{"id":64115,"date":"2026-03-25T18:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=64115"},"modified":"2026-03-25T18:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:14:15","slug":"new-sports-complex-with-track-and-field-stadium-planned-for-south-lakeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/25\/new-sports-complex-with-track-and-field-stadium-planned-for-south-lakeland\/","title":{"rendered":"New sports complex with track and field stadium planned for South Lakeland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Plans are moving forward for a major athletic expansion in South Lakeland, primarily focused on the Lakeland Highlands Road<\/strong> corridor near the Polk Parkway. This area is becoming a hub for collegiate and community sports.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Key Developments in South Lakeland<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Southeastern University (SEU) Complex:<\/strong> Southeastern University is planning a new athletic facility on 36 acres<\/strong> north of Sam\u2019s Club. This land was donated specifically to host practice and competition facilities for college athletes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Florida Southern College (FSC) Expansion:<\/strong> Directly abutting the SEU parcel, Florida Southern College has already established a practice field for soccer and lacrosse and has long-term plans for a full athletic complex on its neighboring property.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Holloway Park:<\/strong> Located just east of these developments, Holloway Park remains a premier regional destination for track and field and cross-country events. The recent permanent preservation of this 101-acre park ensures it will continue to serve as the area’s primary elite running venue.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Lakeland Family YMCA:<\/strong> The South Lakeland YMCA is also undergoing a $21 million renovation<\/strong>. While focused on a wider range of wellness, the project includes a new field house and wellness complex scheduled for completion in 2027<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    Other Recent Regional Sports Projects<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    While the South Lakeland corridor is the focus for new collegiate track and field interests, other parts of the city have recently seen the completion of multi-use complexes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Project<\/strong><\/td>Location<\/strong><\/td>Features<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
    John Rodda Sports Complex<\/strong><\/td>Lake Crago Park<\/td>Three multi-use lighted fields for football, lacrosse, and soccer.<\/td><\/tr>
    Daughtery Road Park<\/strong><\/td>North Lakeland<\/td>A 12-acre complex with three turf fields (Targeting 2027).<\/td><\/tr>
    Tigertown Academy<\/strong><\/td>North Lakeland<\/td>A 60,000-sq-ft player development facility for the Detroit Tigers.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Plans are moving forward for a major athletic expansion in South Lakeland, primarily focused on the Lakeland Highlands Road corridor near the Polk Parkway. This area is becoming a hub… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL3VubmFtZWQtMTAud2VicD9maXQ9ODIxJTJDNDYyJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiTmV3IHNwb3J0cyBjb21wbGV4IHdpdGggdHJhY2sgYW5kIGZpZWxkIHN0YWRpdW0gcGxhbm5lZCBmb3IgU291dGggTGFrZWxhbmQiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.uN6zAon-_cDsLnXMf65hCDDxcE0arCt6xYWGx8E1hLUMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14190],"class_list":["post-64115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-new-sports-complex-with-track-and-field-stadium-planned-for-south-lakeland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64117,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64115\/revisions\/64117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}