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Proposed Hamilton Sports Complex Gets Funding Boost

Spooky Nook's facility in Lancaster, PA.
Courtesy Spooky Nook Sports
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Spooky Nook's facility in Lancaster, PA.

A planned sports complex in Hamilton got a financial boost Wednesday morning.

The Ohio Development Services Agency is awarding almost $4.8 million in state historic tax credits to help turn the former Champion Paper mill into an indoor sports facility. The project is valued at $48 million.

The project is being developed by Spooky Nook Sports out of Pennsylvania. The company bills its Lancaster facility as the largest indoor sports complex in the United States.

"We're really enthusiastic about the progress this project is making, and about this credit allowing us to take the next step and get things moving," says Mackenzie Bender, communications manager.

Bender says two more funding sources still need to fall into place, but she's optimistic a ground-breaking could happen in late summer, with an opening in 2019 or 2020.

A hotel and event center are also part of the complex proposal.

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Tana Weingartner earned a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Cincinnati and a master's degree in mass communication from Miami University. Most recently, she served as news and public affairs producer with WMUB-FM. Ms. Weingartner has earned numerous awards for her reporting, including several Best Reporter awards from the Associated Press and the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and a regional Murrow Award. She served on the Ohio Associated Press Broadcasters Board of Directors from 2007 - 2009.