ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – An abandoned home in Mountain View was demolished Tuesday to make more space for an indoor sports center for youth baseball and softball.

“It’s going to be huge,” said Jamar Hill, president of Gamers Sports Alaska, the developer of the Mountain View Field House project. “With this facility, the neighborhood will be usable year-round, meaning children will have access to recreational activities even in the winter.”

The field house, for which the foundation stone was laid at the beginning of the year, already had building land. However, demolishing the adjacent property gives the field house room to grow while solving a neighborhood problem. City leaders say the home has attracted squatters and drugs.

“The property was not managed,” said Christopher Constant, chairman of the Anchorage Assembly. “It will improve security, community safety and public safety.”

Constant added that community leaders previously reached an agreement with the former property owner to waive all fines and fees if they received the green light for demolition with $20,000 from the city's emissions reduction fund.

Hill said the additional land doubles the size of the project site, which could allow him to build a computer lab in addition to the field house.

“We would like to use this space as an academic space, maybe even a fitness center to support the community center we are building here,” Hill said. “We have a donation from GCI for internet connectivity, so fiber will be installed there. Children can access high-speed internet to help with homework.”

The demolition was the first step in what developers expect to be a two- or three-year project.

Hill noted that completing the plans would require about $1.5 million in additional grants, similar to the amount needed to build the fieldhouse.

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