Canadian company to buy Lake Barrington Field House

The Lake Barrington Field House, a 175,000-square-foot indoor sports complex, will have a new owner in the new year after a Canadian sports facility company announced this week it was buying the foreclosed center for an undisclosed amount.

Representatives from Canlan Ice Sports Corp., based in Burnaby, British Columbia, said field house patrons can expect the facility to operate mostly the same, but there will be a bigger effort to get more people into the building at 28156 W. Northpointe Parkway.

"Canlan has a dedicated marketing team out of our office and we are going to leverage that horsepower that we have to increase utilization," Mike Gellard, Canlan's chief financial officer, said Wednesday. "With a big facility like this the costs are pretty much fixed, it is all about generating revenue."

Ways the company might attempt to attract more patrons include creating basketball leagues and volleyball leagues and catering to the soccer community.

Gellard said they've had their eyes on the field house, which was built in 2008, for many years and made an offer on it when it went into foreclosure.

The field house is one of three non-ice rinks owned or managed by Canlan. Gellard said the success of the company's sports complexes in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Toronto indicate they can effectively operate the field house as well.

It is the second time the Canadian firm has bought a Chicago-area sports facility in foreclosure. Canlan purchased the International Ice Centre in Romeoville in 2011. That facility is now called Canlan Ice Sports Romeoville.

Gellard said the company will close on the facility on or before Jan. 31. Reaction from Lake Barrington officials has been positive, he added.

"They're excited to have a new owner in here to give the building new life," Gellard said.

Lake Barrington officials could not be reached because village offices were closed Wednesday.

The Lake Barrington Field House sits on a 10-acre site and includes an 85,000-square-foot 'field turf' field lined for soccer, football, lacrosse and baseball. The field can transition into two baseball infields or up to three separate turf fields. It can also accommodate indoor football, complete with end-zone goal posts.

Two double gymnasiums with a total of 40,000 square feet of solid maple 'floating' floor accommodates four full-sized basketball or eight volleyball courts.

The facility also features a food and beverage concession, strength & conditioning area and retail/commercial tenant spaces.