Getahn Ward, and Collin Czarnecki

The Tennessean

A Cincinnati-based developer has walked away from its contract to buy the former A-Game Sportsplex youth sports facility in Franklin for $16 million.

Al. Neyer LLC said that the controversy surrounding the sale of 215 Gothic Court, which the developer had planned to transform into an office building, had become toxic and was creating fear among prospective tenants.

Essentially, prospects didn't want to be seen as responsible for forcing out the youth volleyball and hockey clubs that had operated at A-Game Sportsplex. And potential investors that would've joined Al. Neyer in the deal lost interest amid a more than four-month delay in the closing of the building's purchase.

Al. Neyer CEO Molly North called the experience "a tremendous disappointment," especially after the developer sunk several hundred thousand dollars into the acquisition effort that it won't be able to recoup.

"There's an old saying in our business that time kills all deals and that's really where we got to with this one," she said. "We're going to take this one on the chin, get up and fight another day."

A-Game Sportsplex closed its doors in late March after the former tenant sports clubs and the building's owner Sports Land Group LLC announced a tentative agreement to settle their legal dispute over termination of the clubs' leases.

Under the settlement that is expected to be finalized next week, Sports Land agreed to put $1 million each in escrow to help volleyball club Alliance Volleyball Club and hockey club MDG Management LLC with relocation and other expenses triggered by the closure of the youth sports facility.

Last week, Sports Land also reached an agreement with Illinois-based MyHockey Tournament LLC to settle a dispute tied to the closure of A-Game Sportsplex.

North said when the developer began pursuing the A-Game site more than a year ago, it didn't anticipate public sentiments associated with the redevelopment of the property.

The 120-year-old developer and design-build company's plans had called for transforming the 175,000-square-foot building into the Cool Springs Technology Center. As delays in the closing continued, costs of the redevelopment project increased.

North said Al. Neyer is working on other prospective projects in the greater Nashville area, including around downtown Nashville's urban core and in Cool Springs, along with other opportunities across the Southeast.

Confrontational messages Al. Neyer officials said they received from critics of the developer's now-abandoned plans to buy and convert the A-Game building into office space included someone expressing hope that the building gets burned down.

Upward Stars Basketball, which has about 190 student-athletes in Williamson County, was among the leagues affected by the closure. “If that facility stays a sports facility, it’s great news for the community and businesses that surround A-Game including hotels,” said Lance Akridge, director of that former A-Game lessee.

Since the youth sports facility closed, Upward Stars has been using short-term facilities for practices and tryouts. For spring basketball tryouts, the league used 17 different facilities including private and public schools in the area as well as a church.

"Without having a home it really limits our growth," Akridge said. "We’re only two-and-a-half years old, so as we grow that means we can hire staff and do more programming. But with facilities being up in the air for us, it really hampers us and it makes us work four times as hard.”

In a statement, Alliance Volleyball Club and MDG Management said they were surprised by Al. Neyer's withdrawal from its commitment.

Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson said the Al. Neyer-Sports Land contract falling through hasn't changed his position against the county making an offer to purchase the building. "That wasn't something I thought was in the interest of the county," he said.

At the end of the day, North said Al. Neyer didn't want to be associated with a project that was perceived to be bringing any damage to the community.

"This is the business — you win some and you lose some," she said. "And when you lose, you get up to fight another day. And if you can't, you're not cut for this business."

Williamson County reporter Collin Czarnecki contributed to this report. Reach Getahn Ward at 615-726-5968 and on Twitter @getahn.

Volleyball group bids farewell to A-Game Sportsplex