Eastside Sports Complex rendering. Courtesy of Spartanburg County Parks Department.
Ask anyone who doesn’t live within 20 miles of Cowpens which county the town is in. Chances are you will get a pause and then a likely guess for Cherokee County.
But while Cowpens is actually at the far eastern edge of Spartanburg County, a new Eastside Sports Complex currently underway is not only expected to fill a huge recreational need for the county’s east side, but to make the area far more attractive to people than ever before.
“It will increase the number of fields we have and be a complement to what we already offer,” said Kristen Guilfoos, marketing manager with Spartanburg County Parks Department. “And this could very well positively impact the desirability of that part of Spartanburg County for those looking to relocate, as well as give current residents additional recreational opportunities.”
Located just over a mile west of the Cherokee County border, on the site of the former Cowpens Middle School in Spartanburg School District 3, the new complex will cover 26 acres, plus more for future expansion, and occupy a building footprint of 37,000 square feet, at a cost of approximately $5 million to renovate.
“We’ve always needed some type of sports complex, and it’s hard to find that much acreage for one of this size,” said Cowpens Mayor Jarred Spencer. “The school district at first was going to sell to a developer, but the developer backed out, and then the question was raised about how we could utilize it for a county use. So the district gave us the land to develop. There were also some ball fields there as well as the gymnasium, so it seemed like the best possible choice.”
Funding will come from a mix of both state and county resources. Once the site and facility are finished, they will be deeded to Spartanburg County to run and maintain.
And potential patrons will not only be within one-quarter mile from Hwy. 29, they will have an extra incentive for coming to Cowpens.
“This facility will serve the whole east side of Spartanburg – We don’t have anything like it on this side of the county,” Spencer said. “And every inch of this space will be utilized.”
Offerings will include football, baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, cheerleading, tennis, pickleball, and “hopefully a walking trail around the entire complex site if we can get the funding for it,” Spencer said.
“The Town of Cowpens is funding the legal fees and construction, along with funding from the state,” he added. “Anything over $5 million should be covered by the county.”
He further pointed out that while the new recreation site will be a boon to people simply wanting to stay fit and healthy, it will also benefit the east side youth sports programs in ways that currently require a lot of extra effort.
“Regulation fields just for Little League, for example, aren’t available anymore and our teams have to travel to other sites to play,” he said. “There is also a need for track running, and the only track we have that can be used is the local high school, if the kids aren’t on it. So we are trying to get funding to put a public track around the football field.”
For the long-term, however, the new complex is expected to pay off in other ways that are not yet apparent: more east side growth with neighborhoods, businesses, capital investment, and local tourism.
“We expect travel ball to become a big deal in Cowpens once the complex is finished,” Spencer said. “And we’ve been told by leaders with OneSpartanburg, Inc., that the project will bring in more development.”
The project is just one example of recreation being used as a tool for future tourism business.
For example, the City of Spartanburg recently acquired the rights to play host to the signature Carolinas Classic basketball event for three consecutive years, with a strong chance to become the event’s permanent home.
The Town of Inman in west Spartanburg County now has a new hometown baseball team, the Spartanburg County Peaches, one of eight teams that travel between Georgia and Virginia in the Blue Ridge League.
And of course, what would summer be without the Hub City Spartanburgers, who continue in their second season to bring in impressive crowds to Fifth Third Bank Park downtown from all across the South Atlantic League?
It all adds up to more business and a thriving future economy – but Spencer pointed out that the new East Side Sports Complex didn’t just happen by osmosis.
“Our town’s mayor pro-tem Erin Wofford, District 3 County Councilmen Paul Abbot and David Britt, District 3 school board chairman Chris Jolley, state house Rep. Dennis Moss, and me, all had to collaborate to approve the endeavor,” he said. “It took a lot of hands to get something like this done.”
