After 2½ years of preparation and fundraising, work has begun on the multifield Dinwiddie Sports Complex on U.S. 460 in the northern part of the county.

Workers started on the project last week, said Brian Mancini, the county's director of the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Southside Virginia Community College students, as part of a heavy-machinery class, are doing the grading work for free to practice using the construction equipment. Dinwiddie is paying only the fuel costs, Mancini said.

The first phase of the complex will include four baseball fields, a football field, parking area and a concession stand. Those are scheduled to be completed next year.

The second phase will include soccer fields, tennis courts, walking trails, a picnic pavilion and offices for the county Department of Parks and Recreation, Mancini said.

"We feel that if we get this done the correct way . . . that we'll have the best park in the area," he said.

The cost of the first phase is $2.2 million to $3 million. Mancini said there are no cost estimates for the second phase.

The funding is coming from county, private and grant money, said County Administrator W. Kevin Massengill.

The Board of Supervisors has appropriated about $1.6 million, and the county's Industrial Development Authority allocated $300,000, he said.

A private foundation has made a significant donation and will match a dollar for every $2 raised by the sports-complex fundraising committee. The committee's goal is to raise $250,000, Mancini said.

Massengill said construction work on the industrial park, another major project near the sports complex, will start soon. That would provide hotels for people to stay in during regional tournaments, he said.

"We see this as a regional attraction," he said of the sports complex. "It's something that the community has been calling for for some time."

The sports complex will provide an opportunity to host tournaments and offer a place for youth to play, Mancini said.

"It's something needed in Dinwiddie County, with the way the county is starting to grow now," he said. "There's nowhere for kids to play now."
Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or jlizama@timesdispatch.com.