The City of Round Rock held an official ground breaking ceremony Nov. 27 to commemorate the beginning of construction on the city's $14.5 million Indoor Sports Complex.

Sports Complex General Manager Chad McDowell said construction was scheduled to begin at the site Dec. 3. Located at 2400 Chisholm Trail, the Indoor Sports Complex will house 81,500 square feet of total space and enough floor space to occupy six basketball courts or 11 volleyball courts at one time, McDowell said. City officials hope the site will become a destination attraction for sports tournaments with participants from throughout the nation.

"We are targeting basketball, volleyball, pickleball, cheerleading and gymnastics events," McDowell said. "The main purpose is to bring in the players and put heads in the beds in hotels."

The Sports Complex gained funding through a November 2011 voter-approved 2 percent Hotel Occupancy Tax rate increase that will be used to pay off $7.8 million in bonds issued by City Council in January 2012. The remaining balance of the project will be paid from the city's general fund.

"What's unique about this project is it took not only voter approval, but the hotels had to agree to raise their occupancy tax 2 percent," Round Rock City Manager Steve Norwood said at the ground breaking. "This project has been long coming, and I think this represents economic development in its purest form."

On Nov. 20, City Council approved a maximum price agreement of $14,527,295 with Chasco Constructors for the cost of the project. Chasco has 365 days to complete the project once construction begins.