too.”
Phase I and Phase 2
The first part of the project with four artificial turf soccer fields, 12 tennis courts and 12 pickleball courts is nearing completion. But parts of Phase I are already in use.
Since March 2022 the Stanhope Elmore High School soccer team has been using a soccer field. The soccer fields were also used by the YMCA’s recreational teams this past spring.
The tennis courts have been used by the Mustang tennis team this past season and for AHSAA sectionals in the last month. The public has found the pickleball courts too.
“People were hounding us about it,” Elmore County chief operations officer Richie Beyer said. “People were sneaking out here and playing. We were close enough with those two fields and these tennis and pickleball courts we could open up. The building is operational as far as restrooms.”
Millbrook resident Vernon Woody found the pickleball courts and is already picking up the sport taking the nation by storm.
“It’s only my second time out here,” Woody said. “It’s great. I like pickleball because it is easier on my knees. This is great. I love it.”
Kelley said the project has evolved since it was dreamed up around a kitchen table more than five years ago.
“They wanted to do all fields — baseball, football, soccer, softball,” Kelley said. “I had this wild crazy idea. I woke up one night with a wild dream. ‘Why don’t we take part of that property and make The Fieldhouse?’”
The Fieldhouse is part of Phase 2 with an anticipated opening date of late 2024. It will be 85,000 square feet of indoor space capable of holding four basketball games or six volleyball matches at once. It can also be the site for weigh-ins for fishing tournaments, concerts and graduations. It will be built on a hill to spill onto a new track and football field with six softball fields nearby.
The Fieldhouse wasn’t the only thing to change along the way. Beyer said the original idea in 2019 called for only three pickleball courts. But studies before construction began showed interest nationally. Since 2019, many municipalities have constructed pickleball courts including Auburn and Opelika.
The complex also features 18 acres of commercial property. The partners plan to allow retail businesses, restaurants and hotels purchase property soon to be platted. The City of Millbrook entered into a contract at its May 23 meeting to clear portions of the property.
“It is easier to show a developer or business owner what you have when the site is clear,” City of Millbrook Economic Development Director Ann Harper said. “We are working to get it ready. We are putting the finishing touches on the master concept for that project.”
Kelley and Harper said they have been receiving calls about the commercial property.
“We are already working with one restaurant that I can’t divulge yet,” Kelley said. “We have another that has come to me three different times wanting to save them a spot.”
Harper believes the location is ideal for another Millbrook hotel and more.
“We want to be able to accommodate a variety of restaurants, one or two hotels would be nice,” Harper said. “We are attracting tournaments which means the athletes will be in our community with their moms and dads for one to two days. We want them to stay in our community.”
Currently Millbrook has four hotels with a total of 265 rooms operating at 92 percent occupancy. TownePlace Suites by Marriott just announced it is constructing a 105 room hotel to open in 2024. Publix is constructing a store just up Highway 14 from 17 Springs and is set to open sometime in 2024.
The name 17 Springs
Meyers said the name comes from the property.
“Before there was a Grandview YMCA, it was Camp Grandview,” Meyers said. “It was a girls’ camp. There is a pond on the property that is supposedly fed by 17 springs.”
The county has done most of the site work of Phase I and will construct a retention pond soon near the tennis courts.
“The pond there will be fed by those 17 springs,” Meyers said. “Richie jokes when they were doing the sitework they found a few more springs.”
The other names of 17 Springs — The Marketplace, The Fieldhouse and The Fields are part of the marketing strategy. Part of the strategy is all of the outdoor playing surfaces will be artificial.
“That was a very big decision early on to make,” Landmark Engineering Project Manager Stuart Peters said. “Turf is expensive. You weigh that expense with long term maintenance, cutting grass and the ability to host games. You can literally have two to three inches of rain and be able to be right back on the turf.”
Meyers said the first Stanhope soccer game at the complex in March 2022 would have been canceled because of rain had it been played at the school. Even this month Meyers said a night of recreational soccer was played after a heavy downfall.
Beyer said the artificial turf will help in recruiting tournaments because of the ability to play quickly after heavy rains.
“You go to a tournament and have the threat of rain and worry about if the grass will hold up,” Beyer said. “A rain event can cancel your tournament and stop people from coming to town. Without lightening, you can keep playing.”
The Highway 14 Corridor
Beyer said the county worked with Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) to avoid numerous curb cuts from the five lane highway.
“We got a redlight to turn into The Marketplace at 17 Springs,” Beyer said. “The road will loop around from a traffic light on Highway 14 over to the fields and back to Highway 14.”
The 17 Springs project also includes 10 acres across from the current construction for future development. It is all along four miles of Highway 14 running through Millbrook that sees more than 35,000 cars per day traveling east and west.
“I have no doubt the 17 Springs project, once fully developed, will totally change the landscape of Highway 14,” Harper said. “17 Springs is going to be an economic engine. We hope to not only attract a very quality commercial retail space in front of 17 Springs but it will be a catalyst for developing the Highway 14 corridor. It will become a destination for our city.”
