Clock’s ticking on first big Champtown projects. Where do things stand?

The eight baseball and softball fields anchoring the tournament-quality sports complex to be built in the 160-acre Champtown development in Park City are expected to be finished before the end of next year.

And construction on the 78,000-square-foot aquarium that’s planned as part of the $519 million project will begin no later than next July and should be ready for visitors no later than July 2029.

Those updates were given by Park City City Administrator Sean Fox and Ryan Mills, director of development at Lange Real Estate and member of Champtown Partners, the entity putting together the north Wichita suburb’s tourist destination that is expected to draw more than a million visitors a year from throughout the Midwest.

The clock on those two parts of the half-a-billion-dollar planned development began to tick this week when the Park City City Council approved the equivalent of $75 million worth of sales-tax-based construction loans. Both projects must be designed within the next year and built no more than two years later.

In separate unanimous votes, the City Council on July 7 authorized $55 million in temporary financing for the aquarium and $20 million for the baseball and softball complex. A third vote, also unanimously approved by the City Council, amended some of the dates to the Star Bond Development Agreement between Park City and Champtown Partners.

Champtown will be bounded by 53rd Street North on the south end, 61st Street North on the north end, I-135 on the east side and Chisholm Creek on the west.

The finance votes were separate, according to Fox, because the aquarium will be eligible for Star Bond funding when finished. The ball fields will not.

Star Bonds are a financing tool available in Kansas that allows local governments to issue bonds to fund major commercial, entertainment and tourism projects and pay them off using future state and local sales tax revenue generated by new businesses within the Star Bond district.

The ball fields, by contrast, will be part of a Community Improvement District that is within the broader Champtown planned development. They will be paid for by an additional 2 cent sales tax, Fox said.

“They’re separate things because the state of Kansas doesn’t want to pay for baseball and softball fields,” Fox said. “So they’re separate — co-located but separate.”

Added Mills: “Phase 1 is to make sure that the ball fields are open, and we have competitive play as soon as we can. A very significant portion of that (Community Improvement District funding) will be devoted to that complex, and we’ll continue to aggressively pursue other supporting retail and mixed-use projects.”

Park City will partner with Prep Baseball Report to bring tournaments to town that will draw teams from Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, Fox said.

On an annualized basis, Park City is expecting an additional 1.3 million visitors from the baseball and softball tournaments, and an estimated 800,000 people a year coming for the aquarium. There will be an unknown amount of overlap in the two numbers.

“It’s kind of unusual to think about because we’re still a town of 9,300 people,” Fox said. “We’re growing, no doubt about it. But if you look at CrossWinds Casino, if you look at Gilley’s, if you look at Champtown, if you look at the Country Stampede coming to Gilley’s, who would have thought Park City would have so much attraction to it?”

Meanwhile, construction is under way on the first new retail space in Champtown; the 10,000-square-foot space will feature a Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers and Bob & Luigi’s Pizzeria, according to previous reporting by The Eagle. A Sherwin-Williams store will go into another retail space, and Panda Express and Charlie’s Car Wash have committed to space in the area, though work hasn’t yet started.

The first stores will be ready for occupancy in the next 90 days, Fox said.

“By the end of 2026 and into 2027 there’s going to be a lot of development going on,” he said. “This place is going to change drastically over the next two years.”

Other tenants in the Community Improvement District will be a hotel and 225,000 square feet of retail space, including a B&B Theatres, Mills said. And it has been previously announced that the development also has space for a national grocery store, among other things.

The aquarium, called OdySea, which also has a location in Scottsdale, Ariz., is the only project in the first phase of the Star Bond funded portion of the development, Mills said.

“We’re going to push hard and see how quickly we can get it completed and open,” he said.

Meanwhile, plans are still in the works for a butterfly conservatory and an indoor multi-sport complex that will be financed with Star Bond monies, Mills said.

“It’s going to be an exciting next few years and for the foreseeable future,” he said. “I’m very grateful for the city of Park City and their continued support, and the state of Kansas and the Champtown partnership.”

Contributing: Denise Neil of The Eagle.