Ice hockey, bowling … a zipline? Peek inside massive Johnson County sports complex

Twenty years in the making.

In 2004, Price Brothers Management Co. bought 300 acres of land in south Overland Park and envisioned what the company’s president Kent Price described as an all-encompassing, family-oriented development.

At the time, Price wasn’t sure exactly what that would look like, he told The Star on Wednesday. But standing inside the AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk , the picture is clearer.

And on Oct. 26, the largest piece of Price’s 20-year dream will finally fall into place.

The 260,000-square-foot sports park at 16201 Shawnee Drive will open to the public next Saturday. The facility — with volleyball courts, basketball courts, an ice rink, arcade games, bowling lanes and more — will host several sports teams’ practices, games and tournaments.

It will also be open to the public for membership packages and individual day passes.

“We’ve gone out and looked at competition, but … the hockey, the wood, the turf,” Price said. “There’s a lot of diversity here.”

The sports park, which is in its first phase of development, anchors the sprawling Bluhawk development. After AdventHealth purchased the land from Price Brothers in 2013, Bluhawk broke ground.

The development is home to several restaurant and retail tenants, including Of Course Kitchen & Co., Costa Vida, Sierra, Cosentino’s Market and soon, Barnes & Noble.

Bart Lowen, vice president of development for Price Brothers, said the combination of a major youth sports park with lifestyle and retail components is what makes Bluhawk distinguished.

“Facilities like this do exist in the country, and lifestyle centers exist in the country, but what doesn’t exist in the country is putting those two together,” Lowen said. “Everything that’s coming together here is done in a way that is so unique … it’s creating an experience beyond just coming here to play basketball.”

At a media event on Wednesday, administrators with the sports park showed off its new facilities. Patrons walking through the main entrance are immediately greeted by dozens of arcade games.

Greg Jackson, general manager for the park, described the area as the perfect spot for the sibling who’s been dragged to a tournament.

There’s plenty more by way of family entertainment: laser tag, bowling, esports — even a zipline.

The zipline track (called the Roll Glider Ride) runs through the facility. Jackson said riders are given laser guns to shoot at targets around the facility while they zip through.

The NHL-regulated ice rink seats 1,500 and will host the University of Kansas Hockey Club for games and practices. Bluhawk’s own KCYHA hockey league, the Kansas City Icehawks, will also call the rink home. The rink will also offer free-skate times open to the public.

A sports training facility with weights, batting cages and treadmills will host triathlon training service C26.

Upstairs, a bar and lounge will offer an upscale menu. Downstairs, a grab-and-go cafe will serve athletes on-the-go.

“A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this,” Jackson said of the facility.

Altogether, the sports park will cost $125 million. The $750 million development won $70 million in STAR bond incentives in 2021.

Under the state incentive program, cities sell bonds to provide upfront capital. The bonds are paid back over 20 years with the sales tax generated by the development.

After the second phase of the park is completed, the complex will be 420,000 square feet. That project will include another ice rink, the construction of Mammoth Fieldhouse and an “eat and compete” pickleball destination. It is set to wrap up sometime in 2026.

The facility’s eight basketball courts can be converted into 16 volleyball or pickleball courts. A portion of the facility’s hard-floor courts will be converted into a 40,000-square-foot turf field for five months to host soccer games.

A mixed-use shopping and lifestyle center, The Boundary at Bluhawk , is also expected to open in 2026. That center will include 200,000 square feet of restaurants and shops.

Meanwhile, Olathe is looking to add a hockey arena of its own : This one headed up by Lamar Hunt Jr., who owns the Mavericks hockey team.

That project will be off 119th Street and Renner Boulevard. The $300 million development will include an inclusive theme park.

Bluhawk’s grand opening event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 26.