The new Raise Athletics facility under construction in southwest St. Albert is big. Really big. You could fit 1.5 soccer fields, just over a third of Servus Credit Union Place, or a small Walmart into it.
Operations manager Safina Nanji said she and her family hope to fit 50 sports courts plus a restaurant, change rooms, a fitness zone, and possibly more into the facility.
“This has been a longtime dream for us,” she said, one that’s been more than 30 years in the making.
Raise Athletics took possession of Building 2A at 9 Richardson Drive in the Anthony Henday Business Park earlier this year. Crews are now transforming the roughly $17.5 million, 170,000-square-foot building into an indoor athletics centre, which Nanji said is the biggest of its kind in western Canada.
Nanji said this project started off as a dream of her father (who did not wish to be interviewed or named for this piece) back in 1993, years before Servus Place was built. Her dad was into soccer, hockey, and other sports, but couldn’t find a good place to play with his friends in northern Edmonton. About two years ago, with several successful businesses under his belt, Nanji said her father found this site in St. Albert and decided to make his sports centre dreams a reality.
“St. Albert’s a really welcoming community,” Nanji said, and there’s high demand for indoor sports space in this part of the Edmonton region.
Crews are now assembling sports courts and setting up hoops and nets inside the building. When it’s finished, Nanji said the facility should have 26 pickleball, nine volleyball, seven badminton, six basketball, and two padel (which is a mix of tennis and squash) courts, as well as a 12,000 square foot indoor soccer strip. These courts will be to the left and right of the building’s central area, which will contain a fitness centre, physiotherapy clinic, Shoot 360 virtual basketball training centre, and the Grizzly’s Kitchen restaurant.
Nanji said staff plan to use the many large bay doors at the back of the building for ventilation, and might open them up so games and training can spill into the parking lot.
Nanji said Raise Athletics hopes to draw athletes, especially pickleball players, from throughout the Edmonton region to train and hold tournaments. The restaurant should attract customers from homes now under construction in southwest St. Albert, as it was one of the few restaurants in this region.
Nanji said she and her team hope to have the soccer, pickleball, basketball, and volleyball courts ready for use by November, with the facility fully operational in 2025.
St. Albert Pickleball Club president Eileen McClean said in an email that this was a great new facility that will offer many a chance to play pickleball indoors.
“As a club of over 1,000 members, many are delighted that the centre is in our backyard!”
Visit raiseathletics.com for details.
