Welland city council is working on filling the second floor of Youngs Sportsplex, which has been vacant for about two years.

An in-camera special council meeting was called last Tuesday to discuss the "proposed or pending acquisition or disposition" of land, said the agenda, which also described the matter as a lease update.

Steve Zorbas, general manager of corporate services and chief financial officer for the city, later said the municipality is working to occupy the area that was previously the home of Player's Paradise, a simulated golf business.

"We're considering potential new tenants. We haven't secured anything," he said Friday.

Zorbas said more information will be made public when a tenant is secured.

The River Road building is owned by the city, but its operations are handled by Spectra Venue Management.

In January, Dan Berger, a general manager with Spectra, was before the city's budget review committee, saying the building is not operating at capacity. He said at the time groups want to use the facility but don't want to pay full fees.

The facility's biggest client is Welland Soccer Club with about 1,100 members.

Berger also said earlier this year that although there's no formal tennis club at the site, tennis players account for 70 hours a week of booking and 12 hours a week of adult leagues.

He told the committee an additional $112,869 in revenue was needed for 2019.

Berger also shared an urgency at the meeting several months ago to find a tenant for the second floor.

In April, council approved spending $1.3 million to convert an outdoor natural turf field at the River Road complex to artificial turf.

Inside the complex, there are four tennis courts and a FIFA regulation-sized soccer field that can be divided into three other playing surfaces, along with outdoor fields at the site.

The facility opened in 2012.

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