- December 4, 2025
Though a separate analysis supported the viability of a sports complex in Flagler County, the Flagler County Commission expressed caution in the face of moving forward.
"Everyone's rushing on this idea," Vice Chair Leann Pennington said. "P3s [public private partnerships] – it's just not something we do a lot around here."
As of yet, the Flagler Commission has not committed to building a sports complex in the county, though there has been some interest. At an April County Commission meeting, Synergy Sports made a presentation to the commission proposing a $100 million facility with indoor and multiple outdoor fields.
Synergy Sports’ Jason Boudrie told the commission in April that the complex would begin returning revenue to the county by its third year. The facility Synergy proposed would include an outdoor grass stadium, a mix of grass and turf flat fields and indoor facilities: pickleball, basketball and volleyball courts and a 200 meter indoor track. The track would be only the second indoor track field in the state.
The proposal projected between 250,000-400,000 unique annual visitors.
If the county goes forward with the proposal, it would be through a Public Private Partnership. In the April presentation, it was said the landowner — Rayonier, a global forester company — had offered to donate the land to the county, who would then lease it to a private company for $1.
That company would then build the facility out of its own pocket and lease the facility back to the county, until the county eventually paid it off. County Administrator Heidi Petito likened it, at the April presentation, to paying back a mortgage.
The facility would not be paid off by taxpayer funds but instead by revenue generated from the facility.
The county hired JLL, a global real estate services company, to evaluate the proposal and the market feasibility. JLL’s Dan Fenton said that while there is a high demand and a market for the kind of facility proposed by Synergy, “there was certainly more aspiration, let's call it, in the proposal from Synergy.”
But that doesn’t mean the proposal was without merit. Fenton said the youth sports industry generates $40 billion in annual revenue and, in their own research, was a field that parents were less likely to cut expenses in.
“Youth sports was one of the last things that families wanted to actually reduce in terms of expenditures,” Fenton said. The industry is also growing year-over-year in participation, he said.
The joint indoor-outdoor facility that Synergy proposed was unique compared to what is currently available, he said. However, he said, those in the industry are looking for more than just the facility, but an experience for tournament attendees, too.
This is more than a ‘build it and they will come’ project, Fenton said.
“One of the things that's going to be important as an analysis here is also looking at all of the sort of features that are being proposed and making sure that we're competitive in terms of what we're offering,” Fenton said.
Pennington said she was skeptical about jumping into a P3, especially as the county might not have those amenities organizers are looking for.
“I don’t think we have destination amenities to attract [people]," Pennington said. “It’s a stretch.”
More concerning to her was the risk of not nailing down the naming rights. One of the ways the facility would be funded is through the sale of the naming rights to the facility.
"You don't nail the naming rights, you're in the red from day one," Pennington said. "I think it's just a speculation project, really, for me."
Pennington said she gets nervous at the potential for oversaturation, after looking at similar complexes around the country. She said she was unsure if the return on investment was there or not.
You don't nail the naming rights, you're in the red from day one."
— LEANN PENNINGTON, Flagler County Commission vice chair
St. Johns County has already broken ground on their own complex, though that is only for outdoor fields.
Commissioner Pam Richardson said the size of the project concerned her, consider Flagler is an environmental county without a lot of tourist attraction.
"And we have issues with roads right now," she said. "How much is it going to cost us to support them, if they even come?"
The next presentation on the sports complex will be held on Dec. 8 where staff will present a review of Synergy Sports' previous projects, their financial performance, the contract types and a deep dive into naming rights, sponsorships, financial terms and risk assessment.
