Officials with Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO) and the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce have announced the groundbreaking for SOMO's Training for Life Campus will take place May 4.
The $15 million facility will be built at 2221 Christy Drive on 16.5-acre site on the east side of Christy, three quarters of a mile south of Ellis Boulevard on property that has been used as a rock quarry.
In early 2015, SOMO officials announced the project had been awarded to Jefferson City over a competing bid from Columbia. The proposal, submitted by the Chamber, included the land on Christy donated by Land Investments, which is run by Bud Farmer, Mike Farmer and Frank Twehous.
The 34,000-square-foot campus building will be complemented with a variety of outdoor recreational fields, providing space for soccer, a four-lane track, the long jump, a 100-meter straight-away, golf skills space, horseshoe pits, the shot put, a tennis competition area, softball fields (in a space called the "Miracle Field"), boccie courts, a torch run plaza and as-yet unidentified sports.
SOMO officials said this will be the only campus of its kind that offers athletes screening rooms equipped for health care professionals to conduct screenings. The free screenings include vision, hearing, teeth, feet, physical therapy, health promotion and sports physicals.
SOMO's website for the planned campus highlights its economic impact on the area, stating the "estimated economic impact from tourism by athletes alone is expected to be between $227,124-$378,541 in the first year of operation. In addition, one coach or chaperone usually accompanies every four athletes."
SOMO hopes to have 30 camps in the first year but would like to increase that amount in future years.
There will also be an increase in jobs at the campus, as the central area office in Columbia will close and relocate to Jefferson City's location. Including the existing jobs at the current headquarters in Jefferson City, the campus will have 30 permanent jobs.