JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ- Alan Nau, the developer seeking to carve out a 200-acre sports complex in Jackson Township spoke to the Asbury Park Press last week about his project and said he intends to attract youth athletes from all over the world to his Trophy Park when completed.
Last week, after environmental pressure from the Sierra Club, Governor Phil Murphy’s Sky Blue women’s professional soccer club pulled out of the project because of the environmental sensitivity surrounding the Prospertown Lake site.
Nau said the show will go on and is scheduled to stand before the township planning board at town hall tonight at 7:30 pm.
“This is a place for everyone to come…to play tournaments against teams from all over the world,” Nau said. “This isn’t like kids from Brick playing Jackson or Toms River, from all over the world, they’re going to come here.”
Nau feels the township zoning ordinances allow the project to built at that site, also citing that he has already been given approval by Murphy’s Department of Environmental Protection. Included in Nau’s plans are team housing units that could accommodate over 2,000 international youth athletes at any given time, a source of contention with local residents who have opposed dormitory style structures in recent years. That opposition led to a township council ordinance that tightened restrictions against such facilities.
Accoording to Nau, Trophy Park, is a planned world-class, multi-purpose indoor and outdoor athletic complex. Tonight, representatives from Trophy Park will outline plans for the one-of-a-kind youth sports facility that will be located on 200 acres in Jackson and will become the “Youth Sports Capital of the East Coast.”
“With the Youth Sports Industry currently valued at $15 billion and growing and 45 million children playing organized sports nationally, Trophy Park is designed to capture a percentage of that market and lure young athletes and their families to New Jersey in order to compete in tournament play,” according to the company’s web site.
Trophy Park plans to open in early 2020.