DUNBAR, W.Va. — A $5 million dollar upgrade is what’s in store toward the expansion of the welcome center at the Shawnee Sports Complex in Dunbar, further leading to more investments into the state’s growing sports tourism industry.
The Kanawha County Commission joined U.S. Senator Joe Manchin among other dignitaries helping to fund the initiative, as well as representatives of the facility, for a groundbreaking ceremony to kick off the series of upgrades Thursday morning.
The Shawnee Sports Complex Welcome Center is set to go from 2,500 square feet to 12,000 square feet by sometime next year, and will bring more restrooms and concessions along with it.
Commissioner Ben Salango said the upgrades come after the growing volumes of people pouring into the facility, and he said they wanted to keep up with the demand.
“We’ve made a lot of upgrades over the years here, from not just the grass fields but also our pavilion, security upgrades most recently, and so this is going to be a tremendous benefit for the complex, tremendous benefit for the community,” Salango said.
Since opening the facility in 2018, it has drawn in $150 million in economic impact and athletes and spectators from across the east coast. 
Shawnee has also been host to some of the biggest sports competitions in the eastern United States, such as the Eastern U.S. Soccer Regional Tournament that has brought in about $32 million every year out of five years it has been being held at the complex.
Senator Manchin said the facility must be able to grow along with the growing number of people coming into it.
“From tourism, just think about this, since this wonderful Shawnee Sports Complex has been here, over half a million people have visited, half a million, and more is to come, with that you have to be able to accommodate them, once they come see the facility that you have to play ball and watch the children and all that, this facility needs to be for them too,” said Manchin.
Manchin contributed $3 million in Federal Congressional Directed Spending for the expansion project. In addition, Governor Jim Justice and the State of West Virginia put forth $1 million toward it.
Along with expanding the restrooms and concessions at the welcome center, Salango said the upgrades will also include a commercial kitchen and an observation deck.
He said part of the current welcome center will be torn down while the other half will stay up and the upgrades will be built around it.
Salango said the complex will remain operational during the time the center is being constructed as they will also have tournaments going on simultaneously. With that, he said it’s just going to have to be something that sports complex-goers will have to adjust to for a little while.
“We’ll still be going strong it’s just going to look a little different, it will be a little messy, a little noisy, but you know, after ten months or so, it’ll be well worth it,” he said.
He added that they are also looking into soon expanding the parking at the 130 acre complex, particularly on the baseball side.
Salango said the new welcome center will only add to what the complex already provides.
“When people come in from out of town, they’re already in awe of the facility, but quite frankly when you add a 12,000 square foot entrance building, it’s going to be very nice, it’s going to have a tunnel that you have to walk through, it’s just going to enhance the visitor experience when people come here, which is what we want,” said Salango. “We want people to come here, we want them to enjoy, and we want them to come back.”
Manchin said what started as just a golf course, it’s amazing to see how the property has transformed into a $150 million money-making facility that only keeps growing.
“Forever we have known this as the Shawnee little golf course we had here for many many years and it just wasn’t getting the utilization it should have had and the opportunities, Ben Salango came in and saw that, and now look and see what it has done, it’s unbelievable,” said Manchin.
The welcome center at Shawnee is expected to be complete sometime between May and August of next year.