Latest Spooky Nook milestone: Sports complex roof starts taking shape in Hamilton

Construction of the Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill indoor sports complex observed a milestone last week, when crews began the delicate-yet-heavyweight job of installing 85,000-pound roof trusses for the facility, which is to be North America’s largest indoor sports facility.

Dozens of the 6.5-foot-tall steel structures will be installed over the sports-complex side of the project, which is the part located west of North B Street.

“The weather was a little uncooperative for the past 10 days, so they were pretty happy to get started (Friday),” said Spooky Nook owner Sam Beiler. “They need dry weather to mess around with that kind of weight.”

The trusses “are pretty intriguing,” Beiler said. “They’re somewhat pre-assembled on the ground and then lifted in sections. So it’s pretty amazing how they fit together.”

Construction remains on schedule — “so far, so good,” Beiler said.

The site west of B Street is now almost completely level, with just a few pockets needing some work, he said.

The hotel and convention side of the project — the portion located between B Street and the Great Miami River — “is also well under way,” Beiler said. “I think much of the rough-in plumbing for the first floor of the hotel is in place, about 60 percent of that, and a lot of work going on pretty quietly inside there that’s a little hard to see from anywhere outside, actually.”

Utility work also is continuing along B Street. There have been no problems with the arrival of beams or other materials needed for construction.

The project continues to spawn other development in Hamilton, particularly along the Main Street business corridor, where recently the Main St Throw Shop opened to sell disc-golf and skateboard equipment. John Simmons, owner of the new store, cited Spooky Nook, growth of a Hamilton arts scene, which can attract edgier people who enjoy skateboarding, as motivations for the store opening, as well as a dearth of stores that sell golf discs and skateboards in the area between Cincinnati and Dayton.

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