First Bank & Trust SportsPLEX celebrates ribbon cutting
August 5, 2024By Zac Zwaschka, Madison Daily Leader; Reprinted from July 11, 2024 | Heartland Photo Gallery
While local athletes and teams have been enjoying it for several months now, members of the public were welcomed to the First Bank & Trust Sportsplex for an open house/ribbon cutting ceremony the afternoon of July 9.
The indoor athletic facility, located on Northeast Third Street in the former Runnings building, has three batting cages, pitching machines and a turf area for baseball and softball, as well as a turf area with a golf net and freshly opened archery lanes.
The project began in 2022, when Runnings donated the property to the Lake Area Improvement Corporation, who prepared the space to its current setup before selling it to the City of Madison back in January.
“This is a very exciting day for the city, for the community, for all of our partners,” city administrator Jameson Berreth said. “This is a rare project in my view because of how collaborative it’s been and how excited the community has been. It’s been nothing but positive from the people who use the facility, the people that drive by and the people that are happy to see the building, the facility and the property get put to a good, productive use.”
During his speech, Berreth thanked all those responsible for helping to bring this project to life, singling out the LAIC in particular for their firm dedication to the project.
“The LAIC has really been the glue on this project that’s brought it from the property that is used to be to the property it is today,” he added.
LAIC Executive Director Brooke Rollag echoed Berreth’s thanks to their various partners, adding that the project wouldn’t have been possible without the many local sponsors like First Bank & Trust as well as a plethora of community volunteers.
“Sponsors, volunteers, this is an absolute humbling process to go through. It’s everything and more than I could’ve imagined,” Rollag said.
Other speakers included First Bank & Trust’s Kevin Tetzlaff and the Greater Madison Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Eric Hortness, who also serves as the president of the Madison Baseball Association.
“I’m really proud of the collaborative effort that this took among your two organizations (the city and LAIC) and really the community effort to get it to where it is today to make an effect for future years,” Tetzlaff said.
“As a baseball coach in town, this is a facility that’s been needed for several, several years,” Hortness added. “Thank you again to everybody. This has been a long day that we’ve been waiting for, but I’m glad it’s here.”
See more pictures from the event.
